Nadine experienced two participation extremes while doing the same kind of childcare work at two different sites. At the first site, she was often ignored by the staff, felt unchallenged, and made to feel incompetent. She described how she was not permitted to become fully involved with daily activities; she said she was sometimes given conflicting information from different staff members; and she said the staff sometimes laughed at her mistakes. She knew that she needed to become more involved in the operation of the childcare if she was to learn to be a childcare worker. She said,

I didn't feel comfortable there, and they didn't let me do anything, like take care of the kids. If I see them going to fall or something, they say let the teacher do it. I didn't do anything. I do lunch and stuff. I feed them and that thing. But I think I need to get more involved with them or I not going to learn anything. So I never feel comfortable there.

Once Carrie became aware of Nadine's situation, she was moved to a new childcare site with a supervisor who was accommodating and well–respected. Despite her negative experiences at the first site, Nadine convinced herself to try a second time. "I said, 'I'm going to try.' I've been there a long time and those teachers teach me so I'm not going to let them down here." She added that the instructors "believe in me more than I do." Although she was initially motivated to try a second placement to avoid disappointing her instructors, she soon realized that she had greater strength and capabilities than she previously thought. Nadine smiled when she summed up how she felt about herself after trying the second placement: "I think I could do anything I want."

In the second childcare site Nadine was asked to "job shadow" and was told this involved following the supervisor and performing tasks under her supervision. Nadine described how the supervisor explained what it meant to job shadow, an idea that was new to Nadine:

She told me, 'When I told you things, I think you do very well but I want you to do it on your own. I want you to shadow me. Everything I do, do it because I want to make you learn so that you get the job. Shadow me to do everything. Follow me around.' And then I do.

Job shadowing the supervisor prevented Nadine from receiving conflicting instructions from other staff members, and she was given more challenging tasks.

They let me do with the kids: take care of them; watch them; talk to them if they are doing something wrong. I even read to them. I have one [singing and reading] circle by myself with the kids.