Thirty-four passionate, dedicated, and committed individuals gathered at Goodwill Manasota this week to begin a three-day journey as part of the Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading. They are the inaugural class of the Mind In The Making Facilitator Institute, and will soon be providing Mind In The Making module trainings for parents, early childhood practitioners, child care providers, and elementary school administrators/staff and interested community members throughout Manatee and Sarasota counties.
Ellen Galinsky’s ground breaking book, Mind In The Making, teaches parents, grandparents, caregivers, and educators about the important tools needed to raise the children in their lives to be well rounded and achieve their full potential. One of the results of the success of the book, which is acclaimed by such thought leaders as T. Berry Brazelton, M.D., David A Hamburg, M.D., Adele Faber, and Judy Woodruff, is the creation of Mind in The Making modules. Mind in the Making modules provide the opportunity for facilitated learning to strengthen Executive Functioning skills in adults who take the 8 session course, resulting in better learning environments for the children in their lives.
The Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading (SCGLR) embraces the moral imperative to take action to ensure all children, especially those from low-income families, succeed in school. Part of a nationwide movement, our region is focusing on addressing the most common issues and obstacles that impact a child’s ability to read.
One of our key areas of focus is school readiness. The Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading created the SCGLR School Readiness Network comprised of stakeholders from multiple sectors committed to ensuring the children of our region will enter kindergarten ready to learn and succeed – academically, emotionally, and developmentally.
Each module in the Mind in The Making training covers one of the essential skills, which are:
1 Focus and self-control. This skill allows children to achieve their goals in a world filled with distractions and information overload. It involves paying attention, remembering the rules, thinking flexibly and exercising self-control.
2 Perspective taking. This goes beyond empathy. It involves figuring out what others think and feel, and it forms the basis of children understanding their parents’ and teachers’ intentions. Children who can take others’ perspectives are much less likely to get involved in conflicts.
3 Communicating. It’s much more than the ability to speak, read and write. It’s the skill of determining what one wants to communicate and realizing how our communications will be understood by others. It’s a skill that teachers and employers feel is most lacking today.
4 Making connections. It’s the core of learning: what’s the same, what’s different. And the ability to make unusual connections is at the core of creativity. In a world where information is so accessible, people who can see these connections will be successful.
5 Critical thinking. It is essential for the ongoing search for valid, reliable knowledge to guide our beliefs, decisions and actions. It involves developing, testing and refining theories about “what causes what” to happen.
6 Taking on challenges. Life is full of stresses and challenges. Kids who are willing to take on a challenge (instead of avoiding it) will do better in school and in life.
7 Self-directed, engaged learning. We can realize our potential through learning. As the world changes, so can we–if we continue to learn for as long as we live. Ellen Galinsky and the Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading are partnering to bring this program to the Suncoast region. The Seven Essential Skills Training Modules are intended to reach parents, caregivers, and early childhood practitioners, including early care & learning and elementary administrators and staff.
SCGLR will be sharing more information about this exciting program in the coming months.
