Imagine Every Chance You Get

"If our children are to approve of themselves, they must see that we approve of ourselves."  Margie Carter used this quote from Maya Angelou to lead off her article, "Developing Strong Self-Images — It's Important for Teachers, Too!" in the Beginnings Professional Development Workshop unit, Building Self-Image.  

In the article Carter observed, "We need to regularly exercise our imaginations if we are to institutionalize the respect that unmistakably leads to strong self-images of teachers."  And, she closed her article with this message from Beth Menninga of the Minneapolis Worthy Wages Campaign:

Imagine a society where young college students vie to get into the early childhood program,
where a manly aspiration is to be a head teacher in a child care center,
where a family provider is the center of all eyes at a party when she says what her job is,
where a Head Start teacher's family displays her CDA diploma on their living room wall,
where a school-aged teacher is sought out by a child's sixth grade teacher for advice,
where family members proudly say that teaching in early childhood has been in their family for generations.
Imagine how much a society like that must value its young children, when those who care for them and educate them are so revered.

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