In Chapter 5, Decker, Decker, Freeman, & Knopf mentions the staff is the single most important influence on the quality of early childhood programs. The best programs tend to have highly qualified staff and low teacher turnover. A disparity exists between the professional preparation, access to many roles in the field, adequate compensation of staff, and the growing expectations for optimal care and education of young children
I do believe that quality staffing is important for a early childhood program. Teachers should meet the credentials set by the individual program. In addition, learning should be ongoing for staff. Employers should provide staff with professional growth.
How does a program provide a positive productive work climate? I believe that it is the administrator responsibility balance the organization of a program. The administrator should communicate questions, concerns, and information to staff. I feel that teachers and working teams should multiple classroom observations. Staff should be open to constructive criticism.
In today's Childcare Exchange Everyday, Rosabeth Moss Kanter writes about her experience with people not getting the important messages leaders try to send the first time around. I agree with this article. When it comes to work, we receive so many emails in one day. Sometimes, it is difficult to read all of the emails. Then, redo yearly goals (just received today), WSS checklist (finalized), final reports to our EC, TPOT observation write ups, quarterly reports, lesson plans, parent conferencing for the Fall, conference write ups, small group instruction, PACT activities, parents information (parent conference sign ups, newsletters, reminders, sign permission forms) is overwhelming. Is it just me or does anyone else is overwhelmed? So how do I prioritize emails. I try to get to each one. Honestly, I do miss some of them. However, I am so glad that I have a colleague that I can lean on. Actually, we lean on each other to remind ourselves what needs to be done and when. This really helps.
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The article for Exhange Everyday by Hugh MacLeod mentions, "Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten." I agree with his point. Everyone is given a box of crayons at kindergarten, but we don't continue using crayons to create. As you get older, the school supply list encourages parents to purchase colored pencils and markers. The crayons are known to be used by elementary school children. So why does this happen? I think we learn behaviors that are taught at a young age.
ReplyDeleteHi U'ilani:
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with you on how we need each other and depend on our co-workers. I so can hear you with prioritizing emails also. My way of dealing with all of that, as soon as you read them, put them into your sub mailboxes to save and then at the end of the week, archieve those puppies! I know it's so overwhelming, especially with all those "new" things we are dealing with, the PBS modules!
As for those behaviors, it is a learned things that stems from early on. That's why it's so crucial for young children to have those positive experiences in preschool, unfortunately, a lot of children don't have that chance. So again, why isn't something being done and why don't politicians see these underlining issues as being of important!
Luckily, KS does support the Hawaiian community by waiving tuition or making it affordable to parents, giving our keiki a chance to have positive experiences.
:)
Hi U`ilani,
ReplyDeleteHas the need for constant communication (like email) changed out culture of schools? How might this relate to the overall globalization of the world?
I think the issues brought up by the creativity article in the Exchange today are so interesting. Where does creativity go? What might be an administrator's responsibility in ensuring the development and engagement of creativity?
Jeanne
Aloha - I can SO relate to the email situation. I'm not sure if it was the Exchange notice, or where I read it, but the recommendation is to turn off the automatic notification. I find myself stopping to answer someone throughout the day and it can be overwhelming!!! Some things require immediate attention, and then some others are just plain annoying. I'm trying to set up one hour in the morning and one in the afternoon to be dedicated to email only. I don't know if this will work, but I'll give it a try. I'll keep you posted - let me know if you discover a timesaver idea linked to email. Mahalo!! Debbi
ReplyDeleteAloha Jan,
ReplyDeleteWhere do you work? Yes, the PBS modules are so time consuming. I agree that it is important to teach children social and emotional skills, however I would say only 1/2 of the keiki can understand the concepts. In addition, we were required to do Dr. Becky Bailey's techniques. It has been very time consuming with all of the training. I guess in the long run we will be seeing the results.