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

3 National or Federal Organizations:

1.NAEYC or The National Association for the Education of Young Children is a national organization that supports the development of young children. http://www.naeyc.org/ According to the NAEYC website their mission is to serve and act on behalf of the needs, rights and well-being of all young children with primary focus on the provision of educational and developmental services and resources. This is an organization that I have worked with in the past and I am considering becoming a member of NAEYC. One of the helpful resources that I have utilized in the past in their publications. 

2. National Education Association- http://www.nea.org/home/18163.htm This is an organization that also supports the growth and development of young children. According to their website their mission is to "The National Education Association (NEA), the nation's largest professional employee organization, is committed to advancing the cause of public education" This organization works more closely with the Federal government than NAEYC does.

3. Help Me Grow is another national organization that supports children and families http://www.helpmegrownational.org/ Help Me Grow provides a plethora of resources for families of young children. It is through these resources that families are given opportunities. Their mission is to "The mission of the Help Me Grow National Center is to enable and support the building of HMG systems across the country so that states can implement effective, universal, early surveillance and screening for all children and link those at risk for developmental and behavioral problems to appropriate programs and services."

Job Opportunities:

1. Senior Director for NAEYC

2. Child Advocate

3.National Head Start

Skills/Experience needed for these jobs:

Each of the jobs mentioned above would require a person with extensive knowledge about early childhood development. Good interpersonal skills are also required for these jobs because each of these jobs requires the individual to work with other adults and children as well. Adequate written and oral communication are also skills that should be possessed for the job.

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

3 local resources:

Help Me Grow: Though I do not know much about this organization it is one that I would be interested in becoming more involved with. Their website describes what they do as being “The Help Me Grow program is designed to ensure Ohio’s children receive a healthy birth and the resources to warrant a healthy and productive start in life.” I believe that this organization is one that provides positive resources to children and families. 

Ohio Guidestones: Ohio Guidestones is an organization in central Ohio that advocates for children and families. On their website they state their mission as being “built on a solid foundation of experience and expertise, rooted in faith and a legacy of serving children and families. Our range of flexible, customized programs build upon one another so they address every aspect of a person’s needs. We’re a solutions-focused organization with passionate people committed to providing direction and inspiration to children, families and communities to help them become stronger.” This is an organization that I just recently found out about and it is one that I would be interested in becoming involved with or potentially work for. I believe in the mission of what they are doing to help children and families. 

OAEYC: This organization is the Ohio chapter for the National Association for the Education of Young Children. I currently live in Ohio and this organization is one that I have used as a resource in my work with young children. NAEYC has strong roots in early childhood field and is an organization that I have found to be a very useful resource in the past in my work with children. 

Jobs I’d be interested in pursuing:

-Clinical Assistant- This position is one that I would be interested to have as a job. This is a position I found online and it is a position for Cincinnati Children’s. The job responsibilities surrounding this job included developing developmentally appropriate activities and material for children and families.  The purpose of this job is to help children keep from falling behind during their stay in the hospital. One thing that interests me about this job is the fact that I have a younger brother who was born with special needs and this job would give me the opportunity to help children who are in the hospital like he was. 

-Youth Director- This job is one that would be at a YMCA. I believe that this would be a good job that I would like to pursue because it is a job that would help troubled youth. My hope is that at this job I would be benefit to children and families. 

-Parent Mentor- I recently found out about this job in the area where I live. This job is for Ohio Guidestone which is one of the organizations mentioned above. This is a job that would require me to work with parents and families guiding them through the growth and development of children. 

For each of these jobs I would be required to have a level of patience and understanding with both the families and the children. I would also be required to have knowledge of the growth and development of young children.

Thank you

I would like to thank all of my colleagues that I have had the privilege of working with this semester. I have learned many things about each of you and I have learned some things about myself too. I appreciate the support and collaboration that I have had with each of you. I wish you all luck on your future classes.

Team Building and Collaboration

I guess one group that I would consider hard to leave was my graduating class in High School. Though I had some rough times in High School, I look back and think fondly of many of the memories. I consider this a group and even to some extent a team development because of all of the different challenges we faced as a group. My senior class has some particular struggles because of some scandalous information that came about our senior year. Our class faced these challenges and actually became more united as a result of them. We even lost our class adviser because of some information that came to the surface and we were all devastated by this.

Like any Senior Class in High School, my class had rituals. We went on a Senior Trip, everyone had senior parties and of course we had Graduation as a final farewell. I think my Senior Class was one of the hardest groups to leave because It wasn't just saying goodbye to a group of people, it was also completely ending a chapter in my life and beginning a new one. Leaving my coworkers at one job to start a new job produced similar feelings to those that I experienced finishing High School, but they were different because the amount of time that had elapsed was different and therefore my feelings were strong, but not so emotionally invested as they had been with my classmates.  I think saying goodbye to my Colleagues after this Master's Degree program will be somewhat similar to saying goodbye to my High School classmates, but it will also be different.

My eyes have really been open to a whole new viewpoint of working as a group and team development. I have gained a lot of insight and I have a new perspective about it. I reflected on different groups of people that I worked with throughout my life. I think if nothing else, it has given me an appreciation for working in a group. The Five Stages of Team Development are something that I will always keep in the back of my mind when working in a group.

Nonviolent Communication and Conflict Management

• Think about any disagreements, or conflicts, you have recently experienced or are currently experiencing at work with a supervisor or colleague, or someone in your personal life. Share at least two strategies you have learned about that might help you manage or resolve the conflict more productively, and why these strategies might be effective. For example, could you suggest a compromise? Could you look for a broader range of solutions to your disagreement? Could you use some of the principles of nonviolent communication or the 3 R's to better help you resolve this conflict? I have recently been having some squabbles with  a friend of mine. He is actually an ex-boyfriend who I have stayed very close friends with. We had some communication issues before we broke up and we have been working on solving these issues. Though we are closer to where we need to be, we are not quite there yet. Our two biggest issues is I don't like to open up for fear of rejection and he has a short temper. Sometimes we will be trying to communicate and my lack of wanting to open up will upset him and make him lose his temper, making me shut down and retreat even more, which then makes him more upset and he starts yelling, calling me names and get volatile. One of our most recent disagreements is the fact that he always wants to talk on the phone and I don't like talking on the phone. Sometimes I feel trapped when we are talking on the phone because that is when he gets upset with me. I would rather talk in person or text message each other. One strategy for me would be to possibly compromise and agree to talk on the phone, but maybe I could agree to do this and then if things escalate to a place where I am not comfortable, I can tell him we need to get off the phone and if he does not listen then I will just hang up the phone. The other strategy I would consider trying would be for us to possibly write things down before we come to each other to talk about them. Sometimes I literally need to visual and see what I want to say before I can actually say it to another person. I also think this would help because he and I tend to interrupt one another a lot. We have both acknowledged that this is a problem, but we have not really been able to figure out how to solve it yet. I think implementing the principles or nonviolent communication or the 3 r's would definitely help our situation. I specifically think the 3 r's could help us and would help.
  
• Also, if appropriate, ask your colleagues for their input and advice regarding, if not specific problems, how they have learned to be more effective communicators as it relates to conflict resolution skills. I would be more than happy to hear any advice offered by colleagues. One of the more important lessons I've learned so far in this class is the fact that everyone communicates differently. I've also learned that our experiences certainly effect how we communicate. As a result of this, I realize the importance of making compromises to communicate more effectively.

Who am I as a Communicator?

This course has truly been one of self-reflection for me. I think everyone wants to believe that they are excellent communicators, but in reality each an every person has an area of communication that could use a little work. I have re-evaluated how I communicate and ways that I can be doing it better.

I used to always believe that I was a decent communicator and that if I had an issue I was able to confront people about it. Growing up I felt confident saying how I felt and approaching other people. My parents often discouraged this in me. They also led me to believe, through their behavior and words, that the things had to say were not important. So, to some extent I just stopped speaking altogether, since clearly it did not matter. Due to a relationship that became somewhat verbally abusive, where I was on the receiving end, I believe that this greatly affect how I communicate. I have become less comfortable communicating with others and I have become anxious about talking to people because I am afraid to upset people.

The older I have gotten, written forms of communication are the primary form of communication that I feel the most comfortable using. Sometimes leaving a note, or sending and an email or letter are easier for me to sort out my thoughts and I feel more comfortable communicating through that.

A friend of mine pointed out to me that I 'bottle everything up inside' and I need to learn to talk. I tried explaining to him my fears of talking and he told me that I needed to get over and let things go. Though I agree with him to an extent, this is much much easier said than done. You cannot just 'let things go' always. Some hurt takes a very long time to heal.

The two things that I have learned this week are:

1. I need to work on becoming more confident in my communication. It is not healthy for me to always be a good listener, but never have other people pay attention to me. 

2. Sometimes, in communication, compromises are necessary. I may not feel comfortable communicating in person, but other people may need to communicate that way. So, somehow we would need to come to an agreement about how to best communicate to meet each others needs.

Communicating with People from Different Cultures and People Groups

• Do you find yourself communicating differently with people from different groups and cultures? I feel like there are certain times that I do communicate differently with people from different groups and cultures.
• If yes, in what ways do you communicate differently?Some of this I think is because of Cultural Myopia and some of it I think is just a natural part of communicating. I find that sometimes language barriers create differences in how I communicate with different people groups and cultures.  In the discussion board for this week, I explained the details of a story that I experienced where communication was difficult: " There have been times in my life where I have been less sensitive than I should have been to immigrants who have moved here that do not speak English. I had an attitude that, they came here so they should learn English. In time, I have come to understand that it is not right of me to have this attitude. Another thing that I have struggled with is other differences in culture. I worked at an hourly drop off service in a medical building for a few years. There were times when, not only would the language barrier cause difficulties, but so would the behavior of the children. There is a specific time that I remember where a mother and her sister were dropping off three children. The mother spoke very little English and the little boy, who was four, tried to help translate for us, but he was a little bit confused as well. The women left and I engaged the child and tried to play with him. The little boy was a little bit apprehensive at first, but as his time in my care progressed, he became very aggressive. He called me the B word and kicked me. I used what I know about early childhood development to try to gently correct his behavior and he spit in my face. It got to the point where I finally needed to locate the mother because the situation was getting out of hand and causing issues for the other children in my care. When the mother returned she would not look the little boy in the eye and did not say anything to me. The liaison who helped the mother that day and was actually a translated for her stopped later that day to discuss the situation. She explained to me that culturally the men, even the youngest of men, are dominant over women, which is why he kept calling me the B word and his mother would not look him in the eye. She told me that next time if I needed help she could assist me.  I was trying to be helpful and understanding, but this particular situation caused a lot of frustration for me. I do not set unrealistic expectations for children, but respect is one that I do have." I learned a lot from this experience and it has helped improve my communication with different people groups since then.I have learned ways to become more understanding toward others and also to adapt communication.

3 Strategies

1. One strategy that I would use to improve my communication with people from different groups and cultures would be to implement The Platinum Rule. Imagining what it must feel like to be the other person would be an effective way to increase my understanding and sensitivity toward them.
2. Find different ways to communicate other than verbal. There may be times when written communication may be more suitable than verbal communication.
3. My third strategy for improving my communication would be to think back to past experiences with the same issue. I need to let my experiences...negative and positive, make me a better person.