Time Well Spent

This program has taught me so much. My Bachelor's degree is not in early childhood so the classes that in this program has given me a great deal of knowledge. I have been able to learn so much about early childhood and also running an early childhood center. This program gave me a deeper understanding of diversity and cultural understanding. I also have learned the importance of networking with other professionals in the early childhood field. All of this and everything I have learned in my classes will help me to be a better professional.

My one long-term goal is to become a director of an early childhood center. I would love to open a center that only provides hourly care on an as needed basis. 

I want to thank all my colleagues and Dr. E. Everyone has been amazing in helping me to develop my project and giving me new perspectives and ideas to consider. 

My email is jennielingram@gmail.com if anyone wants to keep in contact. 

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

Teach Away is a teacher recruitment agency that places teachers in countries around the world (Teach Away, n.d.). To be a teacher in another country would be an amazing opportunity to learn about and experience different cultures and help educate children in different countries. However, you have to have your teaching license which I do not have (Teach Away, n.d.). The agency itself does have job posting for a placement coordinator. I do not have actual experience teaching abroad, but I have traveled a lot. I am energetic and have good teamwork skills. One of the preferred skills is fluent in another language which I do not have (Teach Away, n.d.). I think if I were to work for any international organization I need to learn another language.

Education International is an organization that represents other teacher and education employee organizations (Education International, n.d.). They promote "quality education, interests of teachers and other education employees, and equality in society" (Education International, n.d.). This would be a great company to help educators all around the globe provides quality services and help all children receive an education. There were no jobs listed currently, but it did list some of the qualifications needed for employment. One is knowledge of German, French, or Spanish (Education International, n.d.). I do have some knowledge of the German language and very little of Spanish, but have not used it in over ten years since high school so I would need to refresh my memory. I also would need to improve my IT abilities. I am not the best person with technology so that is one area that is a weakness.

The International Literacy Association's (ILA) "mission is to empower educators, inspire students, and encourage leaders with the resources they need to make literacy accessible for all" (International Literacy Association, n.d.). This would be a great organization to be a part of because literacy is so important. Learning to read and having access to books opens the world to children. Though there were no actual job positions posted there is a way to be involved. All the manuscripts submitted to ILA are reviewed by peers in the profession. The Reading Teacher is for "educators interested in literacy instruction for children through age 12". (Wiley Online Library, n.d.). By becoming a reviewer I can help the field and promote literacy for children across the globe.


References

Education International. (n.d.). About Education International. Retrieved from http://www.ei-ie.org/en/websections/content_detail/3247

International Literacy Association. (n.d.). About Us. Retrieved from http://www.literacyworldwide.org/about-us

Teach Away. (n.d.). About Teach Away. Retrieved from https://www.teachaway.com/about-teach-away

Wiley Online Library. (n.d.). Reading Teacher. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1936-2714/homepage/ForReferees.html

Jobs/Roles in ECE Community: National/Federal Level

The first organization is Zero To Three. This organization provides information for parents, professionals, and policy-makers about early development (Zero to Three, n.d.). One job I found was Regional field specialist. This job provides assistance and training to staff members in the region (Zero to Three, Feb 9, 2016). For this job I would need more experience in the early childhood field especially in management and training with the CLASS observation tool. I already have a knowledge of the Head Start standards, but since I have not been in the field for a few years I am sure there has been plenty of changes so I would have more to learn. I already have good writing and speaking skills and the ability to work well with others.

Another job would be working as a reviewer for Head Start agencies. I worked for two different Head Start agencies for a combined four years. I think Head Start is a great program and I would love to ensure the agencies are running effective and high-quality programs to best serve the families. This type of job would actually be through Danya International. One position available is a Comprehensive Services/School Readiness Consultant (Danya International, n.d.). Again, I need more experience in the early childhood field to be qualified. I do have the skills to work as a team as well as by myself. I am also good at observation. As a teacher I would frequently observe other classrooms to help provide suggestions to other teachers to help with their classrooms. 

I would also love to work the National Head Start Association. This organization advocates for Head Start and provides professional development services for those in the early childhood community (National Head Start Association, n.d.a). One job listed would be Partnerships Project Coordinator. This job would be working with partners of NHSA to help distribute their resources and strengthen the partnerships (National Head Start Association, n.d.b). I meet the qualifications for this position. I am hoping my husband gets orders in the next year for the D.C. area so maybe if we move there I would be able to work for them in the future.  

References

Danya International. (n.d.). Comprehensive Services/School Readiness Consultant. Retrieved from https://danya-openhire.silkroad.com/epostings/index.cfm?fuseaction=app.jobinfo&jobid=67&source=ONLINE&JobOwner=992278&company_id=17014&version=2&byBusinessUnit=NULL&bycountry=1&bystate=0&byRegion=NULL&bylocation=US&keywords=&byCat=36306&proximityCountry=&postalCode=&radiusDistance=&isKilometers=&tosearch=yes&city=

National Head Start Association. (n.d.a). About Us. Retrieved from http://www.nhsa.org/about-us/mission-vision-history 

National Head Start Association. (n.d.b) Job Posting. Retrieved from https://www.nhsa.org/files/partnerships_project_coordinator_job_description.pdf

Zero to Three (n.d.). About Us. Retrieved from http://www.zerotothree.org/about-us/?referrer=http://zerotothree.org/

Zero to Three (Feb 9, 2016). Job Posting. Retrieved from http://www.zerotothree.org/about-us/careers/jobs/regional-field-specialist-region-ix.pdf

Exploring roles in the ECE community: Local and State Level

I currently live in North Carolina. Here they have a state funded preschool program for children the year before they enter kindergarten called NC Pre-K. I was a teacher in a NC Pre-K classroom for three years, but now I would love to work in the administrative side. Where we live right now the organization that oversees the classrooms in this county is called Onslow County Partnership for Children. I would love to work for this organization to help ensure all the children are receiving a high quality education at all the centers. 

Another organization would be New Beginnings Child Care centers. I was able to observe this center during my last class, Planning and Managing an Early Child Care Center. I was very impressed with their set-up and their devotion to the well-being and safety of the children. 

I also would like to work for the NAEYC in North Carolina. This is such a great organization and so important in the early childhood field. They are making a difference at child care centers and in policies and I would love to be a part of it. 

I am not currently working or looking for a job. My husband is currently training for his third deployment and with two kids at home and a third on the way I think it is important for me to be home to provide security for them. There are many skills that I will need to work for all these organizations. I need to have the education which I am working on by completing my Master's degree. I also need to have strong organizational skills, time management, and ability to work with a diverse range of people. I work to continue to build and enhance these skills through volunteering until I decide to return to the work force.

Week 6

I worked in several different groups in different classes when I was getting my Bachelor's degree. I also have been a part of some small group discussions during trainings. The one that was the hardest to leave was my one class in college where we were a part of the group for the entire class. Almost every assignment was done as a group so we had a lot of time to get to know each other and became close. Luckily, many of these people were in the same degree program so we would still have classes together, but it was not the same as when we were working together. I can still remember one group session at a training that I was so thankful when it was over. We were split up into small groups at a training where we had to discuss and review our literature to answer some questions and then we would share with the whole group. We had one member who felt she had to disagree on every point and was very rude in her disagreements. By the end we had to just override all of her disagreements and write down what the rest of the group agreed on just in order to finish our task to share with the whole group at the the training. While we were sharing our answers she would yell out what she thought it should be. It was very embarrassing and frustrating. We could have had good discussions and learned from each other's different views and perspectives, but she was not willing to listen to other viewpoints and her manner of insisting that she was right made it difficult to listen. 

I do not think I have ever had any closing rituals in any of the groups that I was in and I am not even sure what I would consider for a closing ritual.

I think adjourning is an important stage of teamwork because it brings a closure to the group and helps to show an accomplishment. The adjourning stage from my group in my college class was when we received our final grade. This helped us see our work together had meaning and was productive. The adjourning phase for the other group during the training session was when we shared our answers for the rest of the group. It provided an ending to the discussion and allowed us to move on to the next part of the training. 

Week 5

I had an issue with a supervisor who had recently started at the center. Within her first week she had given us a list of things she wanted changed in our classroom because she said they would not pass ECCER-S even though the classroom had just passed the year before with the exact same set-up. There was no discussion involved and she did not receive our input before she gave us the list and told us we had a week to fix everything. My co-teacher and I tried to discuss the issues and explain our reasoning why we did not feel anything needed to be changed especially since there was only a month left in the school year. We were told that she was the supervisor and we were being insubordinate by questioning. I should have used the NVC skills to help me through the situation by not taking it personally. I felt that by her saying the classroom was wrong she was questioning mine and my co-teacher's abilities. I let my annoyance and frustration with this situation affect my interactions with her in the future and I never built a relationship with her. Without this relationship there was never a sense of working together and I continued to feel that any issues were a personal attack. I chose to leave this center because I always felt there was conflict. Looking back, I should have worked harder to communicate. 

Has anyone else had an issue with a supervisor? Were you able to resolve these conflicts and if so what skills did you use to accomplish this.

Week 4

My score for communication anxiety was higher than the scores from the two people who evaluated me. This one surprised me because I get very nervous talking in front of groups and leading presentations. Once I start talking I am usually able to relax, but before I always feel sick. I thought this was obvious. However one of the evaluators is a person who observes me leading presentations so I was shocked that she doesn't notice how nervous I really am. My verbal aggressiveness was very close to one evaluator and higher than another and my listening style was exactly the same as both evaluators. 

I learned through the discussion post this week how easy it is to make assumptions based on appearance. There is no way to know a person exactly just by looking at them, yet we use previous knowledge and stereotypes to form judgments. I think it is part of human nature to do this, yet we must not allow these assumptions to affect our communication. We have to be able to look beyond our first impression to learn more about people.

I also learned that we can be harder evaluators on ourselves. When I was discussing the results with a person I was surprised that they were unaware of my anxiety when talking in front of groups and she said I always appear relaxed and confident and am an excellent presenter. I thought it always showed, yet apparently not. I am not sure I will ever be able to completely relax before talking in front of people, yet it helps to know that people think I am a good presenter.