Passion, motivation, and wisdom from professionals in Early Childhood

This week in our discussion assignment for my early childhood class I was required to look at writings and speeches of two people who made a significant impact on the early childhood field. For this blog post I need one or two quotes or excerpts from writings or speeches of each of the two people I identified for my Discussion assignment this week. The following are quotes that resonated with me.

Arthur Rolnick, an economic advocate for universal childcare was quoted in an interview with Children of the Code saying; “I think most of us don't understand how critical those learning years are, how critical those years are to the architecture of the brain, how critical those years are for success in the future.” (http://www.childrenofthecode.org/interviews/rolnick.htm)  His passion is clearly illustrated in that quote. I agree that sometimes society still looks at small children as immature and insignificant but as early childhood professionals we know that small children are tiny empty vessels waiting to be filled and it is critical what we fill them with so that we optimize this small window of opportunity to influence the structure of their brains.

Dr. Stanley Greenspan was an advocate for children with special needs and did a lot of research on the importance of early intervention. In regards to imaginary play and the important role it has in brain development Dr. Greenspan said “Sometimes you want to be a voice on the sidelines, but it’s more affectively vibrant to actually be a character.” (http://www.stanleygreenspan.com/what-are-the-best-ways-to-be-creative-with-my-child-and-foster-pretend-play-audio-clip/) As early childhood professionals we know the importance of imaginary play but sometimes as adults we forget to play with young children and be present and be part of that play.

I also needed one or two quotes about passion, motivation, and wisdom from the professionals in the media segment that I watched during Week 2 of this course.

The first professional from the week 2 materials I wanted to quote is Professor Louise Derman-Sparks. Louise is passionate about teaching about anti-bias education and one of her quotes that motivated me to select her was; “The passion to grow a safer more just world for all kids.” I believe all early childhood educators especially administrators should have the passion to grow a safer more just world for all kids.

The second professional I wanted to quote was Raymond Hernandez. Raymond is the executive director for the school of early childhood education at Southern California University. Raymond said
I think my passion comes from wanting to make a difference.” I think as early childhood professionals this passion is universal but sometimes it goes unspoken. (Laureate Education, Inc. (2010). The passion for early childhood. Baltimore: Author.)