ABOUT SHELLEY MARCUS
Shelley Marcus is an Early Childhood Educator and Mindful Living Consultant.
For the past 40 years, Shelley Marcus has been a key, creative player in developing original programs to support emotional and social thinking in early childhood development through play. In addition to her history of teaching, Shelley has partnered privately with many parents to assist them in developing a comprehensive support system for children with a wide range of developmental challenges.
Following undergraduate studies in special education at the University of Florida, Shelley earned her B. A. from Oglethorpe University.
The timeline of Shelley's early professional life includes:
Shelley is an experienced DIR practitioner. DIR® is an evidence-based Developmental, Individual-differences, Relationship-based model, that has become increasingly viewed as the foundation for a developmental intervention approach. Focused on helping children reach their highest levels of engagement, the DIR® model provides a framework of shared understanding that assists clinicians, parents and educators to form a comprehensive view of a child's challenges and strengths, and to use this understanding to create a support specifically tailored to this child's needs.
As an educator, she embraces the importance of play as a means of supporting healthy childhood development. Her work is based largely upon the DIR principles as they relate to the core developmental capacities of regulation, engagement, and reciprocity, combined with a focus on reflective, social and emotional thinking, resilience, and mindfulness. Shelley is a strong believer in laughter, music and respect and encourages everyone, whether you reach out to work with her or not, to add more of these ingredients to your life... or as she often told her classes over the years..."follow the fun"....
As an educator and "mindful-living consultant," Shelley has conducted a series of effective intentional-parenting classes, as well as private, one-to-one mindful-parenting coaching sessions. She has trained classroom facilitators and also mentored both new and experienced teachers in mindfulness philosophy along with techniques to enhance both classroom and parent relationships. Shelley has studied and practiced a variety of daily meditation and mindfulness techniques with leading teachers for more than 40 years.
Shelley Marcus is an Early Childhood Educator and Mindful Living Consultant.
For the past 40 years, Shelley Marcus has been a key, creative player in developing original programs to support emotional and social thinking in early childhood development through play. In addition to her history of teaching, Shelley has partnered privately with many parents to assist them in developing a comprehensive support system for children with a wide range of developmental challenges.
Following undergraduate studies in special education at the University of Florida, Shelley earned her B. A. from Oglethorpe University.
The timeline of Shelley's early professional life includes:
- 1972: created and directed a preschool in Piedmont, CA.
- 1970s: spent most of the next 10+ years studying yoga and meditation while teaching in an American school in India.
- 1980s - 2004: taught at The Paideia School, a prestigious private, independent pre-k through High School. During her years there, Shelley was involved in creating what has become the school's current full-day program for 5 and 6 year olds.
- 1990’s - Present: Shelley has done parent coaching, worked with families to create and sustain comprehensive home programs, trained facilitators to work in main stream school environments, worked with schools to enhance a more mindful approach in their classrooms and parent support. She has shared her own daily practices in mindful living in one-one consults with those seeking a more mindful life of their own.
- 2005 - Present: Shelley co-created, "Thinking Socially Groups", where children can come together, in a safe and trusted environment, to receive highly supported individualized peer play experiences. These play-based groups are unique in their commitment to child generated imaginary play, seen as the creative force, the "glue" that holds together taking another's perspective, problem solving, negotiating, executive functioning, self regulation, and more, needed for successful, healthy, reciprocal relating.
Shelley is an experienced DIR practitioner. DIR® is an evidence-based Developmental, Individual-differences, Relationship-based model, that has become increasingly viewed as the foundation for a developmental intervention approach. Focused on helping children reach their highest levels of engagement, the DIR® model provides a framework of shared understanding that assists clinicians, parents and educators to form a comprehensive view of a child's challenges and strengths, and to use this understanding to create a support specifically tailored to this child's needs.
As an educator, she embraces the importance of play as a means of supporting healthy childhood development. Her work is based largely upon the DIR principles as they relate to the core developmental capacities of regulation, engagement, and reciprocity, combined with a focus on reflective, social and emotional thinking, resilience, and mindfulness. Shelley is a strong believer in laughter, music and respect and encourages everyone, whether you reach out to work with her or not, to add more of these ingredients to your life... or as she often told her classes over the years..."follow the fun"....
As an educator and "mindful-living consultant," Shelley has conducted a series of effective intentional-parenting classes, as well as private, one-to-one mindful-parenting coaching sessions. She has trained classroom facilitators and also mentored both new and experienced teachers in mindfulness philosophy along with techniques to enhance both classroom and parent relationships. Shelley has studied and practiced a variety of daily meditation and mindfulness techniques with leading teachers for more than 40 years.