Time Well Spent

This program has been beyond insightful, making it difficult for me to narrow down my learnings to three most influential. With deep thought I was able to pick three that will remain at the forefront of my mind.

o    Advocacy is the responsibility of all and essential for change

o    All great leaders inspire others to exceed expectations and to go places they would not typically go

o    Self-reflection is essential to eliminating hidden biases and providing responsive programming.

The degree program has both informed and inspired me beyond my wildest dreams. As a result, I have the following goals.

• To spread awareness and educate future child development specialists, parents, and the community on the diverse needs of military children and families.
•  To align my efforts with and learn from organizations who are already successfully advocating and bringing policy to reality
• To continue my path of professional and academic growth and development and to use my experiences and education to inspire and inform others.

Farwell:

Words can express my gratitude for the support I received from all my classmates and instructors as we worked together and formed a community of learning throughout the degree program. Each in one way or another as been influential in my success and all worthy of my acknowledgment. May your future be bright, prosperous, and blessed.

'To cope with a changing world, ant entity must develop the capacity of shifting and changing - of developing new skills and attitudes; in short, the capability of learning.'
A De Gues, The Living Company

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

THE CHILDREN’S DEFENSE FUND

·         The Children’s Defense Fund Leave No Child Behind^® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. CDF provides a strong, effective and independent voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and encourages preventive investments before they get sick, drop out of school, get into trouble or suffer family breakdown. ( (Children's Defense Fund, 2012) 

·         I specifically chose this site as for their global reach and dedication to prevention and education. There were no employment opportunities that were of interest to me or that I was qualified for, however there were six listed on the website, not related to the field of early childhood.

UNICEF

·         UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to establish children's rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behavior towards children. UNICEF insists that the survival, protection and development of children are universal development imperatives that are integral to human progress. (UNICEF, 2012) 

·         This organization is of specific interest for diverse areas of interest and work. There were multiple positions open but none of interest to me or that I would qualify for.

SAVE THE CHILDREN

·         Save the Children is the leading independent organization creating lasting change in the lives of children in need in the United States and around the world. Recognized for our commitment to accountability, innovation and collaboration, our work takes us into the heart of communities, where we help children and families help themselves. We work with other organizations, governments, non-profits and a variety of local partners while maintaining our own independence without political agenda or religious orientation. When disaster strikes around the world, Save the Children is there to save lives with food, medical care and education and remains to help communities rebuild through long-term recovery programs. As quickly and as effectively as Save the Children responds to tsunamis and civil conflict, it works to resolve the ongoing struggles children face every day — poverty, hunger, illiteracy and disease — and replaces them with hope for the future (Save the Children, 2012) 

·         This site was of specific interest because of their work to maintain independence and their effort for global reach. There were no positions listed in my career field or with my qualifications.

REFERENCES

Children's Defense Fund. (2012). About Us. Retrieved March 9, 2011, from Children's Defense Fund: http://www.childrensdefense.org/about-us/

Save the Children. (2012, April 7). About Us. Retrieved from Save the Children: http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6146405/k.C7E9/About_Us.htm

UNICEF. (2012, April 6). UNICEF Mission Statement. Retrieved from UNICEF: http://www.unicef.org/about/who/index_mission.html

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

Zero to Three  is “… a national, nonprofit organization that informs, trains, and supports professionals, policymakers, and parents in their efforts to improve the lives of infants and toddlers” (ZERO TO THREE: National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families, 2012). Zero to Three provides a plethora of information for military families and the professionals that work with them, on topics such as deployments, separations, and frequent moves.

• No current job opportunities were posted but in researching the site, an interesting job would be a Board Member. All of the board members had a MS or higher in Early Childhood or related field, and extensive experiences in working with children families and other early child development specialists.

National Military Family Association: The Military Family Organization is supports military children and families by advocating for the rights and providing information on how to support military children.

•  No current job opportunities were posted, but in researching the site, an interesting job would        be Youth Initiatives Director. No information was available on the education and experiences of the directors, but I would imagine that the requirements would be a minimum of a PhD in early childhood or a related field and extensive experience in working with children, parents and early childhood professionals, as well as experience in running large organizations.

National Association for the Education of Young Children  (NAEYC) sets standards for early childhood educators to provide quality care, nationwide. NAEYC provides accreditation for programs that meet and exceed the standards for quality of care. Military child development centers are NAEYC accredited, as part of the endeavor to provide high quality care and support the military mission.                                            

• The site listed several jobs, none of which I was would be interested in, however the minimal requirements were a BS or higher in a field related to the job and prior experience. Being accredited through NAEYC I would like to be an Asser of Child Development Centers, ensuring that all children receive high quality care.  

References

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2012). NAEYC Jobs. Retrieved February 8, 2011, from NAEYC: http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/diversity.pdf

National Military Family Association. (2012). Issues & Actions 2012. Retrieved March 18, 2012, from militaryfamily.org: http://www.militaryfamily.org/assets/pdf/vsr/2012-Issues-and-Actions-1.pdf

ZERO TO THREE: National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families. (2012). Coming Together Around Military Families. Retrieved March 18, 2012, from ZERO TO THREE: National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families: http://www.zerotothree.org/about-us/funded-projects/military-families/

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

The three organizations listed below are communities of practices, as they are groups of people who share a passion for early childhood education and are working together towards ensuring all children have access to high quality learning experiences.  I chose to explore local, state, and global community of practices in the field of early childhood that are proactive in supporting high quality early learning experiences. The Florida Department of Children and Families and the Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough County collaborate in providing Florida children the opportunity to attend the Voluntary Prekindergarten Program, funded by the state of Florida, which ensures school readiness. The Military Child and Youth Flight is responsible for providing high quality learning experiences for military children all over the world.

~ Florida Department of Children and Families/Florida Department of Education (STATE)

http://www.dcf.state.fl.us/programs/childcare/    http://www.fldoe.org/earlylearning/

No current jobs were listed, but potential career of interest would be a childcare licensing agent, Educational Policy Consultant, and Program Assistant.

~ Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough County (LOCAL)

http://www.elchc.org/

        No current  Jobs  were listed but a job of interst would be VPK Program Specialist:

Skills and Experience: MS in Early Childhood or equivalent and extensive knowledge of Florida’s VPK Standards and Program

~ Military Child and Youth Flight (GLOBAL)

http://www.usajobs.gov/JobSearch/Search/GetRefineControlResults?Keyword=1701&Location=&SelectedRadiusOption=20&search=Search%21

Employment opportunities can include: Child Development Center Director,  Child Development Training and Curriculum Specialist, Child Development Assistant Director, Flight Chief

Skills and experiences needed: For Child Development Training and Curriculum Specialist a 4 year degree in child development or early childhood education. For Child Development Director and Assistant Director, a 4 year degree in child development, early childhood education, home economics (early childhood emphasis), elementary education, special education, or other fields appropriate to the position to be filled. A combination of experience and education can be considered.

References:

DCF. (2012). Child, Youth and Families. Retrieved March 10, 2012, from Florida Department of Children and Families: http://www.dcf.state.fl.us/programs/childcare/

Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough County. (2012). Retrieved March 10, 2012, from Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough County: http://www.elchc.org/

Early Learning/Prekindergarten. (2012). Retrieved March 10, 2012, from Florida Department of Education: http://www.fldoe.org/earlyLearning/

United States Office of Personnel Management. (2012). Retrieved March 12, 2012, from USAJOBS: http://www.usajobs.gov/JobSearch/Search/GetRefineControlResults?Keyword=1701&Location=&SelectedRadiusOption=20&search=Search%21

"Parting is such sweet sorrow..." Shakespear. The end to our general courses:

It is hard to believe that we are at the end of time together and will now be moving into our specializations. Peer interaction and communication is valuable and an excellent resource. I have truly enjoyed reading everyone's blogs and discussion posts, as well the responses to mine. Good luck to all of you in your future courses and I hope through our blogs we will continue to stay in touch!

v/r
Sondi

Adjourning Groups

For me, hi-performing groups are the hardest to leave, but I also believe in order to be high performing, they must also have a clearly established norm. The excitement and thrill of the challenge, if orchestrated in a clearly established norm facilitates the hard work and dedication that creates the strongest bonds for me, bonds that are long term and last well past the purpose of a the group. The most influential adjourning I have participated in involved a celebration of accomplishments during a celebratory dinner. This allowed for reflection of challenges and things that could have been improved as well as acknowledgement of successes and provided a since of closure to the group.

I would imagine that adjourning of the group of colleagues that have worked together on our master’s degree will involve the graduation ceremony for some and a simple good bye and thank you for others, as our diverseness may not accommodate everyone attending one function. Regardless of the closing, we will share a bond long after we graduate, as we have struggled and achieved as the first group to complete this master’s program.

Nonverbal Communication

I am hearing impaired and use hearing aids to accommodate for my hearing loss. Hearing aid batteries are expensive, so I typically do not use them for things such as watching TV, and instead rely on Closed Captioning. For me, the sound is almost always “off” and although I have the dialogue in written form, I use the body language of the characters for assessing the emotion behind what is being said. However, I completed the assignment anyways,  turning the sound completely off, as well as the CC for an episode of Without a Trace,  and  I realized that my lip reading skills are improving dramatically, and the assignment was probably not designed for someone like me lol. My assumptions of what was happening in the show were the same regardless of the sound. However, I also realized that the beat of the music or background noise that indicates the transition of screens is what signals the emotional content behind the scene and is what I use to tell me to pay attention to the show something interesting is happening.