The Fellowship's Impact on Jennifer Rosen Meade Preschool
Fellows: Laurel Abrams and Stacy Handlin
Over the last two years, Jennifer Rosen Meade Preschool has grown in many ways through participation in the Jewish ECE Fellowship for Leadership and Excellence. We have been able to fine-tune our school philosophy and style of education, realizing with solid clarity that we are a play-based learning school. With a redefined mission statement, we have been able to grow the staff and forge ahead with an ideal view of who we are and where we are headed in the future.
Throughout our journey, we have developed and refined a system of documentation for each child’s growth and progress as they continue through our program. This has reshaped the way we view and conduct parent/teacher conferences as well as the way we look at each project, circle time and activity to support our goals. For example, we now view photographs as quality documentation. We share these photos and other documentation with people to substantiate the learning process.
We read several books in the Fellowship. Some, like Stephen Covey's The Leader in Me (see below), spoke to us as educators and helped us to ask thoughtful questions and continue educating the staff. These books sparked many ideas and thoughts about who we are as a school, as a Jewish organization and as educators. The literature, combined with reflective Skype sessions with educational consultant Diana Ganger, brought new ideas forward and helped us develop a deeper look into the development of Jewish children as well as developing the staff as a part of a whole team.
With the Fellowship, many Jewish educators in Seattle have been able to come together and interact with each other on a regular basis. This has forged a strong community of directors and teachers. It brought many different styles of schools together so that we could get to know our local colleagues, discover the different styles of each school, and expand our resources. The Fellows have become a small family of teachers, directors, and leaders who will continue to impact the greater Seattle area through early childhood education. From the moment we began the Fellowship and far into the future we will continue to grow, learn and teach.
Over the last two years, Jennifer Rosen Meade Preschool has grown in many ways through participation in the Jewish ECE Fellowship for Leadership and Excellence. We have been able to fine-tune our school philosophy and style of education, realizing with solid clarity that we are a play-based learning school. With a redefined mission statement, we have been able to grow the staff and forge ahead with an ideal view of who we are and where we are headed in the future.
Throughout our journey, we have developed and refined a system of documentation for each child’s growth and progress as they continue through our program. This has reshaped the way we view and conduct parent/teacher conferences as well as the way we look at each project, circle time and activity to support our goals. For example, we now view photographs as quality documentation. We share these photos and other documentation with people to substantiate the learning process.
We read several books in the Fellowship. Some, like Stephen Covey's The Leader in Me (see below), spoke to us as educators and helped us to ask thoughtful questions and continue educating the staff. These books sparked many ideas and thoughts about who we are as a school, as a Jewish organization and as educators. The literature, combined with reflective Skype sessions with educational consultant Diana Ganger, brought new ideas forward and helped us develop a deeper look into the development of Jewish children as well as developing the staff as a part of a whole team.
With the Fellowship, many Jewish educators in Seattle have been able to come together and interact with each other on a regular basis. This has forged a strong community of directors and teachers. It brought many different styles of schools together so that we could get to know our local colleagues, discover the different styles of each school, and expand our resources. The Fellows have become a small family of teachers, directors, and leaders who will continue to impact the greater Seattle area through early childhood education. From the moment we began the Fellowship and far into the future we will continue to grow, learn and teach.
"Understanding the value of empathy is something I learned in the Fellowship." |
"This has resulted in common language not just for the younger grade levels and preschool, but also for the whole school." |
"This Fellowship has given me the time and space to reflect and be mindful and intentional in the holy work of educating young children." |