Our First Professional Development Day!

Mural in the lobby of Union Settlement Association

Earlier this year, HMESF hosted our very first round table collaboration with early care providers at Union Settlement. We were thrilled that there was a representation of many of our 21 centers across Manhattan. It was our objective to hear what the early care providers’ challenges were amongst all the changes in the early care landscape. Since we strive to improve the quality of education and early care for children ages 0-3, it was essential to determine how HMESF could positively impact and support our centers moving forward. The providers agreed our Library Initiative and book per kid donations have been well received, as books are essential to engage children from an early age. However, it was immediately clear that the early care programs were not getting sufficient professional development, and hoped HMESF may provide a workshop for their staff.

As a result of the round table requests, HMESF hosted its first Professional Development day last week. Ellen Jaffe Cogan from early education consulting firm, Hilltop Early Childhood Services, led the half day training. Eager early care providers from Northside Center, Safe Horizon, BronxWorks, Sunshine Learning Center and Mother Hale Learning Center filled the community room of Union Settlement Association in East Harlem on a sunny Thursday morning. These dedicated early childcare workers participated in a dynamic dialogue during Ellen Jaffe Cogan’s two-part presentation on utilizing walls to contribute to learning and science exploration through play.

The first half of our day focused on early child care centers’ walls. The key point was that walls can send a variety of messages simultaneously depending upon what audience is looking at these walls. For example, children perceive pictures on the walls as welcoming. For families, the walls visually signify how their children are engaging and developing, through artwork, or photos depicting the daily routine. The licensing agents and funders view the walls as a way to gauge how funding is being utilized.

Ellen Jaffe Cogan used a perfect metaphor to illustrate the importance of centers’ walls: wall space equals real estate. Therefore, the three most important factors in utilizing wall space is location, location, location. In her words, “You have to justify what is up; there is not unlimited ‘real estate’.” By thinking in that way, the walls become more than just decorations, they become an extension of learning—another opportunity to engage in the development of the child.

So where is the most expensive real estate in early child centers; Eye level. However, it is tricky to determine what eye level means, since the children vary in age and height. It is important to take into consideration the children who crawl, walk, sit, nap, or who are carried, and where their eyes go.

After taking a break, many explored the Union Settlement community garden and playground filled with children. The session continued with “science exploration through play” . Ellen illustrated how our centers are already teaching scientific concepts to their children. She indicated that science is learning about the world. Furthermore, children from birth, to infants and toddlers are learning about science through exploration!

Since children are already avid explorers (i.e. what can I hold, shake, taste, bang against, roll into, etc,) center staff can interpret these scientific concepts for them. As Ellen said, “All the time, everyday, the explanations are scientific.” Therefore, learning at an early child center is less about teaching a lesson, and more about guiding explorations. For example, if a toddler is playing with a toy to fit shapes into the correct hole, one can guide their scientific inquiry what will happen if you put a square into a triangle hole? And if it doesn’t fit—a child is learning about size, shape, and direction. Another example would be if a child is playing with a car with a string to pull it—by probing how s/he can move it from here to there—it’s a lesson on the law of motion!

Early child centers have children at such an early age, where the goal is less about absorbing knowledge and more about developing key concepts and skills. It was Jaffe’s opinion that the classroom model of teaching is less effective. By allowing children to naturally explore, the providers are able to translate into words the child’s exploration, which ultimately becomes science. Exploration is valid learning. “All kinds of learning are related to sorting and classifying to make sense of the world;” and all infants and children are doing science.

Ellen’s take home point is to always have an “enthusiasm for learning.” It is a wonderful experience; don’t forget to express your excitement. “This is real discovery, real learning, this is science, this is true.”

Many of our centers’ staff stayed after the training was over to speak with Ellen. A provider from Union Settlement told Ellen how they were going to implement some of her ideas presented today. She stated, “she had never thought about the walls before and would be sure to post things that the children would see. In Ellen’s words, “It doesn’t get better than this: to be able to make a difference is such a joy!!!”