"Erica's Advice on Running a Successful School-Age Program"

Hello. It is January 13th shooting to you live from our Edith street location. We are going to be filming tonight part two of our human relationships from the Rhode Island. Not Rhode island, sorry, the national standards for after school quality programming. So tonight we're going to talk about four topics and we're going to be joined by Ms. Sally. Funny thing is, again, I have some birthday shout outs. Today is Ms. Angela's birthday, so happy birthday, Ms. Ange. Tomorrow is Ms. Sally's birthday, so happy birthday to Ms. Sally. Ms. Sally's going to be joining us in a couple minutes and we're going to get underway. So before we roll into part two, we're just going to review very quick numbers one through four. So number one was staff relate to all children and youth in positive ways. Then we talked about staff responding appropriately to the individual needs of children and youth.

Number three was staff encouraged children and youth to make choices and become more responsible. And number four was staff interact with children and youth to help them learn. So we're going to roll into number five. So number five in human relationships is staff use positive techniques to guide the behavior of children and youth. So what we're talking about here is that staff give attention to children when they cooperate and share, care for materials and join activities. Think about when you're speaking with children. Do most of your efforts go to the children who are not doing what they're supposed to do or making sure that we're responding to children who are acting appropriately and tell the truth? Most of the time I hear teachers telling children, don't do that, stop that, leave that alone, those types of things. And you really need to be more cognizant of how, how often are you saying, great job, I like the way that you're sharing. Thank you for helping Suzy. Those are the types of things that you want to.

Do in your group so that you will get more children to participate. They really do want to please you. The next thing we want to think of is setting appropriate limits for children. It's not fair to expect them to adhere to rules that you haven't told them. And you may need to do that more than once. So an example would be when you go outside to the play area and the children are heading towards the swings. So that might be a good time to explain the rules again about the swing. So how often do you have to do that? The answer is probably daily. Remember my friends that are going out to the swings, we sit on our bottoms and we swing front and back and we don't jump off so those are the type of things that you want to say right at the beginning that will help you from having to say it constantly. Because during your one hour rotation, I think that it's really important to also have rules in your group that prevent children from hurting each other or being physically or verbally abusive to each other. Especially with school age children, they do tend to like to tease or pick on a particular kid or have a scapegoat in the group. So be aware of that and try to be as present with your students as possible. So Ms. Sally's here with us. I'm going to ask her. Sally, can you identify a pattern for types of conflicts that occur most often? And I know you've just come over to school age, so maybe even in just preschool setting, either or is fine. But particular areas that you find where children would have a lot of conflict.

Probably block area would be one fighting over poor has a certain block, they.

Want a certain block.

Maybe outside time, who has the ball the longest.

I think what you need to do is just do a lot of positive reinforcement, such as if they're at the table, go over the rules with them. If they're in block area, set some guidelines there. Just going over the rules constantly and consistently.

Other thing too, and that's a good point. The other thing too I would think of is if you have a particular thing that can be solved very easily, like let's say the children keep fighting over that one red fire truck. So that would be something that you really would want to bring to the director's attention. Because if you're constantly breaking up fights over the one red fire truck, we probably need four or five based on the number of children in the group. So those are some things that we could do very quickly and easily. For me, another thing that I find is if children have to wait too long, a lot of problems will occur there as well. So let's say your group is getting ready to go into the play yard and you've got the kids lined up. Some of the kids don't have their coat zipped up. Some still need shoes tied. It would be okay and appropriate for you, the first teacher to take out 13 kids. So those kids aren't waiting while your partner stays with the other 13 kids and helps zip up coats and tie shoes and then comes out with you as a group. And you can continue to then be a group outside time. But expecting children to wait long periods of times and transitions certainly I think cause a lot of behavioral problems for children who don't Normally have behavioral problems. The other thing is make sure that we're not using harsh punishments. You never shame a child or yell at a child or withhold food. The other thing is, do not punish a whole group because two or three kids are not following the rules or messing around. Another thing, too, I think to think of is, as your boss, I would never come out on the floor and, you know, redirect you or scold you in any kind of way on the floor. I think the same courtesy should be given to children. If there are a few children that you need to talk to, pull them aside. Either bring them to the office or ask your director for help. But, you know, please be conscious of that as well and treat the children the same way that you would like to be treated. I think that that's only fair. The other thing is, I think teachers are really quick to make kids apologize or explain their behavior. I don't know that you should ever force an apology. I think it's okay to talk through things. I think it's okay for people to have their feelings the way that they feel.

So, you know, somebody's mad and said, you know, she hurt my feelings. It's okay for someone to feel like that. And I think it's okay for you to say, I understand that's how you feel.

But never to make somebody apologize if it's not sincere. Hopefully, as you guys talk it through and the children think about what. What they've done or what they've said, that they would do that on their own because it feels like the right thing for them to do. Do you have anything you want to.

Add to that you think talk to them about it? Just talk through it?

Mm. Yeah. So that goes to our next section, which would be in under number five. The last part of that would be staff encourage children to resolve their own conflicts. Staff step in only when needed and discuss issues and work out solutions. So I think it's really important to have the children start to work out how they could resolve these issues on their own. You really should only be there as a guide and only step in if needed. So. So think about a time that maybe you've kind of taken over the kid's situation because it's quicker and faster and it resolves the issue quicker. Or it's like, apologize or don't play together. Well, that's really silly. They're going to be together the next day and every day after that if they're in the same group. So I think you should think about that.

Number six is Children and youth generally interact with each other in positive ways. Do the children seem like they enjoy coming here? Do they seem like they enjoy spending time together? They're pretty vocal about letting you know who they want to play with. And sometimes, as we had discussed earlier, sometimes the children they want to play with are in other groups. So you do have to think about that. But there's also other ways that you can encourage children to make new friendships within the group that they're in. Talk about what, you know, what types of things they like to do. Find other children in the group that like to do those things as well and pair them up. I actually have an example of that today. I had two kids that never play together were playing together in my office today for about an hour, building together and talking and having conversations that were really cool and new for them because they were starting to get to know a little bit about each other. And these two kids have been together in the same group for probably about a year. So I thought that was really cool to see. You have to think about, do children tend to include others within the group or do you find clicks? And if you do, there's a couple things I think that you should do to help make that click not be a click, but more inclusive. Sally, have you ever had the opportunity to work with the kids that formed clicks? Yes. Yeah. So tell me, how did you. How did you try to. Without forcing, but how did you try to either expand the horizons with other children?

I think what I would do is just bring that child over who wanted to be a part of that and find a common ground, find something that they had in common with this particular child and let them welcome that child into that little circle.

Yeah. And I think too, sometimes you can do. You can do it in the moment, but then I think intentional teachers will set up activities and intentionally put groups of different children together for them to have opportunities to interact in a different way than they would if they normally get to always select. So I think that that's something is to be really mindful of that, pay attention to who always plays together. And it isn't about separating them. I don't mean that at all. It's. If they enjoy spending time together, that's okay. But I think trying to create new friendships within the group is equally important. And I think that that's something that teachers at a higher level are very aware of and very intentional about creating those opportunities. You have to think about. The children usually cooperate well together, and if they're not, I think you need to create some curriculum around.

How we work together, some team building activities. And be, be careful, because sometimes when people think they're building team building activities, they're really building activities that cause competition, which sometimes has the adverse effect. So you really want to make things that everybody kind of wins. So an example of that might be a big floor puzzle where you have all of the group work together. Maybe they have to work together and beat the timer instead of a person, instead of this group against this group. Maybe it's weird. All work together and we have 10 minutes to make this challenge. Then. Then we're all together, and there's not a single person we're trying to, you know, put out of or, or compete against, but it's to do our own best work. And if we meet that challenge, maybe we do the puzzle in 10 minutes. Maybe the next challenge is the next time we'll see if we can do it in eight. So those are some types of ideas or suggestions that you can do with children to make sure that they are cooperating with each other.

What do you think? Anyone add to that? You think that.

No, I think like you were just saying, maybe doing puzzles also Legos is a great way for them to work together.

Yeah. So there are lots of. Lots of fun things. And we do have lots of resources in our training library, which is downstairs at the home office. We have some books on site at each location, but we do have a lot more on site at the training room. We did also just purchase a whole bunch of new books. So I would say definitely take a look at those. There are some interesting activities in team building and cooperation on Pinterest. Also, there are some workshops on better kids care, on ways to implement more cooperation in your classrooms. Here we are on number seven. So. So number seven is how staff and families interact with each other in positive ways. So this is one of the things that is part of our core value. And I have to say, my team is fantastic, and you guys do an amazing job at this. I would say in almost all of our feedback from families, they always say that our staff are friendly and helpful. So I'm very proud of that. So this will be just a little bit more of a reminder because some of you are really, really skilled. And for our new teachers who are just, you know, coming on board with us, only been with us a month or two, this is really, is our culture. So you really have to understand this one. Number one is staff make families feel welcome and comfortable. So think about ways that we do that. We certainly do Some family engagement events. We try to spotlight families. That's something new that Mr. Lisa has been doing on our Facebook page, doing spotlights on families that have, have been with us for a while as a way to make them feel appreciated. The other thing too is we have now the parent advisory boards, which for my school age teachers, we have one actually this week. It's on Wednesday. I so overbooked myself for Wednesday. But anyway, Wednesday night we have a parent advisory group that I would love some of our teachers to be a part of. And that's where we meet with the parents and we talk about the programming and things that they would like to see happen and then things that, that they feel might be good for them as well. We just had a training the other day that included parents on getting children ready for kindergarten entry. And we did that here at the school age program with the, with the idea from Ms. Marcy. That way parents were able to come see the school age program because most of their children would be graduating and coming in in June. So that was a great idea. Again, my staff, you guys are just amazing in this area. The next thing is staff and families treat each other with respect. I know there could be some times where it could be a little bit challenging. If your parent comes in and is upset about something or demanding about something. Sometimes those requests may seem silly or small to you, but if they're important to the families, I would say we definitely need to try our best to accommodate in any way that we can. If it's something that's against the school policy, it's something that should have a bigger conversation with either the directors or owners to see if it is a reasonable request or not, if we can in fact meet their needs. And sometimes the answer is no, but it's something that might need a bigger conversation around it. So, Sally, tell me, what ways do you think that we could make parents feel comfortable that maybe something we're missing or something that you think works really, really well?

First of all, when they come in, ask them how their day went instead of just well, so and so did this today or he was not listening. She was not listening. Ask how their day was. Be positive. Talk about what their child did in the program.

Yeah, I think that's really key, especially in school age, because our kids get picked up so quickly. You can have 10 or 15 kids getting picked up at the same, the same. Second, all, you know, in that one entry, it's not like with preschool where you guys have individual classrooms and, you know, you might have one or two parents picking up dayon will, you know, get, get, get slewed with like 10 parents.

So fast paced and they come in and out. So try to make a little bit of time where you're talking with the parents, engage in conversation with them, let them know about their child.

Yeah. And we know you can't leave your group. So if you're in an area where you can see the parent from the doorway, whether you're at tables, you're at the kitchen or your coffee area, know, wave the parent over, say, hey, Ms. Smith, you know, let, let me talk to you about this, you know, this tower that Emily made. Or I'd love to talk to you about next week. We have a field trip coming up and I know she loves Star wars, so we have a Star wars movie. So those are types of things that are really important. And again, we had talked earlier about building those relationships because when you do have to have those difficult conversations, it doesn't seem as though you're picking on the child or the only time that you talk to them. If there's a problem, you really should be talking to the parents of your students every day or as much as possible. I would say a minimum of two, two times a week. A minimum. You should also stop to know people's first names. I think that that's important to use people's names instead of just like, hey, how you doing? It's hey, Joanne, hey Sally, hey, Tommy. I think that that makes you feel valued and important as well. Absolutely, yeah.

Staff share languages and cultures of families that they serve. We do have a few families that speak other languages and we have a few staff that do as well, like Ms. Ashley, Ms. Maria. They're both pretty fluent in Spanish. If there's anybody else that I missed, I apologize. But if you do have families that speak other languages and you have the ability to speak or translate some of the information in their home language, I think that that is beneficial and again, makes them feel valued and important. Another thing that I think is super important is staff and families work together to make arrivals and departures between home and child care go very smoothly. So this is one of the things that is kind of sometimes a thorn in the side. The parents come to pick up their kids, they can't find their coats, they can't find their hats, they can't find their gloves. Their backpack is behind the bar. Did they do their homework? Nobody knows. Like these are things that we need to be on top of. So I do feel like that's probably something that we could get better at now. Yes, the kids are old and they should be able to put their things, especially an eight year old, in their locker. But unfortunately they still need reminders. So as we walk through the building right after Vance getting dropped off, it is important that the kids are putting their things in the locker. Sometimes the youngest children need help. Sometimes it's hard for them to either reach or open the latch. So that's really important. The other thing is when you are helping families find things, make sure that if you are with the partner or group that you're not leaving your group or your partner out of ratio. So you may need to tag team and say, hey Ms. Paula or Ms. Sally, either one, can you help Johnny find his coat? Or two, can you stay with my group while I help Johnny find his coat? Either or works for me, but it is a good time to have conversations with parents as well. The other thing is Davon and Paula need help at the door. Not necessarily at the door, but when a parent comes into the building and takes their child from your group, it would be okay to have a polite reminder to say, oh Ms. Jones, you know, he has such a great night. Da da, da da. And make sure you sign him out if you haven't already on your way out. Thank you so much. We appreciate your cooperation and that will help make sure that our sign in and sign out sheets get filled out the way that they're supposed to, which is part of DCYF regulation number eight. Last one, Staff work well together to meet the needs of the children. I'll say it again, staff work well together to meet the needs of the children. The reason I'm saying that twice is because the kids are the top priority and everything that we do here is about them, for them, to support them, to guide them, to keep them safe. We are secondary. I hate to tell you, but we are. So there are four important parts when it comes to staff working together. Number one is staff communicate with each other while the program is in session to ensure that the program runs smoothly. So one of the things that I noticed happen, although you guys are getting better at it and I appreciate it, and is when it's time for us to rotate, if everybody rotates at the literally exact same second, you're going to get bottlenecked in certain areas. So for an example, if you're in the carpet area and your next rotation is the kitchen, it might, if there's no one in that kitchen, move that group maybe a minute or two beforehand. So that way you're out of the way, free and clear. That way, the group that's outside in the play yard, who's coming into the carpet area, can get in there through the hallways easily, and nobody gets hurt. So it's little things like that that you guys communicate with each other to make sure that those things run smoothly. Another piece, I would say is just like when you hit your 14th or 15th child and you call your director and say, hey, I've got 15. I need another teacher. You should do the same when your numbers drop below 13. And the reason being is that that helps your managers start to move teachers to either do other projects, whether it's closing down the school, helping out the door, passing out collection notices, working on curriculum, whatever it is.

That'S a better use of our time. And then it also makes the program run much more smoothly. If I'm a director and I'm in the gym, helping solve a problem because a kid felt fell down and hurt his hand, I'm not going to see you in the kitchen with two of you and 10 and, you know, and 10 kids. And that's just one example. There's many ways that we can work together to make things smoothly. If you have a better idea on how to do something, that's another thing. Come to your director, come to the owners, come to your GM and say, hey, you know, this is the challenge that we've been having, or this is the way we do this. But I think if we did it this way, it could be smoother, and we may take you up on that idea. We may not for specific reasons, but, you know, certainly we're always open to different ideas. But I think that that's important to have those conversations about things that you think can make it smoother. The other thing, when you're talking to each other, make sure that you're still attending to the needs of the children. You can see your children sometimes when staff start talking to each other, your group has now moved on, and your partner is now with, you know, 14, 15 kids, because you're trailing behind. So be aware of that. Make sure if it's something that needs a lengthier conversation, that you set a time that we're not supervising children where we can conversate about that.

All right, so the next one is staff are cooperative with each other. So I'm going to turn that right over. I'm going to go right into Ms. Sally over here in the corner, hiding. Ms. Sally, tell me some examples of ways that you think that staff can cooperate with each other.

Just work Together as a team, there's a thing, there's no I in team. It's we just help each other out. If you see your partner might be having an issue with a child, then try to help out a little bit without leaving your area. Maybe call that child over. Just help out each other. Just be there for each other.

Yep. So some things that I definitely would like to stress is staff should be flexible about your roles. We all have to chip in. Today I was a van driver, tomorrow I might be a plumber, and the next day, who knows, maybe I'm the trainer, maybe I'm the door person. So we all have to help out. There's no that's not my job type of thing. Here at Family Tree, we all have to help each other out and pitch in, which I think most of us do. For sure. When problems occur, that staff discuss the differences and work towards a solution. So it really shouldn't be about who's right or wrong, but how do we solve the problem. And I think that that's where sometimes people get stuck. They feel like they need to be heard or they feel like they want someone to take a side. I really feel like we should be solution based and really tackle the problem together instead of tackling each other. I really think it's the problem and what is going to be the solution that really makes cooperating together come into play. Do we set examples of positive adult relationships? Think for a minute. I'm going to just wait. Think for a minute about how you talk to your co workers.

Think about how you talk to your director.

Everybody wants to be appreciated. So if somebody comes in a room, first of all, you should be saying hello. You should be using their name. Hello, Miss Sally. Hello, Miss Ange. Hello, Miss Haley. You should be using that person's name. If somebody sweeps the floor for you or wipes the table, certainly say thank you for doing that for me. Because not only are you thanking that person and giving them appreciation, but we're also role modeling to the children. And as we want them to talk to each other that way in a way that's kind, compassionate, cooperative, appreciative. They're only going to learn that by seeing that. And you're the role model there. So it's very important that we work together and that we are articulating what we're doing while we're doing it, you know, thank you for your help. Thank you for closing. Thank you for coming in today. Those are all examples of ways that we cooperate with each other. And again, let's attack the problems, not each other. Let's work together to get a solution. So the last part in this section we're going to talk about. Staff are respectful to each other and that we serve and provide positive role models for children as to what adult relationship should look like. Respect is shown to everyone. Staff communicate their needs in a way that promote cooperation. Staff are aware of their tone, their demeanor, and the way that they convey respect because it's not always what you say, but how you say it is very important. And I think that that's something that you have to be aware of. Be aware of your body language, be aware of your face, be aware of your tone. Are your arms open? Are they closed? Sarcasm, definitely not necessary when we're speaking to each other. Again, that doesn't show respect. And we all want to be respected. And providing, you know, providing positive adult interactions for some students in preschool.

They spend more time with us than they do with their parents and children who are in the school age world. God knows they have. They hear enough sarcasm, enough bullying, enough of attitudes, especially when you hit in junior high, they hear enough of that. So. So this should really be the place where they learn the positives.

Positive ways that we communicate with each other, respectful ways that we communicate against each other. What is socially acceptable. And I think, you know, that is verbal cues and nonverbal cues. So think about a time that you have to set aside to maybe jot some things down, different areas that you think you could work on in any one of the eight topics that we talked about and make that as part of your professional plan. As you start to select trainings, as you start to do look at podcasts or look at the books that we have in the building. I think that's really important for you to set those goals. Only you really know what you feel is your comfort, comfort level, and the areas that you feel you need to improve. Of course, your education coordinator or your directors can give you some guidance if you're really not sure. But I feel like most of us have a pretty good idea of where we're strong and where we're weak. And we tend to kind of gravitate towards the things that we feel comfortable in. I beg you for 2020 to get outside of your comfort zone. Push yourself to be as professional as possible. If you need help, ask for help. Think about the areas that you can get better at. I know I have certainly areas I could get better at. I'm going to continue to work on them. But I am excited about 2020. I'm very excited to see all of you on Saturday at our strategic planning meeting. I think it's going to be a fantastic year. I think that we have a lot of growth opportunities as we start rolling down into the state funded pre K and expansion of Warwick av, as we start working on raising the bar of quality over at school age and then also at ELC making a very strong reading literacy program for all of our students so that all the kids that leave family tree are leaving at least an entry reading level for kindergarten. So that's all I've got tonight. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Please comment below and maybe next time we'll get Sally on camera. Love you all.

Bye.