Meet Head Start Teacher Ms. Debra Barber

Ms. Debra Barber outside Bright Beginnings.

When asked what advice she’d give to others teaching young children, Ms. Debra Barber is clear. “If this is your dream, live out your dreams, cuz I’m living out my dream.”

Ms. Barber has been living out her dream of working with children for the last 18 years. Previously based in South Carolina, she moved to Washington, DC seven years ago after getting two Master degrees: one in Special Education, and one in Child Development. 

Led by her interest in working with children experiencing homelessness, Ms. Barber discovered Bright Beginnings, a nonprofit organization that operates early childhood and family learning centers for children and families experiencing homelessness in Washington, DC. “I’ve worked in many places with children and other staff, but here at Bright Beginnings, we have a lot of support.”

One of the support systems Ms. Barber loves having at Bright Beginnings are instructional coaches. Instructional coaches partner with teachers to not only analyze the effectiveness of their teaching, but to also help them figure out a plan to further improve their craft. “They’re patient with you and, you know, they let you ... voice your opinion about what you need and they try to make everything [you need] happen.”

In normal times instructional coaches visit classrooms everyday to observe and give feedback. With restrictions now in place because of COVID-19 though, in-person instructional coaching is a little different. For instance, to meet OSSE guidelines around limits to the number of individuals in a classroom, in-classroom observation is briefer and on a more limited basis. Rather than through in-person discussions, teachers now receive feedback through virtual means such as email and a computer based program.

One of the ways Ms. Barber and other Bright Beginnings teachers helped kids adapt was by bringing in familiar activities into virtual sessions. “We did activities with them, you know, to get them interested. The singing the songs really brought them together. That’s what got their attention.”

After months solely doing virtual learning, Bright Beginnings was able to reopen in-person learning in the beginning of July, albeit with some changes from before. For instance, only 8 students are in a class right now compared to 13 students before. Cleaning has also become a lot more rigorous. “We do a lot of cleaning,” says Ms. Barber. “I mean, we clean up a lot. When the children go to the bathroom, I clean the toilets, I clean the faucet, everything they use.”

The biggest challenge Ms. Barber faced upon returning to the classroom has been getting children to separate.  “It took us a minute to get them to understand that they couldn’t share, they couldn’t understand the not sharing part of it and they couldn’t understand why they couldn’t play together.”

Despite some initial hurdles, Ms. Barber’s students were able to adapt to their new situation relatively quickly. “For the most part they learned. It took us not that long. They learned, you know, they couldn’t share anymore. And they like having their own space and their own shelving area. So it wasn’t that bad.

With 18 years experience in child care, it’s not surprising that Ms. Barber is able to maintain such a positive attitude given the current state of the world. It’s also not surprising that she’s anchored by one word: grateful.

“My one word check in and check out would be grateful. And the reason why is because, I was grateful to have a job. Cuz a lot of people losing their jobs. But we didn’t miss a pay at all the whole time we was home. We worked. We got paid. So I’m always, I’m always truly grateful.”

Despite some initial hurdles, Ms. Barber’s students were able to adapt to their new situation relatively quickly. “For the most part they learned. It took us not that long. They learned, you know, they couldn’t share anymore. And they like having their own space and their own shelving area. So it wasn’t that bad.

With 18 years experience in child care, it’s not surprising that Ms. Barber is able to maintain such a positive attitude given the current state of the world. It’s also not surprising that she’s anchored by one word: grateful.

“My one word check in and check out would be grateful. And the reason why is because, I was grateful to have a job. Cuz a lot of people losing their jobs. But we didn’t miss a pay at all the whole time we was home. We worked. We got paid. So I’m always, I’m always truly grateful.”