If We Don't Start Offering Support...Someone Else Will! The "Expert" Myth

Gotta go to class this afternoon, but if you ever doubted the importance of providing parent support or nurturing quality parent-school relationships...here's something you need to see.

Research has shown that parents, especially first time parents, reach out to those around them for support and advice regarding raising their child, child development issues, etc. When that support isn't there, they move on to that which is most accessible to them--namely what they see or hear on television or in the media.

This is especially scary when "experts" from television, magazines, often don't carry many credentials....

This is today's scary example: Real Housewives of New York City's Alex McCord and Simon van Kempen--who are writing a parenting book titled, "The Urban Parent: Family Adventures from a Real House in New York City." Don't believe me....read the article here.

Teacher Tchotches (pronounced: Chach-keez)

I'm hoping Teacher Tchotches will be a series I can continue as I spend time blogging...


To begin this series, I have been wanting to highlight this groups products for a while. If you have ever attended a NAEYC conference, you may have seen them in the exhibits. Syracuse Cultural Workers is a "peace and justice publisher and distributor." They offer great books, posters, buttons, clothing, resources. Here are just a few of my favorites:

"Childhood is a journey, not a race" t-shirt

"Children should be seen and heard and believed" bumper sticker

"Celebrate Community Honor Diversity" poster

Next time....favorite toys for the classroom (don't expect me to include bob the builder)

To Be A Great Teacher...You Need To Stay Open to Learn!

A friend and I had a brief conversation regarding USA Today's recent article on the anticipated cuts that will be made by thousands of districts in effort to survive due to the tough economy. She had mentioned to me that it was unfortunate that in many cases non-tenured teachers would be the victims of the cuts. She inferred that it was unfortunate that the quality of the teacher's work may not be considered, or the amount of effort, or how she/he contributed to the school's environment or teams--just the amount of years she/he's been in the district.

Reflecting on her comment, I too wondered about this. We all know excellent teachers who are tenured, long-term teachers, who make great mentors. However, I can also guarantee that most of us also know teachers who might not be able to put forth the effort needed anymore, who might not be willing to try something new or go beyond what they learned in school 10, 20 or 30 years ago.

These are the teachers, which in most cases, are getting paid the most and who are protected by unions the most. Again, I stress in many cases tenured teachers are mentors, role models, and examples for all of us. However, research and interventions change and I'm not sure why even tenured teachers wouldn't be expected to continue professional development in effort to stay fresh and up to date.

In Illinois, teachers with standard or master's level teaching certificates have ten years to complete one of the following:

• Complete an advanced degree,
• Meet Illinois criteria for becoming highly qualified in another teaching area,
• Complete National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) certification process,
• Earn eight semester hours of college coursework in an education-related program,
• Earn a subsequent Illinois certificate or endorsement,
• Complete four semester hours (three if Master's level) of graduate coursework preapproved for this purpose in either Self-Assessment of Teaching Performance or NBPTS preparation, or
• Earn CEUs/CPDUs in activities (120 CPDUs for Standard/40 Master).

These options are the same for those with an initial certificate, except that Standard level teachers have 5 years to complete one of these options...Master level teachers have 10 years! Additionally, Master level teachers also have a 2/3 deduction in number of CPDUs or one hour deduction from semester hours of graduate coursework.

My question is: If I'm a tenured teacher, what is my incentive to continue my professional development if I'm already getting a higher rate of pay with no increase in level of responsibility?

Here's an even BIGGER question: As a preschool teacher, unless you work in a public school system or live in a state where lead teachers have to have a certificate, individuals need to attend professional development sessions but may never be offered pay increases and if there are increases, they are minimal (child care, some state programs, private programs, etc.). What incentives does this create for teachers to provide quality care and education to her students? to stay at her center?

"Making It Work" In This Economy

I recently wrote an article for a publication called, Positively Naperville and it described how recent studies have shown how financial stress effects all members of a family.

Here is my article, "Decreasing Stress by Increasing Play!"

When I wrote this, I reflected on how the economy's downturn has effected my own family. Bill was laid off twice last year, following my own position being eliminated the year before. We took it one day at a time, and learned that although it was tough we'd "make it work." (In fact, everytime something would come up that we were not sure how we'd make it through we'd say, "make it work" ala Tim Gunn). We found fun in shopping at the discount grocery, we'd take nature walks instead of going to the movies, etc. It took our minds off the stress we were dealing with and worked out--we were lucky enough to find other jobs in our field...

As of this week, I'm in the same position again. Unfortunately, our Museum's funding is not there and they were forced to make some cuts. Although funded by grants, they had to eliminate positions and reallocated funds to save itself from having to make more drastic cuts. They were gracious about it and I know it was a hard decision to make albeit without warning. Did it make it easier to understand? Yes. Did I know what I was going to do? No.

So, yet again, I'm unemployed. I keep reminding myself of Bill and I's mantra ("make it work"). So here are my plans to "make it work" and keep myself playfully optimistic...

• Take this opportunity to write more. I've missed writing about what I want to write and not what others want me to. I miss writing and giving my own personal opinions without any agenda.
• Investigate schools and study for the GRE. I'm going to get my Ph.D (although I'm not sure when) and this is a great opportunity for me to research programs and study for the dreaded GRE.
• Get some wedding details out of the way. While I might not be able to nail down much since we are on a smaller budget, I can still take time to plan songs to include on our list, fix our registry details, and do things I was procrastinating before.
  
• Be thankful. I'm thankful for a supportive family, wonderful friends and past co-workers, and for my health. While I'm not going to lie, it's tough...it could be a lot worse.

How do you "make it work" through the tough times? Anyone have anything ideas for fun on the cheap or free side of life?

FYI: My resume can be seen here http://www.box.net/shared/d7r4x59npx

Link to Dr. Katz's presentation 1/22/09

Here's the link to Dr. Katz's presentation (audio from site and podcast versions) for DCM on 1/22/09. I heard this presentation was better than the one she made at CMAEYC.

http://childrensmuseumblog.blogspot.com