Doing Double Duty as a Parent-TeacherOver half of teachers are parents. I count myself among them. As a dad of two daughters, I’ve asked myself the question that many teachers pose: How does being a professional in education affect you as a parent? There is a relation between the two roles, and it’s not what I expected when I first became a father. By that time, I was getting a master’s degree in education and had already written a resource for teachers of young children. But when I had my first child, I wished I could go back and rewrite it. Having a child deepened my knowledge of children and gave me a different view of things I had written in my own book.
Becoming a parent has a way of changing what you do as a teacher. Having my own kids made me more aware that I was molding other human beings. And the real-life experience I gained made me feel like more of an expert than I did while I was getting a lot of fancy degrees and writing a book. So, becoming a parent influenced my practice as a teacher instead of the other way around.
And other teachers agree that parenting does make an impact on your practice as a teacher. It’s a “delicate dance” between the two, according to Kaitlin Tucker, a teacher, author and mom in Sonoma County, California. “When I first began teaching at 22,” she explained, “my mentor teacher told me ‘Teaching will make you a better parent and being a parent will make you a better teacher.’ The wisdom of these words has stayed with me.”
And becoming a parent does broaden your outlook as a teacher, no matter how seasoned you are in the field, a teacher named Fiona ruefully recalled. “I was a teacher for 13 years before I became a parent, and I have to admit I was pretty judgmental about moms and parenting at the time. For example, when a student told me they didn’t like their lunch and sadly pushed it away, I would mutter, ‘Why would your mother pack a lunch that she knows you don’t like?’ not realizing that child probably loved that lunch a second ago and the poor mom had 75,000 other things to worry about that day.”
Teachers who are parents can understand the challenges moms and dads face, Fiona went on to point out. “All the oh-so helpful tips of advice you dished out to parents before you became a mom will come back to haunt you. You’ll sit on the other side of the desk and have to listen to completely unworkable suggestions from someone who gets a full night’s sleep, can complete a sentence without interruption and doesn’t live with a mini tyrant. You just smile sweetly, as you think, ‘Yeah lady. Sure. That’ll totally work.’”
As a teacher, you may know all the theories of how people develop, but it can’t replace real-life experience with children. That’s why earning a Child Development Associate® (CDA) Credential™ requires you to take both courses and put in a hefty number of hours in a child care setting. So, teachers who’ve earn a CDA® are better prepared than most for the real-world challenge of working with children. They’re a step ahead of many folks in their field when taking that first step into the classroom. Still, having a child is a leap that can lead you to new heights in serving families and young learners.
You can relate to parents and connect with them better. You understand why they want to know what’s happening in the classroom and why they’re so “anxious” about their child, said a teacher named Amanda. “After having kids, I raised my communication through emails and phone calls. I wrote short blog posts about what the children were doing,” she said. “It took more time, but countless parents told me they valued these recaps of their child’s day.”
And being a mom didn’t just improve Amanda’s communication with the parents. “Having kids also helped me listen more carefully to my students,” she explained. “Previously, there were times when I had other things on my mind and didn’t fully hear a student. After having a kid of my own, there was still a lot on my mind, but I also became more attuned to listening to the needs of young children. I realized that this was a tiny human with fears and dreams just like my child. And each one of them deserved to be heard,” Amanda said.
And other teachers have given added reasons why having children made them better at their job. They’ve mentioned their skill at managing time to make sure they took care of everyone in the household. They’ve talked about how the stresses of raising children have taught them to roll with the punches. And they’ve learned to respond calmly to crises in the classroom since their own kids were always getting into scrapes.
Of course, all this knowledge is hard won. It’s demanding to be a parent-teacher who spends their whole day doing double duty for small people. Parenting is a job that requires us to devote almost all our energy and hours to the care of someone else. It’s the same for teaching. So, we find ourselves constantly giving. Yet we keep questioning whether we’re doing enough. And being a dad made me see just how complex it is to help children grow and advance, whether you’re a parent or a teacher. There is no manual you can read to prepare you to shepherd another human being into the world and guide them to success. Still, if you give freely of your talents and time, if you’re patient and persistent—there’s a good chance that will totally work.
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Vice President of People and Culture
Janie Payne is the Vice President of People and Culture for the Council for Professional Recognition. Janie is responsible for envisioning, developing, and executing initiatives that strategically manage talent and culture to align people strategies with the overarching business vision of the Council. Janie is responsible for driving organizational excellence through strategic talent practices, orchestrating workforce planning, talent acquisition, performance management as well as a myriad of other Human Resources Programs. She is accountable for driving effectiveness by shaping organizational structure for optimal efficiency. Janie oversees strategies that foster a healthy culture to include embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion into all aspects of the organization.
In Janie’s prior role, she was the Vice President of Administration at Equal Justice Works, where she was responsible for leading human resources, financial operations, facilities management, and information technology. She was also accountable for developing and implementing Equal Justice Works Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy focused on attracting diverse, mission-oriented talent and creating an inclusive and equitable workplace environment. With more than fifteen years of private, federal, and not-for-profit experience, Janie is known for her intuitive skill in administration management, human resources management, designing and leading complex system change, diversity and inclusion, and social justice reform efforts.
Before joining Equal Justice Works, Janie was the Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer for Global Communities, where she was responsible for the design, implementation, and management of integrated HR and diversity strategies. Her work impacted employees in over twenty-two countries. She was responsible for the effective management of different cultural, legal, regulatory, and economic systems for both domestic and international employees. Prior to Global Communities, Janie enjoyed a ten-year career with the federal government. As a member of the Senior Executive Service, she held key strategic human resources positions with multiple cabinet-level agencies and served as an advisor and senior coach to leaders across the federal sector. In these roles, she received recognition from management, industry publications, peers, and staff for driving the creation and execution of programs that created an engaged and productive workforce.
Janie began her career with Verizon Communications (formerly Bell Atlantic), where she held numerous roles of increasing responsibility, where she directed a diversity program that resulted in significant improvement in diversity profile measures. Janie was also a faculty member for the company’s Black Managers Workshop, a training program designed to provide managers of color with the skills needed to overcome barriers to their success that were encountered because of race. She initiated a company-wide effort to establish team-based systems and structures to impact corporate bottom line results which was recognized by the Department of Labor. Janie was one of the first African American women to be featured on the cover of Human Resources Executive magazine.
Janie received her M.A. in Organization Development from American University. She holds numerous professional development certificates in Human Capital Management and Change Management, including a Diversity and Inclusion in Human Resources certificate from Cornell University. She completed the year-long Maryland Equity and Inclusion Leadership Program sponsored by The Schaefer Center for Public Policy and The Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. She is a trained mediator and Certified Professional Coach. She is a graduate of Leadership America, former board chair of the NTL Institute and currently co-steward of the organization’s social justice community of practice, and a member of The Society for Human Resource Management. Additionally, Janie is the Board Chairperson for the Special Education Citizens Advisory Council for Prince Georges County where she is active in developing partnerships that facilitate discussion between parents, families, educators, community leaders, and the PG County school administration to enhance services for students with disabilities which is her passion. She and her husband Randolph reside in Fort Washington Maryland.
Chief Operations Officer
Andrew Davis serves as Chief Operating Officer at the Council. In this role, Andrew oversees the Programs Division, which includes the following operational functions: credentialing, growth and business development, marketing and communications, public policy and advocacy, research, innovation, and customer relations.
Andrew has over 20 years of experience in the early care and education field. Most recently, Andrew served as Senior Vice President of Partnership and Engagement with Acelero Learning and Shine Early Learning, where he led the expansion of state and community-based partnerships to produce more equitable systems of service delivery, improved programmatic quality, and greater outcomes for communities, children and families. Prior to that, he served as Director of Early Learning at Follett School Solutions.
Andrew earned his MBA from the University of Baltimore and Towson University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland – University College.
Chief Financial Officer
Jan Bigelow serves as Chief Financial Officer at the Council and has been with the organization since February of 2022.
Jan has more than 30 years in accounting and finance experience, including public accounting, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. She has held management-level positions with BDO Seidman, Kiplinger Washington Editors, Pew Center for Global Climate Change, Communities In Schools, B’nai B’rith Youth Organization and American Humane. Since 2003, Jan has worked exclusively in the non-profit sector where she has been a passionate advocate in improving business operations in order to further the mission of her employers.
Jan holds a CPA from the State of Virginia and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lycoming College. She resides in Alexandria VA with her husband and dog.
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