Dan has addressed the following topics in over 300 presentations, keynotes, and workshops:
A. TOPICS FOR KEYNOTES, BREAK-OUTS, AND WORKSHOPS
1. Moving from Discipline to Guidance
Conventional discipline tends to carry the baggage of punishment and pressure teachers to be technicians rather than professionals. Teachers who use guidance prevent many problems by using developmentally appropriate practice, positive communication skills, and affirming relationships with children and families. They teach children to resolve problems, rather than punish children for having problems they cannot solve, and guide them toward skills that reduce and resolve classroom conflicts. The workshop uses anecdotes and a video clip to explore key concepts and principles in the use of guidance.
2. Building an Encouraging Classroom
An encouraging classroom is a place where children want to be even when they are sick—as opposed to not wanting to be there when they are well. Dan illustrates through anecdotes, video clips, and group discussions the following practices that build an encouraging classroom: leadership techniques including encouragement (not praise), contact talks, and compliment sandwiches; Relationship-building with each child; using developmentally appropriate practice; group-building through class meetings; and working for partnerships with families. This session focuses on techniques that reduce the occurrence of conflicts in the classroom.
3. Maintaining an Encouraging Classroom
Guidance teaches children to solve their problems rather than punishing children for having problems they can’t resolve. In maintaining an encouraging classroom, the teachers use guidance talks, conflict mediation, class meetings, crisis-management techniques, and comprehensive guidance. Dan discusses these techniques using anecdotes, video clips, and group discussions.
4. The Goals of Guidance: Democratic Life Skills
Guidance is more than keeping children “in line” in kindly ways. Guidance means teaching children the skills they need to function as productive citizens and healthy individuals. These skills, democratic life skills, are the goals of guidance and are the long-term abilities that will help our descendants make it into the next century. In brief, the skills include the ability to: express strong emotions in non-hurting ways; make decisions intelligently and ethically; work cooperatively to solve problems; and be accepting of others whatever their unique human qualities. Dan uses practical anecdotes to illustrate and discuss the teaching and learning of democratic life skills
5. Guidance with Boys
Teachers sometimes label “boy behaviors” and boys as rowdy, aggressive, non-compliant, and developmentally “slow.” One common teacher reaction is to use traditional “semi-punitive” discipline techniques with boys, accept the non-success of these techniques as inevitable, and hope for fewer boys in next year’s class. The workshop focuses on the need to reexamine “boy behavior,” design educational programs developmentally inclusive of boys, and use guidance techniques in firm but friendly ways that show the acceptance of individual boys that we know is important for all of the children in our program. The session also addresses the fact that less than 20% of elementary school teachers and 5% of preschool teachers are men. The observation that more men teachers are needed is one answer, but not the only answer to helping boys find a welcome place in our classrooms.
6. From Survival to Resilience: The Practice of Liberation Teaching
Children with challenging behaviors continue to be a hot topic with early childhood educators. From a guidance approach, Dan looks at working with children who have frequent conflicts. After defining liberation teaching, the session addresses 1) What frequent conflicts mean for the child, the group, and the teacher; 2) Causes of frequent conflicts in children; 3) The effects of negative labeling on the child: stigma. 4) Comprehensive guidance with children who show strong needs mistaken behavior; 5) Support systems for teachers; 6) The importance of liberation teaching for the guidance approach.
7. What Readiness Really is: Not a State of Knowledge but a State of Mind
Pressures remain for young children to “be ready for kindergarten” by knowing academic basics like letter sounds and counting to 100. Never mind that “during D week,” a K. kid who did not like dogs went around the house saying “D, D, Cat.” Another decided the ages of their Mom and Dad (who were in their early thirties) were 22 and 66 respectively. The meaning of academic basics for young children is not always what we think it is. Moreover, if there is too much stress on teaching academics, young children become discouraged regarding their own intrinsic abilities to learn and find meaning. The article discusses what readiness is by exploring the “big three” jobs of E.C. professionals, to: (1) form secure relationships with young children, (2) support and guide them so they can manage stress levels due to personal adverse experiences, and (3) nudge them to develop confidence and competence in their intrinsic but fragile motivation to learn and understand.
8. Developmentally Appropriate STEM: It’s STREAM! (Science, Technology, Relationships, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics)
The session explores what developmentally appropriate STEM looks like in holistic early childhood education. DA STEM needs to be infused with the added dimensions of relationship-building and the creative arts. Participants analyze how DA STEM learning activities integrate relationship-building and the creative arts in learning experiences. We discuss how relationship-building and the arts enlighten and enliven STEM learning, and how DA STEM guides young children in observant involvement with the world around them. The session includes a presentation to introduce the idea, and small group case-study analysis with large group sharing and discussion on this “hot topic” in the early childhood field.
9. Building Partnerships with Families.
Guidance depends on a three-way positive relationship between the ECE professional, the child, and one or more members of the child’s family. Dan presents and discusses an approach to building partnerships with family members that encourages movement through four levels of engagement: 1) accepting information; 2) educational involvement with one’s child; 3) program engagement; 4) personal/professional development. Progress from benchmark one to benchmark two is significant for all families in all programs. A higher goal for some family members is level three or four. (Any ECE professional who started out as a volunteer in a classroom has progressed through benchmark three to benchmark four.) The benchmarks of engagement are an adaptation to early childhood of the work of Joyce Epstein and can serve as a “user-friendly” guide to building partnerships with families. The matter of cultural differences between the ECE professionals and families is highlighted in the session. We use handouts from Dan’s columns, a case study, and a video clip to discuss the teacher’s leadership role in guiding family members to and through the four levels of parent engagement.
10. Education for a Civil Society: Teaching Young Children to Gain Five Democratic Life Skills
This session comes directly from Dan’s most recent book of the same name published by NAEYC. Building from the iconic writings of Maslow in the 1960s, brain research of the 21st Century, and Dan’s many years of observation, study, and writing about the role of guidance in early childhood education, the session explores Five Democratic Life Skills:
Safety Skills
1) See one’s self as a worthy member of the group and as a worthy individual.
2) Express strong emotions in non-hurting ways.
Growing Skills
3) Solve problems creatively–by one’s self and in cooperation with others.
4) Accept differing human qualities in others.
5) Make decisions intelligently and ethically.
Democratic Life Skills signify the child’s capacity to gain a sense of safety–security, belonging and self-worth–and grow toward creatively solving problems, accepting human differences, and making decisions intelligently and ethically. Dan brings in audience participation, anecdotes, and video clips to discuss the skills and how to encourage them in early childhood care and education. Key to teaching for the 5 DLS is building secure relationships with every child in the encouraging early learning community.
B. LENGTH OF SESSIONS
Sessions can range in length from 60 minutes (for keynotes) to 6 hours. When doing a keynote, Dan prefers to follow up with a break-out session.
Contact Dan for additional information.
C. FEES AND COSTS
Fees and travel costs regarding keynotes, break-out sessions, speaking engagements, and workshops can be negotiated with Dan.
D. CONTACT INFORMATION
(The best method of contact is by email. Dan usually replies within a day.)
Dr. Dan Gartrell
gartrell@paulbunyan.net
The old Neanderthal does not communicate through other social media. :-})
Dan Gartrell Ed.D. 