My Supports

Currently, the factors that exist in my daily environments that are supportive to me are: 

Technology- My computer and cell phone. These two items keep me connected to my staff, my family, my children’s school, their grades, news, Walden, etc. We are in this age of technology where so many tools, businesses and people are connected that if you took it away now, many would have a hard time communicating and businesses will issues operating.

My immediate family (my husband and kids)- This group supports me in so many ways. Two weeks ago I had my ACL replaced. This has created a lot of changes. They have all helped out in so many ways. My husband is only operating off 3 hours of sleep while working 3rd shift and dropping off and picking the kids up from school daily. I am so appreciative of them, I do not know how I would make it without them in my life.

My career is another factor- My career supports my giving me the funding to provide for me and my family. Without my job, I would not be able to provide for my family.

School Staff- My staff is very supportive. Each member offers her unique support. Currently, I am off work recovering from surgery and the staff is doing what they need to make sure the building is running smoothly.

My New Challenge:

Since I’ve been off work, I have really been thinking about starting a business. Supports that I need:

Other businesses-I would need businesses to utilize my services and help market my idea

My family-I would need my family to support the idea and support me as I do all the leg work to implement the idea

Funding- This  is the key support in making this happen. So either through grants or private funding.

Technology-Technology will help with marketing and funding.

Education-My background in the field helps make the business more credible and gives me the insight what services to provide. 

 

My Connections to Play

Quotes that represent play in my childhood:

Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn.                                                                                                                     -O. Fred Donaldson- Contemporary American martial arts master

When we treat children’s play as seriously as it deserves, we are helping them feel the joy that’s to be found in the creative spirit. It’s the things we play with and the people who help us play that make a great difference in our lives.
-Fred Rogers

Important items of play from my childhood:

Our family had two huge mulberry trees in our yard. We would often go outside pick them and eat them as well as put them in our famous mud pies that we would sell to other kids in the neighborhood.

Our mother and grandmother supported our play by encouraging us (sometimes very sternly) to play outside. We were not allowed to just sit in the house all day. They believed that children should be active and should spend most of their time outside playing. They bought us toys and allowed us to use their old cooking utensils (pans, spoons, lids, etc.) to cook outside. Our neighborhood was full of kids and throughout the year (even during the cold winter months) you would see us outside.

Because of  my childhood play experiences and my professional insight about play, my husband and I support our children to play both inside and outside. You will see my children building forts out of pillows, trying to build a tent with sheets, being a super hero, building things with old cardboard boxes, etc. They enjoy outside and have spent much of the winter outside playing in the snow attempting to build them an igloo. For my family their play experiences are very similar to mine.

My attitude of “let’s try it and see if it works” is credited to my play experiences. We would always try to do some sort of trick with double dutch and if it didn’t work out we would try something else. I bring that same attitude into my work and know that I can always start over.

 

 

 

 

Relationship Reflection

A relationship is described as an emotional or other connection between people (dictionary.com). Relationships are important to me because they provide a circle of support. This support can come through physical support, emotional support or spiritual support.

Although I have many relationships with people however the relationships that are near and dear to my heart are the relationships with my immediate family, my friend Carolyn and my friend Quandra.

This is my family. My husband provides support in all areas. His motivating words continue to help me moving forward toward my goals and aspirations. My four children keep me grounded and bring lots of laughter into my life. Each relationship I have with my immediate family members is unique and special.

Quandra and Carolyn are my colleagues and friends. We support each other both in and out of work.

These relationships were built on honesty and simply loving each other unconditionally (“just because of” and “no matter what” we love each other).

Challenges that I have notice with building relationships is time. It takes time to build a relationships and many people, these days, are very short on time.

These relationships will help me with building partnerships with families because I know how much effort it takes into building and fostering relationships.

Time Well Spent

Three learnings that I would like to share as a result of completing this project are:

I have become connected to my passion of serving young children and their families. In this economy having affordable childcare and access to free preschool programs is important and I really want to inform families about their options.

Learning about me as a leader was very infromative. I have learned that my leadership style is not static but changes depending on the situation.

The final learning that I would like to share is about the unintended consequence as a result of my actions. While weighing the unintended consequences of my final project, I realized that everything I do will as it pertains to early childhood will have consequences that were unintentional. This means that moving forward I will have to be mindful and weigh the options of my projects.

One of my long term goals is to direct an international early childhood program that provides services and support to all families in need despite socio-economic status.

Thank you to Dr. Teri Davis for all of your support and guidance in this course. This course was practical and informational and I have already begun to implement my project. Thank you classmates for your insight, suggestions and support. I wish everyone the best of luck and my you recieve all that you ask for.

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

Three National organizations that instrests me are: Pew Charitable Trusts, National Black Child Development Institute, and the International Child Resource Institute.

Pew Charitable Trusts ( http://www.pewstates.org/projects/328067/the-latest/service?p=3 ) is of interest because of their work and research on PreK Now.  They are advocating for public educational reform by changing from K-12 to PreK- 12. They have open positions in the Washington DC and Philadelphia areas. I would like to work as an early childhood educational consultant on promoting Universal PreK, if the at position ever exists.

The International Child Resource Institute ( http://www.icrichild.org/our-vision/ )  is of interest since they focus on early childhood women and children. This organization has projects around the world. I would like to volunteer in Zimbabwe. I am interested in helping  young women who have endured sexual assault or abuse, and young women who are HIV-positive.

The National Black Child Development Institute’s ( http://www.nbcdi.org/who-we-are/who-we-are ) mission is to improve and advance the quality of life for Black children and their families through education and advocacy. It has been in existence since 1970 and provides resources in areas such as Health and Wellness; Early Childhood Development and Education; Elementary and Secondary Education; Literacy; Child Welfare; and Family Engagement. I would like to be on their research team to provide support in these areas.

Exploring Roles- Local and State Levels

Three of the organizations that looked into for this assignment are the Great Start Collaborative, the Build Project, and the Head Start Collaboration Office.
I chose the Great Start Collaborative because this organization offers a voice to the field of the Early Childhood. The Collaborative attacks issues at our state level hoping to make systematic change.
The Build Project was chosen because of its 9 state collaboration.
The Head Start Collaboration Office was chosen because it build early childhood systems and access to comprehensive services and support for all low-income children; encourage widespread collaboration between Head Start and other appropriate programs, services, and initiatives; and to augment Head Start’s capacity to be a partner in State initiatives on behalf of children and their families including the involvement of Head Start in State policies, plans, processes, and decisions affecting the Head Start target population and other low-income families HISTORY: Federal funding for HSSCO was put into place in 1990 with Michigan receiving its first grant (Michigan.gov, 2011).
I did not see any positions open however, in all of the organizations, I would like to become an educational coordinator which brings other organizations together to become a true community of practice. Each of us will work towards goals the help us become a community of practice.
Communication skills are a must since I will work with other organizations. I would also get in depth information about each organization so that I would know how to work each organization.

Thank You Classmates

Classmates,

I just want to take this opportunity to thank all you for your insight and valued comments. Your comments have helped me understand many of the communication skills needed as we work with young children and their families. I have learned that we share many of the same experiences and challenges as it relates to communicating in the early childhood field. I wish all of you well as we move to our next project. Many of us will meet again in our next set of classes. Once again thank you and I wish you much success on your next project.

Stage 5: Adjourning

The adjourning stage of team development is when the project is coming to an end and team members are moving on to other endeavors (Abudi, 2010). The groups that I have been involved in are my 20th class reunion committee and my summer school. The group that was hardest to leave is my class reunion committee. We met for the past two years doing fundraisers as well as planning. Our families became close. The relationships were real and sincere and we all were familiar with each other since we were in high school together. This is also the group that had the most clear goals established. We had specific tasks and we worked toward accomplishing those tasks together. The summer school committee also had clear goals and tasks along with specific assignments. This group was distant and I felt we did not connect as a group. Whether our planning and implementation efforts were successful won’t be determined until assessment scores are released once school begins in the fall.

Our summer school committee has not met to close everything. The adjourning session will simply be a discussion of challenges and successes and a gathering of data. Our reunion committee ended with a dinner at a restaurant where we were given reports on our ending financial balance, hits/misses of the reunion and personal reviews of  funny moments. It was great hearing what everyone else has lined up as well as receiving invitations to join them.

I imagine that our group will adjourn with online goodbyes and postings to our blogs. We will have opportunities to respond and comment. Some of us may even attend the graduation ceremonies and will be able to meet and connect there.

Adjourning is important because it is an opportunity to review best practices for future use as well as learn valuable lessons in areas that were challenges. It also gives you an opportunity to say good-bye to those whom you’ve worked with for sometime on the project.

Reference: 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

 

Who am I as a Communicator

This week we were tasked to inventory ourselves using a variety of communication assessments as well as have two others assess us on the same areas in communcation. One insight that surprised me is with the verbal aggressiveness scale. My self- assessment showed that I had a  significant level of aggressiveness. I felt that I must have answered the questions based on how I felt not on what I actually do. This thinking was confirmed when my colleague and sister returned their assessments. I was at a moderate level according to my colleague and at a low level according to my sister. Another insight was how my colleague and sister rated me as having low communication anxiety. I am very nervous when speaking in groups but that nervousness is not picked up by others which is good. This assignment was helpful in making me aware of who I am as a communicator and picking out areas of improvement.

Cultural Communication

From the learning this week, three strategies that will help me to communicate with the groups I identify with are:

Looking at a family’s behavior from their point of view (Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2010). 50 strategies for communicating and working with diverse families. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc)- What a family does may not line up with my beliefs or what I know about children through research and best practices so when I look at the behavior from the view of the family, I will get a better understanding of the “why”.

Try to withhold judgement until I get a deeper understanding (Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2010). 50 strategies for communicating and working with diverse families. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc)- When I observe the behavior of a family such as having a child not speak until spoken to, I  first have to understand  their thinking instead of judging them for such strict restrictions on their children.

Become aware of the nonverbal behaviors and know that one size does not fit all (Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2010). 50 strategies for communicating and working with diverse families. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc)-understanding what certain nonverbal gestures mean does not always mean the same for an individual or group. It is very important to understand those gestures not only generally but individually.

Notice my own patterns of nonverbal communication (Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2010). 50 strategies for communicating and working with diverse families. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc)- I also have to be conscious of the types of nonverbal communication I display as well. Those who know me understand that what it means when I raise my eyebrows or relax my face to look serious while others who are not familiar may not understand and may take offense or get confused.