Dr. Jackie Eldridge
Co-Founder Hearts and Minds Matter and Teacher Educator | Hearts and Minds Matter and Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
Toronto, ON, CANADA
Expertise in building safe, nurturing inclusive classrooms for all children through trauma-informed teaching and effective pedagogy.
Biography
With many years as an elementary school teacher, a teacher educator, university administrator, keynote speaker and coach, Jackie is passionate about inspiring teachers to be the best teachers they can be so they will be agents of change. Her work at Hearts and Minds Matter is grounded in her belief that schools must be safe, nurturing communities where teachers understand the most effective pedagogy so they can meet the needs of all of their students. Jackie believes that teachers are able to make a difference in the world when they are able to tap into their own understanding of self and others. Jackie’s doctoral research on the ethics of care demonstrates her core value of the importance of caring connections in all of life’s relationships.
Jackie is the author of Mindfulness: 15 Tips to Get You Started and Mindful Stress. Her current work, Trauma-Informed Classrooms: Creating Safe Spaces is in press with UTPress. She has been widely published in a variety of magazines, academic journals, papers and books. She has been honoured with the Dean’s Award of Excellence in teaching in 2010 from the University of Toronto, Mississauga.
Her current research examines the need for trauma-informed classrooms.
Industry Expertise (4)
Program Development
Professional Training and Coaching
Health and Wellness
Education/Learning
Areas of Expertise (8)
Trauma-Informed Schools
Presonality Dimensions
Emotional Intelligence in School
Leadership
Teaching & Parenting
Teaching and Learning Methods
Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
Resilience
Education (1)
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education: University of Toronto: Doctor of Education, Curriculum, Teaching and Learning 1996
Affiliations (3)
- Canadian Association of Professional Speakers
- Board of Directors: The Roots Collaborative
- Board of Directors: Lotus Hero Project
Links (1)
Languages (1)
- English
Testimonials (1)
Dr. Barrie Bennett, Professor Emeritus | Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto
"I have worked with Jackie Eldridge for the last twenty years as a colleague and as a friend. If you were able to follow her around, to watch her interact with others, you would see integrity, organization, flexibility, and communication as hallmarks of both her professional and personal life. From a broader perspective, she embodies the essence of the practical scholar. She wisely merges theory and practice and slices all she does with a delicate and thoughtful sense of humanity. I’ve personally constructed an image of Jackie as a heart with the mind inside. She tends to focus on a bigger sense of literacy, what Paulo Freire labeled, ‘literacy of the world’…a sense of social justice or building a more collaborative and collegial community of learners. For a number of years, we co-constructed and co-coordinated an innovative Bachelor of Education program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. This program provided practical experiences framed by current and past research related to how curriculum, assessment, instruction, and the ways students (including university students) learn merges in the design of powerful learning environments."
Sample Talks (1)
If You Build it They Will Come: Creating Safe Spaces
If You Build It They Will Come: Creating Safe Places, is a blend of my own story and the importance of fostering safe and caring learning environments so that children will grow and develop resilience. It brings Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence together in a way that helps educators and parents reflect on themselves and their children to identify the ways in which we can create a strong community of learners who will go on to do great things.
Style
Availability
- Keynote
- Moderator
- Panelist
- Workshop Leader
- Host/MC
- Author Appearance
- Corporate Training
Fees
Research Focus (1)
Trauma-Informed Schools
Creating Safe, Inclusive Classrooms
2019-08-09
This book began as my doctoral dissertation (1996) and is being revised as there is an on-going need to create safe learning environments for children with caring teachers. As a child growing up in an abusive home I always felt the need to be protected and school became a safe haven where I felt cared for by my teachers and where I learned that education was the way out of the circumstances that put me at risk and could have seen me choose a different path. The content is a narrative journey into the ways teachers understand the ethics and the importance of caring. It is both an autobiography and biography of the author, several teachers, parents and a student. Caring is not something we simply do as teachers. It is a conscious undertaking where teachers must examine our own understanding and the need that is becoming more and more prevalent in our world. As we see painful images of abused children and those suffering from mental health challenges we see the critical need to provide them with safe classrooms so they can be nurtured and cared for in ways that will lead them to a place of resilience. This work is grounded in the research on trauma-informed practices.
Partnerships (1)
Board of Directors
The Roots Collaborative The Roots Collaborative
A sustainable approach entails systems thinking and a long-term perspective. Systems thinking necessitates understanding the links and interactions within a system, which is a set of connected things or parts forming a complex whole. A long-term perspective acknowledges that the actions of today have an impact on tomorrow. At TRC, we take a holistic approach to management. We work with our clients to tackle complex problems through complete, thought-out solutions. We are also diligent to ensure that in meeting the needs of today, we are not compromising the ability for future generations to meet their needs. Sustainability is commonly defined by a consideration of three pillars: The environment, society and economy. We take a four-pillared approach. We believe that at the heart of our environmental, social and economic stability is the well-being of the individual — you! Thus, helping you cultivate more well-being in your life is a core tenet of our work.
Articles (2)
The Four-Year Old CEO What we can learn from our younger selves.
Thrive Global2017-02-26
Many years ago, I read the book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum. I reflected on this work many times throughout the years, especially because I had been a kindergarten teacher. Recently, as I prepared for a leadership workshop, I re-visited this list and was struck by the relevance of Fulghum’s message for today’s leaders. Kindergarten is a place where we learn skills that can set us up in life. How many of these kindergarten lessons have stuck with you in your role as leader?
Accessing Your Inner Wisdom: Living, Loving and Leading in the Age of Donald Trump
Thrive Global2017-02-03
As time marches on since Donald Trump was sworn in as the president of the United States there is more and more uncertainty that is surfacing about the future of our world. This insecurity is not limited to the United States; instead it is a global concern as the U.S. is commonly considered the most powerful country in the world and the effects of this controversial presidency are being felt internationally. With the onset of these global challenges there comes an array of backlash that threatens individual and collective mental health.
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