Nice to Meet You!

I work in a state funded parent education program called ECFE. I love it there, always have from my first experiences their as a mother nearly 29 years ago to today. I see magic happen at ECFE with parents who do better when they know better, with children who see a community of caring adults support them in their journey of childhood. Since the day I enrolled to now, years later as the coordinator, I have embraced an advocacy role. Over the years, I have come to know and work with legislators, policy makers, and parent and provider groups on behalf of early childhood.

A specialization in Early Childhood Public Policy and Advocacy seemed designed for my life. It seems obvious to me that we work with the least likely population to hire a lobbyist. I have been trying to politically organize toddlers for years with no luck. Their parents are sleep deprived and doing what is necessary to get through the day, the list does not often include advocating for better programming. And then, this....

In 2011, I was named the Minnesota Teacher of the Year. I was the first teacher from early childhood to win the award in it's 47 year history. The spotlight was immediate and hot! It seemed like the whole country was talking about early childhood. The field is hungry for advocates who are practitioners. I see lots of research advocates, Art Rolnick, a colleague and friend comes to mind. I see lots of public policy advocate groups at the Capitol on lobby day, Think Small, Minniminds, and the United Way are just a few of the dozens in Minnesota. The world needs practitioners, teachers to have a voice in shaping policy on behalf of small children and their parents. 

Meet Minnesota's Early Childhood Champion, Governor Mark Dayton. I hope to learn how to work more effectively in an arena that values research and policy briefs more than a spectacular finger puppet collection. Sometimes you choose a direction your life will take, sometimes though, life chooses you for a role. Three goals: 

• I am working on a piece of public policy now that would bring a piece of digital media to our preschool screening program. I have much to do and will continue to work on the project.
• I would like to learn all I can about vocabulary, influence, positioning, and policy development from this course. I bring finger puppets and charm to the table, that might not be enough. 
• I would like to get a sense of how early childhood initiatives are rolling out in other states. Looks like I will know much more about Louisiana in eight weeks.          

Life is telling me to advocate my heart out while the whole world seems to be talking about early childhood education. I need to elevate the idea of parent education while the iron is hot. I am ready!

Thank You, Champions!

You have supported me, and I thank you. When I struggled so hard to figure out the new Blackboard system, you were there for me with kind words and suggestions. You are good teachers! When I needed someone to post on their blog early, you did so I could not worry about homework when I was traveling. Friends do that kind of stuff, thank you. When I posted fun pics, you supported me and congratulated me, that meant a lot to me. When frustration knocked me off my feet, you gave me your contact information or reached out to me on my Facebook page. Friends do that, thanks! Even when I was snarky, Melissa reminded me that we are cut from the same cloth. She also helps me translate "Southern English"! 

I hope I have been a good colleague for you too. I have tried to spell your names correctly and hopefully been encouraging to you. I believe we all do very important work on the planet. Together we can elevate the field by elevating ourselves professionally. I hope you have felt that kind of support from me. I have offered my snarky brand of humor when I thought it would help. I have been honest and true. 

I wish for you lots of time outside to play! We live in a beautiful place and I hope that we always take time to enjoy our surroundings. That's my Matt in the background of this picture. He is crazy about me and I am crazy about him. I wish that you all know love, messy, wild, blissy, crazy love. Keep working hard toward your goals. I am excited to see what becomes of each of you. That will mean that we need to keep in touch with one another. 

Katy Smith

Licensed Parent Educator

ECFE Winona

(507) 494-0920

5100 W. 9th Street

Winona, MN

Find me on Facebook!  KatySmithWinona

or Twitter KatyMN12

I am out to make the world a better place for children to grow up. I feel better knowing you are all out there doing the same! If I ever find myself in your neighborhood, I will hit you up for lunch and a great conversation! And if I ever find out that you came to Minnesota without looking me up, you will buy lunch! Be well! Thanks for all you do for children. Don't forget to be nice to yourself too!

So Hard To Say "Goodbye"....

Meet some of the finest people I know,  the Midwest group of the 54 educators who make up the 2012 State Teachers of the Year. We "formed" in January of 2012 for the first of six weeks together as a cohort of teachers representing all teachers in the nation.We took the time to feel each other out and find out who we are as a class. It was magical. It still is. One of the toughest goodbyes of my life happened one year ago in New York City, the last day we would all be together. 

We "stormed" DC during recognition week. We celebrated the naming of the National Teacher of the Year, Rebecca from California as a voice to represent us all. We began to understand each other's passions for the work we all do in classrooms and in our communities. 

We began to feel our strength and play to them during the Education Commission of the States Conference in Atlanta. We were "norming" with the likes of Bill Gates, Governors, and policy makers. We were a powerful, collaborative unit.

By the time we graduated from Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, we were out "Performing" many of the teams I have belonged to in my teaching career. We started to "storm" about our lives together after our year of service ended.

We "Adjourned" in a poem. We worked on it individually at first and then, collectively we made something beautiful that represented who we were together as we moved on to saying goodbye to one another. I am a big fan of closure. I need to mark goodbyes with hugs and tears and words that matter. I want people who have been important to me to know they have mattered and that we have mattered.

If I have loved, there is no question, people know it. We are rounding the corner in our Walden journey, at times I allow myself to imagine being done. I will  not miss the work but I will miss the people. The Class of 2012 went to see "Wicked" on Broadway together. I will always think of them when I hear this song....

Reference

Abudi, G. (n.d.) The five stages of team development: a case study. Retrieved from        http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/the-five-stages-of-team-development-a-case-study.html

Meet "Snarky"

A snarky remark, a specialty of mine, landed me in the doghouse with a coworker recently. I will give you this, it was snarky but also funny. This temptation, to gamble with humor, gets me in trouble occasionally. I knew she was mad at me and asked her if she was. She laid it all out for me, intensely, loudly, and with a good deal of emotion.

I went straight to empathy. I wanted her to know that I understood where she was coming from. My remark had triggered some deep feelings in her. I then went to affirmation, listening attentively and whole heartedly.  I took the time to write an apology just in case her heightened emotions got in the way of her hearing my verbal apology. And then, I gave her some space. weekend's worth of space to figure out if the incident was worth our close working relationship. I made it clear that I felt like our relationship was stronger than the incident and offered to talk with her about a resolution whenever she was ready.

I saw my coworker again four days later. She said she wanted to talk to me. She discussed the trigger and her feelings about how she reacted to my snarky remark. She accepted my sincere apology offered that she had over-reacted due to a trigger. We ended up hugging and laughing and knowing more about one another. Friendship, like all other relationships, are complicated at times but so worth the work we put into them.

This weeks resources are a goldmine for helping us all do better in conflict. Good stuff.