1. April Sherman

2. My husband & I I am married to my best friend. We have been together almost 14 years and married for almost 9 years. We met while I was attending college obtaining my Associate’s degree.

3. Our Children Hunter (9years old)Hailey (7years old)

4. Lead Caregiver for Toddlers I currently work for the Early Head Start program as a lead caregiver of a toddler room. I work with one other lead caregiver and we serve 8 children between 18months and 3 years of age. I absolutely love teaching and serving young children and their families. I enjoy watching not only the children, but the families grow while enrolled in the program. I have worked in the Early Head Start program for 4 years.

5. I obtained an Associate’s degree in Early Childhood Education (2000-2002) and a Bachelor’s (2008-2010) degree in Early Childhood Education from the State University of New York at Cobleskill.

6. Before I worked with Early Head Start, I worked in a Head Start program for 5 years as a Head Teacher. Head Start is an income eligible program which serves children from 3 to 5 years of age. I worked with an assist teacher and a classroom aide. We served between 14 and 18 children in our classroom.

7. Personal & Professional Interests Personally, I enjoy spending time with my family at dirt track races, hockey games, and going on vacation. I also love and getting creative while doing any sort of crafting. Professionally, I have a huge interest in individualization for children and their families. I love teaching children through play and providing them with learning experiences that build upon their developmental abilities.

8. I attended Greenwich Central School, which is a small public school, from kindergarten through graduation. There are between 80 to 100 students in each grade level. Mrs. Dawn Kirk was my kindergarten teacher who made a huge impact on my life. At an early age she showed me the impact a person can make on another person. Mrs. Kirk was a teacher who was always their for her students and taught us to learn through experiences. When we would encounter a problem, she would work with us and provide us ways to come up with solutions on our own, instead of just giving us the answer. Mrs. Kirk individualized for all of her students and that stuck with me through the years. She is the reason why I wanted to become a teacher and why individualization for the children in my classroom is so close to my heart.

9. The position that I hope to have in the future in not yet clear to me. I enjoy learning more and advancing my career. I would love to become a Center Director with the agency I work for. I would be responsible for the everyday operations of both the Early Head Start and Head Start programs. I would be responsible for the health, nutrition, safety, and education of the staff, children, and families. I would also be responsible for making sure that the children and families are being served based on the guidelines of both programs.

10. I would also love to become a trainer and train other teachers on how to individualize for the children they teach. I would like to provide teachers with hands on trainings to help them find ways and create materials to individualize for every child in their classroom. I would love to travel the country with the National trainers for the Early Head Start and Head Start programs.

11. I believe that a Master’s degree in Education with an Early Childhood Education concentration will help me continue to further my career and reach my goals. I believe that I will be able to apply the knowledge I learn, to my classroom. I want to continue to educate the children and families I serve, as well as help the families understand that they are continuous learners and educators as well. I want parents to know that they are their child’s first teacher and help them to understand ways to individualize and teacher their own children.

12. I believe that everyone is a continuous learner and teacher. I believe that we all need to work together to change the views of education and the world as a whole. Being educated is the only way to make significant and meaningful changes.