Whether you’re embarking on professional development (PD) to meet state requirements, or you want to invest in your own growth, PD has a number of benefits.
First, it helps ensure you’re keeping up with the latest trends, techniques and skills. It also makes you more marketable as an employee, helps you become a better colleague and opens the door to career advancement. Finally, and most importantly, it helps you become a better educator for your students.
At ChildCare Education Institute, we’ve spent the past 20+ years providing early childhood educators like you with the professional development courses you need to grow and succeed. As a result, we know a thing or two about how to make the most of your PD endeavors.
Here are our top tips for getting the most out of your professional development:
When you set clear objectives, it gives you something to work toward. With everything else on your plate, a well-defined plan can give you a roadmap to follow and help keep you on track along the way.
As you set your goals, make sure to physically write them down so you can easily refer them as needed. This will help you visually see what you want to achieve — and will improve your chances of succeeding.
Finally, it’s important to ensure the goals you set for yourself are realistic and achievable. To do that, we recommend following the SMART goal-setting system.
A lot of times, people don’t know where to begin with their professional development. The easiest way to get started is by choosing courses that interest you. Perhaps you read an article about mindfulness and it intrigued you (in the case of CCEI, we offer The Value of Mindfulness in Early Childhood Settings). By selecting a topic that interests you, you’ll likely be more interested in the content and motivated to complete the course.
While courses that appeal to you will likely be more enjoyable, don’t forget to also pick topics that might seem more challenging. It’s important for you to stretch yourself – it will also make you a more well-rounded educator. This can mean selecting a course that is completely new to you (for example, engineering in early childhood) or something that has always been a challenging area for you.
Finding a study buddy is helpful because the two of you can tackle tough concepts together, quiz each other and most importantly, hold each other accountable. Once you’ve found a partner, we recommend either setting aside time to work through your courses together or creating regular check-ins to see how the other is doing on the goal path.
With everything going on in your world – work, family obligations, errands, etc. – it’s easy to get sidetracked. Don’t let distractions interfere with the time you set aside for studying. If possible, find a quiet space in your home that you can turn into a study nook. If that’s not possible, try to find a public place to work, like a library or a quiet coffee shop. Using the Pomodoro Technique (focusing for 45 minutes and then taking a break for 15) can also help you stay focused on and plugged into your coursework.
The knowledge you gain from professional development and the ways it can advance your career should be reward enough, but no one said you can’t provide a little extra incentive for yourself. Whenever you complete a course or achieve a goal, treat yourself. This might be taking yourself out to breakfast, watching a movie or a couple of episodes of your favorite television show guilt-free or enjoying an at-home spa day.
Once you’ve knocked out your state-required professional development hours (or you’ve met the goals you’ve set for yourself), keep the learning going by working toward your college degree from home. Thanks to our partnership with StraighterLine, you can now access five ECE-focused courses from anywhere — and then transfer the credits you earn from them to over 1,500 partner colleges and universities.
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Chief Operations Officer
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.
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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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