Time Well Spent

Time Well Spent

About two years ago I made the decision to go back to school to pursue my Master’s, a goal that I had set as a long term goal with one of my first classes going into my Bachelor’s degree.  It has been quite a journey but I am so proud of myself.   I want to thank each of you….colleagues and professors.   Your guidance, experiences, and support have helped me along the way. 

I set out to increase my knowledge in regards to child development.  With the knowledge that I have gained I feel that I can be a better teacher and advocate.  This journey has helped me to see my areas of opportunity, I have acknowledged my biases, and I have grown personally and professionally.

I walk away from this journey with words such as…Integrity, passion, partnerships, anti-bias, commitment, growth, and inspire. 

So it is time to set another goal.  I want to be able to inspire others to realize their passion and reach for the stars.  I hope to one day be in a position in which I am training / teaching others in the field.  I think that the next week will be nice to have a break but I know that I will be looking to further my education.  I can see myself pursuing my Doctorate at some point.

Best of luck to each of you and may all your dreams and goals be reached.

“Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children.”

 -Sitting Bull

Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux Chief

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

SAVE THE CHILDREN

Currently hiring: Family Services Specialist, Head Start

Acts as a support to Head Start families by helping families to learn and use community resources.  Helps parents with goal setting, parent involvement and taking part in their child’s education.

Requirements

•        Associates in Social Work or a related Family / Human Services Field

•        3 years experience in position relating to Family Services

•        Strong communication and organizational skills

•        Pass criminal check including fingerprinting

With my volunteer experience I have experience in managing caseloads. I find this position interesting in that I would be assisting families with goal setting and parent involvement with their child’s education.

UNICEF

Currently hiring: Staff Counselor

UNICEFstaff members are exposed to high amounts of stress. This position will both develop and implement a stress management program on a global level for both staff and families.

Qualifications:

•        Preferred  Advanced degree in Counseling and will provide training

•        Bachelors with experience and agree to pursue advanced degree

•        Minimum 8 years experience national / international experience

Although I do not qualify for this position I find it to be very interesting.  I feel like majority of jobs in today’s economy are subject to stress and it would be extremely rewarding to help develop a program to aid in relieving some of this stress on the job.

FHI 360

Project Director, Comprehensive Center on Great Teachers and Leaders

The Project Director will oversee programmatic and management of The Center (national technical center supported by the US Department of Education under the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education).  Centers goals are to improve educational outcomes for students.

Qualifications:

•        10 – 15 years related experience

•        Master’s degree in education, public policy or administration, or social sciences

Although I do not meet any of the Specific requirements I do meet general knowledge requirements.  I feel like this would be a very interesting position in regards to improving the overall results of student performance.

Much like the job search for positions on a national level I was not qualified for many positions on an international level; however, with time and continued experience it is nice to see that my options are wide open.

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: National/Federal Level

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: National/Federal Level

·         National Institute for Early Education Research

Currently hiring a Project Coordinator

            Requirements

            BA in Social Science field such as Psychology, Sociology, or human development

            Experience in Early Childhood Research, curriculum development, and or professional

            Development

            Classroom experience is also a requirement

Although I meet several of the requirements for this opportunity I would lack a significant requirement, experience in Early Childhood research.  I think that this would be an amazing opportunity to work alongside of research professionals developing both curriculum and other professionals within the field to better help preschool programs.

·         HighScope

Currently hiring a Post-Doctoral Research Associate/Research Scientist

            Requirements

            PhD in a field related to educational psychology

            3-5 years grant writing experience

The research associate will both help in planning and implementing research and grant writing.

·         Annie E Casey Foundation

Is not currently hiring

A position that I would like seek when available is a grant writing position. The foundation’s mission is meeting the needs of at risk children and families.

They accept applications from all and look for a diverse team.

As  I searched for opportunities on a National level I feel like many required research experience. I do see myself eventually looking to seek out opportunities on a national level as I continue to advocate and strengthen the ECF.

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: National/Federal Level

·         National Institute for Early Education Research

Currently hiring a Project Coordinator

            Requirements

            BA in Social Science field such as Psychology, Sociology, or human development

            Experience in Early Childhood Research, curriculum development, and or professional

            Development

            Classroom experience is also a requirement

Although I meet several of the requirements for this opportunity I would lack a significant requirement, experience in Early Childhood research.  I think that this would be an amazing opportunity to work alongside of research professionals developing both curriculum and other professionals within the field to better help preschool programs.

·         HighScope

Currently hiring a Post-Doctoral Research Associate/Research Scientist

            Requirements

            PhD in a field related to educational psychology

            3-5 years grant writing experience

The research associate will both help in planning and implementing research and grant writing.

·         Annie E Casey Foundation

Is not currently hiring

A position that I would like seek when available is a grant writing position. The foundation’s mission is meeting the needs of at risk children and families.

They accept applications from all and look for a diverse team.

As  I searched for opportunities on a National level I feel like many required research experience. I do see myself eventually looking to seek out opportunities on a national level as I continue to advocate and strengthen the ECF.

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

This week as I was reading each of the discussion posts I came across a few web links that interested me in regards to the topic of Quality, my area of focus for my Capstone Project.  The link had originally taken me to a website for another state that I was then able to locate similar resources that were more local for me in the State of Virginia. 

Three organizations that really appeal to me are:

United Way Smart Beginnings – This is a Community of Practice that is made up of private and public organizations, businesses, and citizens within the community that work together to make certain that children enter elementary school school ready both mentally, physically, and emotionally. The groups focus is quality for early childhood programs and the benefits that the community as a whole will profit from.

http://www.yourunitedway.org/smart-beginnings

Virginia Infant and Toddler Specialist Network

Goals for the Network include:

·         Improve the quality of care and education for both Infants and Toddlers

·         Increase the educational level and competencies of caregivers / directors

·         Increase community awareness in regards to available resources that support the overall care for Infants and Toddlers

http://www.va-itsnetwork.org/

Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Intervention for Young Children TACSEI

This is a 5 year grant made possible by the US Dept. of Education and Office of Special Education Programs.  The website provides many FREE resources and products that ECP can put to use as best practices for topics such as Challenging Behaviors, Bullying, Autism, Etc.

http://www.challengingbehavior.org/index.htm

Job Opportunities that I found that are of interest to me include:

VA Department of Social Services: Licensing Specialist

Currently there is not an open position at this time but I have several professional connections that keep in touch with me and notify me of opportunities that come available. 

Position requires Bachelor’s Degree and experience in Early Childhood programs and knowledge of VA state licensing.

VA Head Start - Infant & Toddler Specialist

Qualifications: Master’s degree from an accredited institution in infant and toddler or early childhood education, or child development, human services, social work, or related field preferred.

Experience: Knowledge of infant and toddler education and early care programs experience, significant experience preferred, or any combination of training and experience which provides the required skills, knowledge, and abilities. Demonstrated expertise in infant and toddler development, experience with child care or other early care settings.

Candidate will assist in designing and implementing trainings, evaluate, and professional development as to deliver high quality services to Infants and Toddlers

Early Childhood Development Teacher Community College

I would be interested in joining the faculty at one of the local community colleges.  I strongly believe that as professionals we can have a very positive impact on the teachers that work in the ECF as well as the quality of our programs if we start to require more education and credentials for those that are working in the classroom.

Reflecting on Communication in the Early Childhood Field

Week 8

It is amazing to me how each 8 weeks go by so quickly. Personally so much has happened.  I have changed jobs, had my third child, lost my grandmother to cancer and yet I keep on moving forward with this journey. I have learned so much from the course material and even more from each of you. I know that to really be an effective communicator one must also be an active listener.  I learned that I needed to be a better listener.  As a director and as a mother I feel that I am constantly multitasking but to really be able to listen I need to stop sometimes and really LISTEN. 

Each week we have had the opportunity to expand our knowledge in the field and enhance our learning by sharing our views and personal experiences.  I hope that I have been able to share with each of you as much as I have gained.  This course is the last of this section before we move on to our specializations.  I wish you all best success and I look forward to continuing with those of you have chosen the specialization of Teaching Adults in the Early Childhood field.

Thank you.

Week 6 Blog

Of the five stages of team development the adjourning stage is when the project is wrapping up and the members of the team begin to go in different directions (Abudi, 2010).  As I think back about projects that I was a part of and recall this part of the stages of team development I think about times that the team was a well-functioning team and times in which the team didn’t work so well together.  I would have to say it was the teams that worked well together and had high emotions involved that made it hardest to say good bye.  My greatest memory from a team that I became a part of was the preschool that I worked at in my hometown.  I had only been a part of the team for about a year.  During that year our director had left and I had become the acting director and one of our teachers also suffered a tremendous loss as she lost her first born during labor and delivery.   As I pulled the team together and kept everyone on track I had decided to interview for the Director position.  At the same time my husband had accepted a position that would end up relocating us to where we are today.  As I delivered the news to everyone in tears my team quickly began to plan my final day.  At the last staff meeting the surprised me with a final pot luck and a scrapbook.  The scrapbook was amazing it had pictures of my children, each teacher and their classroom, and well wishes from parents and teachers.  My last day there was filled with tears.  It was a wonderful bunch of ladies.

Adjourning is an essential part of teamwork as it gives closure.  As I end my journey and my pursuit to obtain my Masters I imagine that I will send out a very sincere thank you to everyone.  I think we have all learned so much from each other and our stories have inspired us all.

Abudi, G. (2010). The five stages of team development: A case study. Retrieved from http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/the-five-stages-of-team-development-a-case-study.html

Nonviolent Communication and Conflict Management

This coming week at the Preschool we are expecting corporate visitors.  We have been preparing for the past couple of weeks, fine tuning everything that has been introduced over the past six months. There has been a very big quality initiative with classroom, curriculum, and finally interactions.  Last week four of the thirteen centers were chosen to be visited and mine was one of them.  As a final step we toured each other’s centers and made suggestions or brought back ideas for our own.  From the feedback I was given my two year old classroom needs to step up a bit.  I know from past conversations this teacher’s immediate reaction will be on the defense and will not be open to what she needs to hear.  From what I have learned this week I want to take the NVC approach.  I know that I need to take the following steps with her:

·         I need to express to her what I want to see in her classroom.  I also want to make sure that she knows that my ideas are only suggestions and that I value her opinion and she is free to make her own choices as long as the overall goal is met.

As I delivered my message she immediately became defensive. Her response included statements like we have to do what everyone else is doing, what they say goes, and I don’t have time to do all of this.  I continued to reassure her that we are working together as a team and no we don’t have to do exactly what everyone else does.  The ideas are suggestions but the goal is the same.  I think she felt better and I did see some changes being made when I left Friday afternoon.  I do see how making a connection with this teacher was successful and both of our needs are being met  ( http://www.cnvc.org/ ).

I guess I will see on Monday and ultimately how it goes on Wednesday.

http://www.cnvc.org/

Who Am I as a Communicator?

The two people that evaluated me were my husband and my Assistant Director at work. These two people are probably the two adults that I spend most of my time with if you are to consider time and home and time at work. As I looked back over the results similarities of the scores were that I fell in the same range of both the listening style and verbal aggressiveness. The differences were that my husband scored me higher but same range in the verbal aggressiveness and lower in the communication anxiety. When I read the results of how he scored me differently I was a little surprised at first but then as I thought over the results I realized that maybe it was just my comfort zone as to how I both communicated and listened to others. At home I feel most comfortable and do not have a fear of how I communicate. I know that I have unconditional acceptance.  At work I know that I have to be cautious of how I say things and also struggle a bit with public speaking.  My anxieties with public speaking are less then better I know my audience and the subject matter that I am speaking about.  My anxiety also settles down once I have begun my delivery.

My scores vs. my husband

                        Communication Anxiety – Elevated / Moderate

                        Listening Styles – People Oriented

                        Verbal Aggressiveness – Moderate

When I was younger and living at home with my parents my dad would say when it came to arguing I had all the courage in the world and hoped that I would take that confidence and apply it to the outside world.  However, when it comes to public speaking I lose most of my confidence.  Just thinking about getting up in front of a group of people or answering a question in a meeting or classroom gets my heart beating faster.  Unfortunately, it is this fear that I feel holds me back in life.  It has kept me from doing many things that I would probably be very successful at.

Cultural Diversity

We recently had a family enroll that is from India.   One of the most significant cultural differences would be language.  The father speaks English very well however their four year old son that will be attending our pre-k program does not speak English unless prompted to say specific words such as hello and goodbye.

Three strategies that we could use to help us communicate more effectively with this family are:

1.        We asked the father to please provide us with words in both English and Hindi that we could use with their son as well as for to recognized words that he would be using.

2.       We will create a picture board so that he can point to specific places such as the bathroom or water fountain or items such as blocks (to play with) or food when he is hungry).

3.        We will have a day for the children to bring in their favorite toy to share with others that is special to their family or their culture.   I hope that an activity such as this will acknowledge differences and show commonalities for the children.

When I think about how trying these next few days, weeks, or months, may be for this little guy I am reminded of Bennett's Platinum Rule(Beebe , Beebe, & Redmond, 2011. P. 114)  and think of how I would want my own children to be treated if the situation was reversed and my family was the newly enrolled family.
 .

Beebe, S. A., Beebe, S. J., & Redmond, M. V. (2011). Interpersonal communication: Relating to others (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Chapter 4, "Interpersonal Communication and Diversity: Adapting to Others" (pp. 85–114).

Communication Skills: Language, Nonverbal, Listening

I chose to watch one of the shows that my husband usually watches, Parks and Rec.  The first time I watched the episode I watched closely to facial expressions and body language to see if I could determine relationships or see if I could tell what the characters were feeling.  I thought that without the verbal, pitch, and tones it seemed like the characters were talking about something very serious.  After watching a while, I started the show from the beginning and watched a second time with the sound on.  The biggest difference that I noticed was that with sound I was then able to detect the sarcasm in the characters tone which made the nonverbal facial expressions seem not so serious.  Nonverbal communication can also function as contracting behavior in which it conveys the opposite of one’s verbal message. (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2009, p.105)

Both verbal and nonverbal are important to communication.  Each can provide information without the other but as I saw with this week’s assignment you can’t just pay attention to one or the other.

O’Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2009). Real communication: An introduction. New York: Bedford/St.               Martin’s.

What Is Communication?

As a director I take on many different styles of communication.  I have to communicate with children, teachers, parents, other directors, and the list could go on and on.  I communicate with each differently, but with respect for each.  Part of effective communicating for me also means listening. 

Public speaking has always been a challenge for me.  The person that I think of that communicates competently is my District Manager.  She has to speak to us in many different forums.  We have conference calls, 1:1 meetings, and director meetings where all of us gather together.  On each occasion she is confident, her agenda is well planned and clear to all, she is articulate and motivating as well.  I would like to gain the same confidence that she exhibits.