Time Well Spent

Here we are, at the end of our journey, and all I can say is CONGRATULATIONS!

This journey has been one that has held ups and downs, positives and negatives, moments of frustration and success, yet through it all I felt more confident in my job and have been able to take many lessons learned through my coursework that have helped me to be a better director, educator and leader. 

I have had so many positive learning moments throughout the last 2 years. I've learned that being a leader doesn't mean having one definition of what leadership is. It means combining many different styles, and that success is defined by molding those leadership styles at a moments notice. I've also learned to believe in myself. There have been many moments where quitting has been part of my thought process, and as I move forward, I am so grateful that I pushed myself past the tough moments and made it out on the other side. 

And right now, at the end of this journey, the triumph is pretty darn glorious. 

So what now? Now, I use all of the knowledge that I've gained over the last 22 months, and continue to apply it to my current position. As the Director of a large center I find myself up agains moments that I can use my education every day. My capstone focused on increasing teacher wages for the teachers at my center, and that is a major goal over the next year. I have already set up time to meet with the board of directors, and with a positive Capstone Project behind me, I can take the information I gleaned from that to let them know the importance of valuing and compensating the teachers at the J. 

I couldn't have done this without the support and camaraderie of all of you! Dr. Embree, Dr. Dartt, Dr. Marsh, Dr. Parrish, and so many more, have helped me to push through the coursework and helped to showcase my success. Dr. Embrue, you were a significant support system over the last 8 weeks. After week 1, I was pretty sure I was doomed to fail, and would never make it to the end. I could not wrap my head around measurable goals, and a Capstone with clear ideas, through many emails, you helped me get to where I am today. Thank you so much for the time, energy, comments, and positivity you provided over the last 8 weeks. I would definitely not be here without you. THANK YOU!

THANK YOU to all of my colleagues throughout my courses. Your feedback on discussion posts and blogs helped me to critically analyze our challenges, and truly made me a better director. I have taken bits and pieces from each of your individual experiences and bettered myself because of them. You are each fighting the good fight for early childhood education, and I am so lucky to have known you!

As ready as I am for this to end, I'm sad to not have a learning community that I get to "meet" with each week. While I'll have more time outside of the classroom, I will not have educators all over the country there to be a sounding board, and I"m going to miss that. 

I'd love for you to add me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/machaela 

I hope that our paths cross each other at some point in the next phase of our journey!

THANK YOU!