Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/investing-in-our-teachers/5016073/
Recently a director remarked to me, “If I had one year with a stable staff who really worked well together and truly enjoyed the kids, I would think I’d died and gone to heaven.” To me, this captures both the frustration and the longing many of us have in our early childhood programs. For those who haven’t forsaken our dreams, the continual frustration we experience can turn to dismay. Wanting to avoid discouragement, we may, instead, don a happy face to convince ourselves or others that we are satisfied with what we have accomplished. It is wonderful, for instance, to achieve NAEYC accreditation, but how do we interpret the study reporting that quality often plummets after the self-study process is completed? Does the accreditation plaque on our wall speak to a deep yearning within us or a significant turning point in our programming? Do our successes reflect the courage of our imaginations?While I definitely think we should celebrate our progress and accomplishments in creating high quality programs, it is hard to feel satisfied when a bigger dream tugs at our heart. Perhaps this is why many people let their dreams die. Who wants to go to work disheartened every day? As ...