NAME THAT OHIOAN!

Hot off the printing press with some more news about extraordinary Ohioans!

Who was recently quoted as saying?

“The arts to me are the connective tissue of the human spirit.”

Answer: Mimi Brodsky Chenfeld

Whose creative dance class might you be in?

If you saw a teacher and preschoolers sitting with their legs crossed, swaying from side to side, pretending to ride the ocean waves in their boats visiting exotic destinations.

Answer: Connie Bergstein Dow

Did you know that Mimi was recently interviewed by NAEYC and used to introduce a cluster of articles focusing on young children and the performing arts?  Would you believe that our own Connie Bergstein Dow authored one of the articles included in the cluster?

Yep!  Both are featured in the March 2010 Young Children’s Journal!  This month the Journal focuses on The Performing Arts – Music, Dance and the Theater in Early Years and happened to spotlight two of our Conference PRESENTERS!  The articles address the importance of music, dance and theater for young children from infancy through the primary years.  The authors acknowledge the role the arts can play as tools for learning and how the experience that they provide can enhance children’s lives now and in the future.

Ohio AEYC/NAEYC Members can read the articles in their Journal or online in the Members Only section at www.naeyc.org.  If you aren’t a member and would like to begin receiving the Young Children Journals, you can become a member by going to www.oaeyc.org.

Conference BONUS-

Connie will be presenting a session with Zak Morgan on Saturday morning called: “Dancing, Singing, Marching & Hopping Across the Early Childhood Curriculum” and Mimi will close the conference Saturday afternoon with her session: “Include Me Out! Strategies for Inspiring All Children to Become Eager Participants.”

We have many presenters from all over Ohio sharing their expertise and knowledge throughout the conference.  We appreciate their commitment and contributions to early childhood and our conference.  If you attend the conference, don’t forget to thank them for all they do.  And WE THANK YOU for seeking the opportunity to be all that you can be for the children and families you serve! 

We can be proud to be Ohio Early Childhood professionals!

It takes a village…

I do understand the challenges that a center faces when trying to find the necessary resources to support staff in attending a state conference.  Previous to working for Ohio AEYC, I was a center director for twenty years.  I was confronted with the realities of balancing a budget that was short on training funds and maneuvering through the complexities of how to staff the center so that my teachers could attend training.   The value and benefits of teachers attending the conference ranked high on our list of priorities.  We all felt that professional development was a necessary ingredient to the quality of care we were committed to providing. 

So our work began.  We met with the teaching staff and developed a plan that involved educating and recruiting the support of all members of our “village”.  We decided to share our desires for training with the parents and provide them with the direct benefits it would have on their children.  We made the commitment to bring back fresh ideas and current research from the field that we could put into classroom practice.    We thought of creative ways we could document our conference experience to share with the parents, such as making a video to bring back and play in our entry way.  Additionally, we distributed a letter to all the center parents.  With the support of our board of directors, we presented a letter on their behalf asking families what they thought they could do to assist and support us with obtaining our goal. We wanted to send as many teachers to the conference as financially possible without closing the center.  We asked them to consider the following:

• Find alternative child care for the day. (Plan a special “at home-day”)
• Volunteer to care for their child and other classmates in their home
• Sponsor a teacher to attend with a donation
• Pick up their child(ren) early on Friday
• Volunteer at the center

The tradition began many moons ago with great success.  As it turned out, the Village was more than willing to help out and lend the support needed.  In fact, we were a center licensed to care for over a 100 children and on conference Friday (back in April of 1998), we had 7 children attend.  Three of the children belonged to a staff member who was attending the Ohio AEYC Conference.   I must admit too much time has passed to recall the amount of funds that were raised.  Well, it must have been adequate! 

Recently I asked the center to give me an update on how the Village is doing.  The director, Sherry Roush was proud to report, “ Typically, parents make other arrangements for 70% of our children that day!”

I hope this idea can help you support your staff in attending the conference. And we would love to hear some ideas that worked in your village.

Growth of a techno dinosaur

Greetings to everyone who has registered to attend the conference and to those interested in learning more about what we have to offer.  I have to start my first blog entry by telling all of my friends and colleagues that yes, it is really me…I am blogging! So there! If this techno dinosaur can do it, anyone can do it.

I can’t agree more with Beri’s comments!  Assisting YOU with the conference is one of my  passions and a job I very much enjoy.  I can feel the energy  in the air this time of year, as many early childhood professionals begin reviewing conference details, making workshop selections, securing hotel reservations and renewing their membership to Ohio AEYC by selecting the convenient membership package option.  (Sorry, I could not resist.)  Our phones are ringing with questions, concerns and ECE professionals eager to get registered for the sessions that best meet their personal and professional development needs. 

I want to share a couple questions that I have been recently asked in hopes to clear up any confusion when you receive your conference confirmation:

Q:   ”Why does my conference registration confirmation say Thursday, April 29 at the top,  when I registered to attend on Friday?”

A:   Regardless if you have registered to attend on Thursday, Friday or Saturday, your conference registration confirmation will state Thursday, April 29, as that is the beginning day of the conference event.  No worries.  As long as it states the correct workshop sessions, you are set.  Carefully review the sessions to be sure!

 Q: “I didn’t sign up to for the keynote presentation and it is appearing on my conference registration confirmation.  Why?”

A:   Because our keynotes are absolutely spectacular presenters that we are certain you won’t want to miss seeing them!  No seriously, because the keynote presentations are included in the registration for each day they will automatically appear on your registration confirmation, regardless if you have selected them when registering.

Don’t forget the Early Bird deadline has been extended to February 1st and avoid attempting to register between 9:00  tonight and 6:00 tomorrow morning…the system will be shut down for updates.