1. Competencies
Formulate a vision to lead.
Evaluate principles of ethics and leadership.
Explore advocacy opportunities in the community.
Evaluate how to develop high-quality educators through ethics
and leadership.
Evaluate the impact of professionalism on children, families,
and community.
Develop strategies for training and mentoring future leaders in
early childhood education.
Instructions
One aspect of being an early childhood education leader is
advocating for children, their families, yourself, and the
profession. Networking with other leaders, investigation, and
reflection will assist you with finding your voice, while
becoming a catalyst for change and positive outcomes for you
and the children and the families you serve.
This project contains two components: an interview with a
leader, and a public service announcement.
Part 1: Interview with a Leader
First, conduct an interview with an individual in a leadership
position. This individual can be in a formal or informal
leadership position and is not required to work within the field

2. of early education. For example, you may choose a parent leader
of a parent support group, a manager of a local business, a
community activist, or an individual with a leadership role
within your own organization.
Organize and schedule the interview with your chosen leader.
Interviews can be conducted via email, video or phone call, or
in person.
Prepare at least 10 questions to ask during the interview. Keep
in mind that the purpose of this interview is to gain insight into
the individual's leadership style as well as how they handle
challenging situations.
Conduct the interview. Interviews should be limited to no more
than 45 minutes. Remember to take detailed notes.
Next, in a written reflection, summarize the details of the
interview (i.e., the name of your interviewee, time, date and
method of the interview). Describe why you chose to interview
this leader and include your list of questions in your reflection.
Using at least three examples, compare and contrast your
leadership style with the style of your interviewee. Offer an
example of at least one similarity and one difference you
noticed in how you would approach situations and lead others.
Describe at least one strength and one weakness for each
leadership style using outside resources to support your ideas.
Part 2: Public Service Announcement
Choose a challenge, crisis, or situation that you might encounter
while at work in an early childhood setting, such as a natural
disaster, economic crisis, health emergency, difficult
conversations with parents, etc. If you are not currently working
in an early childhood environment, select a situation you think
could happen in that setting.

3. Use a presentation tool such as PowerPoint or Prezi (or any
other format that is compatible with the drop box) to create a
public service announcement to help others see how you would
handle the situation. The public service announcement should
contain the following components:
A detailed description/narrative of the challenge or crisis. What
issue needs to be addressed, solved, or supported?
A reflection on the situation, challenge, or crisis and
explanation of how your leadership style (as described in the
reflection above) may affect the outcome of the situation. Will
your leadership style be a natural asset or would you need to
modify your style before addressing the situation? Offer at least
two examples to support and clarify your ideas.
A course of action through the crisis or challenging situation.
List and describe at least five actions you will take to remedy
the situation. Your course of action should support your
leadership style.
A visually interesting and organized presentation using photos
and bulleted lists.
A cover page/slide including name, date, and title of the PSA.
Use the appropriate audience-specific tone and context to write
a narrative script in the notes section of each slide or in a Word
document. Then narrate and record your script using the
presentation tool you selected.
Your recorded presentation should be no longer than two
minutes.

4. Submit your written interview reflection and your PSA
presentation.