Shall we use the knowledge and insights that we have learned throughout this semester from reading everyone's blog assignments as contributing factor for the success of the future Early Childhood Education file?

After reading the afterword chapter of this book, I feel a little bit overwhelmed because there are a lot of things that I still need to learn and gain from early childhood program in order to contribute and become a strong foundation for our children. Even though I have learned a lot from working with children for 4 years, but once I started taking classes, I learned there was so much more to working with children than what I had previously thought. There are so many behind the scene details that no one even thinks about but are such important parts of creating a quality program for our future generation. The projects that are talked about in the afterword section provide valuable information such as NAEYC accreditation, leadership development, director credential programs, & continuous training for teachers as well as leading efforts to ensure developmentally and culturally appropriate practices, and create quality rating systems tied to financing quality child care and improved compensation. This book has inspired me and given me some awesome ideas when working in the field of early childhood education, especially as a director's point of view as well as the relationship between teacher, children and family. At the end I would like to thank all of my classmates and our Professor who have spent time reading my blogs and posting all the incredible, inspiring and educational questions and information through out this semester. It was a pleasure to read and see things from everyone’s perspective. Thank you very much and have a great winter break everyone. ~Som~

How can a director incorporate the learning of nature to inspire teachers teaching in their center?

I grow up in a big city called Bangkok in Thailand. Unfortunately I barely see nature surround there as much as children who grew up in countryside did. Even though my school was surrounded by tall buildings and cars there are areas inside the classroom where small plants in milk cartons can be grown to decorate the classroom. Personally I do not think that incorporating nature in children's learning is only limited to parks, gardens, or courtyards. We can provide a small area in the classroom where children can grow a small plant in a small container like milk cartons or a small jar and see them grow. We can have the children experiment with bean sprouts because they are easy to grow and care for and only take small containers and a small area. What are other ways a director can inspire teachers to promote nature to their children in a limited space classroom? How can a director encourage teachers to think outside the box?

How do directors learn to lead with resources such as power, authority and influence?

I think it is great that he motivated and inspired in believing that we can do anything we set our mind to. Roberto did give some great ideas in thinking about what they really want the children to get out of the center. It gets people talking and sharing and explaining why they believe in what they believe in. This is something that I would like to one-day try in a center of my own. I also liked the fact that he tried to involve staff and parents in a lot of the planning of the changes he was hoping to make. I think he went about it in a good way, instead of just coming in as a new director and just changing whatever he didn’t like. He was careful about involving staff and parents so that they were included in a lot of the decisions and discussions. This way they could see why things were going to be changed and done a certain way, because they were apart of the conclusion that was come to in meetings and discussion times. As daunting as standards and regulations can be, Roberto seemed to set good examples for how to accomplish goals while keeping the focus on what is best for the children.

How do you implement each side of the triangle to get people on the same page and inspire others to reach a common goal?

Michelle has an open mind and is willing to make changes. Her disposition is intent on making improvements for her program and is trying new things to improve the center. Michelle did not focus on what may have been done wrong in the past. She focuses on what need to be done to improve now. By providing side-by-side mentoring appealed to work. I think it is such a great idea for teachers to know what they are doing from the start and learn the new procedures and how the school runs. Having new employees learn from regular staff can lead to relationship building and new things can be learned by both parties. Her idea of letting new teachers observe in the classrooms is great, as well as meeting one hour a week with staff members. How do we know if the changes we are making are the right and positive changes? How can directors communicate what needs to be changed and adjusted?  How can we learn from mistakes and move on for new and positive changes?

What will be the benefits if directors can master all sides of the triangle?

Lettie has been building relationships in the classroom, in the school, and in the community and that is one of the most important parts of being a teacher and a director. By having good relationship with the family it will help the child, the school, and the community and have opportunities to learn new things and develop other important skills. As we can see from the reading, Lettie has shown the process of using the triangle. On the “Management and Overseeing” side of the triangle, Lettie recognized that the recommendations and requirements for infant/toddler programs had the potential to lead her down the track of focusing on paperwork. She requested from her staff, especially her regular staff, to make sure they recorded diaper change, eating and sleeping times of their infants and toddlers using a simple chart. For the “Coaching & Mentoring” side of the triangle, Lettie integrated her leadership by involving the teachers in her idea to keep journals for each child by encouraging the teachers to add photos or write in each child’s journal a few times a week. The “Building and Supporting Community” side of the triangle, Lettie wanted to change and transform her early childhood center. She organized her leadership work by changing the way she introduced and welcomed people into the center by giving the initial first tours of the classroom, instead of single families she put a few families together, this way they would interact and get to know each other. How can new directors focus on the triangle and apply it effectively? How can we keep balancing each side of triangle just as Lettie did?

How can a director balance his or her role as a manager and a leader?

There are differences between directors who see themselves as leaders and directors who see themselves as managers. The directors who see themselves as leaders are very supportive as well as open to feedback on how they can improve as a leader. At the same time they value the opinions and perspectives of the staff. In contrast, the director who see themselves as managers have focus more on standards, regulations as well as heavy paperwork and documentation. As I learn about the importance of Managing and Overseeing from the reading I acknowledge that maintaing a balance between the two role is rather difficult. However, after a careful rethink of what will be the most effetive quality to run a program I have no doubt that without good management skills a director can appear to be incompetent and unable to run an early childhood center. So, as a director, how can you manage but also make your staff feel involved in the management process? I have to say that it is really important for directors to have a balanced role of both because both a leader and a manager come with very important attributes that, when balanced, will project one as a competent leader who know what he or she is doing. Respect will follow and order will be maintained. It is highly desirable if a director knows how to implement either roles when a situation calls for it.

What goals, approaches and strategies that leaders should have?

After finished reading 2 different styles of director approach from Becky and Yolanda, I can see the difference in approach each director chose to run their program. As I compare the approaches of the two directors, many questions have come to mind, what kind of directing style works best in running the program? Would managing help the program to reach high quality? Should director be more mindful about coaching and mentoring approach? How can director keep up and balance the components of triangle framework: coaching, mentoring and managing in order to run the program?

In the reading, director Becky seems to be using the managing aspect. I totally understand that the quality of the program needs to be maintained and meet most of the requirements, which Becky tried to keep up with her teachers and that is a good thing. However, the fact that she is not spending much time to observe the teachers and the children in the classroom puzzles me because she did not have much opportunity to understand and see much about the classroom environment, the teacher and the children. I surely do not think that by meeting with the teacher and go over the plan written on a piece of paper is good enough to help to support her as the leader. Although I think it was very nice that Becky shared feedback and praised Juanita, she did not give much opportunity for Juanita to share some ideas and concerns that she had. And that was why she seemed to be struggling with the themes and curriculums. Personally, I think Becky should give teachers time to observe children’s interest before creating classroom themes and plans, or she could have just give teachers the opportunity to adjust or change the themes and curriculums that meet the children’s interest.

In contrast, Yolanda was showing a form of coaching and mentoring. She came in and spent time to observe children interests by documenting and doing assessment, which was very unusual to me because I haven’t seen many director doing that part before. However, I think it was a very good idea because the director will have more opportunity to create classroom environments that suit the children she observed. I think Yolanda had set the foundation of collaborative planning as she offered to find resources and listened to what her staff may have to say and she offered suggestions and expressed her concerns. Personally, I think Yolanda seems to have the understanding and the components that she will best provide for program. She takes an active role of leading, such as offering to search for resources. At the same time, she also allows the teachers to take the lead to adjust some curriculum plans.

In the comparison chart of goals, approaches and strategies, I found myself in both Yolanda and Becky's shoes. I see myself more as part of a team who work together with other teachers and the director just like Yolanda. I find that sharing and consulting gives me a better understanding of children and families. At the same time I also tend to follow the example that was set in the program just like Becky.

As a director, what will be the best fit for mentoring and coaching the teachers in the program?

As the beginning of this chapter said, the director should encourage the staff to do something new without telling them what to do. So I am thinking: What kind of mentoring and coaching strategies that we can use to encourage those staff?

As I look back at the 2 different directors I have been working with recently I feel like my first director never socialized much with the staff. She would always play a very firm role to the staff members, which led me, as a new staff during that time, to feel some distance as I was trying to establish a close relationship with her. On the other hand, something positive came out of it. When she asked staff to do things, such as submitting a document or returning a paper work to her or even when we knew she would come in and observe the environment we would always try our best to complete everything on time or even before due date. Personally, if I did something differently, I was scared to explain why I wasn’t following her request or listening to her which was why I always made sure that I completed everything the way that she wanted. That was my motivating factor. On the down side, I have never talked or shared much with her because I could feel a barrier between our relationship.

My second and recent director presented herself totally opposite of the first one. She is so kind and warm to all of the staff members. When she came in the room she would always said hi, smiled and asked us about our day or even asked if we needed anything or any suggestions that could help to improve our teaching or classroom. She even brought us snacks and baked some cake for us to eat during break time. Furthermore, she would give us cake for our special occasion such as graduation, birthday or even becoming a naturalized citizen as in my case. On the up side I could feel that she have built a strong relationship with the staff. All the staff were happy to see her, talk to her and even share their thoughts and ideas and requests to her because we always knew that she was always there listening to us and making our requests come true if it was possible. We would always have less stress and always came up with new ideas, new request to improve our teaching and classroom. On the down side, I think sometimes because of her kindness and open relationship with the staff members, it may have led to lack of responsibility for some staff. When she requested that the staff submit documents or paperwork not all of the staff submitted them on time and she usually did not ask for it.

Personally, I am still struggle to conclude which of these two styles of mentoring is the best mentoring for our staff as a director. I am thinking that warm, kind and open relationship would be the best fit for mentoring and coaching the teachers but on the other hand I think that sometime we need to play a firm role as well.