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Where to begin? What must I think about? What must I plan? What must I do? in order to set the tone, build our team, and create a quality program for the children and their parents? Lots to consider - in the first days as Director. Read on for tried and true guidance ... that works.
What I bring to this book is a wealth of hands-on, real-life experience, humor, and common sense. I know the life of the education/business director. I have lived it. I know the problems and pitfalls and the solutions and strategies to avoid them. I've learned a lot because I have built four unique early childhood programs in my career. I am pleased to share with you.
In my work as director of several early childhood programs, one of the important lessons I learned was that the only constant was change! Anticipating it; working through it; and learning and growing because of it were valuable leadership lessons - that I now pass on to you! Continue reading →
The Japanese people have an expression, 'read the air' which, in essence, means to take in one's surroundings before acting; to gauge what is happening before doing anything else. We, in early childhood classrooms, can also tap into this practice. Read on ... Continue reading →
What I've learned, as Director of 4 Early Childhood Programs, is that people will rise to the challenge - if it is clearly articulated and the expectations are set up front. Do you set the course for your program every September? If not, here how ... Continue reading →
The only constant in an early childhood program is change! How do we successfully navigate the ups and downs? We cultivate several important work habits. The first is to think more proactively and plan for the inevitable. Here are the others .... Continue reading →
Each year, we closed our child care center, to parents and children, the two days before Labor Day weekend. We worked, and worked hard to get everything ready for the upcoming first day of the new school year. And each year, as director of the program, I spoke to my very large team. This post shares my remarks from 2001 - and will give you an idea or two for your own program. Continue reading →
Making the shift to Zero to Three in our Child Care Center (where the youngest children and their teachers remain together until the child reaches preschool age) brought more benefits to our infant/toddler program than we could have anticipated. Here is one parent's perspective. Continue reading →
"Whose job is it?" was a question I asked myself often as Director of a very large Child Care Center. There were many, many moving parts in the course of a day and I was determined to juggle them with skill. This post highlights one of the processes we put in place. These are the "how we did it" details not found in "Beginning to End: The Life Cycle of a Child Care Center" (Yes, this is information Beyond the Book). Continue reading →
As Director of the John Hancock Child Care Center, I knew that the key to a quality early childhood program was to find, hire and retain the finest teachers! I also knew that we had to provide unique, individual opportunities for their professional growth. And so, our Mentor Teacher Program was born! How we did this is the subject of this blog post. Continue reading →
I have learned that people experience change in very different ways - some embrace it; some dread it; some resist it; and some cannot handle change at all - and retreat. As director, I witnessed each. This caused me to think very carefully about how to present changes in my programs - and make them as gradual as I could. So, when it came to children moving up to the next age group each September, we created a thoughtful and gradual transition for both the children and their parents... Continue reading →
When we design our early childhood classrooms, we essentially become the director of a Broadway production. We have an empty stage—filled with possibility. We build the set (walls, flooring, doors, windows). We paint the backdrop scenery. We add the furniture … Continue reading →