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

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

 

 

Hello class, I hope you’ll are enjoying your weekend. Below you will find the three organization that I choose to explore.

National Association of Early Childhood Educators

I chose this organization because it is dedicated to the advancement of early childhood educators. I am very big on professional development and this organization offers plenty of opportunities to attend several different annual conferences. For instance “NAECTE offers two conference days a year in tandem with the NAEYC fall conference and the June NAEYC Professional Development Institute” (NAECE, 2017, p.1). This organization has been in existence for thirty years which speak s volumes to me about its effectiveness and dedication to the early childhood field. I also like this organization because you get to meet members that are outside of the U.S., which gives members a chance to lean how other countries are contributing to the early childhood field. It also gives great information on research that is being done within the early childhood field. The job that was being advertised through this organization currently is for the position of Director of Science Education at the Tennessee Aquarium.  To do this job I would need some experience with managing a budget, be able to recruit and lead educational staff along with having an understanding with recent research in science, along with having a master’s degree.

National School Board Association

I choose this organization because it supports Head Start and Pre-k programs. The NSBA has long recognized the benefits of high quality pre-k education and supports a voluntary role for local school districts. Among NSBA’s recent actions, they: have established a policy that urges the federal government to grant flexibility to school districts to establish preschool programs for all three- and four-year-olds through a separate funding stream that develops, coordinates, and enhances the quality and availability of preschool programs (NSBA, 2017, p.1). They have been advocating for early childhood education since 1940. I really like this sight because it tells educators as well as other what they can do in order for this programs to have funds and longevity, which is by contacting members of congress and expressing our concerns on how important early childhood education really is. They are currently hiring for a digital strategist, in order to obtain this job I would first need to have a bachelor’s degree in marketing, communication, or even political science. Along with this I would need 3 plus years in online advertisement and business development. I would also need to know how to coordinate activities and programs that pertained to early childhood with peers.

 

National Childcare Association

I choose the national childcare association because they support policies and regulations that are beneficial to young children. All of their members are students, business owners, or early childhood education professional trainers. I like the fact that they fight for equality in all early childhood education programs whether they be public or private. They also have a very well organized website with tabs that allow you to see different resource and articles dealing with early childhood education along with the latest news in early childhood education. If you become a member you also get a ten percent discount on Walden University classes. The job that they are currently hiring for is for a National Childcare team associate. The qualifications that I would need for this job would to have a bachelor’s degree in either child development or early childhood education. The skills that I would need for this job would be good oral and written skills. Also the ability to work in a fast paced environment and to be computer literate. I would also need to be able to keep with the new information that is being research in the early childhood education field.

 

References

http://naecte.org/ retrieved on July 29, 2017

https://www.nsba.org/about-us/careers retrieved on July 29, 2017

https://ncc.site-ym.com/ retrieved on July 29, 2017

 

 

 

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

Hello class, as most of you already know there are a number of early childhood organizations that can be beneficial to us all. As I further my career I hope to one day hold positions in these organizations so that I can make beneficial contributions to the early childhood education field. This week we talked about communities of practice, which can be very beneficial to us in our professional careers. Since I have been an early head start teacher I have seen how important it is to have the support of other professionals have share the same interest and passions as you. I like the concept of community practice because it allows us introduce collaborative processes, identify human resources, generate new knowledge, and lastly stimulate learning (Gent, Tanner ND, p.4). For this assignment we were instructed to list at least three local or state organizations or communities of practice that appealed to us, and explain why we chose them. Below you will find the organizations that I choose and my explanation as to why I choose them. Along with any job opportunities that they may have available, and the skills and experience that I would need to fulfill those jobs.

Hertford-Northampton Smart Start Partnership for Children, Inc.

I choose smart start because they are a wonderful organization that support the development of young children, also their families. They provide trainings for small fees or either free for parents, child care providers, head start, or even the school system. They focus on school readiness and also help to improve the quality of are childcare programs. Mostly all of the counties in North Carolina this is the one that supports the county that I work in. They also give away new car seats for expectant parents, clothes, books, and toys to low income families at no cost. They offer a parents as teachers program, “which uses the Born to Learn Curriculum for parents with children birth to age five in Hertford and Northampton Counties. Priority is given to low-income families, teen parents, single parents, parents of children with special needs, and those referred from the Department of Social Services, Health Department, Public Schools and other community agencies (i.e. Public Housing Authority Agency).  Home visits are conducted a minimum of once a month, and a minimum of six group meetings will be offered annually in community based locations” (https://northamptonsmartstart.org/services/). They also offer finical assistance to the NC-Pre K program along with the lending library that is open to the public. This agency is a great resource to early childhood educators.

Right Smart Start has a job opening for a Lead Parent Educator. Whose job is to “provide the information, support and encouragement that parents need to help their child develop optimally during the crucial early years of life.  Also to provide education in the form of personal visits, group meetings, screening, and linkages to a network of resources for parents and children” (http://www.smartstart.org/job/lead-parents-as-teachers-educator/ retrieved on July 12, 2017). The skills that I would need for this job would be to have good oral and written and communication skills, and also the ability to multitask and adapt to change quickly. Also the intuitive to work independently and also be knowledgeable of Microsoft word.

Website https://northamptonsmartstart.org/services/

Choanoke Area Development (CADA)- I choose this organization because it does so much to help the community, especially parents and their young children. The offer an array of programs whether it be weatherization, home owner ship, and also Head Start/Early Head Start. They also partner with the Hertford- Northampton counties for the Parents as Teachers program. They also host our local branch of Head Start/Early Head Start. “The Early Head Start program has 3 program options, Expectant Families Option, Center Based Toddler Option, and Home Based Option. Children in Early Head Start will grow and develop in the following areas: Cognitive, Language (Expressive and Receptive), Social-Emotional Development, Physical Development (Fine and Gross Motor) In addition to high quality classroom experiences, CADA Early Head Start children receive physicals, dentals, nutrition assessments, and speech, vision, and hearing screenings” (https://www.nc-cada.org/programs/early-head-start.html). I like this organization because it goes above and beyond to help the better the lives of parents of their students and people in the community in general. They have an outstanding staff which is made up of seasoned early childhood professionals, who work hard to ensure that their students receive high quality services. All of their child development centers are rated five stars.

CADA is currently hiring for Head Start Teachers- The skills that I would need to fulfil this job would be great oral and written communication skills, ability to work under pressure. Also experience with working with young children. North Carolina driver license and the ability to go out and recruit students for the program. Also the ability to foster the development of young children using individualized lessons plans, and also through play.

Website- https://www.nc-cada.org/cada-employment.html

North Carolina Institute for Child Development Professionals- I choose this organization because it is dedicated to strengthening the child care work force and also making sure children and their families receive high quality care. “Just to name a few things that covers also it, certifies and provides work life benefits to early educators who work directly with and on the behalf of, or intend to work with children ages birth to twelve. Creates access to resources and the latest research on workforce issues through its partner network and learning community and via its website. Defines and educates others about early childhood professional development system elements and strategies” (http://ncicdp.org/about-us/). I like how it high lights how important higher education is, professional development, and advancing the education of the workforce. Through them early childhood professionals are aware of what level they are for the state of North Carolina as certifies early educator. Also it gives early educators great discounts on a variety of things.

One of the jobs that they offer is Technical Assistance Practitioners. Which jobs is mostly to serve early educator in effort to help better the quality of their programs.  They also serve as TA specialists, early interventionists, quality improvement specialists, preschool/Pre-K mentors, child care health consultant’s  (http://ncicdp.org/technicalassistance/). To do this job I would need to have valid NC driver’s license along. I would also need to be computer literate and have strong communication skills. I would also need to have knowledge of the North Carolina child laws and requirements.

References

Ghent, Liana, Tanner, Erin (ND) Community of Practice:  Early Childhood Education Quality retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/ceecis/Erin_Tanner_Community_of_Practice_Athens12.pdf on July 15, 2017

https://northamptonsmartstart.org/services/ Retrieved on July 15, 2017  

https://www.nc-cada.org/cada-employment.html Retrieved on July 15, 2017

http://ncicdp.org/technicalassistance/ Retrieved from on July 15, 2017

http://www.smartstart.org/job/lead-parents-as-teachers-educator/ Retrieved on July 15, 2017

 

 

Team Work Makes Dream Work

Team Work Makes Dream Work

 

This week’s readings on team development was very interesting. I know have another great source to share with my co-workers. The early head start department at my job consists of four teachers, in which we consider ourselves a team. When we are all on the same page we get along so great and we also are more productive. However when we have our differences it gets pretty intense and we have a very hard time getting things back on track. I have always felt that we should have a lead teacher, somewhat of a group leader just to add a formal sense of order within in the group. As when a group is forming it is important for the team leader to be very clear about team goals and provide clear direction regarding the project. The team leader should ensure that all of the members are involved in determining team roles and responsibilities and should work with the team to help them establish how they will work together ("team norms"). The team is dependent on the team leader to guide them (Abudi 2010). In our case our team leader would help us to achieve the common goal of running effective classrooms and planning learning experiences based on the individual need of each child.

I would say that out of all the teams that I have been on during my life time leaving one that is job related like the one I am on now has been the hardest. I guess it would fall in the category of being a high performing group. I have had the pleasure of working at two centers and when I left the first early head start team I was a part of it was devastating.  The last day I worked there everyone was so sad that I was leaving, at the end of the day we had a little going away party which ended in us almost crying when it was time to leave. I was so emotional I didn’t even get the contact information from any of my team member, however the good thing was that we all would still be working within the same agency. As our text states that some groups choose to celebrate their achievements with a final get-together, what Keyton (1993) calls a termination ritual. Members may also opt to maintain friendships even if they will no longer be working together (O’Hair, Wiemann, Mullin, Teven p249 2015). Which is what has happened with my co-workers and, I have met some of my best friends at my job. When I finish my master’s degree program and adjourn from this elite group of people, the departure is going to be simple. I have not formed any friendships since I have been in school, but I do look forward to ending this journey by fellowshipping at graduation if I am able to attend. From there I am sure we will go our own separate ways and continue striving to accomplish our goals. Adjourning is an essential part of team work because it allows teams members to reflect on the journey that they endured in order to reach their goal. It also gives team members a chance to celebrate and decide if they will keep in touch to work on other projects, it helps to give the group closure to the experience that they have had with each other.

 

 

 

References

O'Hair, D., Wiemann, M., Mullin, D. I., & Teven, J.  (2015). Real communication (3rd. ed). New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

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

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To Scribble or Not To Scribble that is The Question?

To Scribble or Not To Scribble that is The Question?

 

 

The early childhood education is a wonderful field to work in if you love children and helping people. The children can be such a joy to work with and sometimes parents can be to. It is even more rewarding when you form relationships with colleagues. I worked with the same young lady for six years up until last July when she assigned to another center, she became a lifelong friend she is more like my sister. We both helped each other to be better teachers. Like everything else on the world there are two sides to every story. The majority of my conflicts at my job has been with a very unprofessional supervisor, who has no experience working with young children or the early childhood field within itself. I don’t think people think about the consequences of what can happen when they hire people based on who they know. There has been an ongoing conflict for years about whether scribble is considered art done by children. We have to have three types of art up at all times, however my supervisor does not feel that scribble is the art of children. It is my personal opinion that scribble is the art of children especially if that’s all that they can do, we work with very young children whom most of them are still developing their fine motor skills. The last time my colleagues and tried to have a conversation with our supervisor about this she made it clear that she felt that scribble art was not challenging children and that she would overlook it as an art if she saw it up in the classroom. We expressed to her that we didn’t feel that this was write because anything the children did with materials were their art, needless to say this conflict over this issue has yet to be dissolved.

My first solution to solving this conflict was to just be quite initially. However I feel that this is not the proper way to resolve this because I feel that both parties should have the right to be respectfully heard without anyone getting an attitude and being rude. Being that we are in professional setting when we have this conversation I feel that one of the solutions should be that our supervisor should  take the lead by helping to provide a supportive climate. Supportive climates involve communicators who are open to one another’s ideas and feelings (O’Hair, Wiemann, Mullin, Teven 2015). Instead of getting frustrated over this issue my co-workers and I should ask more questions about why my supervisor feels this way and then try and see if anything positive can come out of this. I also feel that my supervisor should be more cooperative with us, being cooperative could benefit us both (O’Hair 2015). I feel that the age range that we work with and their developmental stages that they are at should be taken into consideration. I feel that if we use these two strategies we could both agree to disagree and come to a mutual understanding on the issue of that art of children, even though we feel that their art is whatever that they do. Most of all as professionals we should respect each other’s feelings, and professional opinions. I feel like if we did that we could have a more productive conversation on this issue. Even though the art my students create will always be master pieces to me.

 

 

Reference

O'Hair, D., Wiemann, M., Mullin, D. I., & Teven, J. (2015). Real communication (3rd. ed). New York: Bedford/St. Martin's

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Who Am I as a Communicator?

Who Am I as a Communicator?

I was really excited to take the assessments this week on communication. I was very interested to see how others would score my communication skills. My communication skills has gotten better over the years, especially when it comes to conflicts. Instead of raising my voice and talking over people, I know how to control my voice and my emotions. Although some of my scores on the aggressive scale do not reflect this. I plan to reflect more on this so I can see how I can improve on this. The purpose of communication with others is to understand what each other is saying. A well-known UCLA study found that only around 7% of the meaning of spoken communication came from words alone, 55% came from facial expression and 38% came from the way the words were said (http://www.intstudentsup.org/communicating/effective_communication/index.jsp). So as you can see a lot goes on when communicating, it’s not just about the words.

This week when taking the three assessments on communication I was very honest in scoring myself as so were my aunt Cindy and my coworker Ms. K. I choose both of these ladies to evaluate me based on y relationships with them. My aunt of course has known me since birth, my coworker on the other hand we have known each other about almost a year now. So I thought that it would be interesting to see how someone who had known me my whole life would evaluate me based on someone who has only known me almost a year but spends eight hours a day with me seven days a week. Ms. K felt that on the verbal aggressive scale that I maintained a good balance between respect and consideration of others viewpoints, in which I do agree (Rubin, Palmgreen, Sypher, 2009). Surprisingly I and my mother felt that I attack people’s positions when talking and personally attack them which is hurtful to the listener. This is true however there is no harm intended I just tend to get a little excited when talking at times and have very strong opinions.

When completing the learning styles profile all three of us were on the same accord (Rubin 2009). We all agreed that when communicating I focus on the details of the conversation and have all information before I make a response. As well as I can be empathetic when talking to others which helps to build relationships. When it came to the anxiety inventory all three of us were at odds. I felt that was comfortable with communicating in most situations and was confident in doing so. However my aunt scored my low and Ms. K scored me mild. I hope to have a discussion with the both of them about that particular part, they are both very busy women so it was very nice of them to take time out of their schedules and do this for me. We all agreed on that communication is something that I don’t really worry about unless it is in front of a crowd. One class that I have never taken is public speaking, I hope to do one day so I can face my fear of speaking in public or to large groups.

I was very surprised that all of our scores on the assessments were very similar. I expected all of them to be totally different especially my coworkers being that she hasn’t known me that long, so that was very interesting. I thought my co-worker would have graded me a little tougher especially when it came to the aggressive scale being that we sometimes disagree and have totally different teaching styles.  This week I learned that we are more willing to interact in situations where we feel we have strengths and where our self-concept is confirmed by others (O’Hair, Wiemann, Mullin, Teven p. 47). Which is so true when I am work I am more drawn to conversations about curriculum and other topics in early childhood education. Knowing this can help me at my job by allowing me to let parents and students know they are important to me, and that I respect them in every way. Knowing this can also be helpful because it reminds me to communicate with families in a manner that lets them know they have the right to offer suggestion to help make the program better. As far as my personal life I feel knowing this can help me to build better relationships when communicating.  Also while reading chapter two I learned about the Interaction appearance theory which  explains how people change their perception of someone else as they spend more time together (O’Hair p. 37). When I read this it was as if a light bulb went off in my head, I have done this so many times but never knew it was a theory that explained this. Professionally knowing this will help me to build better relationships with co-workers and parents. In my personal life I feel that knowing about this theory will help me to improve my personal relationships with family and friends by taking time to understand them as individuals. Communication is very complex and can be influenced by a number of things. Therefore Boundaries in communication should always be clear so that the information being transferred is fully understood.

                             

References

 

http://www.intstudentsup.org/communicating/effective_communication/index.jsp

O'Hair, D., Wiemann, M., Mullin, D. I., & Teven, J.  (2015). Real communication (3rd. ed). New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.  

Rubin, R. B., Palmgreen, P., & Sypher, H. E. (Eds.) (2009). Communication research measures: A sourcebook. New York: Routledge.

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