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

• At least three national/federal organizations or communities of practice that appealed to you and why you chose them
• Job opportunities (currently available or not) that interest you
• Skills and experience you would need to competently fulfill each of these roles

 
http://www.acei.org/ 

Association for Childhood education International

Their mission is to promote and support in the global community the optimal education, development, and well-being of children from birth through early adolescence with a focus on influencing the professional growth of educators.  Their vision includes the belief that every child in every nation will have access to a quality education. In this vision, education will prepare children to become responsible and engaged citizens worldwide.

I found qualifications for candidates for executive board which include: an individual who demonstrate a clear commitment to furthering the education and well-being of children worldwide and are dedicated to promoting excellence in nonprofit governance and applicants must demonstrate a commitment to ACEI’s mission and vision, demonstrate a sincere commitment to the education of children, possess broad knowledge of the field of childhood education with an understanding of global movements that impact the lives of children, represent diverse global geographic locations, represent populations that reflect ACEI’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, possess strong leadership skills, demonstrate a strong desire to promote excellence in nonprofit governance, represent a spectrum of professionals invested in children’s education and well-being, and who represent the business, financial, or legal professions, or associated professions. 

In self-evaluation of where I am personally and professionally, I would love to be involved in this organization, but I do not possess qualities of being a world traveler or much experience in public policy or economics/business side.

http://www.cec.sped.org/am/template.cfm?section=Home 

The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC)

The CEC is the largest international professional organization dedicated to improving the educational success of individuals with disabilities. CEC advocates for appropriate governmental policies, sets professional standards, provides professional development, advocates for individuals with exceptionalities, and helps professionals obtain conditions and resources necessary for effective professional practice.

I would love to be involved in this organization, but I do not have an exceptional needs education background or much experience working with exceptional needs children/families/educators.  It would be amazing to be involved with working on journals and newsletters with information on new research findings, classroom practices that work, federal legislation, and policies.  I especially love that the targeted audience is for teachers, students, parents, paraprofessionals, related support service providers.

The job position that is currently open is for an Executive Assistant, Governance Classification: Category 6E (Exempt).  This professional will be involved in evaluation of written application materials, relevant education, experience, and references.  This would be a challenging position to hold, one that I would need much guidance, mentoring and support.  I am not experienced enough in the field for this job (yet).

http://www.unicef.org/earlychildhood/index_40753.html

UNICEF- Early Childhood-Advocacy and Partnership for Early Childhood Development

UNICEF is a strong believer in partnership and collaborative action and works with a wide range of stakeholders from governments, national and international non-governmental organizations, United Nations agencies, community and local organizations and individual families.  Their partnerships in early childhood development promote wider investment in young children, the scaling up of critical programs and the broader fulfillment of children’s rights. I am especially interested in their disaster early childhood development kit that was created to strengthen the responses for young children caught in conflict or emergencies.  They employment opportunities include senior staff vacancies, short term opportunities, junior professional officers, internships and volunteering.  I think I would be best suited for volunteering at this point in my profession; however, international travel would be difficult on a long-term basis because of my family.  I have a passion for volunteering locally, but I do need to branch out to help the world community and contribute globally. 

Blog Assignment: Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

• At least three local or state organizations or communities of practice that appealed to you, and explain why you chose them
• Job opportunities (currently available or not) that interest you
• Skills and experience that you would need to competently fulfill each of these roles

NAEYC (National Association for the education of Young Children) or NC-aeyc (our North Carolina Chapter) I am currently serving as a annual state conference volunteer for our local affiliate here in North Carolina-our annual conference in this weekend.  I am striving to be more involved in NC-aeyc through opportunities of serving on the board, contributing to the set-up of our districts/county’s chapter and through other volunteering services throughout the year.  I need to become more public in serving on committees and having my name known in the community as a collaborative professional colleague.  

http://www.ncaeyc.org/ 

Another agency I work closely with is our local Partnership for Children (R & R) agency for the county in which I work.  I serve on several committees/ professional learning communities and I have provided workshops/ trainings for the community through this agency.  I would love to be more involved in the amazing work they do.  I recently applied for a position with this organization for an inclusion specialist; I obviously need more experience in early intervention. In October I will attend an state-wide early intervention conference.  This will enable me to begin delving into this world in more depth and to network with other colleagues already in this side of Early Childhood education.  

http://www.pfcjc.org/ 

The third organization in which I am interested in becoming more involved is CSEFEL (The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning).  This is an amazing learning collaborative effort that is jointly funded by the Child Care Bureau and the Head Start Bureau to provide knowledge and research surrounding children (ages birth-5) and their social/emotional growth and development.  I do not see employment opportunities in this community of practice, but I do see potential for collaboration and professional growth.  

 http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/about.html

EDUC 9660

WALDEN UNIVERSITY CAPSTONE

As the journey nears the end...

WALDEN UNIVERSITY EDUC 6990 Capstone

The journey comes to an end...

I look forward to blogging with my classmates this course.  Happy blogging!

Week 6 Blog Assignment

This week you read about the five stages of team development: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. Consider the adjourning phase for several of the groups in which you have been involved. 

Are high-performing groups hardest to leave? Groups with the clearest established norms? Which of the groups that you participated in was hardest to leave? Why? What sorts of closing rituals have you experienced or wish you had experienced? How do you imagine that you will adjourn from the group of colleagues you have formed while working on your master’s degree in this program? Why is adjourning an essential stage of teamwork?

This a very thought provoking assignment.  Personally I feel that a high-performing group is the hardest to leave.  I feel that they inspire me to be more productive and I want to maintain that feeling and contribution level as long as possible.  Closing rituals are so important for the members of a team/group.  Closure in general is vital to healthy experiences.  Most often, I experience roundtable questions/comment sessions that allow everyone to verbally close the interaction and leave with a sense of contribution of their thoughts/opinions/beliefs.  I like when the group decides to continue their work independently via internet/phone/study groups/etc.  However, those "extended" interactions from the original group work tend to fizzle out quickly without face-to-face time and strong leadership.  Ending a collaborative team experience is always difficult whether or not the goal was accomplished.  Adjourning from a group with whom you have connections to sad in ways but essential to move on.  Strong connections that were made sometimes stick after the separation, its up to all party members to maintain it.   

Week 5 Blog Assignment

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?

This conflict comes from my personal life and involves my husband and our pre-teen son.  They were involved in a conflict about use of technology and the appropriate time of day to use it.  The conversation turned violent in words when both of them refused to see the others viewpoint and were each determined to influence the other.  I was a silent listener to the conversation and used techniques to gauge nonverbal communication that was exchanged as well as determining effective communication skills both my husband and son lacked in utilizing.   After the conversation turned negative, I entered the scenario with requesting time separately with each of them.  I sat down with my son first and explained that his approach was attacking in nature and not effectively getting through to his father.  I pointed out that his viewpoint was vastly different from that of his fathers and to be successful in this debate/discussion, he needed to be an active listener, respectful to other viewpoints and most importantly, willing to compromise to reach a solution that benefits both parties.  Then I spoke with my husband and showed him the website resources from this week on conflict resolution, the 3R's and nonviolent communication.  He was very interested in the concepts and techniques.  He was open to suggestions and began to see that his son had his own valid points.  Compromise truly is the best solution in so many conflict situations.  Then I brought the two boys back together.  They took turns communicating their viewpoints with why they felt that way.  They were respectful and patient with each other.  I was SO impressed!  With my help, the successfully navigated a conflict and came to a resolution involving an agreed upon chart for cell-phone usage.  :)

Week 4 Who Am I as a Communicator?

For your blog this week, think about the similarities and differences between how you evaluated yourself as a communicator and how others evaluated you. 

What is the one thing that surprised you the most? Why? 

What other insights about communication did you gain this week? 

This was a very interesting week, an eye opening experience on how others perceptions of how I communicate are similar or different from my own.   I chose to let a professional colleague and a neighbor evaluate how I communicate. The biggest variance I found was in the level on the verbal aggressiveness scale.  

http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/2dett4d/Walden/EDUC/6165/04/mm/quiz/quiz_verbal/index.html 

I scored myself as 64 or moderate level and others scored me much higher at a 76 or significant level.  This means that I am portraying argumentativeness and attacking others positions or statements with verbal aggression.  What some call verbal aggression, I call passion.  It has been interesting to learn of their interpretation of my communication skills as aggressive.  Now I will be more aware of this and self-observant/ reflective during communication interactions both professionally and personally. Being aware of this tendency will help others feel more comfortable in communicating in not only formal, but also informal situations.   

As for the anxiety inventory and listening profile, all the scores were very similar, which validates that I am communicating well on some level.  

http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/2dett4d/Walden/EDUC/6165/04/mm/quiz/quiz_communication/index.html

http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/2dett4d/Walden/EDUC/6165/04/mm/quiz/quiz_listening/index.html