What an exciting time!

What a busy, and exciting time we have been having.

Over the next few days I will be posting some photos of the recording session that Alex and I were involved in on Friday, at good friend Angie’s studio. Tina, another good friend,  (from The Purple Jam Music Studio – link below) was also there – Tina and Angie have written the music and provided the technical support as we develop a package of goodies to go with our ‘in the Garden’ texts which were published last year. This is an exciting time – the package will be launched in mid-September, so keep watching this space! 

The new learning calendar is up as well, with more training going ahead in July, for teachers, teaching assistants and childcare workers. So take a look if you are interested.

www.thepurplejam.musicteaching.info 

Excitement in the Air!

There is a sense of excitement in the air at 5energies! Yesterday the first Basic training for 2009 began, with a new group of talented, enthusiastic teachers giving up their holiday time to train in the 5energies model. This surely indicates the commitment that teachers have towards improving their professional practices, but also optimising opportunities for their learners.  What is exciting from our perspective though, is the amount of laughter and enjoyment, and the willingness of these teachers to contribute their expertise to make the professional discussions so much richer.

As the presenters, Alex and I find these training sessions so exciting – the potential within their schools to create change is so immense! The exchange of information between professions is also so empowering – each time I listen to Alex, as a very experienced speech pathologist, I learn something new. We also have our first trainer coming online too – this is a person who has been working in the 5energies model for the past two years, and is now embarking on the journey to become a qualified trainer. Now that is exciting too!

We will be putting the new learning calendar up in the next few days, so if you are interested in the next Basic Training sessions, please contact the office for more information.

Parents are such clever people

I was recently out shopping when a child who used to be in my class, shouted my name across the vegetables. I waved, but in an instant, child and her parent came across to talk to me. One of the joys of being a teacher is watching children we know well, growing up and succeeding.

In the meantime, after the usual courtesies and chat, Mandy, the mother, came to the point. Her good friend Belinda had a child who was not doing well at school, and was at her wit’s end trying to find the right help for her child. I asked the usual question about what the issues were and what followed was a detailed and highly descriptive learning journey for this child. This was a mother who KNEW her child very well: she had observed her child at work, watched her play, noted her child’s confusion, particularly with making sense of instructions and following through. If a television was playing in the background, it was pretty certain that Belinda’s daughter was unable to complete tasks.

I thought then, as I have thought many times over the years, that parents have such valuable information about their children. With that detailed information, a good speech pathologist would be so far ahead in identifying the issues preventing Belinda’s daughter from learning effectively. I guess the message from today was that Belinda was wise to be concerned, and wise to be asking around for help. That is one of the reasons we started 5energies©: we are a one-stop shop with an experienced speech pathologist, occupational therapist, educational psychologist and educators and a variety of strategies to help children.

That is also why we love parents as astute and observant as Belinda – parents are such clever people.