Balls, Chickens & Conscious Discipline® Brain State Model, Oh My!
By Amy Decker and Nicole Rice
Teachers, directors and curriculum specialists from six Conscious Discipline® pilot sites, IEECE teaching partners, and Vicky Hepler, certified master instructor, recently gathered at the Institute of Excellence in Early Care & Education for a Conscious Discipline® training. This core group has been participating in a three-year transformational pilot program with the support of the IEECE.
The training this past month focused on developing a deeper understanding of Conscious Discipline® core philosophies.
To deepen our knowledge of the Brain State model, participants broke into four small
circle groups. We began our circle groups with a
pre-frontal brain game that included balls and a chicken. The goal of the game is
to maintain the pattern despite the distractions.
The brain is pattern seeking, and the activity began following a sequence that is repeated several times starting with one ball and then adding two more. Then, the group added the chicken, “the distractor.” What we learned is that to be successful, we need to focus our attention on the goal and override our impulse to be distracted.
After our pre-frontal game warm up, participants volunteered to play the roles of the adult brain and the child brain following the Brain State model: Survival State (fight or flight), Emotional State (emoting for love and connection) and Executive State (problem solving).
The facilitators posed real life conflict scenarios. Then, the participants had to determine which brain state the adult and child were in, and what skills were available to be accessed.
Conscious Discipline® participants practice a frontal lobe brain game that focuses on maintaining a pattern while also dealing with distractions.
This exercise enabled the participants to experience the brain states from the lens of the adult and the child.
The job of educators is to learn how to respond from the higher centers of the brain rather than react from the lower states of the brain. It takes children 24 years for their brains to develop fully; so, as adults, we need to learn how to lend our executive skills.
When we can access our brilliance in a moment of conflict then we can see a child is calling for help or is missing a skill, and we can teach them a new skill!
To learn more about Conscious Discipline®, sign up for one of the Institute of Excellence’s courses:
- HEO0263 - Becoming Brain Smart
- HEO00269 - Creating a Peaceful Classroom through Connections
- HEO0270 - Connecting Moments with Infants and Toddlers
For more information, contact Darcy Russo at 561-868-3663 or russod@palmbeachstate.edu
