For some, when you say the word “teacher,” the image of an adult in front a classroom of adolescents comes to mind. Others might think of younger kids on a playground while a school staff member watches over them.
Faye Friedman, director of educational services at Jewish Educational Services, or JES, said that all too often we forget about the teachers who are watching over the youngest learners.
“I don’t think they’re recognized for the skill and the effort that they put in. I think some people view them as just babysitters, and they really do so much to enhance children’s earliest experiences,” Friedman said.
At the first-ever JES Early Childhood Directors’ Retreat, 22 different educators representing 15 different early childhood programs came together to talk about what works for them and how they can get better.
JES has held similar events before, but never a daylong retreat.
“One of the efforts that we put into place [at the retreat] is to give the early childhood educators skills and insight into how to facilitate [children’s] growth in all areas, whether it’s academic, gross motor, social, emotional — all of that begins in infancy,” Friedman said.
The retreat included a number of activities and conversations focused on subjects like leadership, time management, development, navigating workplaces and more.
One of the retreat’s benefits was bringing all of these educators and leaders into the same room together. JES said one participant wrote “the biggest insight from [the event] is to know that we are all feeling the same struggles.”
Friedman said part of JES’s role is to remind the educators and leaders they are appreciated, and it’s not just other educators they can lean on for support.
“We had gotten to the point where we really wanted to show and express our appreciation for the work that early childhood directors do. We have a really strong belief that early childhood offers so much and sets the basis for future education, and we just really appreciate what the directors are doing on a daily basis,” she said. “So we wanted to show appreciation. Now we’ve done a breakfast, we’ve done a luncheon, but we wanted something that was just more significant in terms of time. So this was an all-day retreat.”
The CEO of a business management consultanting firm, Saddle Rock Consulting, led the groups. A WhatsApp group was started to connect all the attendees. And, there was an activity with Art with a Heart, a Baltimore nonprofit, which Friedman said was a highlight for many.
“Sometimes you’re promoting children’s art, so it was really gratifying to see the adults really getting into the art activity,” she said.
Another activity, called a “walk and talk,” allowed attendees to share challenges they face with each other and offer solutions while spending time in the natural world.
“We were fortunate to have really nice weather that day, and people in the feedback form on our survey indicated that that was also a highlight for them,” Friedman said.
For Friedman and Jewish Educational Services, supporting educators who work with the community’s youngest children is part of the mission. On a personal level, Friedman reiterated those educators simply don’t get the respect they deserve, especially considering they’re the ones ultimately tasked with helping students understand the fundamentals of interpersonal relationships and set the stage for later development.
“I don’t know if you’ve heard of the saying, ‘Everything I need to know in life, I learned in kindergarten.’ We are just firm believers that early childhood education is a lot more than babysitting,” she said. “So much of what children experience later in their school life is formed in their earliest experiences in early childhood, and early childhood teachers — they’re incredible.”
aguckes@midatlanticmedia.com
