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History
In 1994 Mark Jagla, the author of
"What's Okay?", felt it was time to give back to society and
volunteer in some capacity. He became a facilitator for children of
divorce and for those who had experienced the death of a family
member. It was at this time that Mark wrote "One, Two, Three Strikes
You're Out... Maybe", one of the seven stories in the conflict
resolution program. The story provided guidance, and helped children
to share their feelings.
A few years later, Jim Chapel, friend, advisor and science teacher,
read the story and told Mark that this was the kind of material
needed in the elementary school system. With Mark's permission, he
showed the story to his colleagues at the various schools in which
he taught. After reading the story to many people, a vice principal
invited Mark to come to his school and teach, "One, Two, Three
Strikes You're Out... Maybe" to a class. Following the lesson, Mark
saw the potential in writing a lesson plan for the story and selling
it to schools.
Jim felt that a program of several stories with different themes
would be beneficial. It was imperative to include in the program, an
easy to follow lesson overview, questions for the children to answer
after the stories are read, with relevant answers provided for the
teacher. With feedback from teachers with the Toronto Catholic
District School Board and the Toronto District School Board, five
drafts and seven years later that's exactly what Mark did.
Having completed the written part of the program, the search began
for an illustrator. This led to Lar deSouza one of the most talented
and creative illustrators in Canada. He looked over "What's Okay?"
and gave it a rousing endorsement agreeing that it was the type of
program that was needed in our schools. Out of the kindness and
generosity of his heart he offered to provide a colour cover page
and individual black and white illustrations for each story for
free.
And thus the book was born... |
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