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Welcome to today's ECE Power Hour, where early childhood educators come together to reflect

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and learn and shape the future of education.

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I'm Erica Sikoccio, the moderator for today's event, and we are going to have a conversation

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that's long overdue.

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One that centers on us, the educators.

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Over the past year, we have faced so many challenges, adapted to new realities and done

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our best to support children and families.

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But today, we're taking a moment to focus on how we can better support ourselves as educators

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and each other.

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In today's roundtable, we are exploring self-care, leadership, collaboration, advocacy, and

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mentorship, and why these are essential to our personal and professional growth.

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We'll also dive into the importance of play, not just for children, but for us educators

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too.

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How often do we take time to laugh and play and engage in activities that spark our own

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creativity and passion for teaching?

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This isn't just about making it through the day.

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It's about fueling ourselves so we can continue to inspire and nurture the children in our

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care.

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Today, we are joined by a group of passionate educators, podcasters, and some of which I

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am so grateful to call my friends.

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Bringing together their own unique perspectives to the table.

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We'll reflect on the lessons that we've learned over the past year and talk about how we can

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use these insights to guide our focus for the year ahead.

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And along the way, we'll talk about some important things.

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And so, I'm going to give everybody, without further ado, a chance on the mic.

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We'll just go right down.

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We'll start with Jamie.

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Introduce yourself and tell us about your podcast.

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Just a short little synapsis about yourself.

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Of course, this is so exciting.

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Thank you for organizing this.

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I'm Jamie Wagler.

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I'm from Stratford, Ontario, and I host the Forgotten ECE Podcast, which is all about

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before and after school educators and that group that kind of gets forgotten.

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Suzy?

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Hello, everyone.

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My name is Suzy Beguine.

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I am an educator, daycare owner, and I'm also the host of the ECE Classroom.

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And I do a lot of other things too, but there's a long laundry list.

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Kayla, you're next.

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Unmuting myself might be a good idea.

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Hi, everyone.

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My name is Kayla Papalia.

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I am from ECE Honestly, a podcast all about talking about some of the truths that we may

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not want to hear when it comes to the world of early childhood education.

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I am from Port Moody, British Columbia.

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I am also the owner and operator of an in-home multi-age childcare here in Port Moody.

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And I've been in this field probably 11, 12 years now.

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And I like pot stirring.

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That's what you need to know about me.

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You're gonna bring the spice to the show.

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I apologize.

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Of course, girl, you know it.

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And I'm Latina, so yeah.

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I hope I don't pronounce your name wrong.

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Is it Aveda?

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I didn't see your name on.

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I thought.

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It's a very good name.

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I'm Latina.

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I'm Latina.

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I'm Latina.

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I'm Latina.

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I'm Latina.

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I'm Latina.

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I'm Latina.

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Most people can't.

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So I don't really take it personally.

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I'm Aveda.

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I'm from the Shaping Little Minds podcast.

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I give teachers basically implementable tips and tricks to bring into their classroom if

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they need it.

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My podcast is actually bite sized information.

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So like eight to 10 minutes, as long as I don't have a guest.

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So that teachers can really listen to it on the go.

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And I am from New Jersey.

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I teach full time.

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I went back after three years and also mentor teachers as well.

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Melissa, you're next.

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So I'm Melissa.

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I'm a New York City public school pre-K teacher and I host pre-K Spot Talks.

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And I am all about spreading the play-based love.

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Yes, love that.

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Hello, my name is Carla Ward.

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I'm the host of the Everything EC podcast, which is literally about everything to do

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with early childhood education.

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I am from Mississauga, Ontario, just outside of Toronto.

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And I have an education business from consulting to running courses to the podcast.

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Next we have Kate.

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I am part one of Child Care Conversations with Kate and Kerry.

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We are based out of Texas.

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We have been in the industry each over 30 years.

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Started out as an in-home program, multi-site program, and we have been training directors

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across the country for the last 23 years.

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And we're on year five of the podcast.

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So we are so excited to join y'all and you Canadians are awfully close and dear to my

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heart since I am an unofficial dual citizen.

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One of these days I'll make that happen for real, but that's where my father grew up

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and he didn't become a US citizen until I was like 18 or 19 because he wanted to drive

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a bigger boat.

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But that's a whole other podcast.

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So with that, I'm going to flip it over to my other half or my business partner or also

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my cousin.

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Well, I don't think she left anything for me to say, which yeah, we support directors

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and owners because there are so many people helping all of the teachers like most of you

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guys that sometimes the directors get forgotten and the directors have to be there to support

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the teachers.

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And so somebody needs to fill up their cup.

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So next we have Marcy.

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Hi, I'm Marcy Nicole from founder of I am inspired to educate.

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I am also the host of the inspiring ECE podcast where I talk about all things inspiring, motivating

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and empowering educators to thrive throughout their profession, as well as a huge advocate

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for educator wellness and wellbeing.

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For those of you who don't know me, I am Erica Sokoschel, the host of the childcare directors

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chair podcast.

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I am a coach, I am a multi location owner, and I like Kate and Carrie am all about feeding

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my administrators love and support that they need.

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So we all have so many great perspectives that we're so excited to share with you today.

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So I let's start with right because I really want to focus on the folks right now in the

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field, right?

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So I'm going to throw this question over to my friend Marcy in the corner here.

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How do you prioritize self care in a profession that asks so much of us every day?

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One thing I want educators to know and to do right away is stop feeling guilty about

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it.

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Your self care is important.

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We need to remove the stigma of guilt around it.

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We're always filling pouring from an empty cup.

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We can't do that.

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So stop taking the guilt on.

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You need to take care of you.

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So number one, let go of the guilt.

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Number two, do what brings you joy.

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We always do so much for everyone else.

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What about us?

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I know my friend Carla loves to read a book.

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I not so much.

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Audio books now are my love language because I can do it on the go.

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So find out what brings you absolutely joy and do that.

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The smallest things like even finishing that cup of coffee that's actually hot that you

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didn't have to warm up 20 times for the day, that's a win.

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So celebrate the little things and really find out what brings you happiness.

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That's my piece.

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Love it.

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Anyone you want to add?

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Jamie.

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I was just going to add that's awesome.

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But I was just going to add like setting boundaries, which is huge for me because I am not great

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at it.

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So setting boundaries to protect your time and your home time, not blurring those lines.

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And then also being a part of a supportive community like this and being able to like,

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it's not just about rest.

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It's about fueling your passion that drives you to make a difference for the lives of

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the children and like these things that we're doing and these round tables.

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It's a huge way to do that.

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I love it.

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Yeah, Melissa.

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Go ahead.

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I wanted to say something really similar to Jamie, especially like public school teachers.

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I'm lucky enough to have a union and a contract and holding those boundaries that your contract

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allows you.

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We're helping newer teachers understand that protecting your prep time, we're allowed 50

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minutes of prep time.

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That's how I make sure I get my work done so I don't have to bring it home and making

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sure and nobody's allowed to tell me what to do with that prep time except for myself

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and making sure I'm doing things like protecting that prep time and helping myself and other

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newer teachers understand that making a fuss about that is not making a fuss.

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It's protecting that contracted time and understanding that that's okay.

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You're allowed to ask for that.

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Yeah.

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Suzy, I know you wanted to add to that.

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Absolutely.

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I just did a workshop with a group of educators about educator burnout.

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The definition of burnout is consistent stress that is not managed.

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I think we forget about ourselves when we don't manage our stress on a daily basis.

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We just let it accumulate, accumulate, accumulate until it gets to a point of burnout.

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I think we just have to be aware of ourselves and this applies to all of us here in this

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room.

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This happens to me.

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This past week, I was just feeling myself burning out because I was just under a lot

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of stress that was continuous one thing after another.

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You just need to be aware of yourself.

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As Marcia said, just not be afraid to look at yourself and go, okay, I need a break right

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now.

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I need to just do something just for me, something that I like to do and not feel guilty about

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it and not worry about the 10 million other things you have to do on your to-do list.

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Just focus on yourself, get yourself back to a little bit of equilibrium and then you're

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ready to deal with the next stress.

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Not just let them accumulate because that's what's going to eventually burn you out.

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Yeah.

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Go ahead, Carrie.

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I was raising the roof, but yes, I had something to think about it too, which is we talk a

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lot in early childhood education and early education in general, whether out of school

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time or in our programs, about helping the kids regulate their emotion.

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We use the term co-regulate.

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Well, for us to co-regulate, we have to be regulated.

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Teaching the kids how to take deep breaths and count backwards from seven and things

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like that, for them to co-regulate, you have to be able to handle your emotions.

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If we're not sleeping, if we're not eating, if we're not coming to work when we're feeling

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like we've got a cold coming on, every time that kid does that one thing in your room

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or in your program that drives you bananas, you're going to lose it.

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You're going to snap at a kid, you're going to say something you shouldn't have said

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to a coworker, to an employee.

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Us doing some self-care might be as simple as what we teach the kids to do.

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Wash your hands and then put on hand lotion.

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Take a deep breath of the fresh air when we walk outside on the playground.

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The stuff we teach the kids to do, we have to remind ourselves that we as adults should

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be going outside every minute, not every minute, every day in the morning and in the afternoon

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so that we're getting some sunshine and some good breath.

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I think we need to remember that if it's good for the kids, it's also good for us.

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Kate, you wanted to add something?

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Erica, can I wrap?

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I would love to just add real quick, for those of you who are listening who don't actually

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know what this means for you, other than myself because I may not be the only person who's

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listening to this going, self-care, I'm not really sure what that means.

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When people used to ask me, I'd be like, I like to organize my calendar.

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I had four kids at home, so four kids and a spouse and business or two.

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That took some planning.

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It's not necessarily about getting your nails done or that pedicure or that massage because

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there was a time period where that felt like an obligation and there was nothing relaxing

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about that.

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You might have to start with literally a couple of times a week, find things that make you

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laugh or put a big smile on your face.

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I loved the coffee example because for the longest time, my 30 minutes a week when I

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really had to try to figure out what was self-care for me started literally as a cup of coffee

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and playing with my poodle.

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It's okay if you aren't really sure what that looks like and you can try the things that

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people say are self-care for them, but yours may look very different.

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It may be a hike, maybe a swim, it may be playing a board game, it may be playing a

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video game on your phone and that's okay.

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Okay, sorry, I had trouble unmuting myself.

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My big thing when I talk to other teachers especially is giving yourself time to decompress

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in whatever way that looks like.

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Again, that's I guess another way to say self-care.

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This year, something that I've been implementing is just coming home and having 10 minutes

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of silence because being in a classroom can be really over-stimulating especially in early

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childhood and I don't remember who said it, but someone said about regulating – I think

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it was Carrie – who said regulating your emotions, it can be really hard to regulate

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your emotions after you've just been overstimulated for a full day as an educator.

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For me, my peace and quiet for 10 to 15 minutes after school is done is like the biggest – has

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made a big shift in the way I approach the rest of the day.

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How long do you want?

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Do you have anything you want to add?

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I didn't raise that.

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There's a couple of things I'd like to say and those are all amazing tips, ladies.

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Thank you so much for sharing.

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I think for myself when I think of being a leader in my program, it's so often we want

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our staff to take care of themselves, but do we always?

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Do we come in sick?

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Are we there from open to close?

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Are we being a good role model?

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So often we talk about silly ways that we will reward our teachers by like, oh, we bought

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you pizza or we brought you donuts.

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So maybe it looks like you stock the refrigerator with different flavored water and tea and

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things that will help people be able to take care of themselves while they're at your

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center.

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I can't tell you how many times I've eaten animal crackers for lunch or haven't packed

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a lunch and you're kind of eating on the fly.

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So I try to do those things now more than I had in the past.

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And so I think that is, again, when you're the leader, you got to lead by example.

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And the other thing I think is finding joy in the things like somebody had mentioned

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like stroking their dog, their poodle, like that brought, I think it was Kate, brought

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our joy, right?

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Finding the things that really spark your passion for life.

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Not about, not necessarily about education, but for your life.

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I think is, is so important to do that.

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And it'll be reflective because if you don't ask yourself the question, you may just kind

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of breeze over it.

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So just really being reflective to you, what really does make me happy?

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You know, what, what does decompressing look like for me?

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Or what does self care look like for me?

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So I think, you know, checking in with yourself and checking in with the folks around you

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and being a leader and an example.

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So let's go to our next question.

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Why is play critical for educators?

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And how can we incorporate more of it into our work to stay energized and engaged?

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Go ahead, Carla.

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She's like, me, me, me.

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Oh, I was, I was excited to answer this one.

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So first of all, life is way too short to not play.

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Like we hear all the time that age is just a number, but when you think about so early

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childhood education, it's fun.

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It's lively.

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We play.

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Then somehow the school system.

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And if you're in the school system, I'm sorry, it like sucks it out of you.

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It just sucks that joy and that innovation, that creativity.

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Like it is not designed.

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Like I tell people all the time, the school system was not designed for people like me.

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I showed up.

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I was a good kid.

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I did my work.

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I got okay grades, but I could not wait to get out of there and do what I was meant to

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do.

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And so I feel like early childhood education has allowed us to continue to be, I don't

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even want to say children, but feel like we actually have life inside of us and there's

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joy and you know, what career path honestly and truly wants to know your favorite dinosaur?

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Like who goes to work other than ECE and gets to say, well, my favorite dinosaur is a Triceratops.

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Right?

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Like, hello, like that is so much fun.

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And so play is part of that and we can play as adults.

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Like for me putting up my Christmas tree this week was play, right?

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So play doesn't have to look like playing dinosaurs, but playing is important.

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You know, getting your hands dirty, doing your craft, going into nature, right?

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Play could also be, you know, having a little fun on your phone, but to me, play is so much

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three, it's so three-dimensional, but then also like to make sure that you are playing

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at work is look at your space.

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What does your space look like?

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Does your space represent who you are?

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Right?

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If you don't like your classroom environment, change it because you have to be there all

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day every day.

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So how can it be more playful for you?

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There you go.

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00:18:58,200 --> 00:18:59,200
Hi, Kayla.

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I just wanted to add to Carla talking about joy and play and I love your dinosaur comment

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because I love dinosaurs.

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Anybody who knows me knows I love dinosaurs.

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So thank you for that.

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But I wanted to add to that I think we're also in such a unique position where we get

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to see every single day how joy can be found in the smallest things.

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Right?

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And so feeding off that energy I think is so important.

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Like, I'll give you an example.

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The other day I had a little guy who was so excited because he found the most beautiful

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00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:33,480
rock in the forest and it was just the most amazing thing in the world and he had to take

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this rock home to show his mommy and daddy just how phenomenal this rock was.

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And when you're surrounded by that just that limitless joy, it does something to you where

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you're like, oh yeah, there is greatness in the smallest things.

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There is, you know, there is beauty in the littlest things.

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Right?

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And so that is so wonderful to be able to constantly be in the proximity of wonder and

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of awe and of seeing the world through little eyes.

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00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:06,040
And Melissa, I just feel like play is so important for educators because play is important for

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children.

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So like, why wouldn't we play with our kids?

336
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Right?

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So I just I mean, I feel like Carla and Kayla said it so beautifully and we all know that

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play is learning.

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So when you're playing with your kids, you're all learning together and you just it allows

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so much space to feed off of one another and respond to one another and bring all of that

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joy that Kayla was just talking about.

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Right?

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Like, or even just co-regulate like we were talking about before, or even just like be

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in each other's sadness.

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Just I'm thinking about my my teacher, Bestie, he taught pre-k with me last year and, you

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know, he went through a breakup and he was really, really sad the next day in school,

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but he knew he had to come to school because it just it actually was better for him to

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be at school and he couldn't hold it back and the kids were like so great with him and

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he was so he found it was such a profound moment for him because they were taking care

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of him and he found so much joy in playing with him that it made him feel better.

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And just having those moments of play and joy and response and being together is what

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play brought out in everybody and because he was a play educator, it just it just brought

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community and peace and just all the words.

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I can't even come up with all the words because there were just like so many words that it

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brought but it's just it's so important for us as educators to bring in because it's just

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so important for children to experience and I just wish it could go beyond ECEs and I

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feel like we're all mostly ECEs of the fives and unders and I feel like this needs to speak

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to ECEs of the Ks to twos as well.

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And because just like Carla said, I'm in the public school system and this is why I fight

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00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:58,200
so hard for play in the public school system because it does suck the wife out of kids

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sometimes as much as I wish it didn't.

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So we really need to just bring the play.

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It's just it's so important for everybody because it's it's natural, it's authentic,

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it's what everybody wants to do.

365
00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:13,160
Yeah, thank you, Melissa.

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00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:14,160
Hold on, Jamie.

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00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:15,160
Carrie, go ahead.

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00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:19,480
I just wanted to say Ankylosaurus is the answer to Carla's question.

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Ankylosaurus is my favorite dinosaur.

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Also the the quote that comes into my head every time we talk about play is Albert Einstein.

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Like I don't know if you've ever heard of him.

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He's kind of dumb, but you know, he said that play is the highest form of research.

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So if Albert Einstein can play and that's what allowed him to revolutionize the way

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we think about the universe, maybe more people should be playing and they should get their

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00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:57,980
paints out and they should get their blocks out and every adult should be given each other

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Legos or paint sets.

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00:23:00,120 --> 00:23:04,520
Like those are socially acceptable play for adults.

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00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:10,560
So give it to other adults and make them go out and play and build with Legos or give

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00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:11,680
them clay.

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00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:18,480
That's also apparently an adult, you know, socially acceptable play because they're not

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00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:24,040
nobody's going to give you flack because you started doing pottery, but they will if you

382
00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:27,160
say, yes, I just spent four hours on Fortnite.

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00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:28,160
Right.

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00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:36,120
So thinking through how do we help other adults, the parents, the administrators, the teachers,

385
00:23:36,120 --> 00:23:39,960
giving them opportunities for play throughout their life.

386
00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:41,960
Yeah, Jamie.

387
00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:47,080
I'm so excited because this is like the school age topic and the learning and through play

388
00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:52,760
all the way through and it's so true like it stops at an age and it just we lose it.

389
00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:58,800
But I agree as adults, I think I guess I'll wrap it up like this like a quick little thing.

390
00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:05,240
I think that we would have better adults in a lot of areas if they all took time to play

391
00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:07,400
than we currently do now.

392
00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:14,480
And looking directly at our political areas in both Canada and the States.

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00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:17,000
I'm sure if they would take some time to play, it would be a little bit better.

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00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:23,960
But then, Carrie, you said about Fortnite and I'm laughing because I run a nursery school

395
00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:27,920
center, but I am not very good at it because I spend a lot more time in the classroom than

396
00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:32,920
I do on the administrative stuff I do by choice.

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00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:36,920
And I was just in the classroom the other day with the schoolagers, it's my favorite

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00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:41,640
group and they were saying they're bored because that's what they like to say.

399
00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:47,640
And we ended up making our own Fortnite characters and building our own 3D town or village or

400
00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:48,840
they get mad at me when I say it wrong.

401
00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:49,840
But you know what I mean?

402
00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:54,840
And it's just it's taking that all the way through from EC, just like you said, all the

403
00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:58,360
way through all the grades, there's aspects of play that we could use all the way into

404
00:24:58,360 --> 00:25:04,000
adulthood and it's so important that that gets pushed and stood up for.

405
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:05,880
Hey, Suzy.

406
00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:07,760
I'm chomping at the bit here guys.

407
00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:10,240
I want to chime in here so badly.

408
00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:13,680
I have two books, okay, one's called Learn to Play, the other one's called Parents Learn

409
00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:14,680
to Play 2.

410
00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:20,360
This is my thing, my mission is to teach people to play because play is how we learn whether

411
00:25:20,360 --> 00:25:26,180
you're one year old, five year old, 10 year old, 50 year old, this is how we learn.

412
00:25:26,180 --> 00:25:28,080
We learn because we like something.

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00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:32,240
We like something that we're doing so we learn about it and that is what play is.

414
00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:37,820
Play is joyful and so learning to play is like my mission for people.

415
00:25:37,820 --> 00:25:44,080
If you take nothing else away from this, it's play, be curious, tap into that childlike

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00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:47,640
innocence within you and just go with it.

417
00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:52,800
Be inquisitive, ask questions, like look at the world in a different way and other people

418
00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:53,800
have said the same thing.

419
00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:57,080
Look at the eyes, like look through the eyes of a child.

420
00:25:57,080 --> 00:26:01,720
You'll find so much new about everything you thought you knew that you didn't really know.

421
00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:02,720
Hey, Carla.

422
00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:03,720
Hey, Rika.

423
00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:05,720
It's being weird on the meeting.

424
00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:08,640
No, I was just very excited because I was like, yes, absolutely.

425
00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:11,480
And I couldn't help thinking about exactly what we're doing here.

426
00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:15,200
None of us were podcasting in kindergarten.

427
00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:19,300
We all ended up becoming podcasters because we wanted to play.

428
00:26:19,300 --> 00:26:22,440
We wanted to do something and we were curious about it.

429
00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:26,500
So I just felt like I had to give a shout out to all of us as podcasters because based

430
00:26:26,500 --> 00:26:29,760
on what Suzy just said, play is how we got here.

431
00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:30,760
Yeah, Carla.

432
00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:34,900
I just want to add, Carla, you know that all of us were the little girls who got the speaks

433
00:26:34,900 --> 00:26:38,440
too much on the report card evaluations, right?

434
00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:43,360
Or maybe they have excellent leadership potential.

435
00:26:43,360 --> 00:26:45,640
Yeah, for sure.

436
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:47,120
Or just downright bossy.

437
00:26:47,120 --> 00:26:49,120
That's a good skills to have.

438
00:26:49,120 --> 00:26:51,120
Or all of the above.

439
00:26:51,120 --> 00:26:52,120
You never know.

440
00:26:52,120 --> 00:26:53,120
Okay, quit telling on me.

441
00:26:53,120 --> 00:26:54,120
Can I just ask something?

442
00:26:54,120 --> 00:26:55,120
Yes, of course.

443
00:26:55,120 --> 00:26:59,200
I just realized, I don't know why I just realized this right now.

444
00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:03,720
I've been married to my husband for almost 10 years and I just came from like one of

445
00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:09,320
those trampoline adventure parks and my husband was inside the dodgeball area with all of

446
00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:14,320
the kids and I just realized that I'm married to a man who loves to play.

447
00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:18,120
And I don't know why it took me this long to realize that this is probably why I married

448
00:27:18,120 --> 00:27:21,000
him and why I get along with him.

449
00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:24,360
But yeah, playing is important for everybody.

450
00:27:24,360 --> 00:27:30,760
So I think there's so many ways to think about it, but I can't imagine any other field where

451
00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:36,600
you can like have Play-Doh on your desk, come to school in your pajamas if you want, break

452
00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:40,640
out into song in the middle of a classroom, or tell jokes.

453
00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:42,560
This is a place for children.

454
00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:43,960
We should be smiling.

455
00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:44,960
We should be happy.

456
00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:45,960
Where do you walk in?

457
00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:50,480
Can you imagine working at a bank and you walked in and 20 people flocked up to you

458
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:53,280
and hugged you so hard they almost took you off your feet?

459
00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:55,960
I'm pretty sure that's not happening at the bank.

460
00:27:55,960 --> 00:28:01,880
Well, maybe if you cash in a billion dollar check, but for the most part, you walk into

461
00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:06,600
your classrooms and you are literally just these little people hugging your legs.

462
00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:11,400
You can like you're walking like this, there's 10 kids hanging on your leg, at least in my

463
00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:12,840
experience.

464
00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:17,000
We keep this joke calendar on our desk and it's not mine.

465
00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:21,320
It belongs to the director and it has these kind of corny dad jokes, but some of them

466
00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:26,240
are so good that when I come in the morning, I'll call another center and I'll be very

467
00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:28,840
serious and be like, hey, I got to ask you something.

468
00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:29,880
And they're like, yeah.

469
00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:32,960
And then I just break out into a joke and like, oh my God, I feel crazy.

470
00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:35,400
But like that might be just how I start my day.

471
00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:38,620
No, some professions you can't do that, but ours we can.

472
00:28:38,620 --> 00:28:43,120
So again, what we do is serious work, but we don't have to take ourselves so seriously

473
00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:45,040
all of the time.

474
00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:50,040
And so I think that that is coming back to the point of why it's so important for you

475
00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:53,640
as an educator to be joyous in what you're doing.

476
00:28:53,640 --> 00:29:00,600
You can't walk in with the brooding face and because your energy feeds the building, the

477
00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:05,760
room, especially if you're the administrator and you walk in and you've always got that

478
00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:06,760
kind of face.

479
00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:10,000
It's important that we don't do that.

480
00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:16,000
So as we talk about leadership, as I bring that up, let's go to our next question.

481
00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:20,640
What does true leadership look like in our classrooms and our communities and how can

482
00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:28,280
we lead with empathy, vision and purpose as we navigate this very quick changing industry

483
00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:29,280
that we're in?

484
00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:30,280
Do you want to tackle that one?

485
00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:34,840
I think we have to remember we're key to the, that we are key to every community.

486
00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:40,040
A lot of times we are unforgotten or just, you know, people just kind of push us to the

487
00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:41,040
side.

488
00:29:41,040 --> 00:29:48,000
And nothing else out of our lovely COVID experience five years ago to the present, you know, we

489
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:55,320
are absolutely behind every other industry and it's okay for us to try to remember to

490
00:29:55,320 --> 00:30:03,440
toot our own horn, to toot our industry's horn and to just have that key role in the

491
00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:10,840
community because the parents, the families, every employer needs to know what quality

492
00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:18,520
early learning looks like and we get to be at, you know, that pivot point for a lot of

493
00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:22,800
our teachers and directors because they may sometimes forget about it because they are

494
00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:26,640
only thinking about maybe the kids in their classroom.

495
00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:28,320
So I didn't raise my hand.

496
00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:29,320
I just talked.

497
00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:30,320
Sorry.

498
00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:32,640
Say your name for me again.

499
00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:34,280
Is it Avad?

500
00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:35,280
Is it correct?

501
00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:36,280
I don't know.

502
00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:37,280
Okay.

503
00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:53,800
I was, I was just going to say that also something that you said on my podcast, Erica, was that

504
00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:55,760
teachers are also leaders in the classroom.

505
00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:58,960
And I think a lot of teachers struggle with that.

506
00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:02,440
Something that I've been promoting for a long time that teachers aren't actually leaders.

507
00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:07,720
So taking that leadership role doesn't mean you have to be in an administrative role or

508
00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:09,600
in any kind of leadership position.

509
00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:12,320
You can take that leadership inside your classroom.

510
00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:17,080
And one more thing to add is just about energy and the energy that you bring into a school

511
00:31:17,080 --> 00:31:23,400
building as a person, whether you're a teacher or administrator, it doesn't really matter.

512
00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:25,060
Everybody will feed off of your energy.

513
00:31:25,060 --> 00:31:31,080
So if you're in a bad mood, sometimes people will feed off of it or sometimes a person

514
00:31:31,080 --> 00:31:36,120
will just come up to you and say something really nice and switch that energy for you.

515
00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:40,560
But if you're coming into school positively, whether you're a teacher or administrator,

516
00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:42,960
you're going to get that positivity right back to you.

517
00:31:42,960 --> 00:31:43,960
Yeah.

518
00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:44,960
Go ahead, Carla.

519
00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:46,080
And to piggy on that, because that was perfect.

520
00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:51,340
I'm so glad you went first because I did not have a good segue was that as supervisors

521
00:31:51,340 --> 00:31:57,720
and directors, we have to trust our team of educators that they are professionals.

522
00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:02,440
I have been the supervisor that is questioned and it's okay to question, but it's not okay

523
00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:04,400
to assume they don't know anything.

524
00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:11,360
I've worked with a center in the past where the staff were so nervous to do anything and

525
00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:15,640
it came down to everything they did was questioned and it's okay to question it.

526
00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:19,280
But you also have to remind your team, I trust you, you are a professional.

527
00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:20,800
You can do this.

528
00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:24,880
That's part of being a leader is you should be able to leave your center and the ship

529
00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:29,800
doesn't go down and it stays perfectly afloat, but it takes time.

530
00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:33,920
But you have to sometimes help your teachers know that they are leaders.

531
00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:34,920
Go ahead Carrie.

532
00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:39,960
So how can you tell the difference between a leader and a duck?

533
00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:43,720
It's that the leader has people following them.

534
00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:48,760
So the duck is just walking out there doing duck stuff.

535
00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:53,000
So if you want to be a leader, you have to turn around and make sure people are following

536
00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:58,200
you, which is where we get that concept of servant leadership.

537
00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:05,560
And I have been in classrooms where the teacher is not a leader, they are a duck and they

538
00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:10,920
are running around like a duck trying to get other people to be interested in what they're

539
00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:17,720
doing and it's not working because they're trying to be in charge and they're quacking

540
00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:22,000
all the time and the kids aren't getting into it.

541
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:27,640
So you want your teachers, you want your administrators to be leaders, not ducks.

542
00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:31,280
So people need to be following you for you to be a leader.

543
00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:32,280
Yeah.

544
00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:34,400
Go ahead, Jamie.

545
00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:38,520
I think it's also important to look at the differences between managers and leaders and

546
00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:44,880
that just because someone's a manager, as you said, that doesn't make them a leader

547
00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:50,840
and probably a better manager would have those leadership qualities.

548
00:33:50,840 --> 00:33:54,880
And it's that combined passion for education and what we do.

549
00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:58,080
Like right now, I would say we're all leaders because not only are we doing this, we're

550
00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:04,880
going out and making podcasts, but we're advocating for this incredible field that is the cornerstone

551
00:34:04,880 --> 00:34:09,880
of the future.

552
00:34:09,880 --> 00:34:15,280
It is where we're raising all these children and we're making a difference in these communities

553
00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:21,440
and in the world and we're fighting the good fight.

554
00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:26,560
And I think that these leadership qualities, they're not easily come across.

555
00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:28,480
You have to build on them a lot.

556
00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:29,960
Go ahead, Melissa.

557
00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:36,240
I was just, when Jamie was talking, it really occurred to me that oftentimes I say when

558
00:34:36,240 --> 00:34:39,280
I'm trying to tell it, okay, sorry, my thoughts are not coming out because it's like brewing

559
00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:41,080
in my head.

560
00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:43,900
Teachers are taught to be managers.

561
00:34:43,900 --> 00:34:45,960
Teachers are not taught to be leaders.

562
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:48,880
They're taught to manage a classroom.

563
00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:49,880
We're taught to be ducks.

564
00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:55,840
When you go to teacher school, you're taught and you're praised for good management.

565
00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:57,640
This is what people are looking for.

566
00:34:57,640 --> 00:35:01,760
So this is why I'm thinking it's so difficult for most teachers to step out of that management

567
00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:07,400
role and to actually think of themselves as a leader.

568
00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:12,400
And unless it comes naturally to you, because this is what people look for.

569
00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:14,280
Oh, your classroom is so quiet.

570
00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:16,560
Oh, you control those children so well.

571
00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:19,160
Oh, you have such great management skills.

572
00:35:19,160 --> 00:35:20,960
Management, management, management.

573
00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:22,480
That's what they're looking for.

574
00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:24,320
And that's what gets praised.

575
00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:27,080
So I think that's why there's that disconnect there.

576
00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:28,560
Yeah, that's awesome.

577
00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:29,560
Go ahead, Kate.

578
00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:34,560
Like, oh, I'll try to follow the rules.

579
00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:35,560
Okay.

580
00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:37,800
I so agree with that statement.

581
00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:42,760
And if you think about how many people in our profession have felt that the only way

582
00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:48,120
they can demonstrate their knowledge, because we've all had this.

583
00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:50,000
Well, okay, I won't say all.

584
00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:54,640
I would suspect a lot of us online have had at least one relative or friend that makes

585
00:35:54,640 --> 00:36:00,120
a comment about how smart we are and why are we in this field.

586
00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:07,420
And we try to justify it by getting master's degrees or doctorate degrees or doing something

587
00:36:07,420 --> 00:36:09,440
so that we can go, look, we're serious.

588
00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:10,520
This is a real industry.

589
00:36:10,520 --> 00:36:12,440
We're really professionals.

590
00:36:12,440 --> 00:36:18,460
And that management versus leadership is such that like you got it.

591
00:36:18,460 --> 00:36:21,340
And yeah, I mean, you're right.

592
00:36:21,340 --> 00:36:23,860
Leadership is not natural for a lot of people.

593
00:36:23,860 --> 00:36:30,260
And if you've got a PhD, you've got a doctorate in education doesn't necessarily make you

594
00:36:30,260 --> 00:36:31,260
a leader.

595
00:36:31,260 --> 00:36:40,320
But yet every principal, every superintendent, everybody in education leadership has that

596
00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:42,640
doctorate in management.

597
00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:48,200
And if you guys are listening to this and you are not currently doing something that

598
00:36:48,200 --> 00:36:54,080
you want to go find how you can build your authority by demonstrating that you know what

599
00:36:54,080 --> 00:36:55,080
you're doing.

600
00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:59,320
And it doesn't necessarily require more education.

601
00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:04,700
And it doesn't require you to have advanced degrees, because chances are you are making

602
00:37:04,700 --> 00:37:08,240
an impact and you know exactly what you're doing.

603
00:37:08,240 --> 00:37:13,240
And I applaud you for listening to today's episode because that means that you are part

604
00:37:13,240 --> 00:37:15,160
of that lifelong learning community.

605
00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:20,680
So yay for listening and hopefully you'll connect with all of us and you get to learn

606
00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:21,680
more.

607
00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:24,620
Does anybody have anything they want to add to that?

608
00:37:24,620 --> 00:37:27,160
So let's talk about mentorship.

609
00:37:27,160 --> 00:37:30,980
How can mentorship help people grow as professionals?

610
00:37:30,980 --> 00:37:34,680
And how can we support and learn from each other to strengthen our field?

611
00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:40,280
You know one of the things you know we I think I want to change the language.

612
00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:44,360
I don't know how I'm going to do this myself, but that's why I think you know having so

613
00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:48,120
many folks like you who also have voices and people listen.

614
00:37:48,120 --> 00:37:51,880
Why do we even have to identify and I think I might have said this before we turned to

615
00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:57,680
recording but why do we even have to identify as early childhood professionals?

616
00:37:57,680 --> 00:37:59,400
Why can't we just say we're educators?

617
00:37:59,400 --> 00:38:04,360
Why is this like hierarchy of of a college because as soon as like you said justifying

618
00:38:04,360 --> 00:38:05,360
right Kate?

619
00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:09,000
You say you know I I'm an early childhood educator.

620
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:13,080
Oh you work you work in a preschool you work in a daycare.

621
00:38:13,080 --> 00:38:16,120
Oh and immediately you see the body change.

622
00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:17,920
No I'm an educator.

623
00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:23,000
It doesn't matter if I work in a high school level a professor a you know a college professor

624
00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:24,000
doesn't matter.

625
00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:29,360
We're educators and we teach in a way that's age appropriate for the age that we're working

626
00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:31,560
with right just like you know.

627
00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:37,960
So I think we all as the industry need to start using that language to say I'm an educator

628
00:38:37,960 --> 00:38:42,520
period because we do it to ourselves and so we're not using that language.

629
00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:44,640
So I expect other people to understand.

630
00:38:44,640 --> 00:38:50,000
Mama I see you girl go ahead call it go ahead.

631
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:56,560
So I'm about to ruffle some feathers so I'm actually going to counter what you're saying

632
00:38:56,560 --> 00:39:03,320
and I want people to say they're an early childhood educator and be damn proud to say

633
00:39:03,320 --> 00:39:08,860
it because and this is a running joke in my house my husband will tell people I'm a teacher

634
00:39:08,860 --> 00:39:15,160
and if you are a teacher I mean no disrespect but I have said to my husband do not tell

635
00:39:15,160 --> 00:39:19,920
people I am a teacher tell people I'm an early childhood educator because I am not in the

636
00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:21,300
same category.

637
00:39:21,300 --> 00:39:26,480
I am not dealing with great seven attitudes and grade eight attitudes that is a whole

638
00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:30,160
nother skill that is a whole nother industry.

639
00:39:30,160 --> 00:39:34,960
I am dealing with the social emotional behavior of three four and five year olds that is a

640
00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:37,760
whole nother skill on a whole nother industry.

641
00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:43,240
And if we are not proud when we say I am an early childhood educator and I don't care

642
00:39:43,240 --> 00:39:49,880
if people go oh so you like play all day I maybe it's a personality thing I am the first

643
00:39:49,880 --> 00:39:54,720
to come at you and be like yeah actually I do because I'm building neural pathways every

644
00:39:54,720 --> 00:39:59,040
single day is that not incredible what I do as an early childhood educator like I will

645
00:39:59,040 --> 00:40:00,520
shut you right up absolutely.

646
00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:07,640
Well I mean I agree with that but I guess what I'm saying is educators are educators

647
00:40:07,640 --> 00:40:13,560
yes and as I had said it has to be for the age that we're working with right so it has

648
00:40:13,560 --> 00:40:17,440
to be age appropriate so yes that's what looks that's what it looks like when working with

649
00:40:17,440 --> 00:40:22,760
kids who are three to five or you know infant to five right and I think they're working

650
00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:26,120
on social skills in high school and in college by the way.

651
00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:32,060
I just think that the respect of saying we are educators because I think when we divide

652
00:40:32,060 --> 00:40:38,560
ourselves is how we get esteemed rolled over where educators we all deserve the same respect

653
00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:42,640
doesn't matter what the tools are that we use the teaching philosophy that we use there's

654
00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:47,680
this hierarchy that I can't stand is really my point I am very passionate it doesn't matter

655
00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:52,560
what age right we all have the ages that we love and we all have the philosophies and

656
00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:57,200
the tools and the skills that we use but at the end of the day the respect should be the

657
00:40:57,200 --> 00:41:03,680
same and when we meet folks no matter if they're early childhood school age it doesn't matter

658
00:41:03,680 --> 00:41:07,360
to me to me we're educators and and so that's my thoughts.

659
00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:11,040
Jamie is your hand raised honey yeah go ahead Jamie.

660
00:41:11,040 --> 00:41:14,640
No I think you're both right because I think it's about actively working to create the

661
00:41:14,640 --> 00:41:20,880
systems and policies to ensure that all educators are respected regardless of what age group

662
00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:25,960
but I also understand Erica what you're saying because you're like if I say that I'm a teacher

663
00:41:25,960 --> 00:41:29,160
it doesn't matter to people if I'm a high school teacher elementary school teacher I'm

664
00:41:29,160 --> 00:41:34,240
a teacher but if I say I'm a teacher educator and I say ECE all of a sudden it's like oh

665
00:41:34,240 --> 00:41:41,680
you're not a teacher but the advocacy has such a huge part in this because we are all

666
00:41:41,680 --> 00:41:47,560
fighting to make this and anyone listening should be fighting to make ECE that that it's

667
00:41:47,560 --> 00:41:53,120
it's it's accepted and generally accepted like yeah I'm an early childhood educator

668
00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:54,120
I'm an educator.

669
00:41:54,120 --> 00:42:02,200
Yeah that's all I see everybody I see that's all of you I promise go ahead Kate.

670
00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:06,120
Really what I'm going to do is I'm going to put Carrie on the spot because Carrie has

671
00:42:06,120 --> 00:42:11,160
a great story that's a perfect example of this because there is that difference of perception

672
00:42:11,160 --> 00:42:18,480
when you say educator versus ECE versus professor and Carrie's probably going which story am

673
00:42:18,480 --> 00:42:24,640
I telling so it's the one from Linda about smart people.

674
00:42:24,640 --> 00:42:30,000
Just that she said you know you're too smart to be doing that work you should you know

675
00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:35,360
are you sure you want to work in early childhood you're too smart for that and I was like so

676
00:42:35,360 --> 00:42:42,480
you want dumb people working with the children with human beings in their most vulnerable

677
00:42:42,480 --> 00:42:48,560
stages and when they are most able to build cognitive function you want dumb people doing

678
00:42:48,560 --> 00:42:55,840
that and she was like well when you put it that way no.

679
00:42:55,840 --> 00:43:00,880
Okay so what is the background of the person who asked you that question you don't have

680
00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:02,280
to like but.

681
00:43:02,280 --> 00:43:10,640
Well she was a high school English teacher and then an attorney and an attorney who was

682
00:43:10,640 --> 00:43:16,880
very well known in their field an assistant attorney general for the state yeah pretty

683
00:43:16,880 --> 00:43:21,240
well did you have your hand up I know you did.

684
00:43:21,240 --> 00:43:37,200
I was just gonna say I think one of the challenges that we have as early childhood educators

685
00:43:37,200 --> 00:43:43,300
is our job is unfortunately seen as the one that any woman can do right first of all we

686
00:43:43,300 --> 00:43:50,040
are predominantly predominantly female holy I'm having the same problem of ideas in there

687
00:43:50,040 --> 00:43:54,280
they're just not making their way home properly.

688
00:43:54,280 --> 00:43:58,800
Not to say that that is a problem but unfortunately you know that does get looked down upon a

689
00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:03,960
lot right and because we are working with children because we do tasks for lack of better

690
00:44:03,960 --> 00:44:10,480
words like wiping noses like diaper changing like helping potty train you know it's seen

691
00:44:10,480 --> 00:44:15,560
as not being important and therefore again the glorified babysitter right this is you

692
00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:20,160
know oh you're an early childhood educator I literally had somebody say to me and you

693
00:44:20,160 --> 00:44:23,760
know I'm hoping this is not going to sound too vulgar on here but I literally said to

694
00:44:23,760 --> 00:44:28,040
somebody one time I'm an early childhood educator and the exact words out of their mouth was

695
00:44:28,040 --> 00:44:36,520
oh so you wipe asses for a living I'm like yeah and like bro what what is this right

696
00:44:36,520 --> 00:44:47,000
bad Susie missus I just want to say so do yes just make more Susie.

697
00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:53,080
So I think we're all on the same page here and I really feel that this is something that

698
00:44:53,080 --> 00:44:58,920
we all have to deal with and this is the reality of the situation we're all educators yes

699
00:44:58,920 --> 00:45:03,160
but there is a pecking order right there's a there's a hierarchy you know if you teach

700
00:45:03,160 --> 00:45:08,960
at the university level you're a better teacher if you teach at the high school and then elementary

701
00:45:08,960 --> 00:45:13,600
and then we're at the very bottom because we teach the youngest of children so there

702
00:45:13,600 --> 00:45:19,000
is that order and we got to realize that but that doesn't mean that it's true it just means

703
00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:24,080
that's what people believe and we can change those perceptions and we have to do that as

704
00:45:24,080 --> 00:45:30,200
a community by leveling up our profession no we're not babysitters we are educators

705
00:45:30,200 --> 00:45:35,840
I think language matters so when we say daycare provider you know that kind of a little bit

706
00:45:35,840 --> 00:45:41,080
irks me because we're not daycare providers we're educators and I always use that language

707
00:45:41,080 --> 00:45:46,840
and we have to get used to using that language that we're not just providers of daycare we

708
00:45:46,840 --> 00:45:52,620
are educating at every level and and every and you know I really believe the first six

709
00:45:52,620 --> 00:45:57,360
years are the most important they're more important than the university years so you

710
00:45:57,360 --> 00:46:02,100
know you know that should be the order the order is you know ECEs first and then the

711
00:46:02,100 --> 00:46:07,080
other teachers you know as far as you know affecting the brain and changing how the brain

712
00:46:07,080 --> 00:46:11,960
works and all of that so we're all you know on the same page I understand that but we

713
00:46:11,960 --> 00:46:15,760
can all we have to understand there's that perception out there and we have to change

714
00:46:15,760 --> 00:46:16,760
that perception.

715
00:46:16,760 --> 00:46:23,400
Yeah there we go now I can unmute my mic so love listening to all of the perspectives

716
00:46:23,400 --> 00:46:28,740
that's the point of having different perspectives and to be able to have this conversation let's

717
00:46:28,740 --> 00:46:33,840
think about now that mentorship piece we're in a room full of wonderful educators with

718
00:46:33,840 --> 00:46:39,280
years and years of knowledge how do we bring it out to the sector that needs us that needs

719
00:46:39,280 --> 00:46:44,800
this voice that needs the appropriate language that needs us to articulate what's okay for

720
00:46:44,800 --> 00:46:50,080
our profession because like you said it's us it starts with us we need to be the ones

721
00:46:50,080 --> 00:46:54,440
that start the conversation and that goes through the mentorship process through our

722
00:46:54,440 --> 00:47:00,320
leaders through our child care providers on the floor it starts with us we have to be

723
00:47:00,320 --> 00:47:06,140
able to be the ones we've all started podcasts for a reason that mentorship pro process is

724
00:47:06,140 --> 00:47:12,960
key right now as a professor and going through what's coming out as our new educators in

725
00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:16,580
the field we do not want to be afraid what's coming in the field we want to trust these

726
00:47:16,580 --> 00:47:22,840
people with the children and their development so we need to arm them with the right tools

727
00:47:22,840 --> 00:47:28,480
and that is the proper language and the support they need when they need it not being retroactive

728
00:47:28,480 --> 00:47:34,240
but proactive in this situation that's what I'm going to say I love it yes yes yes we

729
00:47:34,240 --> 00:47:41,760
are shaping little minds you're next okay I love that um I just wanted to piggyback

730
00:47:41,760 --> 00:47:49,400
off of what Marcia was saying because I find that the new teachers who I do speak to who

731
00:47:49,400 --> 00:47:53,240
come into the coaching program with me do not have the tools that they need to be able

732
00:47:53,240 --> 00:47:59,760
to succeed in a classroom and it drives me crazy because you go to school for teaching

733
00:47:59,760 --> 00:48:04,440
and you think that school is going to prepare you to be a classroom teacher and then you

734
00:48:04,440 --> 00:48:09,800
are thrown all of these crazy obstacles when you're in the classroom and so many times

735
00:48:09,800 --> 00:48:14,200
these teachers do not get the support that they need something that what I really want

736
00:48:14,200 --> 00:48:22,080
to do is bring that piece into the mentorship world which is helping the college students

737
00:48:22,080 --> 00:48:27,160
who are coming from that education program and bridging that gap into the classroom so

738
00:48:27,160 --> 00:48:34,000
that they can have the tools to stay in the classroom and to feel successful in the classroom

739
00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:39,320
and I think a big part of that is you know that's why we're losing so many teachers these

740
00:48:39,320 --> 00:48:42,800
teachers are coming from college thinking that this is what they want to do and then

741
00:48:42,800 --> 00:48:47,320
they go into the classroom and they are met with so many different challenges and obstacles

742
00:48:47,320 --> 00:48:51,760
that they just don't know how to deal with and don't necessarily get the support to be

743
00:48:51,760 --> 00:48:57,200
able to handle so they say okay this isn't for me I'm not going to do this anymore I'm

744
00:48:57,200 --> 00:49:00,200
gonna I'm gonna say goodbye at the end of the year.

745
00:49:00,200 --> 00:49:01,800
Go ahead Jamie.

746
00:49:01,800 --> 00:49:05,380
I love how you threw in that support piece because it really goes back to everything

747
00:49:05,380 --> 00:49:09,800
that we're talking about here but it's funny how much early childhood educators we support

748
00:49:09,800 --> 00:49:14,480
families and we support the children but then looking at us like where is that support where

749
00:49:14,480 --> 00:49:19,540
is the educator support coming from and it's it's I mean obviously it's us advocating but

750
00:49:19,540 --> 00:49:23,400
what else is out there to support us there's like unless we're fighting the good fight

751
00:49:23,400 --> 00:49:25,680
for ourselves it's it's not there.

752
00:49:25,680 --> 00:49:30,800
Jamie I think that's probably why I thought this would be a great topic for our very first

753
00:49:30,800 --> 00:49:36,480
roundtable because it is so important and you know it isn't just the teachers it's the

754
00:49:36,480 --> 00:49:41,680
administration too they don't always have the tools that they need and many times that

755
00:49:41,680 --> 00:49:47,200
the admins have been promoted they were teachers for a long period of time and they've done

756
00:49:47,200 --> 00:49:53,160
a great job as an educator and now you are now responsible for everything everyone is

757
00:49:53,160 --> 00:49:59,360
supposed to have the solution for every question that's ever asked of you and you don't have

758
00:49:59,360 --> 00:50:01,800
to be a teacher you know we talked about you know the difference between a leader and a

759
00:50:01,800 --> 00:50:07,880
manager and you may have managed things you know tasks pretty well to get promoted but

760
00:50:07,880 --> 00:50:13,240
maybe you really haven't had that opportunity to develop your leadership skills and so we're

761
00:50:13,240 --> 00:50:19,240
seeing that too and I know Kate and Carrie as they go train directors all over the country

762
00:50:19,240 --> 00:50:25,000
that many of these folks are folks who didn't have the business side of education because

763
00:50:25,000 --> 00:50:31,880
it is a business too for most of us right so there's just so many pieces so yeah where

764
00:50:31,880 --> 00:50:36,280
does the support come we have to advocate but then there also has to be like what's

765
00:50:36,280 --> 00:50:41,960
the action because we can talk all day everybody here knows the problem right we got to start

766
00:50:41,960 --> 00:50:46,320
figuring out what are some of the solutions and who are the people who can help us move

767
00:50:46,320 --> 00:50:50,600
that forward Melissa hold on Carrie I see you Melissa did you have something you want

768
00:50:50,600 --> 00:50:54,360
to add honey I didn't want to I didn't want to hop over you if you had raised your hand

769
00:50:54,360 --> 00:50:57,840
no it's okay there was just it was mostly just kind of sharing the same kind of story

770
00:50:57,840 --> 00:51:02,240
I just there's something interesting going on in New York City right now which might

771
00:51:02,240 --> 00:51:06,940
be sort of the action but it is becoming really kind of problematic and I feel like it kind

772
00:51:06,940 --> 00:51:12,680
of fits into this piece so you know New York City being the biggest public school system

773
00:51:12,680 --> 00:51:19,560
has started to implement funding into child care systems right which I know has happened

774
00:51:19,560 --> 00:51:24,240
in many cities but this is also partly and early childhood kids were excited about it

775
00:51:24,240 --> 00:51:28,920
because it was going to help sort of legitimize some early childhood education but it's also

776
00:51:28,920 --> 00:51:34,080
become really problematic because there are all of these different pieces as we've actually

777
00:51:34,080 --> 00:51:40,600
been talking about because now it's become this continuity piece where they're saying

778
00:51:40,600 --> 00:51:44,700
do this creative curriculum everybody has to do this everybody has to it has to look

779
00:51:44,700 --> 00:51:51,080
exactly the same so now we're asking child cares that are being funded by the department

780
00:51:51,080 --> 00:51:58,080
of public school system to do the exact same work that I'm doing where I'm getting paid

781
00:51:58,080 --> 00:52:04,660
a massive amount more money than these teachers are getting paid I'm not gonna lie my salary

782
00:52:04,660 --> 00:52:10,320
is online I get paid six figures these teachers and these child cares don't get paid anywhere

783
00:52:10,320 --> 00:52:15,400
near that and that's just one piece of all of this right the pay where they're asking

784
00:52:15,400 --> 00:52:20,320
to do the same work they don't get my union preps they don't get my union contracts but

785
00:52:20,320 --> 00:52:30,440
then also I have a huge problem with making the continuity piece across every single classroom

786
00:52:30,440 --> 00:52:34,200
I don't want my classroom to look exactly the same as somebody else's classroom and

787
00:52:34,200 --> 00:52:38,440
as somebody else's classroom my children should not be studying trees because you're I'm being

788
00:52:38,440 --> 00:52:43,080
told to study trees what if they're not interested in trees right so that's like another whole

789
00:52:43,080 --> 00:52:49,440
piece and so I feel like in one way they're trying to put the action into place and then

790
00:52:49,440 --> 00:52:54,280
they're trying to help this by adding in these mentors from the department where the childhood

791
00:52:54,280 --> 00:53:01,240
education but then they don't have the tools because they're coming down some of them were

792
00:53:01,240 --> 00:53:06,280
teachers but they're being told from the district and it's just again sort of the hierarchy

793
00:53:06,280 --> 00:53:10,400
of like things happening and exploding and maybe I'm just like putting New York City

794
00:53:10,400 --> 00:53:16,640
on the spot here but it's not necessarily working because it works in one area or it

795
00:53:16,640 --> 00:53:22,360
works with one school because of one mentor is really great and then one teacher like

796
00:53:22,360 --> 00:53:26,440
accepts it but then it's not working with another mentor because one mentor is just

797
00:53:26,440 --> 00:53:31,240
really coming down the pipe you know it just it's really interesting and I don't know

798
00:53:31,240 --> 00:53:34,560
like I said it sort of fits into all this because of a little bit of the actions futures

799
00:53:34,560 --> 00:53:43,040
like it's a conversation for sure yeah we could do yeah yeah so it's just like really

800
00:53:43,040 --> 00:53:48,000
interesting to think about all of that and how it kind of could look yeah and how it

801
00:53:48,000 --> 00:53:51,760
could probably like see about call out or hand for us go ahead calla or you just we

802
00:53:51,760 --> 00:53:57,280
just wave any hands around clap it okay go ahead Kayla okay I was gonna say Melissa

803
00:53:57,280 --> 00:54:01,760
I think you bring up such a good point and I think one of the issues that we have is

804
00:54:01,760 --> 00:54:07,080
we're always trying to I think it comes back to this idea of proving ourselves right like

805
00:54:07,080 --> 00:54:11,040
we need to prove that we are doing good we need to prove that our job is of value we

806
00:54:11,040 --> 00:54:15,720
need to prove that children are learning something so if something is working in classroom a

807
00:54:15,720 --> 00:54:20,080
well then it must be working in every single one we seem to have especially when it comes

808
00:54:20,080 --> 00:54:25,400
to like administrators or heads there seems to be this disconnection of understanding

809
00:54:25,400 --> 00:54:30,880
that there is you know children are individual beings and not everyone cannot treat them

810
00:54:30,880 --> 00:54:37,280
with this robotic mindset right um I know I'll give a perfect example here in BC alone

811
00:54:37,280 --> 00:54:42,760
right there is this huge push that every has to be regio inspired and regio regio regio

812
00:54:42,760 --> 00:54:49,880
and that's great like I have nothing against that but the disconnect is regio means nothing

813
00:54:49,880 --> 00:54:54,920
in British Columbia because you're trying to come at it from an Italian perspective

814
00:54:54,920 --> 00:55:02,660
this is not Italy this is BC right completely different um histories countries societies

815
00:55:02,660 --> 00:55:09,240
uh like mind immunities whatever and the other thing that I have a hard time with is that

816
00:55:09,240 --> 00:55:13,340
majority of times when we're trying to implement these ideas they're coming from an extremely

817
00:55:13,340 --> 00:55:19,920
privileged lens right um like for here for example like again I'll use British Columbia

818
00:55:19,920 --> 00:55:27,040
very specifically I'll narrow it down to um Metro Vancouver where we have this idea that

819
00:55:27,040 --> 00:55:31,600
what they're doing in the big universities with the million dollars of funding is what

820
00:55:31,600 --> 00:55:36,840
everybody across the board should be doing that would be great if I also had a million

821
00:55:36,840 --> 00:55:41,800
dollars worth of funding I could do that as well but I don't I have to work with what

822
00:55:41,800 --> 00:55:47,560
I have and most importantly my children are not predominantly you know privileged they're

823
00:55:47,560 --> 00:55:53,820
not predominantly white they're not you know there are centers where children come to school

824
00:55:53,820 --> 00:55:59,020
maybe with an empty stomach there are children who come to school I I had dinner with a friend

825
00:55:59,020 --> 00:56:04,120
a couple of weeks ago who talked about working with children who lived in shelters and you

826
00:56:04,120 --> 00:56:09,240
know working with children who came from abusive backgrounds and child care was the one place

827
00:56:09,240 --> 00:56:15,760
where they had safety and so it wasn't about you know pedagogy and pedagogical narrations

828
00:56:15,760 --> 00:56:20,320
and all this wonderful airy fairy stuff it was about is this the only place where they

829
00:56:20,320 --> 00:56:25,200
can get their basic needs met and is this the one place where they can feel safe if

830
00:56:25,200 --> 00:56:31,600
I have done that I've done my job yeah thank you for bringing that up Kayla go ahead Carrie

831
00:56:31,600 --> 00:56:36,520
okay so my brain has like stuff I want to talk about from Marcia and Kayla and Melissa

832
00:56:36,520 --> 00:56:43,720
and so I want to see if I can get it all into one thought process which is that regardless

833
00:56:43,720 --> 00:56:49,040
of where you're finding the mentor whether the mentor was your is your college professor

834
00:56:49,040 --> 00:56:57,080
the head of your college department is your mama is the director at your school is a coach

835
00:56:57,080 --> 00:57:03,200
or consultant like some of us are you have to find one that works for you and for the

836
00:57:03,200 --> 00:57:10,320
type of program you're in and and this is the part that I sometimes have a challenge

837
00:57:10,320 --> 00:57:19,840
with is that that mentor needs to be someone who has been in a program recently that makes

838
00:57:19,840 --> 00:57:27,080
some sort of connection to the type of program you're in I've taken you know ECE classes

839
00:57:27,080 --> 00:57:32,560
at Harvard and you know what my professors I don't think have been in a classroom with

840
00:57:32,560 --> 00:57:42,320
children for 35 years and I get all of the pedagogical wonderfulness but if that professor

841
00:57:42,320 --> 00:57:53,760
has not had to deal with post-covid kids and Gen Z employees I don't need them to be trying

842
00:57:53,760 --> 00:58:00,860
to mentor me because they don't know what's happening in the real real and if they're

843
00:58:00,860 --> 00:58:08,400
still spouting Freud and anal retentive I don't need to hear from them because all that

844
00:58:08,400 --> 00:58:21,240
stuff's been to their varch I need mentors who have lived the real real with kids recently

845
00:58:21,240 --> 00:58:28,640
if the last time they were in an early childhood classroom was in a lab school in 1985 at the

846
00:58:28,640 --> 00:58:35,360
university then that's not who your mentor should be your mentor needs to have been in

847
00:58:35,360 --> 00:58:41,840
programs that have some similarities to the program you're working in or the type of program

848
00:58:41,840 --> 00:58:48,880
you want to work in and have done it at least in this century it would be great if they've

849
00:58:48,880 --> 00:58:53,720
done it in this decade like that that's what I want for people when they're looking for

850
00:58:53,720 --> 00:59:03,080
a mentor so you can go hire people who have their MBA in organizational leadership but

851
00:59:03,080 --> 00:59:13,960
does that help your school do they understand it you know my dad my grandfather PhDs I respect

852
00:59:13,960 --> 00:59:22,240
the work you have to do to get those advanced degrees but you know my dad uses it it was

853
00:59:22,240 --> 00:59:28,840
way to sort his mail anything that comes to his name PhD or doctor his name he knows he

854
00:59:28,840 --> 00:59:38,080
doesn't need to open that email or that mail but we have to find mentors who resonate with

855
00:59:38,080 --> 00:59:44,880
us and if you're somebody who's all about the research go find that PhD but please find

856
00:59:44,880 --> 00:59:51,640
one who's actually touched children in the most recent decade in a good way like touch

857
00:59:51,640 --> 00:59:58,040
them emotionally cognitively not in a creepy way sorry that came out weird go ahead Susie

858
00:59:58,040 --> 01:00:09,480
so that sparked something when you were speaking Carrie about mentorship and I was thinking

859
01:00:09,480 --> 01:00:15,160
about you know in our centers we have experienced educators and we have new educators and Marcia

860
01:00:15,160 --> 01:00:19,680
touched on the fact that you know we have a lot of new educators coming out at the college

861
01:00:19,680 --> 01:00:23,800
system right now who don't feel equipped to manage a classroom don't feel equipped to

862
01:00:23,800 --> 01:00:28,960
lead a classroom and I was thinking about okay so we have experienced people out there

863
01:00:28,960 --> 01:00:32,400
and then we have new people and how do we get them to work together and learn from each

864
01:00:32,400 --> 01:00:38,280
other because I know the experienced educators can work from the new can learn from the new

865
01:00:38,280 --> 01:00:42,080
ones because they've got new ideas they haven't been in school for a long time maybe they

866
01:00:42,080 --> 01:00:47,600
don't know the new strategies and then we have newer educators who could learn from

867
01:00:47,600 --> 01:00:52,080
the experienced ones who you know have lots of experience on how to deal with different

868
01:00:52,080 --> 01:00:56,560
kinds of issues that come up in a classroom and how to lead and so how do we get them

869
01:00:56,560 --> 01:01:02,440
to work together and learn from each other I think is the key right and that's I guess

870
01:01:02,440 --> 01:01:10,560
what I'd like to hear about too if you guys have any ideas I have all kinds of ideas yeah

871
01:01:10,560 --> 01:01:16,680
Carla I love this question and the segue was perfect was I think if you are a seasoned

872
01:01:16,680 --> 01:01:22,680
professional we first of all have to be open to your point to learning from the new grads

873
01:01:22,680 --> 01:01:28,880
like I think about from when I was in school I was trained as a theme based educator and

874
01:01:28,880 --> 01:01:34,720
I was getting students that were play based trained 10 years in and it opened my eyes

875
01:01:34,720 --> 01:01:43,840
so I think one we have to be open for sure but also we can't assume that the new grads

876
01:01:43,840 --> 01:01:51,320
are excited to be here we would love for them to all come and be excited to be here but

877
01:01:51,320 --> 01:01:57,320
part of our like journey as the mentor I think is finding out why they're here and not writing

878
01:01:57,320 --> 01:02:02,000
them off if you know mom picked their career path but not writing them off but helping

879
01:02:02,000 --> 01:02:07,600
them see the joy in the industry because they're in our profession because we don't know how

880
01:02:07,600 --> 01:02:13,800
they got there so love your question and I'm not here very said something that was amazing

881
01:02:13,800 --> 01:02:19,320
and that is you have to find the right mentor with that being said not everybody's meant

882
01:02:19,320 --> 01:02:26,880
to be a mentor okay as veteran educators out there not all of us are equipped to take on

883
01:02:26,880 --> 01:02:32,720
students you might not be in that part of your journey yourself and that's okay then

884
01:02:32,720 --> 01:02:38,260
don't take the student pass it on to someone else right we do not want to do a disservice

885
01:02:38,260 --> 01:02:44,120
either because we're trying to grow a profession so make sure that you and your mentee if you

886
01:02:44,120 --> 01:02:48,640
are taking on that you are prepared and ready to take them on because yes that comes with

887
01:02:48,640 --> 01:02:54,240
you having that responsibility as well and again I'm gonna say it not everybody's a mentor

888
01:02:54,240 --> 01:02:59,040
okay so find who works with you works for you and is there to push you grow and watch

889
01:02:59,040 --> 01:03:03,920
you service first and thrive or else it's just it's not going to be worth it Melissa

890
01:03:03,920 --> 01:03:09,240
go ahead I was just sort of about to say that the Carla and Marcia kind of said wasn't say

891
01:03:09,240 --> 01:03:13,320
so we do that in in our public school system when you have a brand new teacher you're required

892
01:03:13,320 --> 01:03:18,360
to go through a certain number like 40 hours or something that of mentoring from a teacher

893
01:03:18,360 --> 01:03:24,440
who was on your grade level who has a certain number of years of experience and that was

894
01:03:24,440 --> 01:03:30,040
me one time and I totally beefed it I was terrible but out of that experience also I

895
01:03:30,040 --> 01:03:36,440
learned that the mentor also or the mentee also needs to want to be mentored so now maybe

896
01:03:36,440 --> 01:03:41,440
in our situation because of the way that it's set up it's set up it's kind of like an arranged

897
01:03:41,440 --> 01:03:46,100
marriage right so in probably in the situations that we're talking about we're choosing and

898
01:03:46,100 --> 01:03:49,400
picking and choosing so you obviously all the points that everybody has made are wonderful

899
01:03:49,400 --> 01:03:55,680
points but yeah so just you know right not everybody's meant to be one but you can only

900
01:03:55,680 --> 01:03:59,880
always hone your skills by just communicating and talking and thinking about it and having

901
01:03:59,880 --> 01:04:04,560
time to go about it so the arranged marriage can work because I've done it again and I

902
01:04:04,560 --> 01:04:11,120
did much better the second time around so I but I love I love the fact that I was kind

903
01:04:11,120 --> 01:04:15,640
of pushed into it because I had never really thought about doing it until I had to and

904
01:04:15,640 --> 01:04:19,800
I actually it had it took me into a direction and actually sort of in this direction which

905
01:04:19,800 --> 01:04:21,440
I never thought I was actually going to go.

906
01:04:21,440 --> 01:04:27,400
I think the other thing is when when you talk about mentorship I think that you know we

907
01:04:27,400 --> 01:04:32,960
said the word journey and for me I feel like you should yourself always have a mentor and

908
01:04:32,960 --> 01:04:38,240
somebody that you're working with right somebody that inspires you to push yourself to be your

909
01:04:38,240 --> 01:04:41,880
best self and it doesn't matter if you've been in the field for a week or you've been

910
01:04:41,880 --> 01:04:47,280
in the field for 30 years I think you know always finding those people who motivate and

911
01:04:47,280 --> 01:04:52,600
inspire you and you know are in the places that you want to go right and so I think it's

912
01:04:52,600 --> 01:04:58,000
important that we as seasoned professionals as college said that we also continue to get

913
01:04:58,000 --> 01:05:03,880
that mentorship and to continue to you know be hungry for whatever that next thing is

914
01:05:03,880 --> 01:05:09,080
for us in our journey and I know so many of you are on that path now you're either coaching

915
01:05:09,080 --> 01:05:13,240
you're coaching other folks you're mentoring or you know started multiple businesses or

916
01:05:13,240 --> 01:05:17,520
whatever that looks like because that's also another thing that we are seeing in the early

917
01:05:17,520 --> 01:05:23,040
childhood education field or educators in general starting these additional businesses

918
01:05:23,040 --> 01:05:28,880
becoming consultants for school departments or or you know just the new folks coming in

919
01:05:28,880 --> 01:05:33,240
or you know just you know I think we all have this kind of sense of leaving some type of

920
01:05:33,240 --> 01:05:38,880
a legacy because those of us in this industry really are called to that you know giving

921
01:05:38,880 --> 01:05:45,160
and giving all that you can before you before you leave on into the night however that looks

922
01:05:45,160 --> 01:05:50,760
like for you but yeah I think I think these are all really amazing points that you ladies

923
01:05:50,760 --> 01:05:58,160
have made is there anything anybody wants to add to that to that last question okay

924
01:05:58,160 --> 01:06:03,680
this is going to be our last question as we start to wrap it up this is one that Jamie

925
01:06:03,680 --> 01:06:09,320
had kind of brought up you know we thought the word advocacy around a lot what does advocacy

926
01:06:09,320 --> 01:06:16,200
mean to you and you know in real life and how do we like raise our our voices in support

927
01:06:16,200 --> 01:06:20,440
of what we're doing here right because we could we could have a whole nother show on

928
01:06:20,440 --> 01:06:27,520
the challenges we know the challenges we know the challenges right okay good you take the

929
01:06:27,520 --> 01:06:35,260
lead thank you so I was an after school alliance ambassador so I'm considered an an ambassador

930
01:06:35,260 --> 01:06:42,480
emeritus and that was like its second year of creating this national advocacy system

931
01:06:42,480 --> 01:06:50,560
for out of school time in the United States so like in twenty two thousand four and one

932
01:06:50,560 --> 01:06:55,180
of the things that really hit home during that time period and I sit here and kind of

933
01:06:55,180 --> 01:07:02,120
reflect on it after twenty years of watching things not really change the way we had all

934
01:07:02,120 --> 01:07:08,800
hoped for them to change on a larger scale but what I can absolutely say is that advocacy

935
01:07:08,800 --> 01:07:16,700
work at a local level and even a state level is the only place it's going to start so although

936
01:07:16,700 --> 01:07:25,040
we might all want huge you know changes on our own national level we do have to remember

937
01:07:25,040 --> 01:07:29,940
that we can change it at the community level and that we can change it at the state level

938
01:07:29,940 --> 01:07:36,420
and that advocacy is really educating those not in the industry and the only way we're

939
01:07:36,420 --> 01:07:42,760
all going to do that is together and in mass so I love the question and I love the fact

940
01:07:42,760 --> 01:07:50,400
that we have ten people on this call who are willing to do that education and our podcast

941
01:07:50,400 --> 01:08:00,720
is our podcasts are a great way to share that information so glad that Eric brought us all

942
01:08:00,720 --> 01:08:03,720
together anyway I'm done.

943
01:08:03,720 --> 01:08:11,980
Yeah I agree and I also think though it's getting the educators who are in our field

944
01:08:11,980 --> 01:08:18,640
who think they can do nothing to change what the perception of EC is to believe that they

945
01:08:18,640 --> 01:08:23,720
can do it and it's collectively coming together to do that I think defending and standing

946
01:08:23,720 --> 01:08:28,480
up for our value of work as educators for fighting for the fair wages for fighting for

947
01:08:28,480 --> 01:08:33,760
professional development opportunities and aren't during our own time that's actually

948
01:08:33,760 --> 01:08:38,600
paid for by the government or by the cities whoever the people that have the money pay

949
01:08:38,600 --> 01:08:43,600
for that and the working conditions are in and getting that support but it's letting

950
01:08:43,600 --> 01:08:48,420
people like those people who are working with us also know that they have a voice and sharing

951
01:08:48,420 --> 01:08:50,360
it is super powerful.

952
01:08:50,360 --> 01:08:52,160
Yeah that Carla.

953
01:08:52,160 --> 01:08:57,160
I also think even on like a smaller level because when I used to speak to my staff about

954
01:08:57,160 --> 01:09:02,600
advocating for early childhood education this look of just like sheer like fear would come

955
01:09:02,600 --> 01:09:06,680
over them because they would think that the next thing that was going to come was me having

956
01:09:06,680 --> 01:09:14,360
them make giant signs and go stand on Parliament Hill and while that is advocating that doesn't

957
01:09:14,360 --> 01:09:18,920
have to be the only advocating like you can be an introvert which clearly I'm not but

958
01:09:18,920 --> 01:09:26,240
you can be an introvert and still advocate but it's also it's about us being so excited

959
01:09:26,240 --> 01:09:27,680
about what we do.

960
01:09:27,680 --> 01:09:32,840
I can honestly say that excitement is contagious and that's probably the thing that has worked

961
01:09:32,840 --> 01:09:37,640
in my best interest of gaining respect as an early childhood educator is when I talk

962
01:09:37,640 --> 01:09:44,240
about my position as an early childhood educator in a positive and excited way so it's changing

963
01:09:44,240 --> 01:09:52,600
words like I have to to I get to I get to spend my week with four-year-olds studying

964
01:09:52,600 --> 01:09:57,320
the wind because that's what we were interested in this week so getting excited and sharing

965
01:09:57,320 --> 01:10:01,840
what we do with people I mean that's where podcasts social media like we don't have to

966
01:10:01,840 --> 01:10:05,680
have pictures of the children to be able to post what we're doing on social media and

967
01:10:05,680 --> 01:10:06,880
to be proud of it.

968
01:10:06,880 --> 01:10:08,320
Good Kayla.

969
01:10:08,320 --> 01:10:13,440
I was gonna say I think we all of us all ten of us are also in a very unique position where

970
01:10:13,440 --> 01:10:16,920
clearly we have these platforms where we can have you know where we can talk and we're

971
01:10:16,920 --> 01:10:22,040
trying to get our voice out there but also and I think many of us do this already but

972
01:10:22,040 --> 01:10:26,280
using our platforms to give a voice to those who feel voiceless right to those who maybe

973
01:10:26,280 --> 01:10:29,840
don't feel like they can say much because they're tied to a company or they're tied

974
01:10:29,840 --> 01:10:34,360
to this child care or you know for whatever reason I know one of the things that works

975
01:10:34,360 --> 01:10:40,760
really well is giving people the abilities to word what they need to say but also keep

976
01:10:40,760 --> 01:10:47,080
them anonymous that gives them so much power because they're able to say what they're feeling

977
01:10:47,080 --> 01:10:50,920
what what's on their mind or even just vent out the frustrations or the changes that they

978
01:10:50,920 --> 01:10:55,980
want to see without feeling like they're going to get prosecuted by their employer by somebody

979
01:10:55,980 --> 01:10:57,240
who may not agree with them.

980
01:10:57,240 --> 01:10:58,240
Okay Melissa.

981
01:10:58,240 --> 01:11:03,400
Honestly when I think about advocacy too tiny things can be advocacy like I advocated for

982
01:11:03,400 --> 01:11:07,440
a longer period of play in my classroom by asking to switch my prep like my prep time

983
01:11:07,440 --> 01:11:12,240
is when the children go to like their music class or to their outside gym class and it

984
01:11:12,240 --> 01:11:15,560
was in the middle of like I was like 10 30 in the morning was just chopping up their

985
01:11:15,560 --> 01:11:19,040
play time and so at one point in the year I asked I went to my principal's like hey

986
01:11:19,040 --> 01:11:23,080
can I have this at like 8 45 in the morning which gave me a two and a half hour stretch

987
01:11:23,080 --> 01:11:27,080
of time and she said well I'll work on the schedule and she was like I can't give it

988
01:11:27,080 --> 01:11:30,520
to you this year but then she gave it to me next year and it's been like that every year

989
01:11:30,520 --> 01:11:31,520
since then.

990
01:11:31,520 --> 01:11:32,520
Awesome.

991
01:11:32,520 --> 01:11:36,920
And just something like that advocated for you know my philosophy and for my children

992
01:11:36,920 --> 01:11:38,520
and that's good.

993
01:11:38,520 --> 01:11:40,720
Go ahead Carrie.

994
01:11:40,720 --> 01:11:45,120
Well I wanted to say that what Adva does is a form of advocacy.

995
01:11:45,120 --> 01:11:52,640
She's helping the teachers take what they know and leverage it into how they can do

996
01:11:52,640 --> 01:11:57,960
it in the classroom and helping them advocate in communicating with their administrative

997
01:11:57,960 --> 01:12:02,560
team about what they need and what their classroom needs.

998
01:12:02,560 --> 01:12:09,840
So it can be supporting other people on your team can be advocacy or it can be rolling

999
01:12:09,840 --> 01:12:17,760
up on your city council or your your legislators so you can go as big or as small as you want

1000
01:12:17,760 --> 01:12:24,940
and I think we tend to just think about the oh I went and dealt with you know the head

1001
01:12:24,940 --> 01:12:30,700
of this that or the other thing but a lot of times the advocating is advocating for

1002
01:12:30,700 --> 01:12:37,960
a child in your classroom to help their parent understand this child needs an assessment

1003
01:12:37,960 --> 01:12:45,640
or advocating for a teacher and helping them own their own power and own their own professionalism.

1004
01:12:45,640 --> 01:12:46,640
Suzy?

1005
01:12:46,640 --> 01:12:51,880
Yeah I was going to take it sort of on the same source of similar level.

1006
01:12:51,880 --> 01:12:56,320
I was going to say you know sometimes when we think advocacy we think big right we think

1007
01:12:56,320 --> 01:13:02,360
okay like Carla said we have to go to the government you know doorstep and advocate

1008
01:13:02,360 --> 01:13:08,360
which I have done actually but that's not always what is needed like sometimes it's

1009
01:13:08,360 --> 01:13:12,680
like you said the little things right like even just as an educator you think okay what

1010
01:13:12,680 --> 01:13:17,520
impact do I have but you've got parents that come to your classroom all the time and that's

1011
01:13:17,520 --> 01:13:22,760
advocacy like you talking to parents and even just educating them about different things

1012
01:13:22,760 --> 01:13:28,280
about their child is advocacy for that child so you are an advocate all the time every

1013
01:13:28,280 --> 01:13:32,340
day in your classroom even just every little thing you do with the parents that you see

1014
01:13:32,340 --> 01:13:38,200
every day and that to me is even bigger because you're influencing the public you're influencing

1015
01:13:38,200 --> 01:13:43,920
perceptions and just influencing how that child develops right.

1016
01:13:43,920 --> 01:13:44,980
Yvonne?

1017
01:13:44,980 --> 01:13:50,060
My first thought when you said advocacy was really on a much smaller level which a lot

1018
01:13:50,060 --> 01:13:56,720
of people have said and that is advocating for your children in the classroom.

1019
01:13:56,720 --> 01:14:05,340
You know this year I'm back in the classroom and I have one child who needs help a lot

1020
01:14:05,340 --> 01:14:10,000
of help and it's really challenging because we have 14 other kids we have to focus on

1021
01:14:10,000 --> 01:14:15,600
and part of what me and my co-teacher are doing is really just going to the parent going

1022
01:14:15,600 --> 01:14:22,600
to the director and making sure that things are getting taken care of so that this child

1023
01:14:22,600 --> 01:14:29,360
can have his needs met and you know as Carla said you can be an introvert and still advocate

1024
01:14:29,360 --> 01:14:34,560
I am the biggest introvert I am the biggest homebody but I still advocate for my students

1025
01:14:34,560 --> 01:14:38,920
and now I took on the role of advocating for teachers and the support that they need to

1026
01:14:38,920 --> 01:14:40,880
get inside their classrooms.

1027
01:14:40,880 --> 01:14:45,960
Does anybody else have anything they want to add to that?

1028
01:14:45,960 --> 01:14:46,960
No?

1029
01:14:46,960 --> 01:14:47,960
Okay great.

1030
01:14:47,960 --> 01:14:50,960
Go big or go small.

1031
01:14:50,960 --> 01:14:53,760
Go the way that feels comfortable to you.

1032
01:14:53,760 --> 01:14:59,200
If you're big now like me and a couple of other people who are like yes I will walk

1033
01:14:59,200 --> 01:15:04,640
up to a legislator and tell them stuff then do that but if you're somebody who's like

1034
01:15:04,640 --> 01:15:09,080
I would like to advocate for people who are under two feet tall then advocate for people

1035
01:15:09,080 --> 01:15:16,000
who are under two feet tall it doesn't matter it's still owning the fact that you're a professional

1036
01:15:16,000 --> 01:15:23,080
and as a professional you have a responsibility to speak up for other people who can't and

1037
01:15:23,080 --> 01:15:30,160
by definition the kids we're working with can't.

1038
01:15:30,160 --> 01:15:34,560
And with that being said don't forget to advocate for you.

1039
01:15:34,560 --> 01:15:40,160
You're so quick to advocate for everybody else we cannot forget to advocate for you.

1040
01:15:40,160 --> 01:15:41,160
For sure for sure.

1041
01:15:41,160 --> 01:15:44,400
Alright so here's how we're going to wrap some of this up.

1042
01:15:44,400 --> 01:15:54,080
Jamie the Forgotten EC give us a one and a half second commercial about your podcast.

1043
01:15:54,080 --> 01:16:00,880
Okay so the Forgotten EC is a podcast all about that just that the Forgotten EC is focusing

1044
01:16:00,880 --> 01:16:05,680
on before and after school programs school age programs summer camp March break all of

1045
01:16:05,680 --> 01:16:12,040
the above and in a wider sense anyone who is in the EC program or in the EC sector and

1046
01:16:12,040 --> 01:16:13,040
they feel forgotten.

1047
01:16:13,040 --> 01:16:18,760
We're doing big things over there you can find us on Spotify, Apple Music and anywhere

1048
01:16:18,760 --> 01:16:26,440
you listen to your podcast and if you're looking to find me you can find me on Instagram at

1049
01:16:26,440 --> 01:16:28,800
Miss Jamie underscore R E C E.

1050
01:16:28,800 --> 01:16:34,400
Awesome and the ECE Classroom with Suzy tell folks a little bit about your podcast.

1051
01:16:34,400 --> 01:16:35,800
Thank you.

1052
01:16:35,800 --> 01:16:41,220
So the ECE Classroom is a fairly new podcast it's just in the first season so we just started

1053
01:16:41,220 --> 01:16:47,400
it out this year and my format is to bring guests on the show so I welcome all of you

1054
01:16:47,400 --> 01:16:56,520
to come out and you know be heard by my listeners and I just tackle any ECE topic so as I mentioned

1055
01:16:56,520 --> 01:17:01,600
I'm a daycare owner so I have three daycare centers and so I canvass my ECEs every day

1056
01:17:01,600 --> 01:17:05,640
and say you know what topics do you want to hear what do you want to know more about and

1057
01:17:05,640 --> 01:17:09,560
those are the topics that make my episodes of the ECE Classroom.

1058
01:17:09,560 --> 01:17:12,520
The coolest thing is where are you from Suzy?

1059
01:17:12,520 --> 01:17:17,440
So I'm in well greater Toronto area let's say in Toronto Canada.

1060
01:17:17,440 --> 01:17:18,920
And Jamie where are you from?

1061
01:17:18,920 --> 01:17:22,200
Stratford Ontario Canada so just south of Toronto.

1062
01:17:22,200 --> 01:17:28,760
Alright next we have Kayla at ECE Honestly go ahead give us a scoop about your podcast.

1063
01:17:28,760 --> 01:17:30,300
Thank you.

1064
01:17:30,300 --> 01:17:35,920
So I'm Kayla Papalia from ECE Honestly and my podcast is all about again talking about

1065
01:17:35,920 --> 01:17:39,960
the issues that we may not want to talk about in the world of early childhood education

1066
01:17:39,960 --> 01:17:43,640
as sometimes they're hard to swallow pills that are hard to swallow but I think they're

1067
01:17:43,640 --> 01:17:48,440
necessary conversations to have because unless we're willing to have these hard conversations

1068
01:17:48,440 --> 01:17:51,800
we are not going to see growth in our field.

1069
01:17:51,800 --> 01:17:56,040
And you can find me on Instagram and Facebook at EC Honestly.

1070
01:17:56,040 --> 01:18:01,560
You can also check me out on my in-home multi-age child care page it is Blossoming Ninos and

1071
01:18:01,560 --> 01:18:05,400
you can find us on Instagram and on Facebook.

1072
01:18:05,400 --> 01:18:10,920
And yeah same thing if anybody out there listening or any of you here have anything that they

1073
01:18:10,920 --> 01:18:15,880
like to say or any topics that they want to discuss that they feel are important give

1074
01:18:15,880 --> 01:18:18,240
me a shout out and I'm more than happy to set that up.

1075
01:18:18,240 --> 01:18:20,000
Where are you located?

1076
01:18:20,000 --> 01:18:23,200
I am all the way west of Susie and Jamie.

1077
01:18:23,200 --> 01:18:28,240
I am in Port Moody so that's a suburb of Vancouver.

1078
01:18:28,240 --> 01:18:32,080
And my friend over here at Shaping Little Minds a Vid.

1079
01:18:32,080 --> 01:18:34,080
I'm Amar Ba.

1080
01:18:34,080 --> 01:18:36,360
I am the host of Shaping Little Minds podcast.

1081
01:18:36,360 --> 01:18:41,600
Shaping Little Minds is really just giving teachers bite-size implementable tools and

1082
01:18:41,600 --> 01:18:44,440
strategies to use inside of their classroom.

1083
01:18:44,440 --> 01:18:47,520
I do a mix of solo and guest episodes.

1084
01:18:47,520 --> 01:18:55,880
I have definitely had some of you on the podcast and I am located in the US in New Jersey.

1085
01:18:55,880 --> 01:18:57,280
Melissa.

1086
01:18:57,280 --> 01:18:59,600
So my podcast is Pre-K Spot Talks.

1087
01:18:59,600 --> 01:19:07,200
It's basically an everything early childhood variety podcast but through a play based lens

1088
01:19:07,200 --> 01:19:10,640
and I've just recently started doing interviews so everybody is welcome.

1089
01:19:10,640 --> 01:19:18,280
So I do a mix of solo and interviews and you can find me at Pre-K Spot on Instagram and

1090
01:19:18,280 --> 01:19:20,880
I am located in the great city of New York.

1091
01:19:20,880 --> 01:19:21,880
Awesome.

1092
01:19:21,880 --> 01:19:23,360
Carla.

1093
01:19:23,360 --> 01:19:26,880
So my podcast is the Everything ECE podcast.

1094
01:19:26,880 --> 01:19:31,200
Pretty much in the name we literally talk about everything ECE.

1095
01:19:31,200 --> 01:19:36,380
I'm located in Mississauga just outside of Toronto, Canada and you can find us on any

1096
01:19:36,380 --> 01:19:41,800
podcasting platform and if you want to find me on Instagram at EL Foundations for early

1097
01:19:41,800 --> 01:19:44,560
learning foundations I would love to chat.

1098
01:19:44,560 --> 01:19:47,600
Okay next we have Kate.

1099
01:19:47,600 --> 01:19:50,080
Well I'll do the first half I'll let Kerry do the second half.

1100
01:19:50,080 --> 01:19:55,720
So you can find us on any of the social media platforms from YouTube etc. at Child Care

1101
01:19:55,720 --> 01:19:57,040
Conversations.

1102
01:19:57,040 --> 01:20:01,440
So real easy and Kerry can tell you what we're about.

1103
01:20:01,440 --> 01:20:03,780
Oh okay.

1104
01:20:03,780 --> 01:20:09,840
So we're about we talk about all kinds of different things for early childhood leadership.

1105
01:20:09,840 --> 01:20:14,800
Most of ours have attendance to be for directors, owners and managers.

1106
01:20:14,800 --> 01:20:21,080
The first year I don't think we had a single guest on our podcast because we had 30 years

1107
01:20:21,080 --> 01:20:25,960
worth of pent up stuff we needed to talk about.

1108
01:20:25,960 --> 01:20:36,000
And now we have a lot of guests because we've purged some of that stuff and so we talk about

1109
01:20:36,000 --> 01:20:42,400
stuff from insurance to toilet learning to talking to parents, marketing, all of that

1110
01:20:42,400 --> 01:20:43,840
kind of stuff.

1111
01:20:43,840 --> 01:20:48,440
And we always are looking for guests just like the rest of you guys so we'd love to

1112
01:20:48,440 --> 01:20:50,680
have each and every one of you on.

1113
01:20:50,680 --> 01:20:54,000
We even have a place where you can apply.

1114
01:20:54,000 --> 01:21:03,080
You can email Kate Kate at child care Congress at child care conversations.com.

1115
01:21:03,080 --> 01:21:05,200
And Kerry at child care conversations.

1116
01:21:05,200 --> 01:21:06,200
Fine.

1117
01:21:06,200 --> 01:21:11,480
You have to spell out the word and and she'll get you all those links or you can just message

1118
01:21:11,480 --> 01:21:12,880
her anywhere.

1119
01:21:12,880 --> 01:21:14,760
I don't take that monkey.

1120
01:21:14,760 --> 01:21:17,480
That's her monkey.

1121
01:21:17,480 --> 01:21:22,800
And we just love supporting directors and owners.

1122
01:21:22,800 --> 01:21:25,560
I didn't say we're also authors like Suzy.

1123
01:21:25,560 --> 01:21:32,360
We've written a few books over the past few years.

1124
01:21:32,360 --> 01:21:35,160
You can get those on Amazon or at your local bookseller.

1125
01:21:35,160 --> 01:21:41,000
Okay, my friend Marcia at I Spy to Educate.

1126
01:21:41,000 --> 01:21:45,640
I'm Marcy Nicole and my podcast is called the Inspire in ECE Podcast.

1127
01:21:45,640 --> 01:21:51,320
On the podcast, I talk a lot about inspiring, motivating and just empowering educators to

1128
01:21:51,320 --> 01:21:53,880
continue in a profession they absolutely love.

1129
01:21:53,880 --> 01:21:58,360
I recently just started to have guests on and we talk about all things early childhood

1130
01:21:58,360 --> 01:22:04,000
education, but mostly we're there to inspire and motivate, especially on those rough and

1131
01:22:04,000 --> 01:22:07,120
challenging days that podcast in your ears.

1132
01:22:07,120 --> 01:22:10,400
Hopefully it brings you a smile.

1133
01:22:10,400 --> 01:22:15,200
So I'm hoping that I have all of you lovely individuals on my podcast to share all of

1134
01:22:15,200 --> 01:22:19,200
these juicy nuggets and definitely follow me on Instagram.

1135
01:22:19,200 --> 01:22:24,320
I'm on all of your platforms for podcasts wherever you listen and I can't wait to keep

1136
01:22:24,320 --> 01:22:26,960
growing this wonderful community.

1137
01:22:26,960 --> 01:22:28,040
Thank you so much, ladies.

1138
01:22:28,040 --> 01:22:31,240
I am Erica Scoscia with the Child Care Directors Chair podcast.

1139
01:22:31,240 --> 01:22:36,320
I have a podcast and a very quickly growing YouTube channel that I'm very excited about

1140
01:22:36,320 --> 01:22:40,520
and this beautiful episode will also be hosted on there.

1141
01:22:40,520 --> 01:22:42,920
It's the Child Care Directors Chair podcast.

1142
01:22:42,920 --> 01:22:43,920
Super easy to find.

1143
01:22:43,920 --> 01:22:49,720
And we really wanted to create this ECE power hour to offer a space for all of our early

1144
01:22:49,720 --> 01:22:53,920
childhood educators where we can reflect, recharge and grow together.

1145
01:22:53,920 --> 01:22:56,420
All of our voices together really, really matter.

1146
01:22:56,420 --> 01:22:58,920
And so we hope that you've got that point today.

1147
01:22:58,920 --> 01:23:03,600
If you are an ECE professional out there, an early childhood professional, school age

1148
01:23:03,600 --> 01:23:07,120
professional, college professor, don't worry, we still love you too.

1149
01:23:07,120 --> 01:23:09,400
You're welcome to come on our show as well.

1150
01:23:09,400 --> 01:23:11,640
We will be doing this once a month.

1151
01:23:11,640 --> 01:23:15,800
So if you're interested, you're a podcaster and you have something to say, please hit

1152
01:23:15,800 --> 01:23:16,800
me up.

1153
01:23:16,800 --> 01:23:21,000
Child Care Directors Chair, super easy to find me, all the places, social media, you

1154
01:23:21,000 --> 01:23:22,000
got it.

1155
01:23:22,000 --> 01:23:23,000
So that's it for today.

1156
01:23:23,000 --> 01:23:25,200
Thank you so much for tuning in and we love you.

1157
01:23:25,200 --> 01:23:42,240
Have a great day.