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For the last 40 years, I have been a successful teacher, director, and leader in the field of early childhood education. My blog posts, my consulting and coaching services, along with my broad array of training and workshops for early childhood educators offer a wealth of best practice materials and resources for those who aspire to quality in the field. Thank you for visiting! I invite you to share your thoughts, and look forward to hearing from you.Categories
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- Beyond the Book—Making Successful Transitions
- Beyond the Book—Taking Time to Reflect
- Beyond the Book—Setting the Stage for the Children
- Beyond the Book—The Teacher-Parent Partnership
- Beyond the Book—The Partnership
- Beyond the Book—Receiving Feedback
- Beyond the Book—Giving Feedback
- Beyond the Book—Building Your Team
- Beyond the Book—Your First (and most important) Days as Director
- Beyond the Book—Creating Your Vision
Category Archives: John Hancock Child Care Center
My New Adventure …
From early childhood teacher to director, to consultant, to published author – writing, in order to share what I have learned during my 40+ year career, has become my new adventure. This is my first book! Continue reading
Posted in Early Childhood, Early Childhood Curriculum, Early Childhood Leadership, Early Childhood Teachers, For Early Childhood Directors, John Hancock Child Care Center, Managing Early Childhood Programs, Performance Management Skills, Quality Early Education and Care, Training for Early Childhood Directors, Training for Early Childhood Professionals
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Let them be Little…
The longer I live, the less I understand the rationale behind the “rushing,” the “hurriedness,” the “sense of urgency” that accompanies everything we do today. Why the fast lane? Where are we going? What are we racing to? Continue reading
The 20th Reunion at the John Hancock Child Care Center
It has been eight years since our John Hancock Child Care Center in Boston closed. As we were all saddened by the corporate decision, we were determined to make our last months memorable. The following is from my journal entry of June, 2010.
“On a recent summer afternoon—a Saturday—when so many other events are planned, they came to ours! Hundreds of people attended. Unbelievable! The line to the front door stretched down the block! The perfect celebration for our 20 years as the John Hancock Child Care Center. And, it was quite the party! Continue reading
Building a Team: First Things First …
When it comes to hiring, leave no stone unturned – look everywhere! Continue reading
Places of Delight and Wonder …
“We become attached to spaces that charm, delight, or move us. What brings this on? – a certain slant of light; an intriguing staircase; an alcove; the feel of smooth wood; or, unexpected beauty or form. Children have, or can acquire, more taste than we expect.” – Jim Greenman
Continue reading
Ten Commandments for Teachers …
Grace L. Mitchell was my professional mentor, my motivator, my cheerleader, my role model, and my friend. A long, long time ago, she gave me her Ten Commandments for Teachers. It is timeless, and often made it to the bulletin board in our staff room. It is concise, and yet filled with best practices and positive values. Embedded in Grace’s words, you can hear her philosophy, visualize her dramatic flair, and understand the depth and breadth of her teaching. We, who worked with her, were deeply inspired. She ignited our passion of caring for and educating young children and we immersed ourselves in this field – always stretching, always growing. Continue reading
Mentoring – Fitting the Pieces Together …
When we added the “mentor teacher” rung to the career ladder in our early childhood program, we provided recognition to our experienced and skilled teachers. We offered learning opportunities to them, particularly in the areas of peer coaching, reflection, leadership, and adult development. In addition, we offered learning opportunities to our novice teachers (protégés) who were committed to furthering their professional development. And the end result was improvement in the overall quality of our entire program. We learned a lot along the way – to be passed on to you – who might be interested in doing the same thing in your program. Continue reading
A Mentoring Program …
If you are the Director of an early childhood program, I’ll bet you have asked yourself the same question I asked myself years ago – how could we retain our fabulous teachers while keeping them in teaching positions? So often teachers had to become supervisors and directors in order to grow in our field. But, many wonderful teachers didn’t want to move into leadership and management. They were fabulous teachers!!!! So, how could we retain them – and yet, offer them growth and professional development doing what they loved, and were very good at?
Continue reading
Interesting Elements to Add to our Environments for Children
Sometimes, we come upon a piece of equipment or an unlikely object that works so well in our programs for young children that we just have to pass the idea on. Such is the intent of this post. Continue reading
Spaces and Places – The Basics of Designing Infant, Toddler, and Preschool Environments
Who will live in this space?
If we can thoughtfully and in great detail answer this one question, and, in essence, become these children, we will be well on our way to designing environments that meet both the developmental needs and interests of their inhabitants. Continue reading