Experience

Where I've Been...

Site Director Coach, 2013-present
In this mentoring role, I work with our other three Site Directors in the agency and provide 1:1 support in the form of monthly Site Director meetings and individual reflection meetings to help trouble-shoot site-based situations and help the sites grow towards their full potential.

Site Director, 2012-present
In this supervisory role, I manage a site of 8 teachers, 33 children, the social worker, and a handful of support staff.  Establishing policies and procedures was a large part in taking on this position.  I also work to ensure that teachers are well-connected to the various resources available to them as (Early) Head Start teachers.  This position has helped me to better understand all aspects of the early childhood center operations and how each side of the team feels at any given moment.  In this role, I have supported the center through the NAEYC accreditation process as well as the ExeleRate Illinois system (to reach the Gold circle of excellence, and we were the first in the state).  We are currently implementing continuity of relationships within mixed-age groupings within our Birth to Three program as well as our preschool program.

Education Coordinator, 2010-2012
While in this position, I worked with each of our teaching teams and the Site Directors within each of our sites to play the role of coach/mentor.  I observed within the classroom and shared feedback with the teaching teams.  Responsible for reading lesson plans and providing feedback to support reflective & intentional teaching.  I also was responsible for tracking the professional development of the teachers to ensure that the various requirements from different funding agencies were met each program year.

Lead Head Start Teacher, 2008-2010
When I moved to Chicago, I began teaching in the full-day Head Start classroom and later was asked to pilot the half-day Head Start program.  Both of these experiences required the establishment of rituals and routines within our classroom community.  Eventually, the children reached a high level of autonomy and with the help of a few strong co-teachers, the quality of instruction also reached high levels.  

Lead Head Start Collaboration Teacher, 2007
I spent one program year in a collaboration between the public school and Head Start program.  We were housed within the public school and our children attended 4K two days a week and our programming the other three days.  I was fortunate to work closely with the 4K teacher to ensure the children were meeting benchmarks and observe them in this different setting.

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