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.

What is the most important skill that a leader should have?

As I try to think and consider myself as architect, sculptor, a mediator or a horticulturist and asking myself what kind of skills that I need to learn. Honestly, I have to say, “everything.” It seems very odd but personally, I think by being the architect, sculptor, mediator and horticulturist even though as the director we should not miss any skills that will contribute our program. Even though we already learn and know what should be done but the most important thing is we should be aware of what we might miss and forget. Personally, I think by maintaining high standards and stay on top of every important aspects of the program are crucial and might be the most important goal that every leader in every single career should have. Concentrating on a particular skill is not the key to success. The key to success of the leader is to be rounded how they balance the work equally.

How can we create smooth transition between home and school for children and their families?

Transition and routines during the drop off time are the most important aspect that every teacher should pay most attention t. In the classroom that I work in, there are many types of children and families. By arriving to the classroom in the morning, I can see so many interesting scenes everyday, some are predictable and some are unexpected. For examples, some children just come in and say goodbye to their parents. Some children cry and does not want their parents to leave and some just random depending on their mood for the morning. For the parents, some of them come in and spend time with their children until their children settle down and leave. Some parents are just drop off their children and leave right away because of their busy schedule. Some parents are just want to hang out as much as they can and end up being the one who does not want to leave the classroom. How can we deal with the different types of personality of children and parents? How can we help them get through this morning transition? What kind of strategies or activities that will help with different types of separation anxiety that may happen in many children, and sometimes in parents?

What are the benefits of showing respect to children and their families’ culture and belief?

Making parents and children feel comfortable and welcomed to the classroom environment is the key of developing the sense of belonging to the classroom environment. As we work in Early Childhood Education file, we are there to create a welcoming environment that each child as well as his/her family can become accustom to. At the same time, we need to be mindful about their culture, belief and background. In the story, there was a good reminder for me that respecting children and families culture and beliefs is one of the important aspects in improvement and growth of the children. As we all know that parents and immediate families are the first teachers and the first group of important people in the children’s life. It is very important to do things that benefit and honor the children and their families. Listening and understanding their parents would lead to open discussion and establish relation between teachers and families. At the same time teachers will have more opportunity to find the values out off each family's culture, background and belief which will help us to be able to adapt some of that culture beliefs or any suggestions to the classroom environment or activities because this is another way trust is established between teachers and parents.

How can we as the directors create a sense of warmth and welcome to children and their family in the program?

          As I looked back to the programs that I have been working, visiting or volunteering I found that most of them stood out and are well known for their philosophy and mission. As a least experienced assistance teacher, I would always wonder how the contributors or directors of the childcare program or preschool create their philosophy and mission. Did they create it based on what topical childcare program should have? Did they just create it based on their personal experience? Did they just create it by the beliefs and understanding of majority of people in their society? Did they just create it by what they have experienced and learned from the Early Childhood Education classes.

          As we all see in the examples in this chapter there are so many ways to create a program that incooperate family as the other important aspect of children’s development. By including family as part of the day, making them feel warm and welcome just as we would with their children will create a huge different atmosphere for children and families because families will feel more sense of belonging in the classroom. This will establish their comfort zones and a sense of trust to families when they leave their children in our hands and able to share deeper thoughts and problems between teacher and families.

         What is the best quality to implement in our program vision? Which vision will promote our program?

As a director what will be the best component of using the 3 sides of triangle framework?

After reading this chapter and doing the triangle practice for 2 scenarios, I came to realize that it is really hard for most people, especially a first time director who lacks experience to be a balanced director right of the bat. Such a director would require talent coupled with tremendous patience and vision.

After reflecting on the triangle practice, I can say that it was the greatest challenge for many people, especially for a person with limited language such as myself. Personally, I feel that if you have never had prior experience being a director or any type of leadership position before, I can guarantee that it will be a huge challenge for anyone. As we all know that different people have different personality and it is really hard to learn how to recognize other people's temper and personality, especially when you are new to the environment.

Personally, I think some strategies in triangle framework will work with some people but some strategies won’t work well. How can we learn to recognize other people's ability and temper? This is a trait that I need to focus and improve on. I also found that some part of the triangle framework could be applied to teachers as well especially the coaching and mentoring and building and supporting community aspect of it. However, I feel that managing and overseeing is more difficult because I sometimes can’t see thing in different perspective and it might lead to conflict and I am too shy to take the lead as well.

How can a new director step the foot into their new workplace environment smoothly?

Scenario 1: New director dilemma

What issues are raised from each side of the triangle by this situation?

          Managing and Overseeing: Mary Beth and Katrina seem to be testing the new director by ignoring her suggestions and encourage other teachers to do the same. The worst part is talking behind the director’s back and not being cooperative and reactive to the director, which is not right. There is no respect for the director at all. They are also trying to make other teacher do the same thing just like them. Personally, I think this is a really big issue and can affect others. As we can see how disrespectful these 2 teachers are to you as director, and it begs the question. Do they do the same to parents, too?

          Coaching and Mentoring: The teachers are not using different strategies and activities in the classroom that the director is mentioning. When the director suggested new ideas, she was let down by these 2 teachers. This makes the teachers look very bad in my opinion, because they are not respectful of their director. Even though they have been at the program for eight years and have always worked together and feel comfortable where they are they forget one critical reality in early childhood education. And that is how things are always changing and evolving in childhood education. As a teacher, we still go to workshops as well as training classes to get more knowledge of new ways of working in classrooms in certain areas.

          Building and Supporting Community: The fact that the teachers have worked in the program for many years, they should know that different group of children requires different strategies, activities, and environment to match their interests. New suggestions by the director might ultimately help the children improve in many different areas. By focusing on just one curriculum, in this case, art related curriculum children maybe missing out on science, music, math, or other engaging activities that may improve children in other areas. Another downside to this scenario is it creates enmity between teachers and the director. In the end, the children will be most affected.

What strategies from each side might you use to address the issues?

          After reading the three ways to respond to this scenario, I think this would be a difficult situation for me to deal with because I don’t like telling people what to do, but its also really hard for me to ignore something that I think should be changed or improved.

          Managing and Overseeing: I think it may be hard to come into a program as a new director, especially if it's your first time in the position. If I were the director I would keep doing my part as what the director should do. I would hold meetings regularly to talk about the new curriculum and changes in the program. At the same time, I would also want to gain advice from the experienced staff as well and I think the staff will feel appreciated and important.

         Coaching and Mentoring: As the director, I would allow staff to voice their opinions and take in consideration what they say and how they feel about things, but I would also want them to do the same. Personally, I would let the staff know that I am there for them, if they need advice or want to talk about certain things. Showing respect for one another is something I would do as well.

         Building and Supporting Community: As the director, I would provide or ask staff to attend the workshops that will help them to gain new idea and knowledge of early childhood education. I would provide some community events for families to come in and learn more and get to know more about the program. At the same time the staff will have more opportunities to come out and get to know more about each other and learn about the community they work in.

Scenario 2: Messing with Michael

What issues are raised from each side of the triangle by this situation?

          Managing and Overseeing: Environments that neat and organized is a requirement when working with young children. As we all know that unorganized and messy classroom can become a safety hazard issue especially when you start to smell rotten food that is a sign that show your classroom really needs cleaning because rotting food can attract bugs or ants and will cause really bad smell when it has mold. This is a big issue because this is the first thing the parents see and smell when entering the center. Personally, messy and dirty classroom or environment can lead to negative aspect to the parents of the children and can interfere with clarifying professional standards as well.

          Coaching and Mentoring: Michael has very strong ideas about how he wants to run his classroom because he explains his reason about his cubbies strategy and his philosophy. However, This issue may cause some conflict for the director and the teacher because the cleanliness and organization may also interfere his personal philosophy. Personally, I think he seems like a very good teacher, but he just disorganized. But he also has to understand the impact this decision has made on the center especially in terms of cleanliness because these impacts has affect on children, parents and other staff who he is working with.

          Building and Supporting Community: A messy classroom is some the issue that affect everyone because it will be safety issue for children, unattractive for families and irritation to staff member. Personally, this messy entrance is not exactly welcoming to family members to come in at all. It could also make family transfer their child to different school.

What strategies from each side might you use to address the issues?

          Managing and Overseeing: As a director I would tell Michael that I understand his wonderful philosophy about giving children responsibility to make decisions on their own and that is the good learning for children. But at the same time you need to understand that as a teacher we need to keep the classroom and environment to be clean and safe for children. So you might need to adjust your way of teaching and organizing your classroom. By helping children learn how to be responsible with the stuff in their cubbies and how to keep them clean will help encouraged children about personal responsibility as well and that might appear to be a better look for your classroom.

          Coaching and Mentoring: I want everyone to feel important and tread them with the respect. So I will discuss with teacher about why keeping his classroom clean in private. I will also explain about the impacts of having disorganized classroom and environment that will affect the children, children’s families, staff member and himself.

          Building and Supporting Community: At the meetings, I would let all the teachers know why it is important to keep their classrooms clean by cleaning, sanitizing, and organizing the classroom. Especially, when families or accreditation come in a messy and disorganized classroom will turn them off.

What is the balance in the director role?

           Directors are typically responsible for a preschool or childcare center's administrative duties. This often includes managing staff, as well as handling and establishing the center's goals, curriculum and daily routine. They also meet with prospective children and their families, and make sure the center and its staff meets required licensing regulations and safety standards. Personally, I feel like directors have a lot on their hands. I don’t even know how my life would be if I become a director. I might experience lack of sleep or something of that sort. I believe that if we get into the point that we understand all the process of what we are doing and why we are doing it I think it would be easier to get through these duties. However, we have to maintain an understanding towards other people in our workplace such as staff, families and children. It is really hard to work with a lot of people at one time because as we know different people have different idea and would lead to conflict. So, it is up to the director to maintain control so things won’t get out of hand. How can a director balance all of these roles? Is it possible that a director focuses more on one responsibility than others? What is the best way a director can balance his/her duties? According to “The Visionary Director” the image of a triangle to represent the framework that they believe that each side of everyone management work is of equal importance. These are 3 side of the framework: 1. Managing and overseeing. 2. Coaching and mentoring. 3. Building and supporting community. A good director must possess all of these skills and implement them in real life work.

For the sake of young children: Are we as one of the foundation of early childhood education ready to dream big and dream aloud?

The statement that will describe me the best is “My vision for our program goes far beyond what is typically discussed in our professional literature. I have big dreams and am willing to work to achieve them” Personally, I would always see myself as a visionary who is willing to take a risk when I have a chance. I believe that the more I dream the more I will inspire myself to create new ideas. At the same time, the more I try the more chance for me to realize my dreams. I am not afraid of falling but I am afraid that I would miss a chance of learning how to fall and learning how to get myself together and bring myself up again. At the same time I always think that every single experience and things that pass by in my life are like steps on a ladder that will take me to higher opportunities.

In my real life, I don’t have my own program, yet but I wish I could have just one chance to try to run my own program. Even though I never see myself as a director, of course, I would always like to dream big and dream aloud. Personally, I already had a dream of being a director of my own program in my home country, Thailand. I know for sure that if I have an opportunity I will be able to do it because I don’t have any language barrier. I can just speak and express whatever is in my mind to those people there and I am quite sure that some people there would always have faith in me.

My purpose and vision for my own program will be creating a safe and fulfilling environment that is filled with fun, joy and warmth where children and family will earn trust and respect from us. I will use my knowledge that I have learned over here to create the program that will adapt to my native culture and beliefs. I really love to introduce all kinds of hands-on experience for young Thai generations to explore the world through nature and native materials in different perspective than the other Thai childcare programs normally offer.

However, I still wonder if my dream will ever be realized. How can I work toward reaching my goal? Will my dream collapse if and when I am confronted with obstacles? How can I maintain my dream and pursue it?

Why do many people still not taking early childhood education seriously?

            Is it because many of early childhood educators are females? Is it because some people still think that anyone can easily take over the role of an early childhood educator? What is the difference between an educator and a babysitter?

Today many people in our society seem to pay a little bit more attention to early childhood education, as we can see that there are more childcare programs and preschools. There are more families who enroll their children in childcare center or preschool. There are more people who pursue their dream as early childhood educators. Yet, why do they still struggle and still don’t get much support to be successful as other educational fields, or other jobs?

While I was studying in my general classes in college, several of my friends asked me what was my major. When I told them that I was majoring in Early Childhood Education, some of them asked me if I liked to play with children. Some of them complemented that it would be a best career match for me because I was a woman. But some of them told me that I should switch to higher education filed, such as kindergarten or elementary school teacher. Some of them even started to question if I cared about my future income, as they knew that I might end up in a low pay work. However, the worst question was that they asked me why did I have to study to become a “babysitter”. I was so surprised and confused about how some people were so ignorant about what Early Childhood Education entailed and how come some people didn’t care much about the early stage of human life.

Personally, I think that the early childhood stage of all human being is the most important part of development. It is the first start where children develop themselves physically and mentally based on the environment they are in and the people they interact with every single day. I now totally understand why many people still don’t take what we do seriously as they do other jobs but I just want people see and think more clearly about the difference we make in children’s lives everyday.

            How can we let others know the difference between an educator and a non-educator? How can we show the importance of what we do to the society? How can we make other people believe in our abilities and take our roles as educators more seriously?

Has early childhood program become too standardized?

Does anyone still remember their purpose in choosing to become an early childhood educator?

If you do, what was that purpose?

Are you striving to fulfill that purpose? or are you just winging it by by just following established rules and regulations just to look good on paper?

Does too much standards impede the growth of creativity and imagination?

We are often entangled in our daily routines and activities that we may forget our true intention as to why we wanted to be an early childhood educator in the first place. With due dates to be met, and guidelines to be followed it is easy to forget our vision and dream. We are constantly dictated by regulations and rules that we forget how to act according to our best interests for the children. We may or may not agree with the established rules but we know we must follow them. This does not mean that we cannot do more than what the rule has established. We must take that extra step to be different, put in extra effort to be unique and encourage change so that we maybe reminded that we are not doing this to meet standards but to meet each child's need.

Is there a way that we can learn to accept others’ ideas and learn from their perspective? How can we put ourselves in their shoes even though we hate to do it?

          I grew up with a strong Asian culture and it has made me really have a hard time adjusting my idea at first when I have to try to understand other people ideas from different perspective. For the part 19 years, I would always be told to accept elderly ideas and follow their paths with respect. I would never speak up and ask question to others even though in my mind I would always come up with better ideas but I afraid to express them out. Day by day, I lived and learned by following other’s footsteps without thinking of creating my own way.

But once I moved to U.S.A it was such an eye opener for me. I have learned that there are still many different ways of thinking and solving problems. I learned how to speak up sometime and learned how to accept different ideas, but I still have hard time expressing my ideas to others. I would always wonder that if there are no right or wrong answers to each question how could we find a best solution for the question? This is why I have to try so hard to overcome this dilemma especially I already choose to work with young children.

As Jeanne Iorio inspired by the word of Maxine Greene, she also inspired me to believe in my ability to support young children. As educators, we should inspire children to stand up and speak up for themselves by presenting them with questions and let them answer using their inner voice. We should instill in them the value of expression and justice. Just like the analogy in the Socratic method, if our children choose to be fleas of justice biting strategically, even the biggest dog will have to succumb to their effort for reform.