Teaching Journey : Connecting through Early Education Dee Suvanmani

Mariela Silvera has been in the early years sector for over 25 years and is now a certified mindfulness instructor and a certified Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) practitioner. In our conversation, she shared her honest experience of burnout and her struggles with mental health and well-being. She began her journey by self-learning meditation from YouTube videos and incorporating it into her daily routine.
Mariela spoke passionately about the importance of integrating well-being into early childhood curriculums as a foundational life skill for young people. Throughout the recording, she provided many practical examples of how we can introduce mindfulness to young children and shared EFT techniques that she uses with them. 
 
Video of Tappy Bear and EFT tapping technique. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YP2-ltqBqc
 
Guest speaker : Mariela Silvera @teacherandwellbeingcoach
(https://www.instagram.com/teacherandwellbeingcoach)
(https://www.youtube.com/@mindfuljourneycoaching)
 
Host: Dee Suvanmani  @teachingjourneypodcast (https://www.instagram.com/teachingjourneypodcast/) 

Samantha Barrish has been in the sector for 30 years and is currently an early childhood teacher in NSW. Her focus this year is to say ‘yes’ to all opportunities of new challenges. We spoke about many things- her passion for the importance of relationships with families and risky play and her experience with sitting in the discomfort. She said it has been years and is still in the space of discomfort and spoke about how this honest reflection with herself translate to her own life and her teaching practices.
 
Guest speaker : Samantha Barrish @_the.unplugged.educator_
(https://www.instagram.com/_the.unplugged.educator_/)
 
Host: Dee Suvanmani  @teachingjourneypodcast (https://www.instagram.com/teachingjourneypodcast/) 
 

Anne Gordan has been in the education sector for more than 30 years. She started as a high school science teacher and is now a lecturer and consultant in the early childhood space.
Anne has shared with us her love and passion for STEM and how she has integrated it into her practices even as a mum and grandma to a relational, contextualised play based inquiry. Her fascination on children’s theory really shapes her pedagogy and the questions that she presented to children that opens up to the idea of imagination and wondering and have shared with us the language and words that she uses in highlighting the connections with the concepts and the 'doing' in her many examples. 
 
Guest speaker : Anne Gordon 
(https://www.facebook.com/yellowhateducation/)
 
Host: Dee Suvanmani  @teachingjourneypodcast (https://www.instagram.com/teachingjourneypodcast/) 
 

Rachel Smith is a Family Day Care educator based in a small town of 25 houses in Konorgong, NSW. She has been awarded Educator of the Year in 2020 and 2023 by Family Day Care Australia and recently been nominated for Women Changing the World Award.
She is a perfect example of rising from adversity. Being through with personal and professional challenges she has an inspiring ability to self-reflect and motivate herself and others. She shared her recent blog post in Out of the Box blog page by 'baring it all' with the challenges she faced and that post have reached, inspired and connected educators nationwide who are in similar positions.
 
In this episode prologue, I've shared some reflections around finding your identity before finding your 'tribe': 
Who are you as a teacher/educator/leader?
What are your values and where does it sit in your practice?
What are your passion and interest or what gets you very excited?
 
 
Guest speaker : Rachel Smith @rachelshomechildcarefdc
(https://mailrhcc.wixsite.com/rachel-s-home-child) 
 
Host: Dee Suvanmani  @teachingjourneypodcast (https://www.instagram.com/teachingjourneypodcast/) 
 
 

Leanne Kapetanovski has worked in the sector for 33 years. She has worn many hats and taken on many leadership role from being a centre Director and a Preschool Field Officer. 
We spoke in depth about change and how Leanne shares how she navigates when changes happens and was honest that she didn't like change and reflected on the discomfort. She shared some thought processes that she considers when is reflecting of the change and priority she place for the children and families as she considers on the impact of change that it can bring.
 
Guest speaker : Leanne Kapetanovski
 
Host: Dee Suvanmani  @teachingjourneypodcast (https://www.instagram.com/teachingjourneypodcast/) 

Carrie Rose has been in the sector for 35 years and is a founder of The Rose Way consultancy. Carrie spoke about her challenges in her early days as a teacher and with working with people with different dispositions and pedagogical practices. She shared her reflection of her own traits and how it influences her relationship with people, her leadership style and the drive to the continual motivation after 35 years in the sector. And shared her latest passion and advocacy work on the access to quality of education for all children in Australia. 
 
Reflections to ponder for this episode: 
What does quality of early education look like to you? What are you seeing in practice at the moment? And do both (your vision and realities) are aligned?
What are you doing in your everyday practice that reflects on your vision of quality early education?
How can you as an early childhood professional close that gap to the quality ratings that we see at the moment? 
Where/ how can you access information and expand your knowledge or practices on early education?
 
 
Resources mentioned in this episode: 
Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority. (2023, November). National Quality Framework (NQF) Snapshot Q3 2023 [PDF]. Retrieved from https://www.acecqa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-11/NQF%20Snapshot%20Q3%202023_0.pdf
 
Oncken Jr., W., & Wass, D. L. (1999). Management time: Who's got the monkey? Harvard Business Review, 77(11), [PDF]. Retrieved fromhttps://evolutionpartners.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Management-Time_-Whos-Got-the-Monkey.pdf
 
 
Guest speaker : Carrie Rose (https://therosewayplanning.com/) 
 
Host: Dee Suvanmani  @teachingjourneypodcast (https://www.instagram.com/teachingjourneypodcast/)