Award-winning presentation shares baby-soothing secrets
How to calm a crying baby is a skill every parent would love to have—especially at
3 a.m. In her “Little Things Mean a Lot” course on how to recognize and prevent shaken
baby syndrome, Anna Raumaker discusses not only how to soothe babies but why they
cry. For her presentation, the College of the Mainland adjunct instructor won first
place in the SoftChalk 2013 Lesson Challenge, a national contest sponsored by SoftChalk
and judged by educators from across the U.S.
Teaching since 2002 for the COM Child Development and Education Department, Raumaker
created the presentation to train employees in compliance with state standards but
wanted to “be more innovative.” As she added videos, current research, games and New
York Times articles to her presentation, she showed educators how to prevent shaken
baby syndrome, recognize infants’ cries and soothe a baby.
“The course went from being lecture-driven to being more constructive,” said Raumaker.
With 17 years in child care and a master’s degree in early childhood education, Raumaker
has a wealth of experience to bring; however, education was not the career she originally
planned.
“I said, ‘I’m not going into teaching, I’m not going into teaching,’ and I think I
just figured out ‘Why am I fighting this?’” she said. “I love to plan things and teachers
have to plan lessons all the time.”
A former Spanish prekindergarten teacher and child care trainer, Raumaker currently
teaches preschool part-time at the Lab School. She enjoys the outdoors and helped
complete four gardens for the Lab School, funded by a grant she wrote. Continually
working on new projects with children, she finds their excitement contagious.
“When they express an interest, I express an interest,” said Raumaker. “I like working
with children because of their creativity, wonder and discovery, and it’s always something
new.”