For a deeper understanding of the research behind the Umbrella Project metaphor, please watch the following video that will help you run the program in the classroom:
We also invite you to watch this video that will help you access and understand the monthly lesson plans:
Thank you for being a part of the Umbrella Project! Please watch the video below from our founder, Dr. Jen.
Thank you so much for being a part of the Umbrella Project and helping us improve wellbeing for everyone!
Each month, we focus on one piece of what makes a powerful umbrella of well-being skills. In April, we spent time on what intrinsically motivates our children and this month we are focusing our attention on Integrity. Integrity is the skill that helps our children match their actions to the positive values they hold.
Learning to match our actions with our words can be difficult for children and adults alike. It requires many small decisions every day that help us live with honestly, respect and responsibility. For example, lying to get out of trouble is one situation that comes up regularly when we think about these day to day choices that children make.
Integrity is when we have a set of positive values and our actions in life match those values. If you look up integrity in the dictionary, it also means ‘wholeness’. When we say one thing and do another, it can make us feel like we always have something to cover up or hide.
Integrity allows us to feel whole and take responsibility for our actions. Integrity also increases the release of oxytocin in our brain which is our bonding hormone and it makes us more trustworthy to others. Integrity is the number one quality people look for in a leader and will help our children feel proud of who they are.
Listen in with Dr. Jen to learn more!
Looking at gym classes in school, researchers found that they could build intrinsic motivation in kids to participate in sports by focusing on mastery and performance.
Mastery allows us to find joy in the process of becoming expert with a new skill – helping us to build our performance and our ability to do something.
Find out how this research helps our children build intrinsic motivation in today’s tip with Dr. Jen!
In an after-school program, researchers looked at two different groups of kids: 1) Kids who joined the program because they wanted to, and 2) the group that joined the after-school program because others encouraged them to.
They found that students whose behaviour was self-directed and had joined because they wanted to saw more pro-social behavior as well as an increase in autonomy and self-efficacy.
Find out more with Dr. Jen in today’s tip!