NAEYC

Last night I attended the Austin Association for Education of Young Children (AAEYC) board meeting. It was a fantastic way to meet members of the board, hear about upcoming events, and become actively involved with AAEYC.

This NAEYC chapter has a lot going on including the following upcoming events:
4/1/10 – Nominations for AAEYC Awards Deadline http://www.austinaeyc.org/awards.htm
4/5/10 – AAEYC Board Meeting
4/10/10-4/17/10 – Week of the Young Child
4/10/10 -- AAEYC Spring Conference: Preparing Leaders for the Next 50 Years: ACC Eastview Campus

Wow! The NAEYC conference was absolutely fantastic! By the time the closing session took place everyone was exhausted. However, the attendees that heard the presentation by Susan Zelman seemed happy they participated. Each teacher at the closing session was awarded free professional development for the PBS Raising Readers program.

•What problem is Ready to Learn trying to solve?
Mission: Use the power of public service media to help children ages 2-8, especially those from low income families learn to read.

•How has Read to Learn approached the problem?

One of the sessions I attended at the NAEYC conference was presented by Dr. Browning and Dr. Daniel-Echols. Both women did a fantastic job of sharing insight from what they've learned working at the HighScope Educational Research Foundation.

State Funded Initiatives
•Community –based (sometimes have local control)
•Preschool
•Birth – Three
•Birth – Five
•At-Risk Eligibility (Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida Universal, Voluntary Pre-K)
•Universal Access

Funding
•Legislative appropriation
•School funding formulas
•Title 1
•Public-private partnerships

The last time I had an opportunity to attend a session led by Bev Bos was in the early 90s. I was a preschool teacher and our Florida NAEYC chapter sponsored a session. I remember like it was yesterday the excitement I felt being in a room with this amazing woman! The session was on a Saturday and the following day I spent outdoors and at the hardware store gathering items for school the following day. I simply could not wait! Bev is still as inspiring, encouraging, and rejuvenating as I remember!

This session was presented by the amazing educators and editors of Insights and Inspirations from Reggio Emilia: Stories of Teachers and Children from North America. I found it challenging to take notes while Lella Gandini spoke. She has a soft, calming voice and such powerful insights to share. She, and the other presenters, were truly inspirational!

The above mentioned book is organized by the following themes:
1. Child image
2. Teacher image
3. Children and being respectful
4. The hundred languages of children
5. Power of communication

The session began with Dr. Brennan sharing research on concept mapping with preschoolers. Mr. Bock and Ms. Hwang then described concept maps they’ve done with their students. Throughout the session examples were shown to attendees. Both Mr. Bock and Ms. Hwang suggested using tangible items when working with preschoolers on a concept map (items from nature, pictures from magazines, photos, etc.). They also explained the importance of allowing students to classify items and revisit and revise as often as they like.

Kelly Lenihan is a lead teacher at the University of Michigan’s Dearborn campus Early Childhood Education Center (ECEC). Mrs. Lenihan’s session focused on a Growing Project that was inspired when she realized that eight of her families were expecting babies and that this was on the minds of many of her students and their families. Through a project-based approach a variety of preschool standards were met.

Mrs. Lenihan described to attendees the ECEC environment:
-Reggio inspired program
-6 Classrooms – each classroom was in a cottage and children could visit rooms/centers as they wished

The minute Greg Scelsa & Steve Millang took the NAEYC stage for the opening general session we were out of our seats and dancing together! These musicians have been educating, motivating, and entertaining folks for 35 years. Mark Ginsburg then welcomed us to Washington, D.C., home of NAEYC. He shared with us www.flu.gov a helpful site that has information about measures we can all take to prevent further spread of the H1N1 virus.

Being among preschool educators and having the opportunity to attend NAEYC at our nation’s capitol was an amazing experience! During the opening session we danced and played air guitars alongside Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. In the evenings I found myself trying to map out which sessions to attend the following day -- a challenging task given the variety of interesting topics and large number of sessions from which to choose. Friendships were quickly forged as I found myself sharing, laughing, and crying with other educators.