Friday, August 21, 2015

Time Well Spent

   It is hard to believe that I am completing my Master's program at Walden University. It has been a long journey and at times challenging but well worth it. I have found many things that I have learned and will take with me in my professional career in the early childhood field.
   One thing that I have learned from this program is the importance of understanding and keeping abreast of issues and trends in the early childhood field. This program has taught me that knowing issues and trends in the field can help professional to help better support the developmental growth and well-being of young children and their families. Another aspect of the program that I have learned from is the importance of having connections and professional relationships with my colleagues. Being a part of a community of learners has taught me the values of sharing ideas, opinions, and listening to others about topics in the early childhood field. This can help me to broaden my understandings and have an open mind. The last thing that I learned from this program is the value of having a continuation of professional development. Continuing to learn and grow in my own knowledge about the field of early childhood will not only help young children and their families but my own career goals as well. All professionals to strive to know and understand more about the field and all of it's aspects.
   One long term goal that I have is to continue my work in the early childhood field by helping to support and educate other professionals in the field. I would love to continue my work in the field and further my career by teaching future educators. Being an instructor at a community college or provide work with other training of professionals is something that I would want to strive for.
   I would also like to take this time to thank all of my instructor and my colleagues. My instructors have provided me with ample amounts of information and knowledge that I will definitely take with me in my professional career. My colleagues have allowed me to express my knowledge, as I have heard from their opinions and experiences as well, and provided me with positive connections to their professionalism within the field of early childhood. I am fortunate to be a part of this program and I am excited to see where my degree will take me in my career.

Friday, August 7, 2015

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

   I was able to research different international organizations in the early childhood field. There are many different organizations that appeal to me and there are some that have job opportunities that would fit my interests.
   One organization is the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This organization's mission is to contribute to building peace, eradicate poverty, and sustain development and intercultural dialogue through education, science, culture, and communication. One main reason this organization appealed to me is that they strive to attain education for all and lifelong learning. Looking at job opportunities in this organization I found many different opportunities in many different offices all over the world. While I would not want a job internationally I would be more interested in staying  in the United States. They offer different jobs as well as internships in their recruitment. I think this would be a great and interesting job to have, especially with their influence on lifelong learning.
   Another organization that I found is the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI). This organization reaches out on a global level to the community of educators and advocates who unite knowledge, experience, and perspective in order to exchange information, explore innovation, and advocate for children. I found this organization interesting because of their mission to ensure the developmental growth and well-being of children worldwide. While I did not find any paying jobs, I did find how to apply for volunteering and internships. The internships help handle global education issues. I think even an internship at this organization would be great to gain experience in helping global efforts to improve education.
   The last organization that interested me was the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). I have always heard of UNICEF and I am interested in what their organization has accomplished and their mission. UNICEF has the mission to ensure the well-being and rights of every child on a global scale. While I did not find any jobs at this organization I think it would be an interesting job to have. Having a big influence on the well-being and rights of children from all over the world would be very rewarding. I think UNICEF is a great organization that has great international influence.

References
Association for Childhood Education International http://acei.org/
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization http://en.unesco.org/
United Nations Children's Fund http://www.unicef.org/

Saturday, July 25, 2015

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

There are three organizations that have appealed to me during my research of communities of practice for my challenge of inequities in teacher preparations.

   One organization is the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). This organization has many different resources and means of assessing the quality of higher education programs in the early childhood field. NAEYC has different accreditation programs for help higher education programs better prepare teachers to work with young children. While looking at their jobs page, I also saw where there was a job for senior director for higher education accreditation. Even though this job would require me to have more experience in higher education, I believe it is a great job to potentially look at in my future as well as what their requirements are for a job such as this.
   Another organization that I found was the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. This organization is there to help and support educator preparation and it is dedicated to promote high-quality, evidence-based preparation programs that assures educators are ready to teach all learners. In searching for job listings on their website I came across a job search page for many different jobs within the higher education field all across the U.S. There was even a section for a few jobs to be found outside of the U.S. I think this would be a great start to look at different potential jobs within the higher education field. 
   The last organization that I found is The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). This organization help establish accreditation to programs to help ensure high quality teacher preparation. Accreditation applies to schools, colleges, and departments of education. This organization can help in my community of practice because of the knowledge of teacher preparation standards that are assessed throughout many different schools and programs. There were no job listings on this website but there are many valuable pieces of information about how to be accredited from this organization. Being accredited will allow me to help find jobs that I know are readily prepared to educate future teachers.

References
http://aacte.org/
http://www.ncate.org/
http://www.naeyc.org/

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community

   It is important for me to grow professionally in the field of early childhood education. Right now I am currently a teacher in a two- three year-old classroom but I hope to grow and move on to other opportunities soon. Before moving on to these other opportunities I have to research and look at different organizations on the local and state level that can help me find different career opportunities. Many of the career choices I am looking for involve teaching/training professionals or potential professionals in the early childhood field.
   One organization that I found was the Partnership for Children of Johnston County. This is an organization that I am well aware of in my local community that helps young children and professionals in the field of early childhood. Opportunities at the organization include providing trainings for other professionals in the field. These trainings can include many different topics in the early childhood field. I think this is a great organization that I could potentially be a part of.
   Another organization that I am well aware of is NCAEYC. This is the North Carolina chapter of NAEYC and I have attended many different conferences that have been arranged by this organization. Potential career opportunities with this organization could be to help the community of early childhood professionals in their own professional growth and development. This organization does not only help professionals in the field but also as advocates for early childhood in communities and the state.
   The last organization that I was interested in was the NC Institute for Child Development Professionals. This organization has many different resources and tools to help professionals that teach adult learners in the early childhood field. Through this resource I could gain certifications and look for career opportunities that are related to the field. It is important as a professional that I look for opportunities to grow and I believe this organization can help me find the resources to do so. No matter which career path I choose, I can be well prepared by doing my research on career opportunities and use my knowledge pertaining to the early childhood field.


References
http://www.partnershipforchildrenjoco.org/
http://ncaeyc.org/
http://ncicdp.org/

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Week One: Merging Passion, Vision, and Practice

This week we were able to create a Wordle that represents our passion and interests in the early childhood field. Here is my Wordle:




I look forward to working with each of you on our last course of our program!

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Thank You

   I would like to take this time to thank my colleagues throughout this course! I have learned so much from not only the information and resources from the course but from my colleagues. Everyone's personal experiences and insights has helped me to fully understand about communication and collaboration. Hopefully I will get to continue working with a few of you through our specialization courses. To the ones that are going into a different specialization I hope that you all are able to succeed in not only what is left of your Walden education but in your professional goals as well. I am glad to share this educational journey with you all!

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Team Development

   During the adjourning stage of team development, it is the time when the team members complete their tasks and say good-bye. I believe that during this stage it is harder to leave some groups than others. A group that would be hard to leave is one where the team members made real connections with one another and even had high performance throughout the project or task. I believe that groups with clear and established norms can be hard to leave because of the high performance situations and the positive interactions through these norms and performances.
   I have been a part of many groups. Some groups were hard to leave while others were very easy. The groups that were the hardest to leave was when I made real connections with the other group members. One group for me that was the hardest to say good-bye was at my last job. I had to leave because I found a better job suited for my family but it was hard for me to leave my co-workers because of the connections that I made. We helped each other greatly professionally and personally and had great team building experiences. Having time to say good-bye was a great ritual that helped me to leave and know that I was making a the right decision. It made me still feel support from others about my decision and that my former co-workers would still be in contact with me.
   Upon leaving my time at Walden University I believe that having the support and knowledge from my other colleagues will help me to feel better about having to say good-bye and prepare me for my future endeavors. Having the time to say good-bye and taking what I have learned can help me in leaving my colleagues that has helped me along the way to gain my master's degree.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Nonviolent Communication and Conflict Management

   One of the most recent conflicts that I have recently had was with one of my colleagues. While the conflict did not result in anger or having a “fight”, I could definitely tell there was some tension because of our two differing viewpoints. During the situation I wanted to change my classroom around and I told my co-teacher my ideas. Since we have to keep a lot of things in mind while rearranging a classroom I decided to ask for some of her input on a few things. She then began to give suggestions that I did not necessarily like but I valued her opinion. It was then time for me to leave for the day and a few hours later my co-teacher called me to inform me that she decided to go ahead and rearrange a few things in the classroom. I became a little annoyed that she went ahead and changed things and we never finalized how the classroom would be rearranged. It was a Friday and since I had no idea as to how she changed the classroom I decided to go ahead and go up on Saturday to change the classroom the way I had intended instead of waiting on Monday. One Monday I explained to her how I just decided to rearrange the entire classroom on Saturday. She did not seem annoyed but I’m sure she felt the same way I did.


   During this conflict it would have been beneficial to use nonviolent communication in this scenario. We should have at some point listened to what each other were saying and try to understand what the other person was saying instead of making decisions without the other person knowing. While we did not have an argument, nonviolent communication would have helped in the tension and bad feelings that we had towards one another. Another strategy that we should have worked through was thinking of solutions to the problem (changing the classroom) instead of saying nothing. Since my co-teacher was giving suggestions that I did not necessarily liked I should have voiced them and she in turn if I suggested something that she was not particularly fond of. I think working through the conflict instead of not truly talking about it has caused tension and annoyance between us at that time. Since this incident I have been trying to be more open to her about what I am trying to say and also respectful to what she is trying to say to me. Learning about better and effective communication skills has helped me to understand how to work through tough conflicts such as this.

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Communication Assessment

   During this week's assignment I was asked to rate myself on my communication skills. Then I used two other people, my husband and my mother, to rate my communication skills as well. I then compared the results when they were done. I thought that the results would be vastly different since my husband and my mother would be very honest and know first hand about my communication skills but the results were very similar. Although the numbers did not match exactly they were pretty close and put me into the same categories. I learned that in communication anxiety I am moderate, in verbal aggressiveness I am moderate, and in listening skills I am in group 1.

   One thing I learned through this assignment was that communication is not just about my language or nonverbal language but my listening skills as well. How I listen to others and how I perceive information is just as important as using verbal communication. In my professional work I have to remember that it is important to also listen to others and understand what they are saying in order to effectively communicate with them. I also learned that my own anxiety about certain situations can effect my communication skills. Since I am in group 1 of this category it means that I do get anxious about communicating with others depending on the situation. In my own professional work it is important to recognize which communication situations can make me anxious and it is something that I have to work on to effectively communicate with others.

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Communication and Cultural Diversity

   When I see my interactions with others around me, such as my colleagues, families I work with, and my own family, I notice the aspects of cultural diversity and the effects it has on communication. In my own interactions I can notice that I change the way I communicate with different people according to the aspects of their culture. Different groups and cultures determine the way that I interact and communicate. An example would be that I speak with the families at my workplace much differently than my own family. The topics we discuss differ as well as my professionalism. I sometimes have to think about what I am saying and how I respond to the children and their families. In my own family I can speak on any topic and I do not have to communicate professionally. I feel more relaxed and at ease speaking with my own family rather than the professionals that I work with. I understand that I have to consider a person or groups culture when speaking with them.

   Strategies that I would use to effectively communicate with others from differing groups and/or cultures are:

  1. I can consciously think of others before myself. I can try to understand more clearly what the other person or group is trying to communicate so that I can effectively respond.
  2. Another strategy is to recognize my own nonverbal behaviors. Becoming self aware of how I may be perceived can help with communicating with others that differ from my own culture.
  3. I can actively gain more knowledge in another person's culture or how to effectively communicate with others as well. Gaining more knowledge about effective communication can help me become better at my interactions with others.

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Communication

                                               
The show that I chose to view was 30 Rock. I have never seen this show before so when browsing my Netflix I decided to choose a random episode.

I first watched some scenes with the sound turned off. The opening scene is of a man and woman talking and from their facial expressions it looks like the conversation is either confusing or uncomfortable. They do not make eye contact and the conversation ends quickly. There is then another scene when a man walks up to a woman at a snack counter. He helps her with coffee and when she faces him she looks away from him while talking. I can assume that she may be blind because of her body language and eye contact. The man seems flustered at what she is saying because he spills the hot coffee on his shoes and his face seems surprised. Another scene was taking place where I gathered that the man and woman were in a relationship or on a date. They were sitting close to each other on the couch and he had his arm around her. She then gets up to go to the other room and when the man opens a window the bathroom door opens to her sitting on the toilet. I can tell in the next scene they both feel uncomfortable about the situation because the woman does not make eye contact with him and he seems to be laughing, maybe trying to lighten the mood. He then receives a phone call and they both seem to have grimaces on their faces after the conversation. I would assume the phone call was an uncomfortable one.

I then viewed the same scenes with the sound turned on. In the opening scene it turns out that Liz plans to meet with Drew and makes plans for Valentine's day. He seems uncomfortable with the idea and that she planned it for that day and when he leaves she can't believe that she made plans to meet with him on Valentine days. Then the next scene I saw a woman, Jennifer, who was trying to grab coffee and Kenneth walks up to help her. She then turns around and thanks him and he notices she is blind. He does not say a word and pours the coffee on his shoe retreating quickly. We then find later out that he indeed has a crush on her. The date scene between Liz and Drew does happen and they are indeed on a first date and Liz has to go to the bathroom. The brownies then begin to burn and he opens the window revealing Liz on the toilet. They then have and uncomfortable conversation and she seems very embarrassed while he tries to make her feel better. Drew then receives a phone call from his ex-wife who is dropping off his daughter at the apartment. He then feels bad about the situation but tells Liz to just move on with the date as planned.

Some of my assumptions between the character relationships were correct but the conversations were off and I could not tell what they characters were talking about just by nonverbal communication. For instance it was hard for me to determine that Liz and Drew were on their first date on Valentine's day. I also did not understand fully the situation between Jennifer and Kenneth until I turned the sound on. I was very confused by what the context of the conversation consisted of. From this assignment I realize the full necessity of all communication skills including verbal and nonverbal to gain the full amount of information.

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Competent Communication



   When I think of competent communication there are a few people that come to mind. One person in my life that I feel demonstrates competent communication would be the director of our child development center. She demonstrates this aspect because I have witnessed her interactions with others in our work place. When talking with parents and colleagues she is able to listen to others and provide a positive experience even is the reason for the conversation is not so pleasant. She tries to understand and respect other's ideas and opinions as well as trying to communicate her own. She communicates with others according to their own personal needs (i.e. in person, e-mail, or phone call) and she tries to make sure she is using appropriate language and communication for each person.

   I like to use her as a model at times for my own interactions with parents in my classroom. I try to listen and understand other's ideas and opinions even if it is hard to understand their reasoning at times. She expresses how important communication is in our field and I take that advice and use it as much as I can in my own classroom.