5 Technology Tools for Early Educators
The amount of websites devoted to the early education field is vast, but it is just a matter of finding the ones and using them as technology tools to enhance your child care program in...
“I’ve always wanted to be a teacher,” Javier says, “and defied anyone who said I’d made a bad choice. When people would ask why I didn’t do something else, I would insist I was born to be a teacher. That’s because I’ve always thought education was the best way to change people’s lives,” he explains. And this sense of commitment made him persist in the ECE field despite all the negative comments he heard about the profession. “People warned me that the pay was poor. They questioned why a male Latino would want to teach young children,” he recalls. “And I was one of the only boys enrolled in the Child Development Associate® (CDA) program at my high school, Passaic County Technical Institute in Wayne, NJ. But that never really bothered me because I wanted to pursue what made me happy.”
And Javier also had a strong role model in his mom, his first and foremost source of inspiration. “She was an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, who came here as a teen,” he says. “She held two or three jobs at the same time, and one of them was as a child care provider for family and neighbors. She also raised three children of her own who now all hold advanced degrees. And watching her showed me the value of hard work, compassion and concern for others, especially children.”
Javier remembered the lessons he picked up from his mom as he earned a college degree and became a teacher for young children. He went on to gain a master’s in teaching and is now earning a post master’s principal’s certification, a program that made him think back to another great influence in his life. “The essay I wrote to get into the program was about my seventh- and eighth-grade teacher, Miss Polo. She grew up in the same neighborhood as I did in Paterson, NJ. She attended the same middle school as I did. And we also shared a common background since she was a Latina who always stressed the importance of social justice. That meant giving back to your community, she explained, by being an advocate for others.”
And the children he would go on to serve as a third-grade teacher in Newark truly needed someone to stand up for them. “The school where I worked was in a rough part of town,” Javier says, “and I had a lot of students who’d been through serious trauma. I had students who were homeless. I had students whose fathers were in prison, and many of them were reading well below their age group. My training did not prepare me for this, but I was committed to building strong bonds with these kids and showing them that I was there for them. So, I tried to create an environment where they felt safe and had the chance to learn.”
But it was a challenge, Javier admits, because the school was underfunded. “I constantly had to pay out of pocket for many of my supplies, and the students had behavior issues, especially a small boy named Adam who’d been through extreme trauma. He’d lost his father when he was very young, and his mother had lost a leg after being hit by a car. He had been bouncing around between different homes and sometimes didn’t sleep at night. So, I made it a point to be flexible with him. I let him sleep in my classroom and took extra steps to get him engaged in learning. For instance, he loved football, so I gave him books to read about football, talked to him about the game and even showed up at his football games to make him feel I was present in his life.”
It’s all about building bonds and learning about children’s lives, Javier explains. “For example, I had a student named Alicia who disappeared for a long time from my class. I didn’t know what happened to her until I finally received a text from her mom. It turned out they were in a shelter, and some people would write a family like this off as hopeless. But I didn’t. I know homeless parents seem different, but they do love their children and care about their education.”
Javier loved and cared about the children, too, and one of the ways he supported them was through reading. “Alicia, for instance, loved to read,” he says, “and I wanted to get all my students to feel that way. So, one of the things I did to encourage them was I brought in a tent and set it up in the center of the room. Then I told them we’re going to do like a D.E.A.R. That means drop everything and read,” Javier explains. “And the children did. They were fighting to get inside that tent with their books.” And it seemed like fun, but it achieved a serious purpose. “One of my goals is to get children to read, “Javier says.
And he’s continued to pursue it in the past year, ever since he became an early childhood instructor at Passaic County Technical Institute, the school where he earned his CDA® and met his favorite teacher. “She taught me to give back to the community, as I’ve pointed out,” Javier says. “And now I’ve had my CDA students serve the community, too, by creating a YouTube channel, PCTVS Storytelling. On it, they support literacy and language skills by reading aloud to children and families.”
The read aloud project was part of a competition set up by SkillsUSA, a group that partners with career and technical education programs nationwide. The goal of the contest is to get students to think about ways to give back by pointing out an important issue in their field and coming up with a service project to address it. “The issue my CDA students identified was giving young children more access to diverse books by reading aloud,” Javier says.
And the project played an important role for the children with whom Javier’s students worked while doing their field work for the CDA. “Many of the children came from low-income homes where they didn’t have a selection of books or had parents who couldn’t read English,” Javier says. “So, we wanted to fill in the gaps by giving the children a chance to see and hear their student teachers reading aloud to them at night.”
The project didn’t just give the children better language skills. It also taught Javier’s high school students a vital lesson: the value of advocating for the community where they live. And one of the ways to do that is by earning a CDA. “Education,” Javier says, “is a powerful tool that creates a strong foundation for success, so promoting the CDA is a way to ensure there’s a supply of high-quality teachers, something that’s not the case now. And the current teacher shortage is one of the subjects that come up in our weekly talks about current events. We might also explore an empowering TED talk about education or some other important issue. And there’s a lot of lively discussion since the high school students love talking about what’s going on in the world.”
They also love the different ways Javier makes sure his classes are engaging and entertaining. “My classes are very hands-on,” Javier says, “and I try to come up with activities that reflect the experiences of teens. So, for example, I had them create videos on TikTok when we were discussing the proper way for children to wash their hands. I also had them do projects where they pretended that they were founding and running their own preschool,” Javier says. And he encourages them to advance by starting their own business or going on with their education.
“I talk a lot with my students about what they need to do to go to college,” Javier explains, “because I had no one to have that talk with me when I was in high school. Though my parents valued education, neither of them went to college. So, I had to figure out a lot of things on my own, including how to get financial aid and decide whether college was even the right choice for me.”
But he managed to figure out how the higher ed system works and fill out all the applications. Now he’s guiding rising teachers like a girl named Susana who sent him a wonderful letter some months ago. “We’re halfway through the year,” she wrote, “and I want to say that you have been one of my favorite teachers. I love how you helped us with our college applications and how you made your classes so interactive. Your bright personality makes your class such a positive place.”
And Javier felt especially upbeat this spring when he watched Susana and some of his other seniors graduate from high school with their CDAs. “The school bought them gifts, balloons and graduation caps, and everyone clapped as they came on stage,” Javier recalls. “It was moving to watch them and realize they now had the skills to make an impact on children and families,” Javier says. And he had a personal sense of satisfaction as he watched the seniors strut off stage with their credentials. Javier had ramped up his mission to promote social justice—one he’d embraced since his school days with Miss Polo. “I’ve broadened my impact by helping the students earn their CDA,” he explains. “I’ve empowered these rising teachers to make a difference in their communities, too.”
The amount of websites devoted to the early education field is vast, but it is just a matter of finding the ones and using them as technology tools to enhance your child care program in...
As early childhood professionals, we must constantly set new goals for our child care programs and try to stay ahead of new trends within our field. We need to strive to mentally absorb the all...
Are you considering applying for a Child Development Associate® (CDA) Credential™? The CDA® credential has many valuable benefits for all early childhood professionals, including helping early educators meet current state and national professional requirements and serving...
Consider for a moment these everyday activities; inviting parents to volunteer in your classroom, recommending breastfeeding resources, or talking about child development milestones with friends and family. While perhaps unconventional, these activities are everyday advocacy!...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7GrPCWBROM I am excited to invite you to our 3rd Annual Early Educators Leadership Conference at the beautiful Lansdowne Resort in Leesburg, Virginia from October 12-15, 2016. This meeting has sold out for the past...
A very tired mother brought her 4 month old daughter to a day care center telling her teacher, “She was up all night crying. I wanted to go get her but my husband said I’m...
The end of the year is always a good time for reflection – and we at the Council look back on 2015 as another banner year in our service to you – the early care...
As the population of young children keeps getting more diverse in this country, many schools and programs are seeking teachers and assistants that speak the languages needed in their classrooms. However, it is not enough...
Across the globe, in places like Uganda and Dublin, mothers are being made aware that the 1,000 day period from the beginning of pregnancy to a child’s second birthday will, as midwife Susan Ejang says....
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.
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.
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.
Read our monthly e-newsletter and keep up to date on all Council programs and services, as well as the latest news in the world of early care and education. Subscribe today to stay connected with us. You’ll receive timely information on events, webinars, special promotions, and more.