Staff Development Day

There was excitement in the air the afternoon of May 12th. Lisa Murphy, the famous Ooey Gooey Lady would be the featured speaker at the CPSC/PACCC Staff Development Day this year. Ms. Murphy is a wildly popular Early Childhood Educator. She is a woman with boundless energy, a wonderful sense of humor, and a passion for not only focusing on children’s play as the most effective vehicle for early learning, but also on giving the children uninterrupted time and support to mess around, implement their own ideas, and experience a wide range of sensory activities.

May 13th arrived and we gathered with our sister agency, Palo Alto Community Child Care, for a light breakfast. We took our seats. For the next five and a half hours, the Ooey Gooey Lady had us in stiches as she described our trials and tribulations, our joys and satisfactions as early childhood educators. She showed us a wide variety of new activities, regaled us with amusing stories that we recognized all too well, and showed us the value of letting children create their own explorations in a carefully structured environment. A comment that was repeated over and over was “I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time!”

But lest you think it was all fun and games, Ms. Murphy managed to keep us laughing while she presented a very convincing summary of what the latest research tells us about how young children learn best and what they need to become the most intelligent, creative, competent, and self-confident people possible. There was a sharp intellect and a passion behind each and every story! After Lisa had finished her presentation we had several breakout sessions on various topics. It was really an amazing day!

When we sat down at our next staff meeting and shared ideas on what we wanted to change in our current classroom practices and what we wanted to add, you could hear the excitement about the insights we had gained and what we had learned. It was engaging! It was enjoyable! It was inspiring! It was learning at its best! It reignited our passion for doing what is best for young children!

Here’s Lisa Murphy who kept us engaged, laughing, and excited about all the new ideas for our classrooms and how to implement our ideas so children can learn best.

Heidi Emberling gave Pat and Diana food for thought and discussion in her workshop on challenging children.