Article Link: http://stage.exchangepress.com/article/seeing-the-details-ideas-for-training-and-staff/5015368/
As I consult with various child care programs around the country, I’ve been thinking about how directors orient new staff and focus their supervisory feedback. Typically there is a strong emphasis on concerns of safety and sanitation, and on policies and practices around child guidance, curriculum planning, and dealing with families. While a busy director barely has time to cover information a new teacher needs to know about the program, this initial emphasis on procedures may set a tone that doesn’t ultimately support the confidence, let alone growing mastery of responsive teaching. Nor does it suggest how to work collaboratively with families and other staff.I find it useful to think of our focus and interactions with teachers as a model, if not subliminal message, for what we want them to do with children. Perhaps this seems obvious, but it deserves a closer look. If directors keep a focus on the rules of this work place, should they be surprised that the teachers continually remind the children of the rules? If most director-teacher exchanges focus on paper work, schedules, and daily announcements or reminders, what organizational climate does that shape in a program? How does this climate help teachers develop?
When I ...