We were lucky to catch up with Laneic Lavalle recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Laneic thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career

Returning to child-led, play-based learning and removing the push for academics for children in kindergarten and younger.

I clearly remember my Kindergarten experience in Hawai’i. My classroom was in a warm hut behind the main school building. Our class had to walk through a canopy of banana trees to get into our room. The inside wasn’t filled with academic posters, but with our artwork, plants, and various knickknacks. I spent my half days during Kindergarten making green eggs and ham, painting with mud, and “connecting with nature”. It all sounds very “woo-woo” and unserious but it encouraged me to explore, to ask questions, and to think outside of the box. Those are skills that are useful to me now.

We’re seeing children who have become accustomed to having information fed to them and are losing the skill to problem-solve and be creative. They’re used to memorizing only what they need to know to pass an assessment or test and nothing more. They’re also unable to emotionally regulate because they’ve spent their crucial early development performing for adults with worksheets or flash cards. We’ve rejected the research that shows social/emotional skills are important; so by the time these children do reach formal academic age, the teachers are dealing with meltdowns, tantrums, and bullying instead of being able to teach.

The foundational skills are crucial for children but we’re speeding past them by rushing to academics in children’s early years.

Laneic, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Laneic Lavalle and I provide professional development and training for early childhood educators, daycare providers, and prek teachers. I got into the industry as a teen by assisting my mother in her classroom and fell in love with seeing little ones grow and learn. As I learned more about child development, I gravitated towards child-led philosophies like Montessori, Reggio-Emilia, and the Educaring Approach.

Through Early Childhood Educators Academy (ECEA), I offer in-person and online training helping educators set up their environments for success, manage challenging behavior, and confidently embrace play-based learning in their classrooms. ECEA focuses on research-supported, non-punitive, empathy-led methods. What’s unique is I acknowledge the very real challenges educators face such as being short on resources, multiple behavioral challenges, and burnout. All these factors have a big impact on the classroom and are considered in the training for practical, realistic tips.

I’m proud of the fact that I can say I’ve been in the field during these challenging moments with teachers and have seen the methods I teach put to the test in various settings. I love seeing a teacher’s perspective change and how much more freedom and joy they have in their classrooms as a result of embracing child-led methods.

ECEA also has its own PreK programs for children and on-site coaching so I’m always keeping a pulse on what’s happening in the field.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Utilizing Facebook ads and automated sales funnels and systems has been an important key in my business, especially while being busy in the classroom myself. I often don’t have time to sit down and manually do a lot of these tasks and they’re often mentally taxing anyway.

I have experience in copywriting and writing sales funnels so I utilized that knowledge to build systems into my current business. Tools like Manychat, Active Campaign, and pre-made templates help me make sure I don’t miss out on potential leads, and can be responsive to their needs without being glued to my computer.

Facebook ads can be intimidating but I didn’t want to be on social media 24/7 and it’s been the most effective for reaching a large audience without having to do so.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

My audience is small but mighty! It’s more so about engagement and retention than big numbers because ultimately, it’s those loyal followers who become paying customers.

When it comes to social media, the biggest lesson to know is to post from your intended audience’s perspective, not your own. What you might think is interesting or engaging, might not necessarily be relevant to a potential client who’s scrolling. Think about what your audience would stop for, what questions are they asking, what problems are they trying to solve? Then speak to that in your content. Save the random photo dumps and selfies for your camera roll.

My audience relates to story-telling about specific scenarios in the classroom and tips on how that challenge was overcome, so I use a lot of carousel posts for converting scrollers into email subscribers. If I want to reach new people or get my content shared a bit more, I’ve found reels and inspirational quotes do better for that purpose. By watching my analytics and being intentional about what I’m aiming for, I can cater my content toward that. It’s always changing!

Contact Info:

• Website: eceacademy.org
• Instagram: @eceacademy
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/arizonaECEA/
• Other: Free resource library for ECE’s sign up link: https://bit.ly/ecea-resource-library