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Our Work is More Than Our Job

by Margie Carter
May/June 2016
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Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/our-work-is-more-than-our-job/5022908/

When I see early childhood leaders in complex, bureaucratic organizations actually getting beyond survival and moving toward innovation, I want to shadow them, pick their brains, and cull their strategies and the lessons they’ve learned. We need role models for how to negotiate our vision for children with requirements that take us down a different road. Too often ‘just surviving’ becomes a way of working, particularly for those in middle management or coordinator positions. How do we stay above the fray and focus our work on what is really important?

This was a topic in one of the focus groups I co-facilitated at our retreat for Harvest Resources Associates and close colleagues. You could see the weariness in people whose daily jobs have them interfacing with the countless details of the ever-growing requirements of their state’s early childhood systems. They were tired, but also determined, with bigger dreams for children, families, and staff that they weren’t willing to let go of. I was impressed with their doggedness and determination.

We explored the topic of how to sustain oneself in the face of so many tasks, many unrelated to what teachers really need to support children’s love ...

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