McCormick Institute for Early Childhood
A woman wearing glasses and a suit is smiling in front of a flag.

Sim Loh is a family partnership coordinator at Children’s Village, a nationally-accredited Keystone 4 STARS early learning and school-age enrichment program in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, serving about 350 children. She supports children and families, including non-English speaking families of immigrant status, by ensuring equitable access to education, health, employment, and legal information and resources on a day-to-day basis. She is a member of the Children First Racial Equity Early Childhood Education Provider Council, a community member representative of Philadelphia School District Multilingual Advisory Council, and a board member of Historic Philadelphia.


Sim explains, “I ensure families know their rights and educate them on ways to speak up for themselves and request for interpretation/translation services. I share families’ stories and experiences with legislators and decision-makers so that their needs are understood. Attending Leadership Connections will help me strengthen and grow my skills in all domains by interacting with and hearing from experienced leaders in different positions. With newly acquired skills, I seek to learn about the systems level while paying close attention to the accessibility and barriers of different systems and resources and their impacts on young children and their families.”

This document may be printed, photocopied, and disseminated freely with attribution. All content is the property of the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership.

I’m a terrible speller—there, I’ve said it. Spelling and, to some extent, paying attention to the nuances of grammar are not my greatest strengths, but I do feel like I’m a pretty effective writer. Moreover, I enjoy transforming thoughts, stories, and even statistics, into writing. As a bad speller who loves to write, I’m faced with several options: 


  1. I can write and know that left un-proofed some readers will de-value my work, 
  2. I can write and ask for feedback knowing that the process may make me feel vulnerable, but ultimately help me produce a higher quality product, or 
  3. I can chose not to write and thus, not worry about reactions or feedback.


The second option is my go-to. This is in large part because I’ve learned to value the process of giving and receiving feedback. When I first started working at the McCormick Center, I quickly learned that all publications went through a rigorous review process. Nothing, it seemed, was distributed unless it was subject to, at the very least, two sets of eyes. At first, this process was intimidating. As a poor speller, I was not thrilled at the idea of having my work edited by my new colleagues. At the same time, when I was given the work of others to edit, I was a little apprehensive about how they would receive the feedback. Those fears quickly faded as I began to see how edits helped elevate the technical quality of my work and how feedback and suggestions increased my knowledge and skills. Now the process of receiving feedback feels like a collaborative effort to raise quality, and I take pride in being part of a team that looks at feedback as a norm of continuous improvement. 


Feedback may come in the form of edits to your work, a conversation after you’ve been observed, a performance appraisal, a meeting with a mentor, receiving assessment scores from formal tools (such as the Program Administration Scale, Business Administration Scale for Family Child Care, the Classroom Assessment Scoring System, or the Early Child Environment Ratings Scales), or achieving a quality rating in your state’s QRIS. All of these are examples of evaluations, and–more importantly–the opportunity to transform feedback into quality improvement efforts. 


When we challenge ourselves to remove our fear or dislike of feedback and begin to view it as a supportive process that fosters growth, it becomes a true gift. 


Below are some tips for reframing negative responses to feedback: 


  • Be mindful of your immediate reaction and try not to shut down. It makes sense that your first response may be an emotional one that leaves you feeling defensive. Recognize your reaction and remind yourself to stay present and in the moment. If you shut down and become defensive straight out of the gate, you’ve put the brakes on your own growth. 
  • Listen with the intent to learn. Rather than focusing on mistakes or negatives, focus on things you can change now or do differently to improve your practices in the future. 
  • Ask questions for clarity. ‘Not sure what is meant by certain feedback or what it has to do with improving quality? Ask! This is especially true when you’re unclear or disagree with the feedback being given. Rather than agreeing resentfully to make changes you don’t believe in, take time to recognize the rationale behind the feedback. You may still disagree, but at least you’ll fully understand it. 
  • Remember the purpose of feedback. Feedback isn’t about shaming; it’s about growing, learning, and improving.

Robyn Kelton is a Training and Technical Assistance Specialist at the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership. In this role she serves as a national reliability anchor and trainer for both the Business Administration Scale for Family Child Care (BAS) and Program Administration Scale (PAS). She holds a BA in Psychology and an MA in Organizational Psychology.

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Taller básico de Hojas de cálculo de Google para educadores de la primera infancia

By Escrito Por Julieta Muñoz Y Sabrina Resendiz • October 30, 2025
Escrito por Julieta Muñoz y Sabrina Resendiz Hoy en día, la tecnología es una herramienta esencial en todos los trabajos, incluso en educación infantil. Por eso, hemos diseñado un taller básico de Hojas de cálculo de Google (Google Sheets) para educadores, asistentes de salón de clase, coordinadores y directores de programas de la primera infancia que buscan mejorar su organización y el seguimiento y eficiencia administrativa. Este taller está dirigido a educadores, asistentes de aula, directores, personal administrativo y cualquier profesional en el área de la educación infanti l que desea mejorar sus habilidades digitales. Este curso virtual ofrece una introducción sencilla para quienes están empezando a usar hojas de cálculo. Durante el taller, los participantes aprenderán a: Navegar Google Sheets con confianza : aprenderán a usar la interfaz básica y a acceder a sus hojas de trabajo desde cualquier dispositivo con conexión a internet. Crear y organizar hojas de cálculo : aprenderán a crear documentos, nombrarlos adecuadamente y organizarlos en Google Drive. Ingresar y editar datos : cómo introducir información de manera ordenada y precisa, y cómo modificarla cuando sea necesario. Usar funciones básicas : como SUMA, PROMEDIO y CONTAR; ideales para organizar y dar seguimiento a información como asistencia, inventario de materiales, y desarrollo infantil. Aplicar formatos simples : para resaltar información importante, como cambiar colores, ajustar tamaños de texto y usar bordes para mejorar la visualización. Compartir y colaborar en tiempo real : cómo compartir hojas de cálculo con colegas o supervisores y trabajar en equipo de manera remota. Proteger la información sensible : conceptos básicos sobre cómo gestionar permisos de acceso y edición para mantener la información segura y confidencial. Beneficios de participar en nuestro taller Participar en esta formación y familiarizarse con las hojas de cálculo ofrece múltiples beneficios para los profesionales de la educación infantil: Mejor organización diaria : Mantener un registro de asistencia, listas de materiales, programación de actividades y seguimiento de niños será más rápido y eficiente. Ahorro de tiempo : Automatizar cálculos y organizar la información en un solo lugar reduce el tiempo dedicado a tareas administrativas. Facilidad de colaboración : La posibilidad de trabajar en tiempo real con colegas mejora la comunicación y el trabajo en equipo, especialmente en ambientes virtuales o híbridos. Fortalecimiento de habilidades digitales : Tener conocimientos básicos en Google Sheets es un paso importante para avanzar en otras herramientas tecnológicas educativas. Mayor autonomía y confianza profesional : Al desarrollar estas habilidades, los educadores pueden trabajar con más seguridad y fluidez en sus tareas digitales diarias. Si desea fortalecer sus competencias digitales, acompáñenos a este entrenamiento completamente gratuito. No se necesita experiencia previa en hojas de cálculo. El curso se ofrecerá en formato virtual con ejercicios prácticos y acompañamiento personalizado. ¡No pierdas la oportunidad de mejorar tus habilidades digitales y transformar tu práctica educativa con herramientas simples y efectivas como Google Sheets! Haga clic aquí para registrarse para este curso que se llevará a cabo el miércoles, 12 de noviembre de 6:00 a 7:30 p.m CST. ¡Lo esperamos!
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