Would you need a balance between Yolanda and Becky's approaches to be a successful program director?

Becky seemed to have goals towards the curriculum being based off of the themes of the month, like many programs do. She has a goal for her teachers to have all of their plans and observations/checklists done by a certain date. She plans staff training workshops and provides criticism when needed to her employee. Yolanda had goals towards her employee's thoughts and ideas that came about during their staff meeting. They made goals for the children's development individually and as a group. Some strategies Becky used to reach her goals were to use checklists, give feedback, offer praise and assistance in addressing her employee's weakness, and to have a private meeting with her employee. She also was very clear that rules and regulations were extremely important. Some strategies Yolanda used to reach her goals were to keep herself attuned to the activities that was going on in her program (observing in the classroom), to understand where the development each child was at, and to create activities based off the children's weaknesses. She was clear about the standards but allowed conversation among the teachers about different topics.

I think Becky was more of a managing and overseeing part of the triangle. I feel that part of her practice undermines in supporting her teacher, because there was no room for Juanita to discuss with her the problems she was facing in her classroom with the curriculum. There should be open communication between the director and teachers and it seemed that Juanita was too scared to talk to her director about the concerns she had. There was no real dialogue between Becky and Juanita, it was more of Becky telling Juanita what she is doing well in and what she needs to improve on. While, Yolanda's practice encourages in supporting her teachers. Yolanda allowed the teachers to dialogue with each other and express each others concerns, feelings, ideas, and activities done or to be done in the classroom. She also observes the children and teachers in the classroom, which she then brings ideas to the teachers.



I am not a director, but I do work in a four-five year old classroom every morning.
Current Approach:
- Listen to what I am told to do by my program director in terms of meeting standards and rules/regulations.
- Understand what to do in the daily routine of the classroom.
- Observing children in the classroom during activities in groups and individually. Reporting back to my lead and assistant in what I observed.
- Working closely with my lead and assistant in creating activities and going over the children's documents and things that need to be done in the classroom.
New Things to Try:
- Discussing things with my director more often in terms of some challenging behavior of a child, obtaining more songs and fingerplays, and reflecting on my practice and what needs to be improved.

How do we as teachers support our director?

The Golden Rule Revisited: Treat Adults as You Want Them to Treat Children. When reading through the first couple of pages of this chapter, I came across this statement. I kept coming back to it and thinking about it. How do we want others treating children? Of course how we would want to be treated. We want others to treat children children with respect and guide them in their development as a young child, just like how us teachers do. We treat other adults with respect and help them when they ask for it. Viewing teachers as competent thinkers and learners is an important part of being a director, because teachers do have some insight while being in the classroom with the children. The have hands on experience, but may need to ask questions at times and learn new things as well. When reading Susan's story on page 131, it gave me an insight on why teachers should be viewed as competent thinkers and learners. Five words that describe my view of this teacher is a risk taker, brave, supportive, thoughtful, and respectful. Five things this teacher needs to learn is the framework of building a philosophy, taking action based on the reaction of the teacher's answers and responses, understand the learning standards, and defining the role of the teacher. She had some really great ideas in creating the program's philosophy, but other factors need to be addressed, such as, the community the school's are located in. The community plays a huge role in the school's philosophy and they should be accounted for in the philosophy as well. We are learning about a lot how a director supports the staff, children, and community, but how do we as a teachers support our director? - Something Revisited.

Specific Blog #7

What am I?

 As an Architect I would use their designing skills to build my indoor and outdoor area. Being able to visualize something and making it real. As a weaver I would make be very creative and good with my hands. As a sculptor I would also have to visualize what I’m modeling. As a mediator I would take their patience and knowledge. As a horticulturist I would take their skills to take something small and help it grow to its full potential. I choose each skill to help me as a director. As a director we must take on different roles and aquire different skills. Being able to design my environment to its maximum potential as a architect builds a building. Creating new works of art as the weaver and sculptor will do with their art. It’ll take patience and a clear mind as a meditator to teach others. A horticulturist using their ability to care for something as flower (child) and help them reach their full potential.

                 

 

Specific Blog #6

Do we look at daily routines as a teaching strategy?

Getting ready in the morning is as stressful to the parents as it is to a child. Parents have to get themselves and their child(ren) ready for the day. To have a center that allows parents to come in and help their children transition into school will work out well for those who need the extra help. I like the idea of turning daily routines into a transition from home to school. It puts less stress on both the parent and child. Using “transition times as opportunities for connection and community” is a great idea. Teachers tend to limit transitions in the classroom because the stress it causes on children. By using dally routines as transitions we can make transitions as a teaching strategy.

Specific Blog #5

What is seen first: the child or the problem?

In Michael's case working with a special needs child the "professionals" were having a staff meeting. Where they looking at the problem or the child? I don't know. When I look into my professional life as a teacher when I'm faced with a child that needs extra help do look at the child or the problem first. Many times teachers will focus on the problem and not the strengths of a child. Teachers feel that they must focus on the problem and find a solution. In Michael's case his family is "honoring" the child. The child comes first. 

I recently attended a workshop on challenging behaviors. The first exercise we had to look at a picture of a child smiling with a birthday crown on and were asked a few questions. One question was very basic “What do we see?” I answered a happy child who looks as if he’s celebrating his birthday. The next question was, “What is his challenging behavior?” From a picture we couldn’t answer that question. This child had autism. By looking at the picture we were able to see the child first. When watching a video with a child showing his challenging behavior we all focused on what the problem was. This workshop helped me to realize that in order to help the child with a challenging behavior we must focus on the child first and then work on the problem. In Michael’s case he learned to “honor” the child because of the boy’s family.

In creating a classroom environment that facilitates to these daily routine strategies, how do we get parents to understand a quality transition into school with their child?

Reading this strategy made me love it. I agree that transitions in the morning can be very difficult and I wanted to learn more about transitioning the child into the class in the mornings. One of my kids has a hard time saying goodbye to his mom in the morning. She leaves very fast and has busy mornings. When she leaves, her son cries for about two to three minutes. During this time I usually take him to the library center and give him a tissue and a hug and reassure him that his mom will pick him up after she is done with school. I sometimes read him a book as well. About five minutes after this he's happy and ready to eat breakfast and play. Is this the right way of doing this? It works for him, but recently there has been talk about parents just leaving their kids when they're crying and reassuring the parents that their child will be okay. I've noticed that sometimes when parents stay with their child for a longer period of time in the mornings that it can be harder for the child to adjust and transition into the day and it can also make it easier for children to adjust and transition into the day. These strategies were very interesting and I will try them in my own classroom. A question that emerged was, "In creating a classroom environment that facilitates to these daily routine strategies, how do we get parents to understand a quality transition into school with their child?"

As teachers, how can we make a bigger impact on each child that enters our doors?

While reading this story I was a little confused if this meeting happened in the center or outside the center. Was it a gathering for the child that his teachers were invited to? Other than these questions, I found this meeting very amazing and powerful. When Michael stated, "We come together for his or her sake, and this child must be very important to have brought all of us together," made me think that isn't this why we all decided to go into the early childhood education field, because every child is important and brings children, teachers, families, and the community together? That's why I decided to become a teacher. Every person that enters a young child's life may leave an impact on their life. But it's what kind of impact you make on each child's life that counts. Each child is important to their family, community, society, country, and world.

This meeting reminded me of a child's first birthday that is celebrated here in Hawaii. It is a celebration of all the benchmarks the child has completed from when they were born to the age of one. It's a time when the entire family comes together in celebrating the child's life and blessing the child's life. Each child belongs to a family and is so very important and precious, that it should be our honor as teachers to be able to be in their lives and teach them. A question that emerges to me is "As teachers, how can we make a bigger impact on each child that enters our doors?"

How do directors create an environment that consists of a family-like atmosphere for the staff in the program?

A couple of months ago I decided to sit down under a tree when my class was outside at the playground. I just wanted to see what they see and put myself into a child's shoes. I actually had an awesome time doing that. I was shorter than the children so when the children talked to me they looked down upon me, which was nice for a change. It made my view completely change mainly on how we stand tall next to children but when they talk to us we stoop down to their level. A lot more children came up to me to talk and to just sit with me. I think it was a positive experience for both myself and for the children. This helped me understand the greater expectations when designing a program environment that nurtures the community along with the children and families attending the program. The program I work at has six buildings with two classrooms in each building. My director always tells us staff to think of our program as being like a village. So being able to read about this in the text was encouraging to me to know that other programs are like this as well, because it does work, especially in larger programs. I really enjoyed reading about the strategy Explore the environment as a child might, because it's important to set up your environment that will interest the children of your program. That is why I sat down under the tree, so that I could understand and observe how children explores and interacts with the people and things around them.

As staff members at programs, we do spend a lot of time in and out of the program (as noted on pages 74-75). We spend our days with children, families, and other teachers. It's like our home away from home. I feel that my workplace is like another family. I have been lucky to have co-workers that support me in my professional life, education, and personal life and that is truly rewarding. A lot of them are older than me so I look up to them for advice and we all share friendship with each other. We all are like an ohana at my workplace and I wonder if other programs have that same type of atmosphere. That raised a question, how do directors create an environment that consists of a family-like atmosphere for the staff in the program? When the atmosphere is fun and exciting, work is more fun and exciting. When work is more fun and exciting, things will get done in the program and the teachers will be happier and thus, the children will receive better learning experiences. Every teacher does have their own way of teaching and views on teaching, conflict will always arise in the workplace. But when the director is able to create an environment that is open and willing for discussion on new ideas between the staff, that is an environment that will be easier to work in.

Why is it  so hard to bring our community in the classroom?

While reading this chapter I thought to myself we living in a community, yet there is no sense of the community in the program that I work for. Why not bring our part of our daily lives into the classroom to make it more meaningful to the children.  I thought about my own center and thought why not open up the classes and let them mingle and see what happens. I’m an extended day teacher and work with three year olds. The site I work at has two three year old classes and two four year old classes. The three and four year olds have separate buildings. In each building there are two classes (same age group) which are separated by a sliding door. I would like to see it opened now that I have read this chapter.

I was captivated by the scenes in the beginning of this chapter. All scenes made even the reader feel welcomed because I could feel how the characters would’ve felt knowing that they are welcomed in their children’s school. I wished that would be the feeling when the parents picked up the their children are the end of the day. It made me start thinking of what I do to welcome the parents when they pick up their children. I noticed that the parents are more willing to talk in the afternoons because most have to rush out in the mornings to get the work or drop off other siblings. My partner and I try to talk with the parents and most times they want to know if their child had a good day in school. I find myself distracted because we do have to supervise the rest of the children in the classroom. This also made me think about our rules in my preschool and we have a strict policy which allows the parents a 10 minute window to pick up their children from extended day and leave. If we wanted to make a time for parents to connect with their children and the teachers I don’t know how that would be possible at my particular site. It is something that I’m going to look into.