Time Well Spent

I have learned so much through my coursework at Walden University. One of the most important things that I have learned is that everything revolves around relationships. Relationships need to established, built and nurtured. We need to build relationships with children, families, colleagues, future adult students and those that you will be working with in and out of the field of early childhood. I have also learned the importance of good communication. Good communication goes hand in hand with building relationships. I understand why effective listening is as important as speaking. Passion is vital. Passion will always drive you toward meeting all of your goals. You must know and understand yourself before you can truly understand others. You can never assume that you know everything. Learning is an on-going process. There is always room for self reflection and continued growth and development.

A long-term goal is to teach adult students early childhood. I want to share my passion for teaching our youngest learners. I want to be a part of helping college students realize their goal of teaching children and hope to give them what they need in order to begin a career in early childhood. I want to go into preschool settings in order to teach in-service teachers and families.

This has been quite an 18 months. We have all worked so hard to reach this point. I have enjoyed working with all of my colleagues through discussions and blog posts. I have learned so much from all of you, gained new insights and benefitted from all of your diverse perspectives and knowledge. Dr. Darragh, thank you so much for all you have done to help us all learn so much from this course. It has been a wonderful experience. I wish everyone the best and much success in all of your future endeavors.

Favorite Quotes:

"The question of who will teach our children is as pressing at the preschool level, if not more so, than for older grades.”

By- Marcy Whitebook

“Play…The Foundation that Supports the House of Higher Learning”

By- Lisa Murphy 

“Play is the most useful tool for preparing children for the future and its tasks."

By-Bruno Bettelheim, The Importance of Play

I would love to stay in touch

Lisa Bogart

lisasbogart@gmail.com

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

The first organization that I explored was the International Step By Step Organization (ISSA). The mission of this organization is to work toward supporting communities to provide high quality care and educational services for all children from birth through the primary grades with a focus on the poorest and most disadvantaged. They strive to ensure greater inclusion of family and community participation in children’s development and learning. They want to ensure social inclusion and respect for diversity. http://www.issa.nl/index.html. ISSA’s programs and services are based on three programmatic action pillars.  Pillar 1-Access to equity of care and education for each young child, Pillar 2-Promote high quality and professionalism in providing care and education for young children and Pillar 3- empower parents and communities to participate in the support and well-being, development and learning. I could not find job opportunities but their mission and values are in-line with my passion for early childhood. There are opportunities for volunteering at their biannual conferences.

UNICEF is another organization that I researched. It is a leading humanitarian and development agency working globally for the rights of every child. Child rights begin with safe shelter, nutrition, protection from disaster and conflict and traverse the life cycle: pre-natal care for healthy births, clean water and sanitation, health care and education. UNICEF has spent nearly 70 years working to improve the lives of children and their families. UNICEF also lobbies and partners with leaders, thinkers and policy makers to help all children realize their rights, especially the most disadvantaged. http://www.unicef.org/

One job that was interesting to me was with UNICEF is for an Early Childhood Development Specialist.

·         The job will require the person to be accountable for the formulation, design, planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluation of ECD program

·         To ensure overall efficiency and effectiveness of the program management, delivery and accomplishment of program goals and objectives.

·         Accountable for supporting the creation of an enabling policy environment; promoting increased access to quality early childhood care and education (ECCE) in a variety of setting and for all ages, including infants, toddlers pre-schoolers, and school-aged children; identifying and addressing access/quality inequities in ECD in a variety of settings and for all age groups

·          Develops innovative approaches and programs to eliminate disparities and promoting strategic partnerships for ECD.

·         Collaborates across the program to ensure gender responsive ECD service provision.

·         Ensures that monitoring mechanisms are in place to track progress towards disparities reduction goals and targets in ECD.

Qualifications needed:

·         Advanced university degree (Master's) in one or more of the disciplines relevant to Early Childhood Development; or Social Sciences fields relevant to international development assistance.

·         A minimum of eight (8) years of progressively professional work experience at the national and international levels, in fields relevant to Early Childhood Development programs is required. A

·         Strong knowledge in demonstrative capacity to identify and monitor gender inequalities, as well as develop and implement gender mainstreaming in programs.

·         Work experience in a field relevant to development assistance.

·         Background/familiarity with Emergency.

·         Experience working in the UN or other international development organization is considered an asset.

·         Fluency in English (verbal and written) is required.  Knowledge of an additional UN Language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish) and local working language of the duty station are considered an asset 

The third organization that I looked into is The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), it is their mission is to promote education as a fundamental human right, to improve the quality of education and to facilitate policy dialogue, knowledge sharing and capacity building. They believe in education for all as a basic right http://www.unesco.org. This is a job opportunity that I found.

Education   OVERVIEW From time to time UNESCO employs consultants and authors who are recognized specialists or authorities  working either in an advisory or consultative capacity, or providing the skills, expertise and knowledge needed for the delivery of a specific service or product. They should possess specialist skills and knowledge not readily available within UNESCO, and for which there is a temporary, short-term need, rather than a continuing need. Consultants and authors in Education are recognized specialists or authorities in one of the following fields (please note that this list is not exhaustive): • Adult Education • Basic Education • Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in Education • Curriculum development • Early Childhood Care and Education • Education for all QUALIFICATIONS EXPERIENCE Consultants should have relevant professional experience at the national, regional and/or international level. Professional experience should be of 2 years for junior level, 5 years for i intermediate level, 10 years for senior level and over 15 for highly specialized senior consultants, in one or more of the above mentioned fields.  Significant experience working in developing countries may be required for some assignments. SKILLS/COMPETENCIES Advanced university degree. Normally excellent knowledge of English or French. Knowledge of another UNESCO’s official language (English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese or Russian) would be an advantage.

Jobs/Roles in ECE Community: National/Federal Level

I have chosen the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) http://www.naecte.org/

NAEYC strives to promote high-quality learning for young children by connecting practice, policy and research. NAEYC continually works to advance a diverse and dynamic early childhood profession and support all who care for, educate and work on behalf of young children. I chose this organization because I will continue to be a member and receive the benefits of membership. I hope to become more involved and active with the NAEYC organization as I look toward the next phase of my career in early childhood. I have attended many conferences and will continue to attend as many as I can. I look forward to continued professional development and networking through membership.

A job that I may be interested in for the future would be Conference Presenter. The website offers this information about becoming a presenter. Presenters at conferences are always needed. As my goal is to teach adults early childhood this may be a path that I choose. As a presenter, you will have the opportunity to take your thinking to a higher level...share your research and wealth of knowledge and experience a NAEYC Annual Conference & Expo! Your work in the vast field of early childhood education and child development is critical. This is your opportunity to inform and inspire your community! NAEYC is continuously seeking to attract the next generation of leaders within the early childhood field along with seasoned professionals, to create an enriching conference experience which pushes the field forward.

 In order to acquire this job, I would need to:

Submit my proposal for the conference. The proposal should reflect practical experience that is innovative, well-grounded and consistent with the principles of effective adult learning in a conference setting. I will need to submit my proposal on-line. I will need to include the following

·         Presenter contact information

·         Session purpose

·         Session title

·         Summary of the proposal

·         For research submissions only: Instead of the summary, these submissions require the stated purpose, methods, results, and implications of the research. These proposals may be accepted as regular sessions or as poster sessions.

·         Presenter qualifications

·         Room setup

·         Audiovisual equipment: NAEYC will provide a standard audiovisual equipment setup which includes a screen, an LCD projector, and stand. One table microphone or one podium mic will also be provided per session. For sessions with four or more presenters, an additional table mic will be provided.

·         Any additional AV equipment is at the presenter's expense. Laptops will not be provided-you will need to bring your own. Laptops and other equipment can be rented through our AV vendor.

Presenter registration

If your proposal is selected, you can register for the conference at the reduced presenter rate. Details about the discounted presenter fee will be e-mailed with acceptance letters.

Another national organization that I have chosen is The National Association of Early Childhood NAECTE Educators (NAECTE). http://www.naecte.org/

I have chosen this organization because it is one more avenue for early childhood educators to network, continue to grow and research what is currently happening in the field of early childhood on a national level. Their goals align with mine. I want to be a part of continually discussing educational issues, promoting professional growth, advocate for improvements in early childhood teacher education, and be a part of a forum for consideration of issues and concerns of interest to educators of early childhood teacher educators. I found one job position that was in line with my future goal of teaching adults early childhood.

A Job I found was Early Childhood Education Instructor. The skills and experience that I would need to competently fulfill this role are:

·         Plans, develops, evaluates and revises curriculum in early childhood education.

·         Prepares for teaching by developing current syllabi, examination and learning activities

·         Plans and develops instruction to be delivered in both classroom presentations and through alternate delivery formats as appropriate to student needs and subject matter requirements.

·         Creates supportive learning environment in the classroom and outside of this venue by being responsive to students'' academic needs

·         Provides for on-going assessment of curriculum implementation, applicability of field learning experiences, and progress of individual students through the program courses

Job Requirements

· Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education or Child Development from an accredited institution

· Three years of experience teaching young children (birth - age 8) in a licensed early childhood setting.

 · Experience with use of computer-based instruction

The third organization that I chose is The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) http://nieer.org/

NIEER conducts and communicates research to support high-quality, effective early childhood education for all young children. Such education enhances their physical, cognitive, and social development, and subsequent success in school and later life. NIEER provides research-based advice and assistance to policymakers, researchers and educators. I chose this organization because everything that we do and advocate for needs to be research based. As we move forward in the field of early childhood and professional development, all of our work must be evidence based through ongoing and continued research. As we have learned throughout our course work at Walden, we need to stay informed about what is being studied in our field. In order to advocate on behalf of children, families and early childhood educators, we must pay close attention to the research to support everything we do and say.

A job that I saw posted is for a data collector. The National Institute for Early Education Research is looking for Data Collectors to train to administer standard preschool evaluation measures (child assessment as well as classroom observation instruments). Positions will be available nationwide.  

Requirements:

·         Applicants should be graduate students, have a BA or be upperclassman undergraduate students with a focus on child development, early childhood, psychology or related field.

·         Knowledgeable about child development and developmentally appropriate early childhood teaching practices, teacher preferred.

·         Experience in classroom settings and/or working with children highly preferred.

·         Must be available to work 2-3x per week during data collection period; days are flexible.

·         Must be available to attend intensive, full-day trainings that vary between 2 days and a full week.

·         The successful candidate is expected to demonstrate an excellent academic record (GPA should be 3.0 or better).

·         Must have reliable transportation.

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community

The first local organization that appealed to me is the Florida Association for the Education of Young Children (FLAEYC). I chose this organization because I hope to become an active member of this organization. The mission of this organization resonated with me. As it is my hope to make a real contribution to the field of early childhood. The goal is to benefit children and families by providing leadership and professional development for early childhood professionals. FLAEYC respects and accepts all people who contribute to quality early care and education. They are diverse, collaborative and advocate for children and educate communities on quality practices so that children will lead joyful, successful and enriched childhoods. They promote leadership among its members and advocate for quality work environment for all in the profession. After obtaining my degree, I hope to contribute and make a difference by teaching those choosing to enter early childhood and continue training for those in the field already. My role in but becoming a member of FLAEYC is that it would be beneficial for networking and collaborating with other early childhood professionals in my community. I would also have a resource for staying current with developments in early childhood in Orlando www.flaeyc.org/

The Early Learning Coalition is an organization here in Orlando to provide leadership, support and guidance to make sure that the children in our community are able to receive developmentally appropriate, research-based school readiness and VPK programs giving all children the necessary skills ready to enter kindergarten. As it is my goal to be a part of professional development for pre-service and in-service teachers, the mission of this organization resonates with my career goals in early childhood. I was not able to find job opportunities on the website but I did find a tab for volunteer opportunities. As I want to make a real difference in early childhood in my community, I would be very interested in helping in any area that I could.

http://elcoforangecounty.org/

Seminole State College is a community of practice. I look toward a future position at this school. Seminole State College has a strong Early Childhood Department. It is committed to delivering a curriculum tied to development and research-based ideas, which are proven to be best practices in the field. Faculty members are committed to serving as role models for students, emphasizing the core values of respect, integrity, excellence, knowledge and academic freedom to prepare students for professional success. https://www.seminolestate.edu/early-childhood/. A job opportunity currently available that I am interested in at SSC is Adjunct Professor in the Early Childhood Department. After obtaining my degree at Walden, I hope to be able to play a role in the SSC community of practice. The skills, knowledge and abilities required for this position are:

·         Master’s Degree in Education or closely related field

·         A personal and professional commitment to creating an atmosphere of quality instruction

·         Ability to use technology and innovative pedagogy to enhance teaching and learning

·         Understanding of and commitment to working with a diverse student population in a multicultural environment

·         Ability to communicate well, both orally and in writing

Thank You

Thank you Dr. Hampshire and all of my colleagues,this course has been very informative and interesting. I think we all are thinking about communication in a whole new way. To everyone that is not moving on to Teaching Adults, it has been a pleasure working with you. To those moving on to Teaching Adults, I hope to see you soon!

Best of luck to everyone

Adjourning

In high-performance groups, you will probably have the hardest time leaving because these are the groups in which strong relationships and bonds are formed. Trust has been built and established. In these groups, you feel like a valued part of the team and will take pride in the work and accomplishments of the team. You would probably feel sad to leave this group. You will miss the time spent with the members of the group.

Groups with the clearest established norms are probably very hard to leave because in this stage you are really a well oiled machine. It has begun to feel very comfortable and there is a true group identity. Leaving this group may be difficult as you will feel a loss of that group and miss it.

It was very hard to leave my Leadership Training Group developed at the preschool where I work now. We met as a group once a month for two years. Everyone in the group bonded and became friends. We worked together so well as a group, it was hard to believe that after the two years were up, the group would be disbanded and this group of employees would never function in this capacity ever again.

When my children were small, I worked in a group of volunteer moms that met and organized to form a team that would go into the kindergarten classrooms for an enrichment science class. We were not the first group to ever participate in this program but the group of women that participated with lasted for one year with the same women. This group was very hard to leave. We became very close and worked extremely well together. Each member of the group loved the experience. We all worked really hard to keep the program running smoothly while our children were in Kindergarten.

There were rituals attached to the first group. We all went out for a closing lunch together and were all presented with a certificate of completion. At this lunch we were able to discuss the program. We talked about what went well, not so well and we were given the opportunity to have input on the direction of the group for the next group to partake in the program.

There was only one ritual in the second group. As a group, we met with the incoming moms to pass the torch. We had the opportunity to share our experiences with the new moms. We told them what went well and what future improvement could be made. As my family just moved to Orlando, it was a great opportunity to meet moms in my child’s grade. It gave me the opportunity to participate in an area that was a real strength of mine. I loved going into the classrooms to work with children and do science. The best part of the experience was making new friends for my kindergartener and me.

I have met wonderful women in my experience at Walden. We have had the opportunity to share insights, share experiences and build on each other’s knowledge. I have enjoyed having the opportunity to work with a community of people with the same passion for early childhood education. I hope to keep in touch with colleagues through email and blog posts. With each passing course, I look forward to the student lounge introductions to see familiar names. I know that some of us will be separated as we enter the focus part of our degree. One thing that I have done is to keep the blog links of previous classmates. I continue to read their blogs and will continue to comment on them.

Adjourning gives closure to a group experience. It allows for the opportunity to see what went well and what can be improved upon for the next time. Through termination rituals it allows members of a group to get together one last time. It is the culmination of good teamwork.

Disagreements and Conflicts

As the school year is just about to begin and camp is about to end, there are a lot of decisions to be made about the upcoming school year. Seemingly simple decisions and ideas about our classroom and how it will look for our new group of children. My teaching partner and I have had a few disagreements about room arrangement and classroom decorating. These appear to be very minor disagreements but they are just disagreements right now that we do not want to fester, become conflict and hurt our communication and eventually our working relationship.

There are many new strategies in which I am employing to help defuse the situation and help my partner and I communicate more efficiently in order to come up with solutions that will meet both of our needs and allow us to both feel good about the situation and each other.

Compromising is a great strategy for us as we find “middle ground” between our two opposing positions. We can both agree to give up a little bit of what we want to order to come to an understanding (O'Hair, Wiemann, Mullin, & Teven, 2015). 

We could also use a collaborative style. If I pick something out that I want for our room and my assistant says that she does not like it. I see her choice and do not like it, we can collaborate and keep looking until we find something that we both can live with and something that we mutually agree on together (O'Hair, Wiemann, Mullin, & Teven, 2015). 

The 3r’s will help us to resolve our conflict. The three principles are respect, response and relationship. My assistant and I must show mutual respect for each other as we work with each other every day. We will have a stronger relationship, if we are able to communicate. Room arrangement and decorating are small issues in the larger picture but if we cannot communicate to resolve these issues it will reveal much larger issues and breakdowns in communication. We need to work as a team for our children, colleagues and families. We need to be responsive to each other. We must each be aware of our verbal and nonverbal cues. When communicating we must be mindful and in the moment. Lastly, it always comes down to a good relationship. If we have a strong relationship we will be much more successful. If we are able to model a healthy relationship, it will benefit our entire class.  

I did not have an opportunity to speak this week with any colleagues about effective communication strategies but I did share this assignment with my husband who is a Manager of Engineering. He had many insights on conflict resolution and communication that he uses with his employees and colleagues. Here are some of his strategies:

·         Learn to listen

·         Not talk over and interrupt

·         Understand fully where they are coming from and their thought process

·         Allow them to express their ideas

·         Let them develop their ideas and ask questions

·         Treat with respect

·         Understand their perspective

·         Understand my perspective

·         Their way of thinking may not have been thoroughly thought out, give my insights on the missing pieces

We have had many interesting conversations about effective communication over the past five weeks. These new skills that we are all learning and practicing will benefit us both professionally and personally.

Reference

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