The perfect companion journal to your Visionary Director journey. Reflection prompts encourage exploration and deeper thinking that is modeled in The Visionary Director, Third Edition. Reflection prompts are written in English and Spanish.

Create a larger vision in your child care program and perform your job as a center director with motivation and creativity. Early childhood leaders Deb Curtis, Margie Carter, and Luz Casio provide inspiration and support in this newly updated edition of The Visionary Director. The third edition reflects new requirements and initiatives in early childhood programs adds QR Code access links with short video stories and print resources that further illuminate the ideas under consideration has a stronger focus on creating an organizational culture that is shaped by more diverse perspectives with an anti-racist, anti-bias, equity lens updates content to address current early childhood education trends and leadership for an expanded definition of quality Find a concrete framework for approaching and organizing your work, as well as principles, strategies, and self-directed activities to support your vision for building a strong learning community for your staff and the young children in their care.

Dr. Melissa Vogt considers the influence of Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade in coffee farming communities of Costa Rica from 2009-2019. Sustainability certifications schemes are working amongst a range of sustainability efforts, unique by their intra market location. The intentions of each certification scheme must be clarified prior to evaluation and their influence considered amongst contextually specific historic and contemporary considerations, and alongside the range of sustainability efforts. The advantages and disadvantages, opportunities for improvement and how alternative mechanisms might improve upon or complement sustainability certification schemes are explained. An epilogue considers how prioritisation of coffee as a cash crop may align with sustainability. The influence on biodiversity, community health and income, and the possible implication of reduced coffee crop density for consumers, the market and farming landscapes is considered. How sustainability standards might better encourage more ambitious sustainability in farming landscapes is for future consideration.

Under the full moon, Abuela leads an enchanted dance, bows to the sky and the night winds, and helps her curious grandson discover the rhythm of his heartbeat while listening to the great secret of the plátanos. At first his tiny ears couldn't hear it, but Abuela shares that she can't teach something that only her heart knows. This loving and tender story of the magical union between a grandmother and her grandson was penned by Dominican author, Luz Maria Mack, and inspired by a dream where she and her Abuela met again to dance and share the secrets of the plátanos. Sometimes the secrets of life are written in nature, under the stars, and in the sounds of the whispering leaves.

This book "is an inspiring and practical guide to creating a larger vision in early child care. It offers a concrete framework for organizing an early childhood director's thoughts and work. Chapters cover cultivating a vision, developing 'system thinking' for management roles, implementing principles and strategies for mentoring, and building a learning community for adults and children." - back cover.

“Christopher Frayling's Spaghetti Westerns is a particularly entertaining and enjoyably readable book. Frayling is obviously both a film buff and film critic, so he is able to appreciate Spaghetti Westerns as popular entertainments, to celebrate their cinematic stylishness, while simultaneously knowledgeably exploring their many social and political dimensions.” – Gary Crowdus, Cineaste “Unquestionably the single best book written about the Western.” – Journal of Popular Film and Television

As the field of early learning continues to grow and evolve, we must consider the impact of our approaches to working with adults and children. Early childhood professionals and leaders need to reconcile their responsibilities in never-ending administrative tasks, ensuring program quality, and supporting the growth of others. Creating a Culture of Reflective Practice: The Role of Pedagogical Leadership in Early Child Programs is a comprehensive practical look at creating systems, structures, and protocols for supporting people in large and small organizations, individuals working as mentors, coaches or pedagogical leaders to invite educators into a thinking and learning process about their work. Readers will develop the skills and mindsets that can enhance their performance and effect organizational change. Creating a Culture of Reflective Practice offers stories and structures connected to four principles of pedagogical leadership with specific ideas to enhance the work of educational leaders. Working from a place of values and vision Building strong relationships Seeing and supporting strengths and competencies Supporting professional learning in multiple ways