TIME WELL SPENT

I have learned so much from this program and it has really developed my sense of thinking and also how I want to be more of an advocate for the children and families I work with. One thing I learned was that we need to ensure all children are treated equally and follow the Developmentally Appropriate Practice Standards. The second thing I learned was that it is important for children to be introduced to technology. In this era children want to learn through technology and it is more common than when we were growing up. The most important thing I learned was how to set up a child care center and also learning how to choose stakeholders and those who would be on my board of directors. During my tenure here at Walden University I have come in contact with a lot of people and we all have one thing in common and that is we all have a special place in our hearts for children in early childhood.

My long-term goal is to be a director of a child care center or eventually open my own. I want a childcare center that is affordable but is a quality program for the children and the families I serve.

My favorite quote is “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” – Maya Angelou  

Wordle:  https://worditout.com/user/1638931/settings/09eda51f79789f8ccf16e1560ee22758

Andrea Armstrong , Lead Teacher ; Head Start/GSRP

email: andreaa@caascm.org

JOB/ROLES in the ECE Community-Internationally

The three international organizations or communities of practice that appealed to me was: The One Health Surveillance Community of Practice started to begin to collaborate, on-going, systematic collection of data to detect health related events and produce information that will lead to actions for people, animals and the environment. I chose this one because they gather information to help everyone find out what the health issues are and who it affects more.  The second one was the National Council of Nonprofits and they come together as nonprofits to share ideas with each other so they don’t have to reinvent the wheel. They help each other learn about the changes in the system and how it affects them. The third community of practice that I was interested in was INSIGHT into Diversity. This community of practice enables you to have a meaningful conversation about the critical role diversity plays in higher education and connect prospective employees with work place or institution that value a diverse workforce.

There were two job opportunities that interest me and they were: Director of Child Care in Wisconsin and Head Start Deputy Director in Texas. The skills I would need for the Director of Child Care would be to have a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood and have 2 years of management experience. The Head Start Deputy Director position I must possess the skills of having 5-10 years of management experience and 3-5 years of management experience with Head Start or Early Head Start as a Director or Deputy Director.  

References:

https://www.healthsurveillance.org/page/AboutCoP

https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/tools-resources/community-of-practice

http://www.insightintodiversity.com/tag/communities-of-practice/

Job Roles in the ECE Community/ Nationa and Federal Level

The National Council of Community of Practices is one organization that appealed to me because it offers resources for educators and families. One of the main things was it is nonprofit. I want to learn more about this so I will join this organization. The second one was Supporting Families because this was an organization who supported families within our region. I don’t know too many organizations that is based about helping families and this is needed in our country. They offer a LifeCourse framework that was developed to help individuals with disabilities and families at any age or stage of life and to help them get what they need. The third communities of practice was in Washington. It is titled “The Alliance for Accessing Computing Careers.” This is  a variety of Communities of Practice (CoPs) that has a diverse a group of stakeholders.

Job opportunities that are available are a child care center director in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  I would have to have teaching and supervising experience, I would have to be I the community for at least two years to apply for the position. I must have on-going training while in the position if I get accepted. The other job I was interested in was Child Care Director in Novi, Michigan. This position I would be required to: Ensure curriculum and developmentally appropriate practice are in place, conduct tours for prospective parents and new families who are enrolling, create and implement local marketing plans, ensure licensing standards are met and assist in accreditation. There is a $7,500 bonus for the position.

Reference:

https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/tools-resources/community-of-practice

http://supportstofamilies.org/

https://www.washington.edu/accesscomputing/get-involved/educators-employers/communities-practice

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: State and Local

The organizations I was interested in for community resources and employment in Michigan. The Office of Head Start is who I am employed by now but I want to be a Center Manager or Director. I was a child in Head Start and my children went to preschool there and I volunteered all the time. Head Start is a very great place for children to receive a quality education and they make you feel like you are important in their lives. Another community resource was Easter Michigan University and I looked over their program and they offer lots of opportunities for people who are interested in the early childhood field.  United Way is a great community resource because they help all over the United States and are willing to offer support when needed. Our agency donates to them on a regular basis and we recently had a fundraiser which raised over $15,000 for them.

I would like to work with a child care center and become a director so I looked for job opportunities in Michigan and Virginia.  I found a job for a Assistant Director in Richmond, Virginia. The pay is 32.5K to 65.3 K. I want to move to Virginia because I am tired of the weather here but I feel that I will have more opportunities in another state. The company I work for now has talked to me about becoming a center manager or early childhood coach but I will just continue to pray about it.

References:

https://www.cdacouncil.org/resources/find-ece-organizations

https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ohs

https://www.unitedway.org/our-impact/focus/education/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_YW534jL3gIVD4GzCh0dIwUlEAMYASAAEgIAsPD_BwE

High Performing Groups

I have been involved in many groups and it was hard to leave my mentoring group because they were high performing and because we met our goal. Normally when the groups I have been involved in come together we always have some sort of snack or meal. During the meeting we will discuss what the subject at hand and we will sometimes have a phone conference.

While in college I was involved in a Christian organization and we would do video conference. Once we all got to know each other and it was very effective and it was consistent because we would remind each other about the meeting. I enjoyed the group because we eventually all became close friends and remain in touch with each other.

Conflict Resolution

This week our blog was to think about a disagreement or conflict I experienced with a colleague or someone who is personal in my life. I thought about how our supervisor who came into our classroom to observe while there was also a mental health observer in our classroom. Our Center Manager had told her that she should not go into our classroom but she did anyway. Needless to say during that time she began to write down something and then went and talked to our coach about it. I felt that if she wanted to know anything she should have asked us before jumping to conclusion. I talked to my colleagues and they have the same problem and I discussed with them about my communications course and how we could talk to her in an appropriate way. I suggested we should define a clear purpose and ask her to clarify expectations and that is to make sure that we all understand what she expects of us and specifically tell us what her role is. (Capozzoli, 2002) 

I had a disagreement with my daughter about her moving to another city with her son’s grandparents and it escalated into us not speaking for 3 days. I asked my best friend how could I have handled it in a different way. She told me that first you have to avoid conflict triggers( O’Hair, 2015)  and I read about that. My daughters trigger was me continually talking about how bad the city is and how his family will not help her. I talked to her after 3 days and told her that I apologize for nagging her but please take care of my grandson while she is away. Conflict triggers may arise for different reasons and I wonder how can I identify what a person's conflict trigger is.

References: O’Hair & Wiemann, 2015

Who am I as a Communicator???

This week's assignment really allowed for an opportunity to participate in a communication assessment. I completed several evaluations and it helped me to become aware of somethings about myself. I had two of my co-workers evaluate me and it was close in scores. I questioned myself if it was going to be worse or was there score going to be worse. 

I evaluated myself and it was better than expected. I had a score of 64 in my communication category and I thought that was a great range. I am not verbal aggressive and was glad of that. I can be polite to people but need to be more of a listener. This evaluation has shown me that I could be people oriented if I work on it. 

References: 

Rubin, R. B., Rubin, A. M., Graham, E. E., Perse E. M., & Seibold, D. R. (2009). Communication research measures II: A sourcebook. New York: Routledge. Retrieved on March 27, 2018 fro

Communicating with Cultures

• Do you find yourself communicating differently with people from different groups and cultures?
• If yes, in what ways do you communicate differently?

I find myself all the time communicating with people from different groups and cultures. I have found that communicating with different groups can be difficult at times especially when you are not a part of that culture. 

Three strategies I can use during this could be :

1. Understanding cultural differences could be understanding yourself as a culture being and coming to understand that the way you see the world, organize your behavior and look at children are to a great extent, influenced by my own culture which may have been influenced by my training (Mena-Gonzalez,2010).

2. Understanding nonverbal cues can help when communicating. I look at others when they talk and I may be mislead by their nonverbal cues. One way is by looking at their eyes. Eye contact is very important in some cultures like  in the United States. It is very important that a person looks at someone when they are talking. (Mena-Gonzalez, 2010)

3. I shouldn't expect because I know someone's culture that I can predict their behavior pattern. Culture patterns will change when they come in contact with a new pattern. 

Reference: 

Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2010). 50 Strategies for Communicating and Working With Diverse Families. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc

Blog Assignment 2

• The show I decided to watch because I have never seen it before was "Being Mary Jane" and it is a show that is on BET. Gabrielle Union stars as Mary Jane Paul a successful tv reporter and it started as a movie and is now a series. 
• I watched it with the sound off and the first think I thought about the characters' relationships was that it was sexual and there were many people who didn't like Mary Jane. Based on the nonverbal observations I thought they expressed hatred, jealously and envy for Mary Jane. I also noted that Mary Jane didn't care what the people thought of her and kept on doing her job as normal.
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• When I watched the show with the sound on it was true that Mary Jane was envied by her co-workers but she didn't care what people thought of her. Mary Jane worked her way to the top by being sexual and couldn't find a decent man to save her life. 
•  My assumptions would have been correct if I was watching my favorite show "Law & Order:SVU" because I watch that throughout the week and have seen all the episodes so I know how each character acts.  
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The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice and Oppression

One hope that I have when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is that the children receive an experience they will never forget. The experience will be involving them learning about different cultures and being able to express themselves in their own unique way. Most children don’t receive the chance to learn about other cultures because of their socioeconomic status which places them in a school district within their means.

One goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity and social justice is that all early childhood educators should be trained in how to deal with the three listed above. Most educators are sometimes place in a classroom with predominantly the race they are and when they venture out and work with a diverse of students they don’t know what to teach or how to teach so this should be a rule when becoming an educator.

I would like to thank all of my colleagues for your interesting blogs, discussions and your input on my assignments. I have learned a lot in this classroom and because of you I feel more knowledgeable about equity and social justice. I wish you the best in your future endeavors.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice and Oppression

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  The memory I have of an incident when I witnessed someone being prejudice was watching the movie “ A Time to Kill.” This movie was about prejudice and how a small African-American girl was raped by a couple of Caucasian men in a small town. The father of the little girl decided to take matters into his own hand because he was angry because he knew in that town the men will not be charged. He went and hid in the court with a shotgun and as they were leaving court he shot and killed them. I have watched this movie about 50 times and get something different from it everytime. The prejudice in this movie diminished equity and it left a bad feeling in my heart.
        The feeling I had was emptiness and compassion for the family of the little girl. I felt that as a African American woman that I would do anything to protect my children. In order for this incident to be changed for greater equity the writers should have at least given them some time in prison and not let the men get off. It is sad that even today the media portrays Caucasian murderers as having psychological issues but any other race is a Mass Murderer. We as educators should educate our children about bias and prejudice while they are in our classrooms.

Practicing awareness of Microaggressions

There was a microaggression I saw happen this week and it was one that happened with two families. I was sitting in the classroom and I heard some yelling so  i went in the hall. I looked down the hall and two mothers were arguing. I heard one mother say " How do you know my child is bi-racial? You don't know if I am Hispanic and you don't know her father." The other one replied " Well it looks like he is because his eyes are slanted." I just went back in the classroom and told my co-workers about it. One thing I noticed was the Mother was being racist but she sent a hidden message with "His eyes are slanted." I was so embarrased at the fact she said it in front of the child and I know the parent wanted to lash out more but there was too many people present. Discrimination and prejudice can hurt other's feelings and it causes damage to the children in the future. Some children who have experienced prejudice or discrimination sometimes lack in social skills and lack of confidence.