Forty Years of Exchange

With Exchange magazine’s 40^th birthday fast approaching, members of the Exchange Leadership Initiative have begun reflecting on their experiences with the magazine. From time-to-time in Exchange Every Day, we’ll share excerpts from some of these reflections. We invite everyone to add your reflections, also, in the comments section.

From Iris Chin Ponte Ph.D.
Director, The Henry Frost Children’s Program

I feel so fortunate and proud to be part of the Exchange Family. Our work to support early childhood education is an important one and an exhausting one. Exchange provides a network of support that is critical to our daily work and success. 

As an emerging leader for Exchange, I was invited to attend a workshop at NAEYC in 2017 which had a huge impact on me. At this workshop Dr. Maurice Sykes, Bonnie Neugebauer, and Roger Neugebauer offered important advice on leadership and our role in the field. In that moment, I realized I had a network of mentors and advisors to support my efforts. I was not alone! There was a vast network of amazing individuals sharing knowledge, working together, and pushing forward. Thank you Exchange for the incredible work you do and the change you are making for children and families around the world. Proud to be part of the movement and help carry the torch.

From Glory Ressler, Director of Education, Training and Data
Mothercraft College of Early Childhood Education, Canadian Mothercraft Society

Since becoming a Director, it can be easy to justify putting off time to pour over every inch of Exchange magazine like I did routinely when I was actually delivering services. However, when I do I am never disappointed because even after 40 years of publication, the magazine still informs my practice! The July/August 2017 edition focused on Storytelling is a great example.  

The issue is full of concrete strategies for using storytelling with children and families, which was very relevant to our direct service delivery and educator training programs. The articles also highlighted the importance of stories to all ages and provoked further my reflection…

Telling and listening to stories with authenticity and intentionality (e.g. care) provides a simple, respectful and strengths-based approach to supervision, individual and group reflection and development, and self-directed, continuous learning. I now regularly ask for, listen to, and share more stories. I invite you to also consider the following, ‘What is the emotional quality, main purpose and dramatic tension in the stories you are most often telling and hearing?’ and ‘How can you influence others to be both the best authors of, and characters in, their personal and collective professional stories?’

For more information about Exchange's magazine, books, and other products pertaining to ECE, go to www.ccie.com.

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