education - Wildewood Learning

Understanding Trauma and Creating Safety for Children

In this video, you will learn the difference between the learning and survival brains and the importance of nervous system regulation to create safety in the learning environment.

Four Tools to Calm, Connect, Activate, and Affirm

Each lesson has a set routine: Mindfulness activity, connection question, skills lesson, and closing. Routine is so important in having a classroom that feels calm and connected.

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Four Steps to Reflective Listening

Many moons ago, I was a director of a girl’s leadership program that worked with teen girls in rural northwestern Minnesota. It was a fantastic program that provided teens with life skills. One of the skills we taught was reflective listening. I still use this important communication skill today.

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Resources for Exploring Culture with Children

I grew up in a small Midwest rural farming community in the late 1970s and early 1980s. My exposure to different perspectives and cultures was limited; however, one thing that we received at school that opened my eyes to world events was the Scholastic Weekly Reader.

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Four Resources for Exploring Culture

Culture is described in the dictionary as “the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group.”
In May 2020, the murder of George Floyd occurred in Minneapolis, Minnesota—my home state—the state of Minnesota Nice. Minnesotans are white Scandinavian folks that eat lefsa and bring hotdishes to potlucks at the church. The event did not fit my perceived image of Minnesota culture. There was something I needed to explore and get curious about that was not within my worldview.

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Tip of the Week: Resilience is Hope

Resilience is the key to hope and strength. Resilience is the ability to withstand adversity and move through complex life events to adapt, change, and grow. Learning about resilience has given me hope.

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Four Key Skills Needed For Safety

So many emotions are associated with the first few days of school: excitement, hopefulness, joy, nervousness, anxiety, and fear. Humans can hold more than one emotion at a time, so you can feel all sorts of emotions as the school year begins.

Imagine what a child might feel in those first few days of school.

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7 Steps to Being a Trusted Adult

You can help a child or another adult heal trauma by being a trusted, calm, competent person through listening, holding space for emotions, and turning them towards the strengths in their lives. There is true power in a relationship between a trusted adult and a child. It can make all the difference in a child’s outcome in life.

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Six Books on My Summer Reading List

In my past posts, I have talked about how I take some time over the summer to dive into learning things I want to know about. Many times that includes books. I am a book lover; I buy books that look interesting to me, and then they sit on my shelf, collecting dust and looking like I am more intellectual than I really am. Many of these books are on subjects I want to deepen my understanding to include the information in my keynote speeches and training. This summer is the summer of deepening my knowledge of trauma-informed work.

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Three-Step Process to Build the Skill of Accepting a “No”

We never really get over the hurt of the word “No.” However, what if the word “No” can lead us to a “Yes”? What if the word isn’t rejection, disappointment, or fear of keeping up with the Jones? What if a “No” is really a “Yes” to something else?

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