I do want to share that Maggie Carter and local directors established a “conversations in the garden” last summer in response to their feeling that everything directors did in trying to make children’s experiences better in the face of the external demands was too hard. The group felt they were continually climbing a sand hill.
So Sound Child Care Solutions Seattle Consortium has hosted a monthly gathering of this group of people in Seattle. The topic is how we reconstruct the development of teachers to find a groundedness in observation of our children, to trust that what we see them do has a meaning for us, and instead of thinking about what we do as implementing what others tell us, we could find a way to reflect on our role/obligation/desire to be beneficent and grow in our pedagogy.
Anyway, the point I want to share is that half of this group is male. It has evolved that way. It is led by females. The men keep returning. And it isn’t sexist. It is the first time in my life I have been with a group of thoughtful and sophisticated professionals who are pushing forward in a way where gender is a value not an issue.
Tom Drummond