Professional Development for Early Childhood Educators
At Transforming Early Childhood Education LLC, we believe early childhood professional development should be filled with laughter. It should also be engaging, collaborative, hands-on, and meaningful. If we want to do better for our students, we need to take the time to reflect upon and grow our teaching practices.
Early childhood programs and organizations can choose from our extensive catalog of workshops covering various early childhood topics, from curriculum development and social-emotional learning to growth mindset and parent education. Each workshop is research-based and geared towards the adult learner weaving hands-on experiences, discussion, lecture, and small group work.
I follow the diversity-informed tenets for work with infants, children and families developed by the Irving Harris Foundation:
PRINCIPLE FOR DIVERSITY-INFORMED PRACTICE
1. Self-Awareness Leads to Better Services for Families
STANCE TOWARD INFANTS, CHILDREN, AND FAMILIES FOR DIVERSITY-INFORMED PRACTICE
2. Champion Children’s Rights Globally
3. Work to Acknowledge Privilege and Combat Discrimination
4. Recognize and Respect Non-Dominant Bodies of Knowledge
5. Honor Diverse Family Structures
PRINCIPLES FOR DIVERSITY-INFORMED RESOURCE ALLOCATION
6. Understand That Language Can Hurt or Heal
7. Support Families in Their Preferred Language
8. Allocate Resources to Systems Change
9. Make Space and Open Pathways
ADVOCACY TOWARDS DIVERSITY, INCLUSION, AND EQUITY IN INSTITUTIONS
10. Advance Policy That Supports All Families
Play is Learning!
“All children and young people need to play. The impulse to play is innate. Play is a biological, psychological and social necessity, and is fundamental to the healthy development and wellbeing of individuals and communities.” (Playwork Principles Scrutiny Group)
At Transforming Early Childhood Education, we are early childhood specialists who advocate for children, families, and early childhood educators. We view children (of all ages) as competent and capable of guiding their own learning. We believe in providing children with boundaries where they can use their voices and make choices. We strive to create connections and build bridges between home and school.
Founder of Transforming Early Childhood Education
Carrie Becker has 27 years of experience in education with a focus on early childhood and special education. She has a bachelor's degree in elementary and special education and a master's degree in curriculum/instruction. Carrie has taught in traditional and emergent classroom settings in public and independent school learning environments. Since childhood, Carrie knew she wanted to be a mom and a teacher.
Carrie uses her experiences in education as a guide for her educational consulting business- Transforming Early Childhood Education. Carrie is the developer and facilitator of teacher training workshops; she acts as a teacher mentor and creates specialized emergent-based curriculum frameworks. She has a passion for creating environments that foster a love of learning while seeing all children as competent and capable of guiding their educational path.
“Play is a process that is freely chosen, personally directed and intrinsically motivated. That is, children and young people determine and control the content and intent of their play, by following their own instincts, ideas and interests, in their own way for their own reasons.”