Supporting Adult-Adult Interactions in Trying Together’s EIM Directors Series
How do we get started on Simple Interactions in a community? We couldn’t just knock on someone’s door and say, “Hey, can we observe and film your work, and then learn from it together?” :) Well, thankfully, in most communities where we work, we work with partners and organizations who have already built the kind of relationships that make it possible to get started.
Back in the early 2010s, when we wanted to start this work among child care providers in Pittsburgh, we spoke with long-time colleagues/friends at Trying Together (then called “Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children”). All of us shared the understanding that relationships are central to early childhood experiences. What’s more, Trying Together then and now embodied respect and appreciation for the adults who provided care. They had been building relationships with preschools and family child care providers. So working side by side with our friends there (Cara, Jan, Sandy, Ernie, and many others), we started knocking on doors of providers in the Homewood community in Pittsburgh. That led to the very first U.S.-based Simple Interactions workshop in a garage converted into a meeting room - called the “Hub” for that community of providers. Here’s a screenshot from that day. If you notice, on the laptop screen was the famous “junkmail lullaby” video and Ms. Devore, the veteran child care provider, was sitting there laughing (in the white blouse, to the right of the laptop).
Back in the early 2010s, when we wanted to start this work among child care providers in Pittsburgh, we spoke with long-time colleagues/friends at Trying Together (then called “Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children”). All of us shared the understanding that relationships are central to early childhood experiences. What’s more, Trying Together then and now embodied respect and appreciation for the adults who provided care. They had been building relationships with preschools and family child care providers. So working side by side with our friends there (Cara, Jan, Sandy, Ernie, and many others), we started knocking on doors of providers in the Homewood community in Pittsburgh. That led to the very first U.S.-based Simple Interactions workshop in a garage converted into a meeting room - called the “Hub” for that community of providers. Here’s a screenshot from that day. If you notice, on the laptop screen was the famous “junkmail lullaby” video and Ms. Devore, the veteran child care provider, was sitting there laughing (in the white blouse, to the right of the laptop).
Today, the work continues - under the name “Everyday Interactions Matter” with our colleagues at Trying Together in Pittsburgh. Karian Wise, the Interactions Design Strategist at Trying Together, shares how their work continues to grow and evolve in their new EIM Directors Series.
Trying Together’s EIM Directors Series Supports Directors and Educators Participating in Everyday Interactions Matter
By: Karian Wise, Interactions Design Strategist, Trying Together
As Trying Together continues its work with Everyday Interactions Matter (EIM), we recognize the importance of being responsive to the needs of programs. Having been a director of a child care program and using the Simple Interactions Tool to develop shared language about our interactions with children, I was excited to be able to do this work full-time. As I began working with educators and talking to directors, I realized that directors were also looking for more information about EIM and how they can support their teachers through the process as well as how they can think about their own interactions with educators. With feedback from directors, we developed the new EIM Directors Series.
How It Started
Trying Together’s experience with Everyday Interactions Matter goes back to 2013 when Dr. Junlei Li asked the organization to partner on a pilot with family child care providers in Homewood, an underserved community in Pittsburgh.
That summer, Trying Together – at that time known as the Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children (PAEYC) – helped to develop and deliver a three-part series of professional development sessions for a cohort of five family child care providers and, subsequently, 19 center-based child care providers.
Over the past 12 years, Trying Together has continued to provide Everyday Interactions Matter professional development to early childhood educators in center-based, Head Start, state-funded pre-k, and home-based settings.
Professional development opportunities often arise as a result of programs hearing about Everyday Interactions Matter and recognizing the potential for a positive experience for its staff.
Directors Series
Trying Together works directly with educators to build skills and improve program quality. Our EIM Directors Series focuses on how program directors support their teachers’ interactions with children as well as their own interactions with their staff.
Through our work with programs, we realized that interactions between adults within programs are as important as the interactions between adults and children. The EIM Directors Series teaches professionals to recognize meaningful daily interactions and share practices with peers. The aim is to provide directors with a method to think about their interactions with staff and parents that aligns with the Everyday Interactions Matter approach and to support relationship building and understanding.
The series contains a variety of components, including sessions focused on:
The EIM Directors Series is designed to either be standalone with the director or utilized at the same time that teachers are doing Everyday Interactions Matter in their classrooms.
The goal of the series is to support new and existing programs and directors in leadership positions to lay the groundwork for including interactions and relationships in all areas of their program. A large component of the series is reflective journaling with prompts that encourage directors to think about each dimension in different ways.
One program that recently completed EIM with educators and their director served as a valuable resource in the design and content of the Directors Series. “This program didn’t just meet our expectations – it transformed the way we care for and inspire our children,” said Amy Welker, director of Carol Leone Dance and Childcare. “The growth, joy, and confidence I’ve seen in my teachers is proof that the right tools can make a world of difference.”
I am excited to continue this work with educators and directors and to support them in their reflective journey.
How It Started
Trying Together’s experience with Everyday Interactions Matter goes back to 2013 when Dr. Junlei Li asked the organization to partner on a pilot with family child care providers in Homewood, an underserved community in Pittsburgh.
That summer, Trying Together – at that time known as the Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children (PAEYC) – helped to develop and deliver a three-part series of professional development sessions for a cohort of five family child care providers and, subsequently, 19 center-based child care providers.
Over the past 12 years, Trying Together has continued to provide Everyday Interactions Matter professional development to early childhood educators in center-based, Head Start, state-funded pre-k, and home-based settings.
Professional development opportunities often arise as a result of programs hearing about Everyday Interactions Matter and recognizing the potential for a positive experience for its staff.
Directors Series
Trying Together works directly with educators to build skills and improve program quality. Our EIM Directors Series focuses on how program directors support their teachers’ interactions with children as well as their own interactions with their staff.
Through our work with programs, we realized that interactions between adults within programs are as important as the interactions between adults and children. The EIM Directors Series teaches professionals to recognize meaningful daily interactions and share practices with peers. The aim is to provide directors with a method to think about their interactions with staff and parents that aligns with the Everyday Interactions Matter approach and to support relationship building and understanding.
The series contains a variety of components, including sessions focused on:
- program philosophy and the dimension of connection
- adult interactions and the dimension of reciprocity
- directors’ personal leadership philosophy and how it connects with the inclusion dimension
- scenario-based work that explores situations a director might encounter on a day-to-day basis and ways a director can think of these scenarios as opportunities to grow
The EIM Directors Series is designed to either be standalone with the director or utilized at the same time that teachers are doing Everyday Interactions Matter in their classrooms.
The goal of the series is to support new and existing programs and directors in leadership positions to lay the groundwork for including interactions and relationships in all areas of their program. A large component of the series is reflective journaling with prompts that encourage directors to think about each dimension in different ways.
One program that recently completed EIM with educators and their director served as a valuable resource in the design and content of the Directors Series. “This program didn’t just meet our expectations – it transformed the way we care for and inspire our children,” said Amy Welker, director of Carol Leone Dance and Childcare. “The growth, joy, and confidence I’ve seen in my teachers is proof that the right tools can make a world of difference.”
I am excited to continue this work with educators and directors and to support them in their reflective journey.
