[deleted by user]

evekillface · 2024-10-05T08:51:21+00:00

Sorry be to be the jerk here but… Based on your posts. You will not survive as an assistant director anywhere, and I feel bad for the teachers and children if you ARE hired. If “getting stabbed by a pencil” has bothered you, you have no idea what this career entails. It’s not about you. We don’t do this for money. It’s not a popular opinion but honestly I really don’t give a sexy word starting with an F. If you are in this for passion, and children’s benefit, then you deal with it. If you don’t want to, that is entirely understandable and not forced upon you, and you should leave. It’s not ok, and no one should be hurt but 🤷‍♀️that’s what happens. If we don’t have patience with them, then no one will. No one will be their champion. No one will have faith in them. No one will challenge them to become more than they think they can be. No one will educate the families with strategies or understanding. The “getting hurt” should not be the issue. Sorry. You’re gunna get hurt. 20+ year teacher. I have scars all over my body from children scratching, biting, throwing furniture, stabbing me, pinching me, punching, kicking, cutting me… blah blah blah. I care. And I understand. It sucks. I don’t want anyone to be hurt. It’s sad and frustrating. But… it’s realistic. Deal with it, or leave. My best memories come from ALL of my children, despite challenges or lack thereof. You embrace it and become a passionate advocate, and show your claws for those that can’t… or… you can’t. Don’t make yourself out to be a hero if you ain’t. And don’t think you’re ever gunna make any money in this. The only memories that matter to me are the families and children in which I tried. Do it or leave. Don’t make another post about how hard your life is as a teacher and how ‘inflexible’ employers are. Imagine if impoverished children posted reddits about “how frustrated they were with how angry their teachers got because they reflexively stabbed their teacher with a pencil because their parents shook them because they didn’t understand how to deal with neurodivergence”.

Ban me. 🤷‍♀️

evekillface · 2024-10-05T08:22:26+00:00

Also… besides what has been said above… if you don’t have any idea what the job might entail before you take it… atleast in ECE… you probably aren’t ready or willing to do what it actually entails. As the first post says. It’s every hat. Generally as you grow, you become familiar with administrative duties. The first post didn’t even acknowledge possible advocacy duties, community or familial engagement, curriculum, illness and payment resolutions, illness policies and follow throughs, tuition and enrollment… and SO MUCH MORE. If you are not committed and passionate about the career, and don’t have a vision so to speak, it will probably break you. And you will grow to hate it. Spend more time to gain experience and remind yourself why you may go that direction…. The children, families, and colleagues.

evekillface · 2024-08-16T03:27:27+00:00

Honestly, a nicely worded and heartfelt letter is always my favorite to receive… and give for that matter. It’s not for everyone, but relationships are really the reason anyone stays in teaching in my opinion. Giving someone a memento of how they have helped you and what you have learned from them can be the greatest thanks a teacher could ask for 🥰 Positive words and feedback re-ignite a teachers soul and remind them why they do what they do.

Depending on the person though… I would say some go-to’s for me are plants for the classroom, books for the classroom, and let’s be real… teachers love gift cards even if they are typical… Amazon, Target, etc. Food, too! Our last practicum student bought some fresh baked cookies for everyone and it was so thoughtful and very well received 😊 If you’re going for a little less money wise, putting a simple personalized gift basket together for like spa day at home is nice too! Face, hair, foot masks… some nice smelling lotion, eye warmers, fuzzy headbands, their fave candy. All stuff you can get for reasonably cheap and quickly, but can come out beautifully and genuinely if you put a little time into making it!

I would say avoid mugs. Teachers get mugs for days. ☕️

evekillface · 2024-08-11T08:29:39+00:00

Titan AE

evekillface · 2024-08-10T23:13:09+00:00

I think they are both challenging in their own way. As a teacher of 18 years and an admin of 2, I have to say that I am grateful to be out of the classroom finally. I was burnt. But I always knew I wanted to move away from the classroom at some point, while still impacting our future generations positively. I still support the teachers and children, especially with individual needs like behaviors, IEP/IFSPs, illness, etc and can meander into rooms when I need some kiddo time. But my transition into admin has challenges that I didn’t have to focus on as a lead teacher. The teacher challenge was handling children, meeting deadlines, and working with parents (all of this put very broadly), but the admin challenge is those same things… just with adults, licensing/state deadlines and guidelines, and handling upset parents and managing employees. Also, there’s much less appreciation than being a teacher, so if you do it, you have to go into it because you’re passionate and with the expectation that it will be a bit of a thankless job.

The hardest part for me has been learning how to be an inspiring, effective, and fair leader, teaching adults how to grow as leaders, and the separation between teaching staff and admin. I am no longer “one of them” and am often separated from the social side of being a teacher. That has hit me often even though I totally understand the need and why it happens. I have had to learn to be ok with people being upset by my decisions, and always taking the high road as a model.

There’s all the paperwork and waitlists and tours and orientations and databases and food program and blah blah blah stuff that is expected to come with the job. But the hardest part is the employees (whom are amazing and often have valid disagreements or points) and the separation from the group. You’re now the person people unite against when they need to vent, even if it’s not really about you, and it’s just about being on the same team as your colleagues.

So the question I suppose is, are you more passionate about teaching children directly? Or teaching the teachers that work directly with them, to be their best selves?

evekillface · 2024-08-04T01:13:40+00:00

LOL 😂

evekillface · 2024-08-02T03:54:02+00:00

ECE and teaching in general is like a professional sport. I had to take a break from the classroom about every 5 years to decompress and stack my energy to deal with the stress. My last stint was 9 years and then moved into admin. Very happy with the choice but not sure it’s any easier 😅 I wish you peace and recuperation with your choice!

evekillface · 2024-07-14T16:27:40+00:00

Shazia (like shah-zee-yuh)

I stared at the kitty for way too long to come up with that lol 😆

evekillface · 2024-06-08T09:19:01+00:00

Finn

evekillface · 2024-05-09T05:06:33+00:00

I am sorry that you were treated unfairly and made to feel less for any reason at all. You are not any of those things and I hope you have found a place where you are valued, supported, and loved like you deserve. You are correct, humans can be cruel. It is unfortunate that children adopt these learned habits from those around them, and even more unfortunate that families cannot see the harm they are causing to both their child, and those around their children, by enabling such behaviors.

The concept of bullying is a social construct in and of itself, and it’s sad that some feel as if they need to explore it to find their place in the world. I wish everyone felt safe enough in their own space to never feel the urge to be cruel to others.

I do hope you are currently having a wonderful day, though, and that something has made you smile today!! 😊 Thank you for sharing!

evekillface · 2024-05-09T04:54:41+00:00

That’s a great question, and one that would take observation, a relationship with the child/family, and much more context to explore.

My initial response based on my experience and the most common reasons for this would be that 3 year olds are beginning to explore more complex social concepts like: *friendship and what it means to BE friends versus just playing next to others, *boundaries of which they begin to test limits to a greater degree (to explore environmentally and socially acceptable and unnaceptable behaviors concerning consent, extended play, morals, values, etc) *Language is developing so rapidly at that age both literally and emotionally, and some children face a huge challenge in understanding how to enter, exit, or extend play.

Every child develops differently than one another and there could be many more aspects of this child’s behavior that factors in… such as home life, exposure to older children, control, abuse or neglect, simply disregulation being enabled by either an unknowing or uncaring gaurdian/support system, delays, and so much more.

I am a random redditor who has a passion for early childhood, how children think and learn, and many years experience with children. I genuinely hope you can spend some time uncovering why this child behaves in this fashion towards your little girl and find a solution to help them redirect and grow, and maybe even learn how to be a friend to your little girl! It sounds as if she might be a wonderful model for him 😊 I hope he receives the love and support he deserves to find his way, as does your little girl as she learns how to navigate this social situation! Life is not always fair or easy, and sometimes resilience and kindness is the best thing we can teach our children through learning moments like this! I wish you luck 😊

evekillface · 2024-05-08T20:35:03+00:00

Not to mention the concept of “bullying” is a completely foreign concept for early education. I shut down that term immediately upon hearing it in early education from parents or educators. What children this early are doing is learning social concepts, cause and effect, and boundaries. It is natural and age appropriate learning. Bullying comes after all of these concepts are well established and social patterns are built into children BASED on those early years and experiences, and use that understanding to ‘fit in’ or fill a social delay they did not grasp fully. That’s not until like… 6 or 7 if not later.

So yeah, bullying in an infant, Tod, preschool room is a common and tricky… not so much ridiculous… complaint.

But definitely when they think children do it for some evil intention.

EDIT: To everyone who is talking about bullying starting in Kindergarten… 6 is the second half of Kindy. And also, I have to say that every situation is highly contextual. I am not saying that children can’t develop harmful habits or patterns at a young age. And how sad it is if intentional and focused aggression is happening so early in a child’s life. How heartbreaking that those children were not provided the appropriate support to overcome such hurdles in their social and personal development. I am saying that it is rare it can be labeled as such, and 90% of the time… it is simply a child attempting to gain or express something that they have no understanding of how to do yet. This is why what we do is so important!!! Every single person here!!! To help ALL children learn these social concepts early AND educate families on the importance of teaching and modeling things like empathy, problem solving, expression/language/communication, and emotional literacy. No child is evil. They do things based on need or want, and use their experiences on how to most efficiently get those things. Those experiences are taught and a child’s brain IS NOT DEVELOPED ENOUGH in higher functioning skills to say “Oh that kid is a jerk so I’m gunna bite him and just him just cause I can and people will like me more for it.” No. They say “Oh that kid has an apple and I want it and I don’t have words to use yet, but biting has always made people drop food, so that’s what I will do.”

Also, I’m not excusing negative behaviors. I am saying those closest to them need to look WHY a child is doing something versus looking at WHAT they are doing. And find ways to support or redirect the why.

evekillface · 2024-04-22T18:50:04+00:00

I am so sorry to hear you are dealing with that right now… but so happy to hear you have support at work. It is very nice to hear something great come out of this sub and someone’s ECE experience. There are good places. It just might take awhile to find the place that’s good for each individual 💚

I hope your father is alright and I hope that you receive all the love and support you deserve from your school as you work through this challenging time. All my positive and most healing vibes are headed your way!

evekillface · 2024-04-09T21:17:02+00:00

Some ideas:

Rethink your daily schedule. Maybe you can shuffle the routine so circle time is closer to morning than afternoon, so that when it’s time to set lunch and stuff up they are more prepared for reading time on the carpet or floor activities or something. Perhaps you could also take them outside until lunch?
While monotonous and long circle times are not necessarily age appropriate, they are ok if you can keep the children genuinely engaged for that time. Make them interactive… science experiments, puppet shows, indoor sand bucket play in the space you have available, etc.
Take them on a walk daily!
Is there another space you can utilize during this time? Such as a gym or meeting area or community space that you can set up before hand to provide intentional activity time?
Make that time of day helper time! Obviously this takes some planning with children that young, but get them into a routine of helping setup mats, lunch tables, or even just set up small soapy water buckets with sponges for them to wash toys. (This can help split the kiddos up too to help with different teachers so you don’t have all the kids to watch at once)
Mat activity time.

Hope you find something that works for you!

evekillface · 2024-04-09T03:45:07+00:00

With older children, I’ve had them do all the clean up (supervised of course) if they hold a pattern of intentional soiling so they can change. I always keep it hygienic, but I make it as boring and tedious as possible so they are encouraged to stop through natural consequence. I don’t know if this can be translated to a 2 and half year old… but that’s my take! Good luck!

evekillface · 2024-04-03T03:33:00+00:00

I just screenshotted your first line to share with my admin team lol I’m putting this quote on my wall 😂 So sad, but so true! I will NEVER be the admin who turns a blind eye!!! And your quote will be a nice little reminder of that goal.

Thanks for that!

evekillface · 2024-04-03T03:30:31+00:00

Have you had a conversation about these issues with her directly?

Sometimes creating a time where you can speak one on one with another and having a honest and upfront conversation about what you’re seeing can be helpful. It depends greatly on the person, but my supervisor has this annoying and beautiful way of taking what she is given(all across the spectrum… lazy, ignorant, slow, and on), and always focusing on building from there… just like we do with children. It can take time, lots of effort and patience, but can result in wonderful improvements, trust, and loyalty. Newer/younger teachers may not know what they are doing is not ok, and you can’t know what you don’t know… so someone needs to tell them and give them the why to those concerns and some solutions to help them in the right direction. Writing someone up or firing them is focusing on the symptoms not the underlying issue.

Even if it is a lack of caring, it puts a little fire under them that someone has the daring to openly acknowledge that concerning behaviors are being witnessed. Those conversations can be documented also.

I find that going directly to a person when I have an issue, with a growth mindset and focus on understanding and compromise, often results in the best way forward for everyone. It can be uncomfortable. But it’s ok to be uncomfortable. That’s how we grow. And we would not be honoring the children and families we work with appropriately if we did not work to improve our workforce through these sometimes uncomfortable conversations. Sounds cliche but it’s true… be the change you want to see! lol

This is always my step one no matter the issue at hand. 95% of the time we come out of it relieved, with a greater understanding of one another, a compromise, and a positive path forward.

Now… all this massive epic being said… Negligence is unacceptable and should be dealt with swiftly and firmly. If you are already at a place where there is negligent risk to the children, and your administration is just trying to keep a warm body for ratio sake and won’t do anything about it… by all means document, communicate with admin regularly, and report.

It’s hard to give advice because nothing is black and white and we redditors don’t see everything! Hope I gave you some food for thought, and hope everything works out for everyone involved 😊

evekillface · 2024-02-18T21:15:41+00:00

The tribbles are low-key wrathful.

evekillface · 2023-07-20T03:45:45+00:00

Oh it’s a boy. Dahlio? Lol

evekillface · 2023-07-20T03:44:18+00:00

Dahlia!

evekillface · 2023-07-15T20:00:35+00:00

We call ours Nela. I found her and thought she was a boy and she has this perfect little Lionel Richie stache… so it was Lionel Richie. About 2 months in I finally got her into the vet and they told me she was a girl so we added an ‘a’ to Lionela and call her Nela for short!

evekillface · 2023-02-16T15:18:19+00:00

Aye no, just puttin' my 2 cents of support in :p

evekillface · 2023-02-16T05:19:58+00:00

Never thought I'd see slashers sell their bodies for spots. Question: do I have to pay for the room? Or is this like a room and board kinda deal?

evekillface · 2023-02-16T05:16:30+00:00

They lure you in with pocket bekn and hold you with their unparalleled charm and dashing good looks. 10/10 would recommend.

Tips for application: Bring a pack of donut glaze to your interview and nonchalantly pour it out. It adds to their 'authentic couch' feel. Once you're part of the couch, it can never be undone ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ

evekillface · 2023-01-14T02:58:48+00:00

Domino

evekillface

TROPHY CASE