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I cannot believe it’s May which means it’s the end of the school year. For many students, it’s their final month of high school 🙈

I’ve worked in situations where I’ve felt as if I was in a pressure cooker. That overwhelm felt by students and teachers alike is not conducive for growth in any way shape or form!

For many students, they’re in their final lap – the very last final weeks. Changes are about to happen and many kids feel dysregulated. There are LOTS of emotions. Many of them are VERY overwhelmed with the excitement and stress of graduation 🧑‍🎓 Exam anxiety is beginning to rear her ugly head… we need to help them find calm while maintaining our own sanity.

We can help our students. We can practice grounding and mindfulness and can model how to develop a PLAN to attack exams.

Encourage your kid to lay “everything on the table” and then consider how best to make time to complete everything. Consider all commitments, assignments, ILPs, summative tasks etc. Once you list every task, you can break down how to attack it.

Don’t let procrastination prevent the student from achieving.

Let me know if you’d like more strategies to support YOU (parent/teacher) or your kids

Love and light

Joy

Joy Badler is a mother to three adults, and a wife to her favourite human being (and sparring partner), David. Joy is known as Mrs. B by many of her former students.

Joy is passionate about animals and kids of all sizes. She has been in education for almost four decades and loves her career. Joy was born to serve children. She is a self-love “queenager” who thrives in her garden.

Joy is very crafty and enjoys knitting and reading immensely. She practices daily meditation and mindfulness, and believes in the philosophy of Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Zen Buddhist spiritual leader, who said, “No mud, no lotus.” Without suffering through the mud, one cannot find the happiness of the lotus.

Joy was educated at The University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Joy is trained in numerous mindfulness modalities including “MindUp” ,“Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction”, “Yoga of Recovery” and “Total Recovery Facilitation“.

Following the birth of her oldest son, she worked for three years teaching mainstream high school English at an inner-city school in Johannesburg. In 1996, Joy and her family moved to Canada. She taught high school English until giving birth to her only Canadian born daughter. Following this, she taught Grade 7 & 8 English at an International Baccalaureate school. In 2010, Joy accepted her dream position of “Director of Student Success” for a K-6 school. She introduced a Social/Emotional Learning Curriculum which focused on neuroplasticity and growth mindset.

In 2022, she established “The Joy Hive”, a collaborative which supports neurodiverse students, their teachers and their families.

As someone who is “wired differently” with an ADHD brain, Joy recognizes that learning can be difficult. Her disability does not define her, but allows Joy to identify with feelings of being overwhelmed and frustrated that are often encountered by learners who are atypical.

Joy encourages a positive mindset, believes in leading with love, and developing functional solutions. Canada’s future walks through her door every day and her room is a place of encouragement, recognition, growth and respect. Joy’s teaching philosophy is teaching to the differing needs of learners. She feels that she was born to teach. Joy believes that every student deserves to be instilled with the belief that they have “The Power of Yet”… they have not acquired that skill YET.

Joy serves schools, parents, teachers and caregivers. She has an office at Toronto Prep Schools where she is the Chief Encouragement Officer for Grade 7-9 students.

Joy Badler is a South African who lives in Ontario, Canada. Joy is a self-love junkie who leads with love and compassion.

Joy, known as Mrs. B, or Mrs. Bad, is a queenager who has taught almost every grade from pre-school to Grade 12. In 2020, Joy resigned from a position as Director of Student Support. He r dream was to create an agency that embraced mental health and valued mindfulness. In October 2020, Joy established her own company offering social emotional literacy to schools across the globe.

Joy Badler Consulting is a collaboration of experts who share one belief : our children are the future. Our Hive supports children and all the people involved in raising them.

I believe in walking this journey with authenticity. If I’m too much for you, I ask with an open heart that you find less elsewhere.

Let me know what you want to discuss 🙏🏻

I was born in Jo’burg, South Africa, and relocated to Ontario, Canada in 1996.  I was born to be a teacher.  Teaching is what makes me who I am.

I graduated with a B.Prim Ed Hons. in 1985 at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. In 1989 I returned to school to complete further qualifications in educating exceptional children. I taught for several years in South Africa right across the grade spectrum, working with children with really diverse learning needs and abilities. I experienced kids from extremely affluent homes, and others living below the poverty line.  I worked with students who were identified as gifted, and those who were profoundly physically and mentally disabled. I have truly been blessed to learn from many beautiful, capable, exceptional children.  

My experience from “within the trenches” has allowed me, along with our amazing TEAM, to develop and deliver an authentic “life skills” programme.  

I started teaching full time in Canada in January 2001, where I worked primarily in the Middle School; however, I also taught ESL to students in the younger grades.   After more than 20 years in a classroom, I became an administrator.

My husband and I have three of our own children (who really are young adults!)  As well, we have two delicious fur children – a chilled Malti-Poo, “Maxwell”, and a feisty Lhaso-Poo, “Mimi”.

Presently I oversee all the special educational needs at an elementary school in Toronto.  My mandate is that all children walk outside of my influence proudly clenching vital life lessons. 

Feel free to explore my site, and let me know how I may be able to improve it.  Please take into consideration that this is “a work in progress” and I would only like to accept constructive criticism — be kind 😉

Everyone needs to engage in a form of daily meditation in order to maintain mental wellbeing.  We spend our days on a hamster wheel, trying to conquer mountains.  We encounter personal stress and pain, as well as work related stresses.  Stress is so unhealthy especially since it causes us to respond and react in an unproductive, and sometimes even volatile manner.  We need to ensure that we give ourselves time to “stop and smell the flowers”.  Quiet time of reflection allows us to ponder our thoughts in a rational manner.

As an educator, I have needed to overtly teach my students how to ‘bring their engines down’.  I have a chair in my office called “the dog chair”.  It’s a place of absolutely no judgement.  When the kids come in “for a big talking to”, the immediately plant themselves there and I continue to go about my business until they’re in their “calm place”.  They all know that they are safe there, but bringing their anxiety down is often extremely challenging.  They need scaffolding to breathe and come to their place of calm. Coaching countless “high running engines”  to slow down resulted in the birth of S.P.A .

Stop            (take a big breathe and blow out slowly as if you are blowing up a balloon)

Pause/        (take a moment to think about the situation and different reactions… take Ponder         5-10 deep tummy breaths while thinking carefully)

Act               present your response (in a rational manner)

A few weeks ago I was chatting to one of our parents.  She was talking about changes she has made in her lifestyle and in turn, parenting, which have resulted in home becoming a place of peace and serenity.  She has developed startegies to alliviate her levels of stress when dealing with parenting — an arduous task, at times!  I was asked if I meditate, and initially I responded no, because I don’t engage in a conscious daily time of reflection doing yoga or formal meditation. I do, however, try to practice mindfullness throughout my day — if time allows!

When I get home from school, I immediately complete my daily rituals of laundry, putting away dishes, cleaning counters etc.  (Yes, my children DON’T always do their chores either, and I’m somewhat obsessive).   Once done, I grab a glass of vino and  I head directly outside to my garden.  As I’m mindlessly deadheading, weeding, nurturing, watering and planting, I find my calm…suddenly I practice daily mindfulness!  I’m a knitter in the winter, and a knitting-gardener in the summer.  My garden is my sanctuary.  It is my very special place which I thoughtfully and personally created.
The Bangles are playing “Manic Monday” right now, even though it’s actually Tuesday,  and I’m feeling Zen.  Here I am doing what I love, and loving myself just the way I am.