Last month I had the privilege of presenting at the NAEYC conference in Washington D. C. What was even more of an honor and thrill was that I took two of our male students, Dylan and Andrew, to the conference. Together we presented our research about the dispositions men use to engage children in learning.
This was Dylan and Andrew’s first experience at a conference for early childhood educators. I had hoped that the magnitude of a national conference would provide them with information and knowledge to support their journey in becoming exceptional early childhood teachers. Perhaps I was more excited to view the conference through their eyes than they were prepared to experience this conference because I was anticipating the learning that would occur in their conversations with other male early childhood professionals.
In years past, there have been numerous presentations to choose from that were given my male presenters. Much to my dismay, there were only two this year, one of which was ours. I left the conference feeling like I had somehow betrayed Dylan and Andrew but maybe it was just my own disappointment in not really learning something new about male educators. In the past, I shared what I had learned from the conference with the male students in the program and they were eager hear the perspectives learned especially from other male teachers. Furthermore, we often invited these teachers to share their knowledge with us during one of our meetings. This connection was missed this year.
Another perk for Dylan came when he was given the Leader of Men and Children Award from the Men in Education Network Interest Forum. Dylan was humbled by the award which for him signified how hard work and dedication to the profession pays off. Even greater, this conference and recognition solidified Dylan’s choice in becoming an early childhood teacher and ignited his determination to make the most of his upcoming student teaching experience.