Documentary: How Does Your Engine Run?

When Stuart Shanker, distinguished professor of philosophy and psychology at York University, got home from a long trip recently, he was excited to see his five-year-old daughter. They started roughhousing. Shanker was, by his own admission, a little rambunctious. At one point, she turned to him and said solemnly, "Daddy, you need to take three deep breaths. You're hyper."

He had taught her well.

In academic circles it's called "self-regulation" — the ability to figure out when you're out of kilter, and to know what to do about it. It's a philosophy that's making big inroads in Canadian schools these days. Stuart Shanker is its Canadian pied piper. He talks to The Sunday Edition's Karin Wells.

• Documentary extra: Karin Wells' full interview with Stuart Shanker
• ​Photo gallery: How Does Your Engine Run?
• Biography: Stuart Shanker

Teachers see a growing number of kids going off the rails. Another visit to the office isn't fixing things; the drug store is running out of Ritalin. And what can a teacher do for an unsupervised 8-year-old whose mother works the overnight shift at Tim Hortons?

A year ago August, 250 teachers gathered in Surrey to hear Shanker speak about a practice called "self-regulation." A month later the Surrey School District bought it — one of six British Columbia boards to do so.

It's influencing everything from the colour of the classroom walls, to the sounds of teachers' voices. 10-year-olds are setting emotional goals; students in Grade 3 are putting themselves to bed earlier. All in the cause of better learning.

A hot ticket? You bet.

Shanker and his crew can barely keep up with the demand.

The day I spoke to him, Stuart Shanker was very generous with his time as he explained his "Self-Regulation" research fully.

The raw interview (see link below) runs just over an hour. 

Shanker is a tall lanky man, a former basketball player with a mind that never stops. That day he was wearing his pale blue "Catch the Wave" t-shirt.

You will hear a reference to Mike McKay. McKay is the Superintendent of Schools in the Surrey School District and has now become Shanker's man in the schools in British Columbia.

He has just announced that he is taking early retirement to work on "Self Regulation" full time.

I spoke to Stuart Shanker over a glass of iced tea out on the deck of his house looking just outside Toronto.

As you will hear, the chickens were wandering and clucking about in the garden.

Unfortunately it was a day when I was developing a cold — my apologies for the coughing and wheezing.

- Karin Wells