Child Care Information Exchange. 23 Cover Directors are low. We have very high quality staff, but they are paid less than most Montessori teachers. We are working on compensation. “Yet our staff do stay here — for other reasons. They see the unfolding of children who leave here confident, happy, and ready for public schools. Most of our children perform above grade level. The lure of free public school kindergarten is strong, but we encourage parents to keep their kids here for kindergarten — that’s when it all comes together. Children come back. We get to see what kind of people our children have become. We get to hear their stories about their time here at Nia House. “We run into alumni every day. There’s no need to advertise any more. We have a long waiting list.” PHOTOGRAPHS BY XXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX Xxx spends a great deal of time out in the community as director of the Starlings Volleyball Club in Oakland. He started the program when his daughter was interested in playing volleyball and they began looking for affordable programs. He sees the club as a hand up for girls with determination and skill. Volleyball is a great opportu- nity for girls to win college scholarships — his daughter Xxxx earned a volleyball scholarship to Cal Poly San Xxxx Obispo. A frequent visitor to the public schools, Xxx likes to drop in and see how the Nia House children are doing. His wife is a vice principal, so that might be another reason. “I like being the director as long as I have time with the kids. Right now I spend one and a half hours a day with children. I need that. “It’s like a family reunion here, with related staff, staff children and grand- children in the program, former children bringing their own children.” Along with the high level of purpose, there is a great feeling of comfort here. Looking back over the struggles to bring Nia House to its current stability, Xxx remarks: “Our struggles deepened our determination to succeed and strength- ened our purpose and goal to serve the needs of children. As we prepare to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Nia House, our history goes on; we continue to improve and to enrich everyone involved.”
Child Care Information Exchange. July/August 1983 guage. You should tune in to these signals as you talk. As Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx recom- mends, "Constantly be on the lookout for nonverbal signals that indicate that your line of approach is causing your employ- ees to become uncomfortable and lose interest. When this happens, change your approach and your message accordingly" (Xxxxxxxx). • Be open to feedback yourself. To develop an effective working relation- ship, you need feedback from your employees on their reactions to your behavior as much as they need feedback from you. According to organizational psychologist Xxxxx Xxxxxxxx, "In a supe- rior-subordinate relationship, both parties influence each other, and both have a responsibility for the task." In order to accomplish this task, they must be able to talk freely to each other, and each must have the sense of modifying the other. "Specifically, the subordinate must be per- mitted to express his feelings about what the superior is doing in the relationship and what the subordinate would like him to do to further the accomplishment of the task" (Xxxxxxxx). • Encourage a team approach to feed- back. As director, you have a myriad of important tasks in addition to upgrading staff performance. Therefore, it is not pos- sible for you to free up enough time to provide staff members all the feedback they need to improve their performance. In order to provide an ongoing flow of feedback information, you need to enlist all staff members to be feedback givers to each other. First, you must create an atmosphere in your center that encour- ages staff members to accept responsibil- ity for helping each other improve. Second, you need to train staff members on the proper ways to give feedback. Feedback given in a judgmental, personal or untimely fashion can be devastating and can poison interpersonal relations. Training can take the form of reviewing the guidelines discussed above in a staff meeting, by doing some role-playing, and by having staff members give each other feedback on how they give feedback. Most of all, staff members can learn to be effective feedback givers if you serve as a good model in the way you give feed- back.
Child Care Information Exchange. March 1984 supervisors. Teachers report problems getting their supervisors to treat them fairly, to respect their professional judg- ment, and to include them in the decision making process for their classrooms. They also report problems getting their super- visors to give them program guidelines or job expectations, and then to give them feedback about their job performance.
Child Care Information Exchange. 3 Prekindergarten Teacher Problems Checklist Instructions: Preface each problem statement with the phrase, "I have a problem..."
Child Care Information Exchange. March/April 2004 Technology ■ Connect for Kids (Talktime Live online discussion series) xxx.xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx/ ■ Early Childhood and Parenting Collaborative (Chats & Web Talks) xxxx://xxxx.xxx.xxxx.xxx/ ■ Early Childhood Focus (News Topics with comments) xxx.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx/ ■ The Future of Children (Online Conversations) xxx.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx/xxxxx.xxx ■ Illinois Early Learning Project (Live Chats & Discussions) xxxx://xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx/ ■ QUILT, Quality in Linking Together Early Childhood Partnerships (Discussions) xxx.xxxxx.xxx/Xxxx/xxxx.xxxx ■ US Department of Education (Xx.XX.Xxx Webcasts) xxxx://xxx.xx.xxx/xxxxx.xxxxx ■ Young Children International (Discussions) xxx.xxxxx.xxx/xxx/xxxxxxx.xxx If you know of other discussions, chats, and Webcasts for early childhood pro- fessionals, please e-mail Xxxx Xxxxxxx at xxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.
Child Care Information Exchange. Exchange 1 / 93 — 27
Child Care Information Exchange was part of the June 1993 delegation to Xxxxxx Xxxxxx, Italy.
Child Care Information Exchange. 81 Male Staffing Accomplishing change within any insti- tutional setting, including early child- hood programs, involves a clear vision and thoughtful, flexible implementation. Literature on the change process des- cribes why reform fails and how to be an effective change agent. Fullan and Xxxxx (1992) propose seven orientations that must be incorporated into program leaders’ and participants’ actions for successful change: ■ Early difficulty must be conceptual- ized as an opportunity to learn and an ability to cope with uncertainty. ■ The initial shared vision must be continuously shaped and re-shaped. ■ Good coping means being active, assertive, and inventive in order to get to the root of the problem when that is needed.
