Professional Goals, Hopes, and Dreams

     Where I work a teacher of three or four-year-olds must have or be working towards an associate degree.  An infant/toddler teacher must have or be working towards a CDA (Child Development Associate).  A center director must have or be working towards a bachelor degree.  The incentive for these positions is a pay increase.  The issues surrounding the agency I work for is competence.  Degrees are fantastic; however, they do not make a teacher competent in their position.  The agency has two coaches.  They meet with selected individuals weekly.  The challenge is that some teachers do not apply what they have learned through coaching and the agency keeps them employed because there is great difficulty in finding qualified staff. 
Professional development is geared toward encouraging teachers and assistant teachers to earn their CDA, and then an associate degree.  There is little if any tuition assistance outside of the CDA.  The agency will fund the CDA at 100 percent. 
My professional goals include earning my master's degree, attending more conferences/trainings, and improving my relationships with staff, children, and families.  I am currently in a master's program and on my way to earning my degree.  I have attended several conferences this year within the state of Texas.  I hope to attend national conferences when the pandemic subsides.  I will continue to work on building relationships with staff, children, and families.  It has become more difficult with the current situation because all of our communications are via email, text, and phone calls. 
My professional hopes are to operate a successful, high-quality facility with a team that is empowered to do the same.  My challenges are building relationships with families that speak a language other than English, and empowering families to participate in their child’s education.  I utilize staff for interpreting and communicating via newsletters, emails, text messages, and face-to-face communication.  I want families to feel valued and appreciated.  I work very hard at including them in the program through communication and monthly parent meetings/events.   

Comments

  1. Great information! It's always good to learn how other states handle certifications and things of that nature. In the state of Ohio preschool and toddler teachers can also gain their CDA but it is not required. As you stated it does lead to pay increases however and more funding for the center the teacher is working at.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sharing Web Resources (week 4)

Resources

Completing the Journey