Week 8 EDUC 6990 Time Well Spent

     In the beginning of this course we created a wordle. It helped us to identify what we were going to do for our Capstone project. The end of this course I have created a wordle as well (Please see below). This course has helped me to identify who I am as a professional in the early childhood field. The entire Master's program here at Walden University has guided me to become the professional I am today. This program has taught me that I am a strong advocate in the early childhood field. As I continue on in my work I have recognized, in a management position I am advocating for children and families as I develop programs and support staff. It is up to me to decide what the important messages in the early childhood field are to me. This program has helped me to recognize the voice that I have and that I can make a difference. Making this difference is important to do with a team effort. It is important to have time to develop a plan and then follow through with the action steps. Finally, this program has taught me who I am as a professional in the early childhood field. 

As I grew during this Master's program I became a strong leader. I have recognized leadership is not always about what you are doing in your current position, but your goals, your passion, and your personal strengths will guide you as you pursue your dreams. My long term goal now that this course is coming to an end is to succeed in my capstone project and follow through. I intend to increase the number of mental health consultants, treatments, and programs available to children age birth through five who suffer from mental health disorders in the Warren County community.

     To all of my fellow classmates and Dr. Embree I would like to say thank you. Thank you for supporting me in becoming a strong leader and advocate for the early childhood field. Your support, words of wisdom, and guidance have helped me to become the professional I am today. I could not have done this without you. As we all proceed on our journeys I hope to cross paths. If we do not best of luck in all of your future endeavors. You are all an inspiration and I know if you set your mind to it you will do great things someday. 

Job Roles in the Early Childhood Education Community: Internationally

This week I researched three international early childhood organizations that had a mission I believed in. I then looked up job/volunteer opportunities that I would be interested. The following is what I found.

The Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) is a charitable organization interested in sharing new approaches to the education of young children and ensuring these approaches are delivered in ways that enhance children’s individual skills and abilities while providing opportunities for success in life (ACEI, 2015). This international organization has global coalitions, trends, and events. They provide “cutting-edge” research and create unique programs events and publications around the world (ACEI, 2015). ACEI has internship opportunities available during summer months where one would get the experience of online research and data gathering that would contribute to the development of briefing papers and other resources (ACEI, 2015). The position that stood out to me that was described on the website, but not currently available was the Global Advocacy Coordinator (ACEI, 2015). Unfortunately, there was no further explanation of the position as there is no opening currently.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic need and expand opportunities for children to reach their full potential (UNICEF, 2015). UNICEF has what is called Talent Groups. Talent groups is a pool of potential employees defined by area, expertise and level of seniority (UNICEF, 2015). After one submits an application they may be invited to a detailed assessment of their skills (UNICEF, 2015). These skills consist of competency based interviews, technical tests, and may include other written and verbal assessment (UNICEF, 2015).

Save the children is an international organization that invest in childhood every day in times of crisis and for the future (Save the Children, 2015). All around the world they give children a healthy start, the opportunity to learn, and protection from harm (Save the Children, 2015). They state they transform children’s lives now and change the course for their future and ours (Save the Children, 2015). I could not find any job opportunities, but I did find volunteer opportunities. The volunteer opportunities can be short-term or long-term assignments in areas of finance, fundraising, marketing and communications, public policy, social media, and research in administrative work (Save the Children, 2015).

References

ACEI. (2015). About Us. Retrieved from Associations for Childhood Education International: https://acei.org/about-us

Save the Children. (2015). About Us. Retrieved from Save the Children: http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6115947/k.8D6E/Official_Site.htm

UNICEF. (2015). About UNICEF. Retrieved from UNICEF: http://www.unicef.org/about/who/index_mission.html

National/Federal Job Opportunities

For this week’s blog assignment I researched national and federal organizations that I thought I might be interested in getting a job in. The first group I looked up was the National Head Start Association (NHSA). The job opportunity I found most intriguing to me was the Early Childhood Education Specialist. For this position it stated one needs to have a lot of experience in the field of Early Childhood Education (NHSA, 2015). Unfortunately, this site would not let me access any further information without being a member of the NHSA. I do know from working with and Early Childhood Education Specialist in my Head Start program they support Head Start programs which they are assigned to and they provide trainings when requested. The second national organization I chose to look into was the National Association for the Education of Young Children. This organization has always been of interest of me since I first began studying in my undergraduate program. The job that was of interest to me was Director of Quality Improvement and Program Support. This position requires one to lead the Accreditation piece and support programs in meeting their Accreditation (Applicant PRO, 2015). The qualifications for the position are strong knowledge of early childhood education content, current issues, and professional development needs and strategies. It also requires one to have extensive instruction experience, ability to positively influence others, three years of supervisory experience, and demonstrate capacity to recruit, on board, support, and evaluate staff (Applicant PRO, 2015). Finally a minimum degree requirement of a Bachelor’s degree (Applicant PRO, 2015). The third position I was interested in was at Zero to Three. The position is Senior Training/Technical Specialist. For this position it is required to have at least seven years of experience in the early childhood field at various levels and a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Development or another related field (Zero to Three, 2015). This position also requires fiscal, planning and implementing child care partnerships, and infant/toddler experience (Zero to Three, 2015).

References

Applicant PRO. (2015). Director of Quality Improvement and Program Supports. Retrieved from NAEYC: https://naeyc.applicantpro.com/jobs/277560.html

NHSA. (2015). Professional Development. Retrieved from National Head Start Association: https://www.nhsa.org/our-work/professional-development/careers

Zero to Three. (2015). Job Posting. Retrieved from Zero to Three: http://www.zerotothree.org/about-us/careers/jobs/senior-t-ta-specialist-ncehs-ccp.pdf

Week 2 EDUC 6990 Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

There are two local organizations that have been appealing to me. The first is the Southern Adirondack Child Care Network (SACCN). The second is the Capital District Child Care Council (CDCCC). The SACCN and CDCCC both appealed to me because I have worked with them through my current position at Head Start to setup trainings. All of the trainings I have attended have been phenomenal and the trainers are people who I could see myself working with on a daily basis as they are friendly and extremely knowledgeable.

SACCN states that two purposes that appealed to me (Southern Adirondack Child Care Network, n.d.). The first purpose is to inform the community on child care issues. The second purpose is to recruit, assist and train child care providers (Southern Adirondack Child Care Network, n.d.). The SACCN unfortunately does not have any job openings and does not have a directory of staff members and positions. I would imagine there are many opportunities where I could become a trainer and I would be interested in a position in this category.

The CDCCC mission is “The Capital District Child Care Council is a resource and referral agency dedicated to promoting quality, accessible child care for all the Capital Region’s diverse communities.  The Council assumes a leadership role in supporting children, parents, child care professionals, and employers through referral counseling, training and advocacy” (Capital District Child Care Council, 2015). The position that appeals to me is the infant or toddler specialist. I am familiar with this position as I have worked closely with a trainer who is in this position. Unfortunately I do not know what the qualifications are to fulfill her role. I do know that she travels to many different child care programs and works directly with the staff to share her wealth of knowledge on infant and toddler development.

My third organization I would like to join is actually a community of practice. This is the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). I am currently a member and receive their newsletters, but I have not had time to become an active member. My goal is to become more active once I complete this Master’s program. NAEYC is a community of practice that works to promote high-quality early learning for all young children, birth through age eight (National Association for the Education of Young Children, n.d.). To be a more active member of NAEYC I would like to attend their conferences to study the most recent research in early childhood education and collaborate with other programs at these conferences.

References

Capital District Child Care Council. (2015). About the Council. Retrieved from Capital District Child Care Council: http://www.cdcccc.org/page/about-the-council-68.html

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (n.d.). About NAEYC. Retrieved from NAEYC: http://www.naeyc.org/content/about-naeyc

Southern Adirondack Child Care Network. (n.d.). About the Child Care Network. Retrieved from Southern Adirondack Child Care Network: http://www.saccn.org/about/

Final post Week 8 EDUC 6165

Over the past eight weeks of this course; EDUC 6165, I have learned so much about communication and collaboration in the early childhood environment. During this time I have had the opportunity to read my colleagues blogs and discussion forums. My thoughts on the topics each week have been challenged and proved to have many different perspectives. My colleagues in this course have supported my learning experiences and have “shed new light” on the way I look at certain scenarios. As each and every one of you continue on your professional path into the specialty you have chosen I wish you the best of luck. Each and every one of you have brought a unique perspective into the field of early childhood and will do great in your future endeavors. I hope to see some of you in my specialty of Administration, Management, and Leadership. Good luck everyone you will do great and thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise with me.

Adjourning- Week 6 EDUC 6165

     One of the most difficult times for me to adjourn a group was when I graduated from SUNY Cobleskill. I had many adjournments that occurred; friendships, professors, co-workers, and employment that I had while attending SUNY Cobleskill. All of these groups were high-performing groups because it created a balance for me to learn and grow as an early childhood professional and a person. These high-performing groups were very difficult for me to leave as they became such a great support system that I could refer to and use in many situations. Of the groups I listed I would say the friendships built were the hardest to leave. No matter the situation we encountered we most likely all went through it or were going to go through it and we were able to support one another throughout this period of time in our lives. The closing ritual I experienced in this instance was graduation. It was an opportunity to reflect upon what we had learned over the years we spent at SUNY Cobleskill and give a sense of closure to our experiences.

     As I think about the colleagues I have formed relationships with through this online experience I believe it will be most difficult to not have that weekly opportunity to read colleagues posts and experiences that are very similar to mine. Reading these posts have helped me to realize that I am not alone in my learning experiences in the field of early childhood. We come from all different parts of the world. This group has shown me that no matter where one is similar experiences are occurring. I imagine adjourning from this group of colleagues will be through our final blog posts, sending special thank you notes to one another and appreciating what they have had to offer to this online experience.

            Adjourning in my opinion is an essential stage of teamwork as it shows the mutual respect and appreciation each person has had for one another in meeting a common goal. This online learning experience has demonstrated the common goal of receiving our Master’s Degree while expanding our knowledge and wisdom of the early childhood field. Adjourning will give us a chance to celebrate what we have accomplished and give closure to move onto the next phase of our never-ending journey. It is a sense that this is not the end of the something, rather a building block to our future endeavors.

Week 5 EDUC 6165

     In my role as a supervisor I have recently faced challenging conversations where I have had to speak with someone about a supervisory concern. This form of communication has been challenging for me as I am faced with many unexpected responses. When communicating with staff I have tried to think about the 3R’s and non-violent communication without knowing it. I have kept a calm voice, even if they raise their voice. I stick to the facts and if I do not have an answer for something right away I value what they say and tell them I will get back to them soon with an answer. In this instance I cannot suggest a compromise, but I can be respectful of what they have to say and when appropriate recognize their strengths. Sometimes it can be difficult to be respectful of and fully hear out what the other person has to say, but I know it is my responsibility to be responsive to what they are communicating. Have any of you had to address supervisory concerns if so how did the conversation go?