Touching upon the director’s manual, I guess I wasn’t clear on what context of the manual would contain. From my own experience, I would have loved at least a calendar of events from the previous year as a reference. I worked at the school 3 years prior to becoming a director, and I was unaware that the director has a lot of behind the scenes work. For example, I never remembered when family’s reminders went out or when to sign up for family’s conferences. If I had a calendar to help me manage my time, it would have been very helpful. I don’t believe directors should fall into a “this is how it’s always done” mindset but my perspective on this is coming from a first time director. I felt like I was in survival mode most of the time, trying to stay afloat. So for that first year it wouldn’t have been bad to keep it like the previous year. For the most part, I did keep it my firs year as a director like the previous year and tried to do like it was always done previously. My way of thinking was to learn the ropes and just get use to the job. Then in my second year and I saw myself changing a lot more because I was use to the responsibilities and saw what worked and fixed what didn’t work. I also noticed that my staff was more acceptable to the change because it was gradual and it didn’t feel like I came in and changed everything around. I guess what I’m saying is to use the director’s manual as a reflection of last year and if need be, a guide for the incoming director.

Exchange Everyday’s article made a great point about getting your message across. In the article, it had a great quote "In my experience, people don't 'get' the important messages leaders try to send the first time around," Rosabeth Moss Kanter. It’s a great reminder for teachers that families don’t intentionally miss all the information we send out to them, and it’s a great reminder for a director that staff don’t intentionally miss all the information we send out to them. Many times especially as teachers, we are so quick to judge families and say “how did they not know?!?!” At our school, we do try to reach families in all different ways to help them remember especially when it comes to important announcements. We post it in our classrooms, we send out reminder notes, we post it on twitter, and for the older children we tell them to remind their parents. Usually, it’s the last one that really has been the most effective. At times it can be frustrating when your point isn’t made but this article reminds me to step back from the situation and remember that there is a lot going on in everyone’s life.

Chapter 6 had some great ideas on creating quality learning environments. I always get mixed emotions when it comes to reading these types of chapters. I feel inspired and while reading I build my ideal classroom in my head. But on the other hand, reality hits and I realize that because of many factors some of my ideas could never be a reality. My school rents from the church and we have a lot of restrictions on what we can and can’t do to the program. The hardest part, is finding the happy medium between their concerns and with our budget.

One thing I really want to look into is finding out what type of lighting we have in our classroom. It stated that traditional fluorescent bulbs leave children and staff tired at the end of the day (Decker, et al., 2005). We have some children that are there all day from opening to close and staff that work long hours. It would be interesting to see the difference from traditional fluorescent to full-spectrum or incandescent bulbs. I also heard that traditional fluorescent bulbs could be over stimulating to children who are sensitive to stimulation. We have fans on our ceilings and I have notice the change in the class when I turn off the light and just use the lights from the fans; it’s quieter and calmer.