BANGOR — A collaboration involving Penquis Child Development, RSU 22 in Hampden, and the Galen Cole Family Foundation will offer free one-day workshops in Conscious Discipline Friday and Saturday, May 9-10, not only to teachers who sign up, but to early childhood providers and parents. The Conscious Discipline program is designed to help reduce bullying and other negative behaviors in schools.
“Friday’s session is for early childhood center-based providers and public school teachers,” said Jim Neville, director of operations for the Cole Foundation in Bangor. “Saturday’s session is for parents and child-care providers in the community.” Both workshops will be held at Cole Land Transportation Museum.
Penquis Child Development and RSU 22 already use Conscious Discipline in early childhood education. The principles of the program include creating a feeling of safety in students and establishing connections, both of which help students be ready to do problem-solving, considered an executive function of the brain.
“Conscious Discipline is implemented in the RSU 22 pre-K programs and is brought to us by our partnership with Penquis Child Development,” said Angela Moore, assistant director of special services and pre-K liaison for the school union.
“In 2012, RSU 22 established a Pre-K Community Collaboration group, which include the partnerships of Penquis Child Development, Waldo Community Action Partners and Child Development Services, as well as a number of childcare and preschool providers serving children and families in the district,” Moore said.
“The collaborative group was established in part with the intent to provide a platform for collegial conversations for the early childhood field,” she added. “It was through this established partnership that RSU 22 sought input from its Penquis partner and we applied for the Cole Foundation grant to support Conscious Discipline training throughout the district. Cole Foundation supported our request and asked that we facilitate additional training opportunities throughout Maine. This is a terrific professional opportunity for early childhood providers, teachers and parents.”
“One of the pillars of the Galen Cole Family Foundation is to raise the aspirations of children,” Neville said. “Unfortunately, all too often, children’s aspirations are stifled at an early age because they are the victims of bullying. By taking part in the Conscious Discipline program, we hope to help lay a solid foundation for the children of this great state to aspire and become solid, contributing members of society.”
The Cole Family Foundation is best-known for the Cole Museum, but the nonprofit organization also is involved in helping children and students through efforts such as Reading Recovery and scholarship programs at the University of Maine, Husson University and Eastern Maine
Community College.
Conscious Discipline was developed in Florida by Dr. Becky Bailey, author of “Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline,” and her most recent book, “Managing Emotional Mayhem.”
The program is designed to work in everyday situations in the classroom, rather than as a curriculum to be added to lessons. It uses skills such as composure, encouragement, assertiveness, choices, empathy, positive intent and consequences.
Jean Bridges, director of the Child Development Program at Penquis, said officials at her agency were pleased to see Conscious Development offered to a wider audience, especially since it has been successful in helping children attending early education through Penquis.
Through these workshops, she said, Conscious Development could “reach more providers and parents to help them support young children in their emotional growth and development. We all know how important it is to get young children and families off to the best start in life possible, and that is so critical to their success in school and life in general.”
To sign up for Conscious Discipline on May 9 or 10, call 862-3255 or go to http://bit.ly/CDRegistration.