Michele Darland recently sat down with Brent Ayers, Associate Executive Director of Child Care and Family Services for the YMCA Davenport Early Learning Center, to talk about how his team is working every day to make sure their students are ready to thrive when they enter kindergarten.
Brent, what inspired you to become involved in early childhood education?
Never tell a child they cannot do something.
In third grade, I was diagnosed with dyslexia. I was taken out of a private school in Clinton, and enrolled in public school, where I had a special education teacher through junior high. My teachers were phenomenal. During a parent-teacher conference, my parents were told that I probably wouldn’t graduate high school. We were all stunned. This only made me more determined to achieve more. Not only did I graduate, I earned my associate’s degree from Scott Community College (SCC).
While at SCC, I started working at the YMCA in a summer and school age program which transitioned into a full-time position as an assistant director for school age programming. I happily said yes, and 26 years later, here I am.
The specialized attention I received in elementary school was the foundation for my work with children and education. I’m able to impact so many lives in my role. This is the spot where I’m supposed to be.
What role do parents play in the educational process here?
Parents play a big part of the education process. I’ll tell anyone who’ll listen – there’s a big difference between daycare and child care; and we are a child care center.
We start with infancy and work all the way through age five. Every single classroom writes a lesson plan and fulfills that lesson plan. Our main goal is to make sure that every single student that’s in our program is completely ready to move into kindergarten.
Our parents help make that happen – they know our lesson plans and can continue it in the home.
What qualities do you look for when hiring staff for your center?
I need an individual that loves children and wants to impact their lives.
I ask questions to see how they think on their feet, ultimately knowing that safety is the one thing. Working with children requires a nimbleness to know when to continue an activity or when to move on to something else. They need to have a calm approach especially when dealing with a concerned parent.
I also know that this career is not for everyone and after going through the orientation process it’s ok to say this job is not for me. These are the open conversations I have with every single team member and I think that’s probably why I have the lowest turnover rate within the YMCA.
How do you assess the developmental needs of the children in your care?
The work we do, it’s a long game. Every age group has a list of milestones they need to meet before they move to the next classroom – whether it’s shapes, colors, numbers, sounds or sleeping on a cot or drinking from a sippy cup. We’re here to make sure that happens.
What are some characteristics that you think make a child ready to enroll in kindergarten?
It really is the basics – numbers, shapes, colors, ABCs, and alphabet sounds. We incorporate sign language and we use our big board books. Some of our pre-k students can read and sound out three letter words.
Most child care centers run preschool during the school year, we run year-round. Studies show so much learning is lost from May through August. We work to make sure that doesn’t happen.
What are some of the biggest challenges you face in managing an early learning center?
My biggest challenge is having enough time. I love my job so I’m really trying to think of another challenge.
If I had to think beyond me, it’s wanting parents and the community to know what we’re trying to accomplish within early childhood education.
Regulating emotions is a big milestone for students. What are you seeing in the classrooms?
We need to work on social skills. The isolation of staying at home and not having any social interaction with other people, other children during Covid is really impacting our three-year-olds and up.
We’re spending more time on relationship building skills because they don’t know how to make friends. They don’t know how to share. They don’t know how to carry on a conversation with another child or a peer of their own age.
How do you foresee the role of technology in early childhood education evolving?
I’m not one for technology. It’s disruptive and used too frequently to appease. But I accept technology is a part of life.
We’re incorporating one, large smartboard that’s shared between all eight classrooms for educational games with a twenty-minute time limit. We’re also sharing resources with parents on balancing use when educating at home. It’s so much more than numbers and letters, it’s being together as a family.
It’s dinner together. It’s talking about the day and sharing. It’s family cohesiveness because that’s how you form empathy, build relationships, and learn social cues. There’s so much that can be learned through a 30-minute dinner together.
