“Most school districts put a premium on success at third grade, when high-stakes tests are first administered. It’s a strategy very much like waiting until you’re 60 before getting serious about retirement savings.”
“We now have scientific evidence to support a belief that many of us have held for a long time: that children’s environment of relationships in the first years of their lives shape the architecture of their brains, influencing their abilities long into adulthood. This brain research tells us that adults---not just parents, but teachers and providers too, function as either protective or risk factors in children’s development. And that means we must, as a society, do whatever we can to ensure that the teachers and providers who spend their days with children have the preparation, support and reward that allow them to play that protective role in children’s lives.”- Marcy Whitebook from her speech No Single Ingredient: 2020 Vision for the Early Learning Workforce Early Learning Tour, Denver, Colorado, April 26, 2010
"I had just a built-in passion that it was important to make a real contribution in the world and to fix all the injustices that existed in the world, and I wanted to do that through teaching" -Louise Derman-Sparks, Professor Emeritus, Pacific Oak College, CA
" We as professionals in the early childhood field have an opportunity to shape a child's life for the better, and so that's what makes me passionate about this field." -SandyEscobido, Deputy Field Director, Los Angeles Preschool Advocacy Initiative, California Community Foundation
Michele,
ReplyDeleteI agree teachers are providers too. This is a powerful statement. Teachers must take on various roles.
Michele, I added the same quote from Sandy Escobido. I agree completely. The main reason why I love early childhood education is because we get to share apart of a child's life during the most critical and impressionable years! What a gift!! We get to participate in the sharing and molding of this wonderful and innocent individual. What a Blessing!!
ReplyDeleteMichele,
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that you discussed how everyone in a child's life makes a difference for them. We can truly affect a child in a positive way if given the right opportunity. They are blessings to us and we should be blessings to them.