Blog Assignment #8

 While reading the two stories I could not help but feel that the director Becky was focused more on the paper work, curriculum, and teacher training, than she seemed to do on the children and families. i mean not once did the families even come up in her meeting. While Yolanda on the other hand seemed more rounded in her approach by advocating for all the groups. While Becky's approach to staff development seemed rigid and training based, Yolanda's seemed to be centered on collaboration and dialogue. Another interesting difference that I noticed between the two different stories was the fact that in Becky's story it seemed as if the teacher was scared to give personal input or even question something that she though could be done differently, while on the other hand in Yolanda's story you can see the openness to questions and change and even listening being done by the director.

While further reviewing the stories I feel that I relate to Yolanda in a sense where I am not  managerial in style but more lax and open in a sense like Yolanda.

Are you a coach or a manager?

How do we direct staff properly? How do we handle sensitive staff that could be easily offended? "The Visionary Director" gives us many great strategies and ideas on how to effectively train and oversee staff. One of the most beneficial pieces of the chapter to me was the part that said that in order to effectively train and oversee staff one must assume the role of a coach rather than a manager and not just any coach but the book uses the specific example of a pregnancy coach, one who will encourage and support and give feedback and respect. By doing this you are able to help build and prepare teachers for what they will face but also build a positive relationship with the teachers. I think that another strategy that I see being effective was how the book said to approach training's as a time of reflection, whether it be on the children's development or even the development of the staff. It is also important to remember that we should not just focus on the weakness of ourselves and others but unstead reflect on strengths to. The book stresses the fact that water runs down stream in the sense that if the teachers are not happy and properly trained the experience of the children will be directly effected.

Blog assignment #7

A leader is a person who blueprints and plans out his strategy and vision in order to prepare for the building of a successful program. A leader is a person who is able to mediate any situation that may arrive. A leader tends to his or her program grooming and watering it to grow to its full potential. Leaders need to be all of these things like the architect he must be able to make a plan that everyone can stick to. Like the mediator he must be prepared to handle staff or family conflict. And lastly he must be like a gardener who tends to his plants daily in order to ensure they grow and remain healthy, Who would of thought that the director had so much holes to fill?

Blog Assignment #6

Rethink daily routines, this is a strategy that I think everyone can benefit from. It is import for us to remember that as teachers we also have he responsibility to learn about our students and base curriculum and routines accordingly. In this instance they are talking about using these routine changes to incorporate families into daily routine and also help ease transition for children. The book gives an example with the child coming in still dressed in pajamas, the book then goes on to give a suggestion on how the adding of a room for parents to change children or brush their hair would be good. A simple thing like that incorporates families into programs and also helps develop a positive line of communication between teachers ad parents. Are you open to change?

How important is having a positive relationships with parents?

How important is having a positive relationships with parents? To what extent would you go to make a family feel welcomed and respected? While reading through the scene I could not help but feel like this is the kind of program that I would like to work for. The amount of respect for the students culture was impressive. When reading through the part where the teachers were told to wait while the family elders served themselves first, I kept waiting for the part were one of the teachers would do something that offended the family. This was a perfect example of the way that teachers learn and respect others cultures in order to get a positive community feel going in the classroom. I ask one question though, Another part that I really liked was the stress and importance that was put on respecting the child and remembering that it is for this child we have gathered together. Is this a realistic scenario that you see yourself participating in? Is this something you could implement into your own program.

How do you integrate community into your classroom?

Is my classroom welcoming not only to the children of the center but also the adults? Does my curriculum allow for parent participation? What are some things that I could change to having my classroom more like the programs from the scenarios presented in the book? This chapter really opened my eyes to how much more I could do to create an environment that supports the aspect of community. When reflecting upon the center that I am currently in I can honestly say that not to much of the making parents feel welcome through larger furniture in specific areas. There are some things that I can see in my center that follows along the lines of what we read in the last chapter such as parents coming in and helping upkeep the play area, seminars for parents, and open invitations for parents to get involve through a kind of PTA thing. All in all there is always room for improvement and I plan on advocating for a change in making our classroom have more of a welcoming community feel to it. How do you integrate community into your classroom?

Assignment #4

While analyzing the two scenarios presented in the previous exercise I feel that I was more comfortable with generating responses for building and supporting community because I personally haven't been in a situation were I was able to gain experiences in mentoring people under your lead. How do you gain that sort of experience before entering the classroom? Who is it you see for mentoring when facing crossroads at work? My goals is to observe the directors in my work setting and learn from the strategies they use to implement the three sides of the triangle.

Assignment #3

Scenario #1

	Managing and Overseeing	Coaching and Mentoring	Building and Supporting Community
Issues	·         Effective communications not established ·         Clarify expectations	·         Not much of a mentoring relationship has been established ·         Learn your staff	·         Develop a shared vision ·         learn and understand staff did not take place ·         create opportunity for shared experience
Strategies	·         Staff meeting needs to be held to make clear the vision for the program	·         Build a report with the staff	·         Clearly state vision ·         Set up opportunity for staff to interact other than during work

Scenario #2

	Managing and Overseeing	Coaching and Mentoring	Building and Supporting Community
Issues	·         Expectations not clear ·         Training that help teachers learn and grow	·         After facing rejection by teacher director gave up	·         Environment is not designed to promote sense of belonging
Stratagies	·         Set clear expectations on how the program views the importance of organization	·         You must fin affective ways to reach all staff members ·         Assign staff members research on whether the environment affects learning ·         Appropriately provide feedback to the teacher about the mess	·         Develop a shared vision between teachers and students ·         Clean the room and hall