Leadership Community

I am participating in a Leadership Learning Community as facilitated by the Ounce of Prevention & Chicago Public Schools' Prevention Initiative program.  This is one of 6 learning communities being facilitated this year and I am excited about this opportunity.  For me, this is a safe place to share ideas, worries, achievements, etc.  Today was our first meeting and we spoke about the goals of the community and set ground rules before creating a list of topics we might like to discuss.

The question posed today was how we came to understand & value quality....

I have had an interesting journey to get to where I stand & to become who I am, writing this post to share with you.  

A friend of mine recently asked, "How did you know what to do when you got this job."  Honestly?  I didn't. But I did know what I didn't like in a supervisor when I was a teacher.  So I did the opposite of that.  Much of my work has been based on this type of reflection.  Of course, some of what I do I have learned from mentors in the field.  I am so thankful that I made the leap to Chicago as it dramatically changed my philosophy of education -- in a 180 motion.

I am so excited to see what this group will bring to each other; I think it's a great opportunity to step outside of our centers and share hardships, problems, and also our triumphs in a reflective & supportive environment.  I'm pumped.

I needed this kind of boost :)

Don't you shrug your should--- okay, yes, shrug your shoulders.

For a split second this morning, I was upset with a teacher.  And then just as quickly as I had gotten upset, I was so over-the-moon pleased with that very same teacher for the very same reason I had originally been upset!  Our DCFS licensing representative came this morning for our annual review.  I went into the classroom just to let the teachers know that she was here and would likely be coming into the classrooms to see them and this teacher just stared at me and shrugged.  I don't know what I was expecting, but realistically, her response is exactly what I want.

Who cares?

It doesn't matter who walks into our center, we are providing the highest-quality care possible.  We don't put on a show to please a visitor.  We do our best for the children and their families. This is so important to me as a director, I cannot express it enough.  If we're only putting on a good show for visitors, we aren't making the children our priority.

I love my team.

When company comes to visit

"This year they're real big on family engagement."  

"Just show 'em what they want to see."

"Where is all the money going that the centers get?"

-classmates

It's alarming to me that this is the culture of early childhood education.  Giving them what they want, putting on a show, doing the dance for the moment.  But what do you do when there's no one around?  Isn't that what matters?  Who cares if you can put on a good show because there's a visitor.  I want to know that there's quality programming being offered after the lights go down and "they" leave the site.  Our center is preparing for a federal review with Head Start this year and not only am I not nervous, I'm prepared.  We run our program according to the (many) Head Start regulations and I don't care who walks into the center, we operate the same way. My teachers know that no matter who walks into that infant room, they need to wash their hands and put on the booties.  Regardless of their pay grade or status.  I've heard my infant teachers ask visitors (including the Program Director and myself) to follow this procedure without missing a beat.  And to me, that's a sign of a high quality program.

Wordless Wednesday: Work Smarter

A DanL reminder created on recitethis.com

A hoarding culture

There's a weird phenomenon that occurs in the field of education; I've seen it in almost every level and in different regions.  Ya'll are some serious scavenging pack rats.  I mean that lovingly, as I too was once a pack rat.  I've learned that not every toilet paper tube needs to be saved and that I can get new crayons, they don't need to be stored up high, out of reach, so as not to be "used."

I am currently in the process of converting a toddler/two classroom into a preschool classroom and have pretty much finished.  There are still some items like manipulatives and puzzles that need to be put into storage so they can be rotated during the program year for new and exciting opportunities.  They are sitting on the tables in the classroom and I plan to store them next week.  A teacher just approached me and asked, "What you gonna do with those puzzles and books that came out of our room?"  She mentioned she's been taking things from the classroom to use.  I'm all for sharing.  Sharing is caring, right?  But when it means that this classroom is being stripped of materials, I'm a little... upset.  Classrooms need to have a certain number of each material to maintain licensing standards.  Sharing typically means asking the other person (in this case, the director -- me) while scavenging means you're swoopin' in and taking materials that are not developmentally appropriate for your children while no one is looking.

Funds are tight.  We will never have Smartboards in our classrooms or be paid millions.  But I promise there will always be new crayons, paper, and markers available -- stop hoarding them.

Sometimes when I watch that show, Hoarders, I think of teachers.  I wonder if there are classrooms that need to go through such a process.  I mean, I hope there are no dead cats or tens years worth of newspapers in your classroom, but something tells me there are probably materials in your room I would find you hovered over while chanting, "My precious."  Am I wrong?

Didn't think so.

xoxo

Motivational Monday: JOY

I have had this mantra "Nothing without joy" for a few years now after having been inspired by a dialogue with Amelia Gambetti and Lela Gandini.  I now apply this to my personal life as well as my professional life and always *try* to find the silver-lining in every difficult situation.  I find that when I choose joy, life is so much happier :)

We don't know what we don't know...

Working with adult learners is a difficult task.  Us adult folk think we know everything.  I mean, I woke up this morning and made it through an entire day independently.  I'm doing well.  The learning within the context of our day seems minute.  It's not "scary" or "overwhelming" and tends to be task-based within the structure of our normal activities.  It's really not scary when you realize you don't know something -- to the Google machine!

Our most vulnerable moments as adult learners tend to be when we realize we don't know what we don't know!  

Pause.
Let that marinate.

Sometimes, we need an outside catalyst to come along and shake our foundations with a question that truly makes us aware of our knowledge.  The joy I find within this type of interaction just cannot be described.

You learn something new every day, right?

Knowing this about myself has (I think) made me a better leader within our center.  I meet regularly with all of my team and we have scheduled time for reflection.  What's going well?  What isn't?  What do you have questions about?  What surprised you this month?  What would you have done differently?  The conversations that come from these meetings have shifted from task-based and very business-like conversation to more of a "how does that make you feel" vibe.  It's a safe place to talk about the demands of the positions my many different team members hold.  Our jobs are tough and it helps to have someone to bounce things off of without fear of criticism or punishment (I'm pretty confident that's why I blog).

I had a reflection meeting with a teacher yesterday who served as a teacher aide for a very long time (think almost as long as I've been alive) and was recently promoted to assistant teacher.  She also (!!!) just won a scholarship to pursue her associate's degree (I'm like a proud momma over here).  One of my big goals for my team is that we continue to learn and grow.  It's all I ask; how they learn and grow is up to them, but we cannot simply be stagnant.  She is now in a position to mentor and support the new teacher aide who was hired.  We spoke of her progress and areas to really help this new teacher develop and I provoked this conversation with "Well, she doesn't know what she doesn't know quite yet.  What have you noticed she might need support with?"  Our conversation was so rich and productive!!!  We spoke of ways to provoke this new teacher (to nudge if you will) and help her take ownership of her role within the classroom.  I think we're a pretty unique center in the way we operate within teaching teams.  There tends to be a lack of title association with the division of labor, but more of a sense of "we're in this together."  I've seen teachers really work together to capitalize on strengths and develop the areas that may need development.

Did you have a moment of awareness today in which you realized you didn't know you didn't know something?  Wasn't it exhilarating?

Have I ever told you how much I love my job?  Conversations like this are the reason why!

xoxo