Development Associate( CDA) Credential. She was also offered a scholarship through T. E. A. C. H. to continue her education.
Reflection Builds Quality: Audre
These opportunities allowed Angie to gain access to training and mentorship that helped strengthen her skills. She now sees her role as an educator more clearly and approaches learning experiences with intention.“ We went from doing the education with them on the TV to doing hands-on education and intentional teaching,” she says( although she adds that technology can be used intentionally for educational purposes).
As her learning expanded, Angie’ s approach to the concept of school readiness broadened. Rather than focusing solely on early literacy or early math lessons, she now helps children build independence, social competence, and empathy too. She supports social and emotional skills during daily routines, spontaneous interactions, and hands-on experiences where children explore, touch, and talk about what they’ re learning. She works to create an environment where children feel seen: Angie looks for books and materials that reflect the lives of the Black and Brown children she teaches— an experience she did not have growing up as a Black woman.
Audre has been a family child care educator for more than 20 years. Early in her career, she worked long days and had limited access to professional development. But over time, she built routines that made her work more sustainable.“ When I first started out, I think I [ worked ] 6:30 a. m. to 6:30 p. m., and someone said‘ That is too long. You got to break that up.’”
Professional development opportunities helped Audre learn the value of reflection. She began creating a series of handbooks to capture what she was learning as an educator: Practices that worked, ideas she wanted to try, and principles she wanted to live by as her program grew. One of these was balancing child-guided and adultguided experiences.“ I give [ children ] choices all the time,” she says.“‘ Tell me what you want to do today.’”
Audre’ s handbooks are living documents that help her learn from her daily experiences.“ Just like every day is a new day,” she says,“ there is something new every day.”
38 Educating Young Children
Fall 2026