by Julie Hansen from Inspired ECE
An early childhood educator share's her transition from the classroom to online during the pandemic.
I have never thought of myself as a technologically savvy person because it’s an area that I have struggled with during my career. I now realize that’s because I let it intimidate me. A valuable lesson I learned during the pandemic is that in the past when I was faced with the choice to opt out of learning a new skill in the area of technology that scared me, I would rather avoid it than face the challenge. That has changed. I now embrace those situations because I know I will learn something new that will help me grow as an individual.
My life is different in so many ways since the beginning of the pandemic—I went from teaching preschool part-time and growing my small local early years consulting company to taking my small business national and making it my full-time job. I can definitely say that technology has been the driving force behind the growth of my small business—from enhanced communication and connection with educators to opening up new learning opportunities and professional development.
"I can definitely say that technology has been the driving force behind the growth of my small business."
Learning Zoom was far down on my goals list for 2020. It quickly became number one out of necessity. I am immune-compromised and could no longer teach in early years settings during the pandemic. It just wasn’t safe for me, but I wasn’t willing to leave the field I love so much and that I am so passionate about. So, I had to think outside the box how I could continue to support a community of educators who I value and who needed encouragement now more than ever.
I decided to face my fear, so I dove in and learned how to put my workshops on Zoom. I then connected with local CCRR’s (these organizations are such an incredible resource and asset to the childcare sector across this country) and began facilitating online workshops for educators, family childcare providers, students and administrators. That grew to requests to provide professional development workshops in private and non-profit child care organizations across the country as well as hosting my own Inspired ECE private workshops and coaching sessions. I was able to connect with educators during this crisis in a different way and share a new idea or an experience that might enhance their daily practise in some way or shift their focus to looking at a situation through a different lens. Sometimes it was just educators sharing and learning together supporting one another.
"I then connected with local CCRR’s and began facilitating online workshops for educators, family childcare providers, students and administrators."
I wanted to continue to learn about other forms of technology that I could incorporate into Inspired ECE that would offer more opportunities for growth, development, and connection for educators. Going live on social media platforms was an option I had considered but made me very nervous. I connected with a colleague who owns a childcare program and operates a podcast called ECE Honestly. We decided we would do an Instagram live together with another colleague of ours—Mrs. Monica Maddison, who owns Bloom Behaviour Education.
During the live, we talked about the current state of the sector. We asked educators to submit questions for us to answer. It was an amazing and heart-warming experience. Sharing, connecting, and empowering each other as we navigated through this incredibly difficult time together in the pandemic was just what we needed. Inspired ECE and ECE Honestly went on to do another live together focusing on the topic of what educators need when opening or working in a Toddler program as she and I both had that experience. We thought it would be a great area to explore and share our knowledge for those who were interested. We incorporated a giveaway sponsored by Wintergreen Learning Materials which was a fantastic surprise for the participants.
"Sharing, connecting, and empowering each other as we navigated through this incredibly difficult time together in the pandemic was just what we needed."
I realize that live social media platforms provide opportunities for growth through interaction, hearing other peoples’ points of view, past experiences, ideas, and product knowledge.
Lives also provide opportunities for collaborations. Since that first Instagram, I have been able to do many others with educators, speech and language pathologists, and small business owners across Canada and internationally.
Technology assists us in so many ways bridging the gaps in early years, strengthening program family connections, and bringing educators together in the same province or from across the world to learn and grow together.
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