Winning!

​Last month was crazy busy for me. I had my first speaking engagement at the CAAEYC Conference. There were like five people that attended but I did it! It was in the afternoon on the last day of the conference, so there was no way I was going to have a full house. I will create a post about what I spoke about later on in May. 
Today what I wanted to talk about was The Terri Lynne Lokoff Child Care Foundation Teacher Award Ceremony I was able to attend in Philly!  It was so awesome to find out I won!
Notification 
I wake up at 430am. I tell myself I am going to be productive, but I really end up puttering around the house attempting to wake up and drinking my first Pepsi of the day. I slowly attempt to pick up the house but around 530am I begin to panic. So this morning I was actually productive and super excited about it. I started checking my email and working on lesson prep after serving breakfast, when I check my email and I see that I had new mail from the Foundation. I thought it was a notification saying that I was not a winner. When I actually read the email I realized that I had WON!! I WON!!! I start screaming and jumping up and down. My two early students turn and stare with open mouths full of food while I am dancing around in my kitchen. I jump the baby gate I have up between the kitchen and the preschool room to run and yell at my husband

I WON!!! I WON!!! 
His lack of excitement was not pleasing me. But it was 7am, so I can't really blame him for not being as excited as me. I mean I can, but I am going to be nice and not blame him. :) 

The Trip
I do not adult well and didn't pack completely until it was time for me to leave at an ungodly hour. I hate to fly and I was there like 2 hours before my flight and decided to be a total nerd and work on lesson plans while I was waiting. I am just going to fast forward this trip. I mean you don't wanna hear about how the song that played before I boarded the plane was Ironic by Alanis Morrissette. Cause you know, that's what I wanna hear before I get a plane. A song about someone crashing. 
The Weekend 
It was amazing. We all know that there are not many awards out there for Early Childhood Teachers. So when I found out about this award after trying to find ways to fund my outdoor classroom project, I was excited. Because even if I didn't get it this time I had something I could try out for next year. I was able to stay in a fancy hotel, paid for by the foundation. And I was put in a room with a picture of Ben Franklin. (If you are not sure why that is funny you need to look up some history). I had an amazing view of the city from my room. I was able to see one of my very good friends while I was there and I felt like I was with people who liked their jobs just as much as I do. We all were excited about winning and being able to fund our projects. There is a foundation out there who cares about early childhood education just as much as we do. We do not do this job for the recognition or the awards. Because there really are none lol. We do this job because we believe in or mission, we believe in helping families and providing children with the best education and safest care we can provide. Even the most dedicated of teachers in this field needs recognition though and I am very glad that this Foundation was started to provide that for early education teachers. 
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We had breakfast and met the other teachers, heard about their projects and explored the city. Then we all practiced for the awards, and were let loose in the city. I met some really nice people and saw a protest. I was also in awe of the great ideas from the other other teachers. During the ceremony our families were able to watch on the facebook page and we heard speeches from some well respected people connected to the foundation. This weekend wasn't just awesome because I got an award, it was a great weekend because it felt like a confirmation that I was not crazy to love my work. There are others who love this career just as I do. 
I encourage all of you to apply next year. It was a terrific experience. 

Live Long and Keep Teaching! 
​Ms. Tessie 

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