{"id":732,"date":"2019-05-31T14:43:49","date_gmt":"2019-05-31T18:43:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/?p=732"},"modified":"2019-05-31T14:43:49","modified_gmt":"2019-05-31T18:43:49","slug":"vermonters-of-the-month-early-educators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/vermonters-of-the-month-early-educators\/","title":{"rendered":"Vermonters of the Month: Early Educators"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is a monthly series in which the Attorney General will feature a Vermonter doing exemplary work in their community. Have someone you think should be featured? Email <\/em>AGO.CAP@vermont.gov<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

May 10th<\/sup> marked National Child Care Provider Appreciation Day. We want to thank Vermont\u2019s early educators for all that they do for Vermont\u2019s children and families by honoring them as our May Vermonters of the Month. To do this, we asked Let\u2019s Grow Kids<\/a>, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to ensure affordable access to high-quality child care for all Vermont families by 2025, to help us highlight the stories of two inspiring early educators\u2014Betsy Barstow of Nature\u2019s Ni\u00f1os<\/a> and Samara Mays of Montpelier Children\u2019s House<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early educators play a critical\nrole in the development of our youngest Vermonters. According to Let\u2019s Grow\nKids, 70 percent of Vermont children under the age of 6 have all available\nparents in the labor force, meaning they\u2019re likely to need some form of childcare.\nThis, coupled with the fact that the first five years of a child\u2019s life is when\nthe brain is developing most rapidly, provide early educators with the\nopportunity to help children build a strong foundation for all future learning\nand development. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur early educators are\nliterally building the brains of Vermont\u2019s future leaders by giving young\nchildren the nurturing care and early learning opportunities that will set them\nup for success in school, work and life,\u201d says Let\u2019s Grow Kids CEO Aly Richards. \u201cThey\u2019re with our children\nduring the most critical time of development and they are supporting families\nas well as employers. We all benefit from the incredible work early educators\ndo every day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had the opportunity to meet\nBetsy Barstow and Samara Mays at their programs, in Adamant and Montpelier\nrespectively, to hear their stories and see their amazing work in action. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Attorney
Attorney General T.J. Donovan with Betsy Barstow at Nature\u2019s Ni\u00f1os <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Betsy Barstow<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drawing on nearly 30 years of\nexperience as a teacher, Betsy Barstow is shaping the lives of\nprekindergartners (Pre-K) at her 52-acre homestead in Adamant, Vermont. Her\nprogram, Nature\u2019s Ni\u00f1os<\/a>, is a\nnature-based Spanish-English Act 166 Pre-K. As a licensed Vermont Early\nChildhood Educator and Registered Family Child Care Home Provider with\nexperience as a teacher in South America, Betsy offers both a bilingual\nSpanish-English program and a Spanish Language immersion program for children\nages 3-5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The students at Nature\u2019s Ni\u00f1os\nspend most of their day outside\u2014exploring nature, sharing stories and meals, and\ncreating a sense of community while learning Spanish language and aspects of\nLatin-American cultures. Betsy\u2019s philosophy on early education is simple, but\nincredibly impactful\u2014”Young children are meaning makers. As they grow,\nthey are busy making sense of the world around them, making relationships with\nthe people in their life and building a self-concept. They are forming ideas\nabout what the world is like and how to be in this world.\u201d Betsy says it\u2019s her\nintent to \u201cshow that the earth is an interesting, fascinating and beautiful place,\nthat the people in it may be caring and responsive and that the individual is a\nvalued contributor to the community no matter what his\/her age.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did you get into the early education field? What\u2019s the most rewarding thing about your work? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve always related well to children and wanted to do something that\nhad an impact on their lives that encouraged development and a love of\nlearning. Teaching touches lives and opens doors\u2014I wanted to have a part in\nthat. As a college student, I double majored in Elementary Education and\nSpecial Education at Trinity College. When I graduated, I moved to Cali,\nColombia where I taught in a bilingual school and dreamed of starting my own\nschool someday. When I returned to Vermont in 1988, I worked as a teacher in\nseveral local schools, teaching Spanish and art to different age groups. Influenced\nby becoming a mother and raising two children with my spouse and later working\nin the East Montpelier Elementary preschool, I realized how profound this period\nof time is in creating the foundation of a person\u2019s life and decided to enroll\nin the Vermont Higher Education Collaborative (VHEC). The master level classes\nI took provided me with an additional endorsement in early childhood education.\nVermont\u2019s Act 166 allowed me to design a home-based Pre-K program that enables\nme to share my love of nature and multi-cultural based experiences, similar to\nthose that I gave my own children, regardless of a family\u2019s ability to pay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most rewarding aspect of this work is being a part of these\nchildren\u2019s lives, offering them experiences and watching them grow. My\ncurriculum introduces the philosophy of the three cares\u2014caring for self, caring\nfor others and caring for the earth. This fosters a love of nature, a sense of\nbeauty and an appreciation for the world around us. It also creates a community\nof caring for each other and ourselves. It is rewarding to see children become\nconsiderate, curious learners with a sense of wonder, thus laying the basis for\nlifelong learning.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do\nyou think is important for Vermonters to know about early education?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early education is broader than when a child goes to a home, school,\nor center-based program, it includes their experiences at home and in the\ncommunity. For a young child, all experiences, are part of their education and\nform their life view, the habits they develop and their self-esteem, how they relate\nto others, pursue their interests and navigate life.  Additionally, I would like Vermonters to know\nthat because of Act 166, and their contributions, all children have the\nopportunity to go to a Pre-K program to learn, grow, and develop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does\nyour program support the community?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nature\u2019s Ni\u00f1os supports the creation of community among the children\u2019s\nfamilies and the act of community service. \nOur beginning of the year picnic and other family events, are intended\nto help build relationships and develop support systems. We reach out further\nto the community by sharing some of the harvest from the school garden with local\norganizations like the Twin Valley Senior Center and the FEAST nutrition program at the Montpelier Senior\nActivity Center. The children learn through these acts of service that if you\nhave food, you share it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is\nearly childhood education important for Vermont?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Vermonters, we may bear in mind that children are future adult\ncitizens and ask ourselves how we all can foster and be involved in nurturing an\nengaged, empathetic, secure, and globally minded citizenry. We can ask\nquestions to facilitate children\u2019s thinking, quest for answers, creative\nexpression and spend time with them to let them know that they are valued and\nloved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What impact, if any, has being an\nearly educator had on your life?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being an educator inspires my own creativity when I think about what kinds of experiences I want to offer and it gives me pause to reflect on what core values I feel are important to share. It has also allowed me to build lasting relationships with the children I\u2019ve taught and their families that extend beyond when the children leave the program. This has given me a tremendous amount of joy in my life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Attorney
Attorney General T.J. Donovan with Samara Mays at the Montpelier Children’s House<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Samara\nMays<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samara Mays\u2019 journey into early childhood education began during her own<\/em> childhood, when her father, Larry\nParker, operated a daycare out of their home and later opened the Montpelier Children\u2019s House<\/a>\nin 1984. Now, 35 years later, Samara serves as director, co-owner, and a\nteacher at the Children\u2019s House, continuing the legacy of her father\u2014who is\ncurrently enjoying retirement.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Memories from Samara\u2019s childhood and early adulthood are intertwined\nwith the goings-on at Children\u2019s House. She spent many afterschool hours and\nsummers working alongside her father and other teachers observing the art of\ncommunicating respectfully and engaging joyfully in the education of young\nchildren. Though she initially moved away from the field of education and\npursued a master\u2019s degree in Rural Sociology, Samara was called to service when\nher mother became ill and her father increasingly found himself needing to be\naway from the program. While working for a Montpelier-based nonprofit, she\nfilled in at Children\u2019s House where she could\u2014early in the morning, the\noccasional lunchtime and late afternoons. Each time feeling joy and ease as she\nslid back into the familiar routines of the program and her true calling, early\neducation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samara left her nonprofit job after the birth of her second child, and,\nafter a while began to care for other children in her home. She formally joined\nChildren\u2019s House in 2010, when her youngest child reached enrollment age and\nshe was able to naturally transition the home care she provided for of other\nchildren over to Children\u2019s House. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDuring my time at Children\u2019s House, I have grown considerably as an\neducator and administrator. I have been endlessly grateful for the support and\nknowledge of those I have become connected to in the field \u2013 teachers,\ncolleagues, mentors and of course, children and families. I am walking a path\nwhere, like my students, I am constantly curious and enthusiastic about the\nhundred ways to know, investigate and experience the world together.\u201d Samara\nsays, \u201cI am tremendously proud of my little school.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did you get into the\nearly education field? What\u2019s the most rewarding thing about your work?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a young person, early education touched so many aspects of my life but as a career, never crossed my mind. Watching my father grow the business made clear that it was very hard work for comparatively little compensation. That said, when I moved back to town in my mid-20\u2019s I was drawn to the family business with a new perspective, particularly about how engaging, challenging, and rewarding it is to work with children and \u00a0families. When I started at Children\u2019s House, there wasn\u2019t a clear decision that I would take over the business\u2014just that I was dipping my toes in the water a little bit. It was a huge learning curve, particularly learning about the business management aspects of the job. I started taking classes at Community College of Vermont to get my Director\u2019s Credential and I really got hooked on learning about how children grow, develop and acquire knowledge and understanding. I really love the science behind early childhood education. I formally took over as Director about five years ago. Children\u2019s House is 35 years old this year and I\u2019m really proud to continue the program\u2019s legacy forward into the future. I understand and value the huge importance of high-quality early education\u2014not only for the healthy growth and development of young children, but also for our local economy. Families need access to high-quality, affordable care for their children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most rewarding thing about my work: I love facilitating learning\nand discovery. When you give a child the right environment, and the time and\nspace for them to construct their own knowledge and understanding, you get to\nwitness that spark of discovery that occurs. Imagine the magic and wonder of\ncreating a new color for the first time! Working with young children allows me\nto share in the joy and wonder of discovering the world all over again. I also\ntreasure the relationships made with children and their families. Early\nchildhood is a marvelous and messy time, and we get to be in the thick of it\nwith children and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also have to mention how rewarding it is to work with my\nco-teachers. Working in early education requires that you think on your feet and adapt to the constantly changing needs of the\nchildren and the group. My co-teachers are endlessly brilliant, flexible and creative.\nWorking in a busy and fast-paced environment requires a special kind of\ncommunication and trust that we\u2019ve been able to cultivate over time. I\u2019m so\ngrateful to have found dedicated and talented early educators that are as passionate as I am about the value of our children\u2019s earliest years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do\nyou think is important for Vermonters to know about early education?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nis a big one! High-quality early education is the foundation of growing healthy\nhumans. We know that birth to five is the most important period for brain\ndevelopment. Every experience, every interaction becomes a part of how children\ncreate their understanding of the world, their relationships with others and\ntheir sense of themselves. Investment in early education pays off\u2014we know this.\nHigh-quality early childhood education has been found to benefit children\nthrough adulthood and this benefit is even realized in subsequent generations.\nWe\u2019re learning how important it is for children to develop social and emotional\nskills and how these \u201csofter skills\u201d are predictive of later school\nsuccess.  If we (meaning Vermont and the\nUnited States) want good outcomes for children and families there must be real\nand sustained investment in early education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

High-quality\nearly care requires that we, as a community, make the decision to invest in\nearly educators. Working in early education asks teaching professionals to\nsubsidize the cost of childcare by making less money than peers with the same\namount of education and often forgoing benefits such as health insurance,\ndental and retirement. It isn\u2019t fair. While our program works hard to\ncompensate teachers as well as we can, we\u2019ll always come up against the\nchallenge of affordability for families. Finding a balance that honors the\nvalue of early educators with livable compensations and maintains accessibility\nto all families is the challenge that every early education program will\ncontinue to face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does your program support the community?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We provide care for 25 children and families, most of who live in and\naround Montpelier. As an Act 166 prequalified partner, we are able to provide\npublicly funded Pre-K to our students for ten hours a week, 35 weeks a year.\nThis absolutely helps with the total cost of tuition for families. We operate\nten hours a day, year-round. Our availability and public funding mean we can be\nsupportive and accessible to working families. We also provide warmth,\ncontinuity and community to our young people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our program aims to be in partnership with young families. As a parent\nmyself, I am well aware of both the joys and the challenges that are part of\nthese years. We all juggle a seemingly endless list of to-dos. Our goal is to\nprovide a nurturing place for kids to experience joy and be a part of something\nbigger than themselves\u2014even when growth comes with pains. If we do this well,\nwe make space for parents to work, and meaningfully engage in our community and\neconomy. By providing access to high-quality, affordable care we fill a need\nfor communities such as Montpelier to attract young families. In that way, we\nare an essential part of the local economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is\nearly childhood education important for Vermont?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I\u2019d mentioned earlier, high-quality early education is\nfoundational. It is the foundation on which we grow Vermonters who are eager\nand enthusiastic learners, individuals who can manage relationships and work\nthrough conflict, problem-solvers who are ready to tackle new and challenging\nissues. This is the foundation we are setting for the next generation of\ncitizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the shorter term, high-quality early education is an absolutely\nnecessity to attract and retain young people to Vermont. Families need and\nvalue quality care for their children so that they can work and support this\nstate\u2019s economy. Without adequate childcare options, growing businesses is a\nnon-starter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\nimpact, if any, has being an early educator had on your life?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think that being an early educator is not what you do, but who you are<\/em>. To me it\u2019s one of those professions that becomes a part of your whole life. I truly love the work that I do. It is engaging, challenging and never, never dull. I get to work with incredible people whose skills and dedication to children and families are truly inspiring. I have the tremendous privilege of sharing in the early years of people\u2019s children and am grateful for the trust that they have placed in me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am not an early educator because I love kids (which I do, of course) but because I feel a responsibility to do my part to protect childhood\u2014to ensure that the young people in my care know that they are loved, valued and capable. All children deserve the opportunity to feel as though they are a part of something bigger than themselves and are responsible not only for themselves but for one another. Creating a school that instills this knowledge is the best way that I know of to be a citizen. It is hard work and demands your whole heart. It is worth every minute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a monthly series in which the Attorney General will feature a Vermonter doing exemplary work in their community. Have someone you think should be featured? Email AGO.CAP@vermont.gov. May 10th marked National Child Care Provider Appreciation Day. We want to thank Vermont\u2019s early educators for all that they do for Vermont\u2019s children and families by honoring… Continue reading Vermonters of the Month: Early Educators<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4519,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[481474],"class_list":["post-732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-consumer","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4519"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=732"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":739,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732\/revisions\/739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}