Helping Teachers Identify and Articulate Their Values and Beliefs

McCormick Institute for Early Childhood

BY Paula Jorde Bloom and Lisa Ellis  | September 1, 2009

Directors often lament how difficult it is to get teachers to implement teaching practices that are child-centered and developmentally appropriate. The reason for the difficulty is that professional development efforts typically focus on increasing teachers’ knowledge base. Clearly knowledge is important; the workshops and college classes that teachers attend and the books and articles they read are essential for expanding their understanding of child development and early childhood curriculum. But knowledge is only part of the equation when it comes to helping teachers grow in professional competence. Directors must also help teachers become reflective practitioners. And reflection begins with an examination of how one’s values and beliefs shape behavior every day in the classroom. … Download this resource to read the rest of this story.


This resource is part of our archived Director’s Link newsletter series.

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Leadership Connections Testimonial From Jamie Fishman

By Jamie Fishman • September 18, 2026
This conference definitely helps our business. Like I said, it's really an opportunity for us to highlight all the products that we have that are new and exciting. I try to bring and highlight things that are new this year. Pretty much everything on this table are new products for 2026. And what makes this conference different? I think it's just really there's a lot of decision makers here, which is really good for us as a business to be talking to childcare owners, to actually, the providers that are in the classroom, and connect with even larger centers that have multiple locations. And it gives us that time to really have that in-person connection that we don't often get to have. So it's kind of like a bang for your buck you get to see lots of different customers over a short course of time because the conference is only a day and so it gives us a chance to connect with a lot of customers and get our products out there. 
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