Meet Madeline Bohr

Meet M.Y. Time Program Trained Instructor, Madeline Bohr, Early Childhood Instructional Coach for the Wilson School District in West Lawn, PA. She supports kindergarten through second grade teachers in a variety of capacities.

We asked Madeline . . .

In what capacity have you been implementing/integrating  the M.Y. Time Program into your work?

We began our association with Mindful Roots Children by training a few kindergarten teachers to implement The M.Y. Time Program. Our group now includes all kindergarten teachers, pre-kindergarten teachers, first grade teachers, and an administrator. We blend this program throughout each day as a curriculum integration. Our cohort model allows us to have collaboration among our teachers and we regularly discuss parts of the program for professional development in the space of social and emotional learning. 

 What changes have you noticed as a result of teaching this program?

As we look through the student lens we notice children learning self-regulation (managing feelings and behaviors in acceptable ways for productive learning and well-being) skills and transferring these throughout their day. Children now prompt each other as they learn together. This mindset doesn’t just stop during the small bites of instruction each day. We see it everywhere! Parent feedback has indicated that these strategies are being used at home as well. M.Y. Time is a classroom management tool that is a basic and systematic part of our curriculum. We ask, “How can we work together to calm ourselves and to manage self-control?”

It might sound basic but this gives teachers the tools and the space to use them. Teachers already knew about this kind of work but through this program adoption we have the allocated time, space, and district level support to put it into practice. This fits with our post pandemic districtwide goal of the importance of creating supportive, nurturing classroom environments.

Are there any additional thoughts that you’d like to share either as a result of your own impressions about the M.Y. Time program or perhaps student/client reflections?

Lastly, this has given our kindergarten team this sacred thing that we do that is an important part of helping our students along a life-long journey of learning. Pieces of this program are always coming to light at our shared monthly meetings with educators feeling so good about giving children what they need. In the wisdom of Fred Rogers, we know we need to meet children where they are and to focus on what they can do rather than what they can’t do. We teach students as people first, recognizing big feelings and providing the space to do so. We have to practice this and teachers learn to show students how they can do this too. The M.Y. Time Program embodies all of this.