My Podcast

http://sooyeunkim.podomatic.com/

A strength you bring to your school as a director is

I have a BA in Social work and a MA in Early childhood education from Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Korea. I worked at education field for construction workers for 4 years then I operated my own business to import children’s toy, carseat, strollers etc. from European countries and the States. When I opened my kindergarten in 2002, I didn’t have any experience to teach young kids and take care of them at all so I entered MA program for early childhood education.
My first piece of advice for anyone who might be considering working in preschool or kindergarten administration would be to work in a classroom. Whether you volunteer or work a few hours a week it is important to know if you enjoy working with children of preschool and kindergarten age.
Secondly, get a degree in early childhood education so that you can teach this age group with knowledge of these important developmental years.
Thirdly, get teaching experience before you go for administrative responsibilities. You must have walked in a teacher's shoes before you can serve as a real resource.

The best part of my job is

My job as a director is set up in a way that allows me to job share with two other program coordinators. Together we oversee kindergarten program that provide school experiences for 150 children and afterschool program for 100 elementary school students that provide English language curriculum for 100 elementary students. As a director I work directly with teachers and children helping them with the day to day issues that happen in a typical day. I enjoy serving as a resource person when problems or concerns arise both for teachers and parents. I work closely with parents from the initial marketing of our program to taking perspective families on pre-enrollment tours of our programs. I help with referrals when teachers and parents have concerns about a child's development. As director I am able to plan and implement teacher and parent training opportunities. I am also responsible for some of the business related tasks that must be attended to when you run a business for example billing, payroll, licensing and attending to the ordering of supplies.
The favorite aspect of my job is working directly with young children and helping them grow in their preschool years. At the end of each day I still love working with young children, teachers and parents. The best aspects of my job for me are working directly with young children and sharing in a child's joy when he/she suddenly fully understands a new concept. It is knowing that I am making a difference in the lives of children everyday. I help individual's prepare for a better future. I cannot ask for anything more rewarding than that. Everyday is a new day filled with funny stories.
If you enjoy working with children please consider the preschool years. It is so rewarding to be able to influence a child in their first experiences and really help build the foundations of learning in a child.

The worst part of my job is

The most difficult aspects of my job have to do with the business side of running a business. The billing and having to follow up with people when they do not pay their bills in a timely manner, it really made us uncomfortable.
Also the worst part of my job is that I work almost fifteen hours a day and get very little monetary reward for these efforts.