ENHANCING PROGRAM QUALITY

We know based on decades of research that children develop more life skills between the ages of infant and 5 years old. These skills must be taught at a young age in order for children to succeed in school and beyond. With more children in Early Childhood is has become more important that we are making sure we are providing the best experiences for them at young ages. We have an immense responsibility to these children as well as the families we support. How do we be sure that we are giving children the best of what they need How can we support families so that they are able to give them the best regardless of race! income status or the amount of time they have with their children. We do this by" #nderstanding our values and beliefs Having a clear vision $eveloping relationships with the families we serve $eveloping relationships with each other

Understanding our values and belie s! We must first understand our personal values and beliefs and understand how those beliefs affect the children and staff around us. We will begin by answering % important &uestions about ourselves and understanding the difference in these statements. '(eadership in )ction! *aula +orde ,loom pg. -./012 -. 3 value4..

0. 3 stand for4. 5. 3 believe that4. %. 3 feel passionate about4. *aula +orde ,loom defines a value as 6a deeply held and enduring view of what we believe to be important and worthwhile7 8he defines a belief as 6personal conviction that certain things are true or that certain statements are facts7 ' )fter completing those sentences we are able to find out as a team what is most important to us and only then can we move forward into finding out what our vision is. Every center has a leader in which the final decisions must be made but each individual classroom must also have a leader in which their values and beliefs form a vision of what they want their children to learn and be capable of when their time is done in that classroom. 3f we look at these children as our 6family7 in the time that we have them with us! what would we want them to value and believe when they think back on their time with us! is this something you value $oes it show in your day to day activities $o you have a vision Having a "lear vision What is the definition of vision ) vision is a purposeful plan in which you use your values! beliefs and actions to create your desired outcome. ) vision statement is defined by *aula +orde ,loom as 6a mental picture of what you to hope to accomplish! it is the end result you will achieve if your mission is carried out7 3t is best summed in a &uote by +im *itts from the 9orthrop :rumman Corporation 6;ou begin with the end in mind! by knowing what you dream about accomplishing! and then figure out how to make it happen7 '*g -15 The (eadership Challenge! <ou=es > *osner! %th Edition2 What do we dream about How are we going to make that happen We are going to put together our values and our beliefs and talk about what we dream about as it applies to early education. Together we will develop a plan to make that

happen! set goals and achieve them! we won?t stop at that! we must set more goals and continue to achieve them. We will then see our vision come alive. $oes our vision include developing sustainable relationships with the families that have chosen us to be a part of their life #evelo$ing relations%i$s &it% a'ilies To develop relationships with families we must understand that this starts from the moment they first make contact with our center. That first phone call sets the tone for how they perceive our interaction to be. 8miling while you answer the phone will change the way that your caller interprets your personality! even if they can?t see your smile. They will hear the welcome in your smile. When greeting them for the first time we must make them feel as if they are a part of a 6family7 but important to us as individuals as well. )t the moment they are the only thing that is important! hear what their needs are! sometimes the loudest needs are the ones not spoken at all. @nce the relationship is established we must continue to build on that relationship by remembering that these children are their children but that we have a crucial stake in how these children perceive life and love as they grow. 8uccess of children takes a village and we must be part of that village. We must focus on people not paper 'The visionary director! Aargie Carter and $eb Curtis *gs. 00B/05C2 we must invite families to become involved in our communication systems. We can begin by asking parents what is important for them to know and how they prefer to have access to the information. ,eginning with a parent group! meeting once a month to get input! come up with ideas to move the center forward and discuss any issues and potential solutions. *arent involvement is key to moving the center forward. We must understand that we are 6hired7 by these families with the expectation of us doing what they wish of us and meeting their

standards but if we do not get their input it is impossible to meet those standards which makes it important to include the parents in how to move forward. (ta E e"tiveness 3n order to move forward as team we must first establish a vision that we are moving toward. We will first understand our values and beliefs! create a clear vision and develop relationships with families. 3n this process we must also take care of ourselves as individuals and as a team. To take care of ourselves as individuals we must understand what we believe and have vision for our own lives. We can?t begin to work as a team until we understand what we believe in as individuals. To develop these skills we will )ind a "olle"tive $assion )ind a s%ared vision *e"o'e li elong learners *e"o'e ris+ ta+ers

)ind a "olle"tive $assion! To start finding a collective passion we must find out why the person working next to you is in this! what brings them to work every day and why do they feel this Dob is important. (et?s start doing that by mentoring our fellow teachers. We will do this by" Eisiting other classrooms @bserving a child together Fead and discussing a topic you feel strongly about and use a staff meeting to share this information with others in the center.

) passion goes beyond Dust a commitment to what we do! a commitment means you come to work to do a Dob! a passion means you have become a part of what you do. (et?s find others we work with who share this passion. )ind a s%ared vision )fter we bond and begin to share a passion with those that we work with we are able find a shared vision! a place that we see ourselves achieving and developing a plan to get there. We can then work off the individual strengths of those around us to achieve a common goal. We can do this by looking at our collective passion! have you found the direction that you believe collectively that you see your group headed *e"o'e li elong learners! Each of us have to decide to keep an open mind to other suggestions! we will reach our full potential when we can learn from each other and absorb the knowledge given to us by those around us and those influencing the field. (%aring in or'ation! ,y listening to others and taking that information! working together and being able to share that information with others we work with and others in our field. ,y working together with others you are able to see things from multiple points of view! thus giving multiple perspectives from multiple situations. 8eeing things from different points of view will make us successful and teach the children that there is really more than one way to get things done! after all! we all need to be reminded of that sometimes.