Dear Colleagues,
There’s a lot going on in November, including Thanksgiving Day and a few special ways to celebrate writing. November is National Novel Writing Month, a time to encourage creative writing, and National Life Writing Month, an inspiration for people to record their experiences and stories. It’s also Family Literacy Month and the time to mark I Love to Write Day on November 15th. I Love to Write Day is an official celebration in nine states, and 30,000 schools have marked the occasion since Delaware author John Riddle came up with the idea for the day in 2002. “My goal,” as he’s explained, “was to have people of all ages spend time writing.”
After completing 34 books, Riddle was searching for a way to get kids writing in school and rekindle the creative spark in adults who had put away the dream of being authors. So, he challenged everyone to set aside a day for writing because who knows where it could lead. “For many people, it could be the beginning of their writing career,” Riddle said. “I Love to Write Day has the potential to launch the career of the next John Grisham, Mary Higgins Clark, Stephen King or Toni Morrison.” After all, every acclaimed author began the first chapter of their first book with just one word.
So, how do you get someone, especially a young child, interested in writing? See what intrigues them, perhaps a TV show or fairy tale. Let them know there’s no right or wrong way to start writing. And begin by teaching them to write by hand instead of on the keyboards that dominate today’s classrooms. Research shows that writing by hand leads to better recognition and understanding of letters than typing on a keyboard. It also improves memory and word recall since writing is closely linked to language networks in the brain. Children clearly benefit from learning to write by hand, and that begins with educators who know how to teach writing readiness skills, like the ECE professionals we feature in this month’s edition.
“There’s a physical component in learning to write,” says Leigh Anne Kraemer-Naser, director of applied studies and an instructor of ECE at Northern Pennsylvania Regional College. Early in her career, Leigh Anne received training at Handwriting Without Tears, now called Learning Without Tears, where she realized that “writing readiness isn’t just about drilling children in letters,” she explains. “It’s about teaching them to grip an object at a time when the tendons in their hands are still in a formative stage. Young children might not be ready to hold a pencil, so it might be better to have them first squeeze Play-Doh to gain more control over their hands or dip dandelion stalks in paint to make marks.”
Activities like these play a role in emergent writing, agrees Amy Reyes, early learning, oral language and early literacy specialist at the Wyoming Department of Education. “It begins with scribbles and drawings and progresses toward formal lettering. Writing activities in pre-K aim to develop fine motor skills and encourage self-expression. Even if children can’t yet form a letter, they may think they are writing a letter, and that’s a step toward understanding that written marks convey meaning,” Amy says. And she began to understand how to teach writing readiness skills by earning a CDA® as a young early childhood teacher.
The CDA textbook, Essentials for Working with Young Children, contains tips and guidance on how to help children write by hand, Dr. Calvin Moore explains in his new blog, A Way to Wire Brains. Dr. Moore will fill you in on the decades of studies that show the advantages of handwriting over typing on a keyboard. He’ll recall his experiences as an early childhood teacher watching children progress quickly from making scribbles to printing their names. And he’ll discuss the ways handwriting boosts creativity, critical thinking and communication—qualities that spell long-term success. Granted, not all children who learn to write by hand will complete novels or become acclaimed authors. But some day, they might want to compose thank-you notes to educators who gave them precious life skills by teaching them to write.
Happy I Love to Write Day,
The Council for Professional Recognition
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Vice President of Strategic Alliances
Elisa Shepherd is the Vice President of Strategic Alliances at the Council, where she leads initiatives to advance the Council’s mission and strategic plan through designing, managing, and executing a comprehensive stakeholder relationship strategy.
With over 25 years of experience in early childhood education (ECE), Elisa has dedicated her career to developing impactful programs, professional development opportunities, and public policies that support working families, young children, and ECE staff. Before joining the Council, Elisa held numerous roles within the childcare industry. Most recently, she served as Associate Vice President at The Learning Experience and as Senior Manager at KinderCare Education, where she influenced government affairs and public policies across 40 states.
Elisa’s commitment to leadership is reflected in her external roles on the Early Care and Education Consortium Board of Directors, the Florida Chamber Foundation Board of Trustees, and as the DEI Caucus Leader for KinderCare Education. She has been recognized as an Emerging Leader in Early Childhood by Childcare Exchange’s Leadership Initiative.
Elisa earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a focus on child development from Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA.
Vice President of People and Culture
Janie Payne is the Vice President of People and Culture for the Council for Professional Recognition. Janie is responsible for envisioning, developing, and executing initiatives that strategically manage talent and culture to align people strategies with the overarching business vision of the Council. Janie is responsible for driving organizational excellence through strategic talent practices, orchestrating workforce planning, talent acquisition, performance management as well as a myriad of other Human Resources Programs. She is accountable for driving effectiveness by shaping organizational structure for optimal efficiency. Janie oversees strategies that foster a healthy culture to include embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion into all aspects of the organization.
In Janie’s prior role, she was the Vice President of Administration at Equal Justice Works, where she was responsible for leading human resources, financial operations, facilities management, and information technology. She was also accountable for developing and implementing Equal Justice Works Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy focused on attracting diverse, mission-oriented talent and creating an inclusive and equitable workplace environment. With more than fifteen years of private, federal, and not-for-profit experience, Janie is known for her intuitive skill in administration management, human resources management, designing and leading complex system change, diversity and inclusion, and social justice reform efforts.
Before joining Equal Justice Works, Janie was the Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer for Global Communities, where she was responsible for the design, implementation, and management of integrated HR and diversity strategies. Her work impacted employees in over twenty-two countries. She was responsible for the effective management of different cultural, legal, regulatory, and economic systems for both domestic and international employees. Prior to Global Communities, Janie enjoyed a ten-year career with the federal government. As a member of the Senior Executive Service, she held key strategic human resources positions with multiple cabinet-level agencies and served as an advisor and senior coach to leaders across the federal sector. In these roles, she received recognition from management, industry publications, peers, and staff for driving the creation and execution of programs that created an engaged and productive workforce.
Janie began her career with Verizon Communications (formerly Bell Atlantic), where she held numerous roles of increasing responsibility, where she directed a diversity program that resulted in significant improvement in diversity profile measures. Janie was also a faculty member for the company’s Black Managers Workshop, a training program designed to provide managers of color with the skills needed to overcome barriers to their success that were encountered because of race. She initiated a company-wide effort to establish team-based systems and structures to impact corporate bottom line results which was recognized by the Department of Labor. Janie was one of the first African American women to be featured on the cover of Human Resources Executive magazine.
Janie received her M.A. in Organization Development from American University. She holds numerous professional development certificates in Human Capital Management and Change Management, including a Diversity and Inclusion in Human Resources certificate from Cornell University. She completed the year-long Maryland Equity and Inclusion Leadership Program sponsored by The Schaefer Center for Public Policy and The Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. She is a trained mediator and Certified Professional Coach. She is a graduate of Leadership America, former board chair of the NTL Institute and currently co-steward of the organization’s social justice community of practice, and a member of The Society for Human Resource Management. Additionally, Janie is the Board Chairperson for the Special Education Citizens Advisory Council for Prince Georges County where she is active in developing partnerships that facilitate discussion between parents, families, educators, community leaders, and the PG County school administration to enhance services for students with disabilities which is her passion. She and her husband Randolph reside in Fort Washington Maryland.
Chief Operations Officer (COO)
Andrew Davis serves as Chief Operating Officer at the Council. In this role, Andrew oversees the Programs Division, which includes the following operational functions: credentialing, growth and business development, marketing and communications, public policy and advocacy, research, innovation, and customer relations.
Andrew has over 20 years of experience in the early care and education field. Most recently, Andrew served as Senior Vice President of Partnership and Engagement with Acelero Learning and Shine Early Learning, where he led the expansion of state and community-based partnerships to produce more equitable systems of service delivery, improved programmatic quality, and greater outcomes for communities, children and families. Prior to that, he served as Director of Early Learning at Follett School Solutions.
Andrew earned his MBA from the University of Baltimore and Towson University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland – University College.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Jan Bigelow serves as Chief Financial Officer at the Council and has been with the organization since February of 2022.
Jan has more than 30 years in accounting and finance experience, including public accounting, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. She has held management-level positions with BDO Seidman, Kiplinger Washington Editors, Pew Center for Global Climate Change, Communities In Schools, B’nai B’rith Youth Organization and American Humane. Since 2003, Jan has worked exclusively in the non-profit sector where she has been a passionate advocate in improving business operations in order to further the mission of her employers.
Jan holds a CPA from the State of Virginia and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lycoming College. She resides in Alexandria VA with her husband and dog.
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