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?

Communication Skills Week 4

This week’s quizzes on verbal aggressiveness, communication anxiety, and listening skills showed many similarities and few differences when I took the quiz vs. my family and friends taking the quiz.

 I had a friend who I have known for about four months take the quiz for me she had the same results that I had in all areas except for verbal aggressiveness. I scored a 64 and she scored a 69, but this put our results in different brackets. The 64 that I scored stated I was moderately verbally aggressive the 69 stated that I was significantly verbally aggressive. I believe the difference in these scores was due to the group of people my friend observes me communicating with. When I am with my friends I am more relaxed and we joke around a lot. When I completed the test I was thinking of myself as a whole; how I communicate with friends, family, and colleagues. I believe I am more verbally aggressive when I am around my friends in a light hearted joking manner.

The family member I chose to take the quiz was my mother. She rated the same as I had on all quizzes except for communication anxiety. She scored me at a 49 whereas I scored myself at a 43. This again put us in different brackets. She scored me at the moderate level where I may have higher communication anxiety. I thought this was an interesting outcome, because I believed she scored me more accurately than I scored myself. I believe this can be due to the fact she can observe this through my non-verbal and verbal communication cues and how long she has known me for.

My friend and I scored the same for communication anxiety and listening skills. My Mom and I scored the same on verbal aggressiveness and listening skills. From these results it was helpful to see how others perceive me similarly as I perceive myself.

After taking these quizzes and reading the course text this week I developed a stronger sense of self-concept and self-efficacy. Self-concept is developed by thinking about your strengths and weaknesses, observing your behavior in a wide variety of situations, and witnessing your reactions and how others react to you (O'Hair & Wiemann, 2012). I found myself learning about the influence the results my Mom and friend had on myself. When they did not match what I had for a result I became concerned and then thought about why the results were different. The results were mainly different, because they were not viewing the quiz on all aspects of communication that I encounter. They were evaluating me based on the social contexts they observe me in. Self-efficacy is the ability to predict actual success from self-concept and self-esteem. By taking the quizzes this week I learned that I avoid situations where I feel my self-efficacy is low. I saw this in my choice of who I asked to take the quizzes for me. I purposely did not ask for colleagues to take the quiz for me because I was nervous to find out the results. I am sure they would have been fine, but I avoided the situation because I was fearing the unknown. Learning about self-efficacy and self-concept has made me more aware of myself and my choice of communication strategies. I will now be more apt to realize the situations I avoid and my self-concept and apply changes where necessary in both my professional and personal life.

References

O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication: An introduction. New York: Bedfor/ St. Martin's.

Week 3 Blog

I find myself communicating differently with people from different groups on a regular basis. In my daily encounters I speak to children, colleagues, staff whom I supervise, family, and friends. The language I use varies based upon the group of people who I am talking to. When I am talking to my family and friends I use more slang language and I am not as cautious about my non-verbal communication. Talking with colleagues and staff whom I supervise the language I choose is professional. I do not use slang or words or profanity. I am also careful to be aware of my non-verbal communication. I do my best to use good listening skills and always consider the platinum rule when having a disagreement with someone. When communicating with children I am very aware of all of my communication skills. I use verbal communication I know they will understand along with introducing them to new words. I am careful to make sure to give them enough time to respond back to me and give time for them to express themselves in their ways of communicating. In regards to race, religion, political affiliation, and sexual orientation I do not find myself often communicating differently unless it is to express a sign of respect. 

Week 2 EDUC 6165 Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication

The show I chose to watch was "Roseanne". When I first watched it with the TV muted there appeared to be many relationships. There were two girls who seemed to be friends. A middle aged woman and man who appeared to be husband and wife. There was another woman who appeared to be a friend of the husband and wife and another man who appeared to be this other woman’s spouse.

                The non-verbal communication between the girls seemed that one girl was annoyed with the other and what she was saying at first. Then it appeared to be they were keeping a secret when the mother walked in. Their non-verbal communication changed and rather than look of anger and confusion on their faces they had a look of fear. Therefore the relationship with their mother did not appear to be a good one. The woman who appeared to be a friend of the husband and wife seemed to be that they were talking about a problem that she had. When the second man walked in, he seemed to be the person they had been talking about and as the show went on the non-verbal communication showed they were angry with one another, but when they kissed showed they had loving feelings for one another.

                When I watched “Roseanne” with the sound I found I had made very few assumptions about what had been happening. The spot I was most off on was the relationships. The two girls I thought were friends were actually sisters. The person who I thought was a friend of the husband and wife was actually the wife’s sister. I found for this show the non-verbal communication accurately aligned with the verbal communication. I would be interested to find out if I did this for another show if it would be different. If I were watching a show I knew well I would have already known the relationships and had a better understanding of the relationships before I even watched it.

                This assignment helped me to understand that non-verbal communication can really help one to understand how one is feeling. Granted I could not tell you exactly what the problems were that had occurred in the show until I heard what they were talking about I still knew when there was an argument happening or when the two girls were keeping a secret. I will be interested to see if others in this class had a similar or different experience than I had.

Week 1 EDUC 6165

I have always looked at one of my best friends as a competent communicator. We used to see each other on a daily basis and she would always greet me with a smile, ask me how I was doing, or compliment me in some way. This immediately made it easy for me to talk to her. If I had talked to her about something in the past she would follow-up with me on the topic. I always like how she will remember what I have talked to her about. She also does a great job of having difficult conversations with other people. She does not make them feel belittled or like their feelings are belittled. She makes sure to validate the other person’s feelings and opinions while getting her point across at the same time. Every day I try to model my own communication behaviors after her. She knows how to effectively communicate in a positive manner without being offensive to the other person. This is a great quality and I strive to make sure I come across the same way in conversations I have with other people.

Professional Hopes and Goals

Working in an early childhood setting on a daily basis exposes me to all kinds of diversity. Each day I see children and families enter our program from all different backgrounds. It can be challenging for a classroom teacher and staff to reflect and respect the many different cultural backgrounds while still providing an enriching environment for the children to thrive in. My hope working as an assistant education coordinator is to find ways to support staff in learning about the different cultural backgrounds and ways in which they can include all children and families in their classroom environment.

My goal for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to ensure that all families are included in the classroom environment. This will need to be accomplished by reflecting upon biases and prejudices of teachers, classroom staff, and the dominant culture. One will then need to take this information and expand upon their environments to create a richer-well-rounded diverse learning environment.

I would like to take a moment to say thank you to all of my fellow classmates in this class “Perspectives on Diversity and Equity”. Each and every one of you have taught me more about diversity and equity as it relates to the early childhood field and ways in which we can create a more diverse environment for our children to learn and grow in. By reading your posts it has made me think deeper about the perspectives we have studied each week and for that I thank you. Best of luck with your future endeavors.

Welcoming Families from Around the World

For this week’s assignment I am choosing the country Switzerland for a family that were to enter into my program from a country I know nothing about to enter my early childhood program. The following are five steps I would take to prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards this family.

1.       I would research the country and learn about their ways of living, school settings, and common cultural practices.

2.       As I did my research about the country I would reflect upon any biases I may have as I learned more about the country.

3.       I would make sure to research their language and do my best to provide them with a greeting that they are most familiar with.

4.       I would make basic changes to my early childhood environment based on my research that would make the family feel more comfortable in my early childhood setting. I may do this by providing translations in the classroom from English to Swiss if they are not proficient in the English language. If possible I would attempt to provide a translator.

5.       I would prepare a list with any further questions I may have that would be more specific to the family to be able to learn specific cultural practices of the family. I would ask these questions over a period of time.

My hopes by taking the above five steps will benefit both myself and the family. It would hopefully open the doorway for communication. I hope to make the family would feel as comfortable as possible and welcomed as they entered my program. It will take time to build the relationship, but these steps will hopefully be the first step in building my relationship with this family.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

As this is being posted on the internet I do not feel comfortable going into specific details about the situation, but there was a time where I experienced sexism. During this instance I felt I was not being treated fairly and because I am a woman I was told I was not capable of following through with the responsibilities. I felt defeated and that I was being treated poorly. I felt I should have the same respect as a man and I knew I could follow through with the responsibilities. From talking to others I am not the first person who was made to feel this way. In order to change the situation I would need to speak up to this person, therefore I would need to change and feel more comfortable with voicing my feelings about the situation.

Awareness of Microaggressions

I can recall a situation from High School where I was a target of microaggression. I was a target of verbal unintentional microaggression. My field hockey team and I were working on posters for our team. We were each to make our own and I was hesitant about mine. I had made people aware of this verbally. Another team member came over and told me mine should be great because I was left-handed and left-handed people are artists. At this moment I felt unsure of my poster and that I had more to prove because I was left handed.

Reflecting back on this scenario I feel as if the person who made that comment to me had a stereotype about left-handed people and how they are good artists. Thinking about this makes me realize the number of stereotypes that people have and how it seems one can have a stereotype for anything.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

 I asked four different people what their definitions of diversity and culture were. These are the responses I received.

Jeremy- There are many things that make up a culture; food, language, traditions, beliefs, surroundings, morality, personality, attitudes, etc. The people one is surrounded by, their heritage, language, food etc. Diversity is the separation between different cultures due to every aspect that makes up a culture as well as political, geographical, and mental boundaries.

Sean-Culture is the sum of all behavior; learned or innate. Diversity means that there are cultures that are just different from each other.

Heidi- Culture is a way of life. Diversity is different ways of doing things.

Ricky- Culture is all aspects of a given society that defines society. Diversity is the differences in the physical, financial, and mental qualities of a population.

I found many aspects of what I have learned in this course have been included in these definitions provided above. For example Jeremy's definition of culture includes all aspects of what makes up a culture. When it comes to the definition of diversity Ricky pointed out that diversity includes differences in physical, financial, and mental qualities of a population. I do not feel at this point much has been left out in these answers other than going into specifics about what the physical aspects are or the different religions that can be included in culture.

Thinking and reflecting on these definitions has truly impacted my way of looking at culture and diversity. Diversity is shown in the answers given as they are all different. I also never looked at mental qualities and boundaries as being an aspect of diversity before completing this assignment.

My Family Culture

If my family were to be evacuated to another country and I could only bring three small items that represented my family culture I would bring my bible, my phone, and a family scrapbook. I would bring my bible, because it shows the beliefs of my family for many generations. I would explain to others the meaning of my bible but talking to them about my religion and beliefs. I would bring my phone as it represents how my family has adopted what the dominant culture had brought to my family of using technology for daily occurrences. I would explain to others about how I used this in my day to day life to contact people, as a calendar, for social media, and to take pictures and videos. Finally, I would bring a scrapbook as it would show the closeness of my family. As part of our culture we spend a lot of time with family. I would explain this to others by showing them the pictures of family gatherings. When they looked at the pictures they would also see the physical piece of our culture; Caucasian Americans.

If upon arrival I was told I could only keep one of these items I would be okay, because I could still keep my bible. My bible is what has given me a solid foundation of values, attitudes, and beliefs to live by.

This assignment was difficult for me to complete as I had a hard time coming up with three items to represent my family culture. The more I thought about it the more I understood about my family culture. I found myself asking family members the same questions. The common answer was “this is difficult”, but the first item anyone said would be the bible or a cross.