Dear everybody,

My responses to the questions concerning the activities are:

As I explained in the text, problem solving is complex and for little children aged 2-5. There is no point in being too intellectual, but it is crucial for children to know what they feel and also be able to label their feelings in order to be able to problem solve later. I would say this one is within emotional skills theme but as I have said earlier problem solving probably is something that overlaps all other themes

This is just an example of how one can think about problem solving for little ones and we have found that stories are quite effective in teaching about emotions and problem solving. For each story there is three exercises arranged in order of difficulty.

I hope this make things a bit clearer
Birgitta

-----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
Från: CARMEL CEFAI [mailto:carmel.cefai@um.edu.mt]
Skickat: den 11 mars 2013 21:29
Till: csimoes@sapo.pt
Kopia: charli.eriksson@oru.se; CARMEL CEFAI; natalie.a.haber@um.edu.mt; pmelo@fmh.utl.pt; matsopoulos@gmail.com; zanetti@unipv.it; roberta.renati@unipv.it; rridicki@yahoo.com; valeria.cavioni@unipv.it; paul.a.bartolo@um.edu.mt; b.kimber@telia.com; marizagmelima@gmail.com; dorothy.aquilina@um.edu.mt
Ämne: RE: RESCUR model, themes and activities 1st March

Dear Celeste and Paula
Many thanks for your feedback, very useful, it will inform the revised
documents I will be sending to all within one week or so. Kindly note that
all feedback will be put on google drive by Natalie, including email
feedback
regards
Carmel
>
> Dear Carmel
>
>
> We had a take a look to the documents that you had send to us that
> represent a huge and very good piece of work. But, as you requested, we
> have the following comments/suggestions:
>
> MODEL - In general we agree with the current proposed model, and the
> suggestions made by Brigitta and Roberta.
> In the CRITICAL VARIABLES for teachers, we propose to add on topic 1
> “Knowledge and attitude about...”, and on topic 5 (classroom climate) to
> extend it to “whole school climate, promoting caring, quality
> relationships and mutual responsability”
> THEMES OF THE CURRICULUM, as Brigitta as mentioned, we also agree that the
> main themes should be at the same level of scope (for example, engagement
> through strenght seems to be cross-sectional; also decision-making and
> problem solving skills could be under cognitive skills). So for the moment
> we agree on the following main themes: Cognitive skills (which could
> include decision making and problem solving), psychological skills
> (adding, self-concept, self-esteem, as well as recognizing and promoting
> talents and interests), emotional skills, social skills (adding
> communication/interpersonnal skills)
> Also in this point (themes of the curriculum) we noticed that the
> subthemes also have different scopes (some are more specific, for exemple:
> deal with peer pressure, whereas others have a broader scope, for example:
> resolve interpersonal conflits constructively). In this case we propose
> that we try to work more on broader subthemes and on the general
> strategies to deal with them.
> ACTIVITIES DESCRIPTION - we propose that we all agree on a general
> framework, so that the activities could be described in the same way. For
> instance, we think that if we include some keypoints, like: title of the
> activity, level of the activity, objectives,  materials, time, description
> and reflection questions, would be easier for the reader.
> In the specific example given,  we have a question concerning the content,
> since the first activities proposed under the problem solving theme are
> related to recognizing emotions. Our question is: is this a subtheme of
> problem solving or within emotional skills theme?
> Another question on this topic is, if this is just an example of
> activities that can be done under the problem solving theme, or do these
> activities have already an established sequence within the theme?
>
> We hope that our comments are understandable, but, please if something is
> not clear, do not hesitate to ask us.
>
> Best
>
>
> Celeste and Paula
>
>
>
>
> De: CARMEL CEFAI
> Enviada: ‎1‎ de ‎março‎ de ‎2013 ‎21‎:‎28
> Para: charli.eriksson@oru.se
> Cc: CARMEL�CEFAI�; natalie.a.haber@um.edu.mt; pmelo@fmh.utl.pt;
> matsopoulos@gmail.com; zanetti@unipv.it; roberta.renati@unipv.it;
> rridicki@yahoo.com; csimoes@sapo.pt; valeria.cavioni@unipv.it;
> paul.a.bartolo@um.edu.mt; b.kimber@telia.com; marizagmelima@gmail.com;
> dorothy.aquilina@um.edu.mt
> Assunto: RESCUR model, themes and activities 1st March
>
>
> Dear all
> Please find enclosed our first draft of the resilience curriculum
> framework, the themes and the activities for your feedback. We welcome
> your feedback on the three documents, particularly the themes ( we need
> to
> agree on 6 or 7 major areas of resilience skills which will be developed
> across the three age stages (KG/early years/junior years)- at the moment
> there are 6 general areas/major themes, but I think we still need to work
> on these as a team before we can have  a final set of themes we are all
> happy with and then we can start working the activities on. Have also a
> good look at the activities samples and let us know your feedback on
> them,
> we will start working on these once the framework and the themes have
> been
> finalised. So I suggest in the next two to three weeks or so we share our
> thoughts on the three documents both through emails and the google drive.
> I would like to thank Anastassios and Birgitta for their contribution to
> these documents
> regards
> Carmel
>
> •


--
Prof Carmel Cefai PhD (Lond.),CPsychol AFBPsS
Head, Department of Psychology
Director EuroCentre for Ed Resilience & Socio-Emotional Health
University of Malta
Tel:(00356)23402345
Fax:(00356)21317938
carmel.cefai@um.edu.mt
www.um.edu.mt/edres
www.enseceurope.org