Time Well Spent

This has been an amazing journey! I have enjoyed the time I have spent learning in this program. It seemed so far away to the end when I began this journey, but looking back it seems like it has been quick! At times I felt I was going to have to give up because I was feeling overwhelmed by working on my Masters, working full time, and raising three children and a husband who made me feel like I had four children! At his point I can say now that I am so glad I didn't give up! I am even planning to continue on for a Doctorate. If I made it through this, then surely I can make it through that. I feel one of the greatest things that I learned from this program is to care about all children. I can't just focus on the ones that I am in direct contact with. An effective Early Childhood professional is one who works to improve all children, not just the ones in their area. Second, the next greatest thing I learned is how to put personal biases and stereotypes to rest. I even realized I had some personal biases that I didn't even know I had! Lastly, an important lesson that I think will change me in a great way is that everyone has something to bring to the table. There is power in numbers and I can do a much better job by considering the opinions of other professionals. So no more being Miss do-it-my-way, and not asking for others' opinions. A long term goal I have is to be in our state administration building as an employee. I want to be in the midst of where laws and regulations are made and can positively impact the lives of young children and families and their futures! I have enjoyed being a part of this group of students in this class. I feel like I have been afforded the opportunity to read and discuss things with a wonderful group of intelligent individuals. I am thankful to have learned from them. Dr. Meyers, thank you for comments on my papers that were encouraging and uplifting. I always doubt my abilities for things and always worry that I didn't understand the assignment correctly or second guess what I have written. The positive remarks have built my self-esteem and encouraged me to continue on to my Phd. Thank you for all of your support. I wonder is anyone in our group planning to continue on in a Phd. at Walden? Please keep in touch sbrown@pcdcva.org

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

http://www.atlascorps.org/partners.php Currently only have openings for fellowships and Volunteer positions http://www.children.org/home2.asp?sid=75F1975E-AD64-4D35-891E-60E1D3985641&dcsref=http://search.iminent.com/SearchTheWeb/v4/1033/toolbox/Result.aspx Currently have jobs open for an art director, Regional gift officer-West coast division, Bilingual sponsor services representative, Program officer-youth development and education. This job sounded like something I would be interested in. The position is responsible for providing oversight and technical assistance on global program activities in the areas of youth development and basic education, including vocational preparation, leadership, and life skills development programming. The position works closely with regional office program staff and the Director of Programs in the design, monitoring and evaluation of partner agency education and youth development programs. This includes technical assistance supporting initiatives within the organization’s school completion and youth development program goals. Responsibilities are: Maintains a thorough knowledge of the rationale, purpose and scope of existing youth development and education programs, and aligns these programs with global best practices. • Reviews annual program plans and periodic agency proposals in the areas of youth development and education, in coordination with regional office program staff. • Organizes and conducts agency/regional/international training for agency and regional staff as needed. • Conducts data analysis on education and youth development information to determine appropriate measures for program improvement and to report on program achievements. • Assists in the preparation and presentation of program monitoring reports. • Identifies and works to establish complementary programs/partnerships in the areas of education and youth development. • Develops program policies, proposals and other documents as required. • Performs other administrative duties as assigned, including composing non‐routine correspondence, trip reports, financial reports, and assisting with annual budgets. Knowledge, Skills and Abilities are: Spanish‐English bilingual required. • Two years international experience required, with strong preference for developing country experience. • Knowledge of and experience with institutions and organizational alliances related to youth development programs strongly preferred. • Master’s degree in international development or related field strongly preferred. • Experience in program design, monitoring and evaluation, including quantitative data collection and analysis, strongly preferred. • Must have superb verbal and written communication skills. Proposal writing experience preferred. • Proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office applications. • Flexibility and sensitivity to work with multiple cultures and languages. • Ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously and take on new projects as assigned. • International travel up to 30% is required. https://charityvillage.com/directories/organizations-i-z/international-relief-development-peace.aspx Community Outreach worker with Youth Link was an available position that interested me. The salary looks good! Community Outreach Worker DATE: June 5, 2012 Community Outreach Worker LOCATION: 747 Warden Avenue,Toronto REPORTS TO: Manager, Community Programs & Wraparound Services DESCRIPTION: The incumbent will initiate, develop, implement and participate in community outreach activities with youth in the priority neighbourhoods ofScarboroughto promote assets, develop competencies and resiliency. REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS: Experience in working with high risk youth, their families and/or caregivers and high need communities Experience in developing and implementing positive youth development programs Knowledge of youth engagement practices in relation to diverse populations and communities Ability to work in a multi-disciplinary team Knowledge of newcomers, diverse cultures andScarboroughresources Good written and oral communication skills EDUCATION: Relevant Degree or Diploma from University or College and a minimum of 3 years related experience HOURS OF WORK: 35 hours per week – evening work required & occasionally weekend work. SALARY: $41,523 to $43,188 per annum APPLY IN WRITING TO: communityposting@youthlink.ca - quote File #802 CLOSING DATE: June 18, 2012

Job Roles in the ECE Community

One National Association that I really liked was the Administration for Children and Families. The reason this organization appeals to me is because they administer the Head Start programs. I am passionate about Head Start and its mission for children and families in poverty. The current job opening they have that I was interested in was Child Care Program Specialist. It seemed like it would be fun but it is too far from me because it is in Philadelphia. The qualifications were At least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07 grade level in the Federal Service performing the following duties: 1) assisting in the development of regulations, program instructions, and/or guidelines governing child care programs; 2) assisting senior staff with reviewing grantee State plans; 3) aiding in the evaluation and assessment of child care programs performance; and 4) preparing a variety of documents (e.g. position papers, briefing documents, and data fact sheets); or have a master's or equivalent graduate degree or two full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree; or a combination of the required experience and education for this grade level. The second organization I liked was National Association for Educating Young Children (NAEYC). I like this organization because it is related to my field. I like their position on the educating young children. The job opening they have is Managing Editor, Books and Related Resources. The requirements are: The successful candidate will have at minimum a BA degree, and a minimum of 5 years of editorial experience and publishing production experience in a management role with demonstrated supervisory, budget, scheduling, and quality control experience. Must have excellent editing and writing skills and experience with desktop publishing processes and knowledge of digital publishing trends and practices. The third organization is the Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center. I like this organization because they too are a part of Head Start which is where a large piece of my heart resides. The job opportunity they had open was Program Director. I was interested in this position until again I found it was too far to travel because it is in North Carolina. The requirements are Bachelor’s degree with 5 + years of professional experience in upper‐level management is required; an advanced degree is preferred. 5 years’ experience in the Head Start preferred; direct experience in managing government funded programs is highly desirable. I enjoyed this assignment because it gave me knowledge on where to look when I start full fledged job searching.

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community-State and Local

Three organizations that peaked my interest were: 1.Virginia Head Start Organization Their mission is: As a professional organization, the Virginia Head Start Association is dedicated to advocacy, training and providing support which enhances and fosters growth of our individual members, member agencies, partners and others who impact the lives of children and families. This organization appealed to me because Head Start is one of my favorite programs! A job they had open that seemed interesting was: Head Start State Collaboration Office Director The description said The incumbent will direct the Head Start State Collaboration Office with the goal of improving the quality of child care in Virginia, while fostering collaborative working relationships between Head Start programs and state agencies, which includes the VA Department of Social Services. I love working with Social Service Departments in our area, so I am sure I would love to do this job. 2. Virginia Department of Education- This appealed to me because i would like to be part of the organization that makes most decisions for our schools. A job they had open that looked interesting was Assessment Specialist/Education Coordinator. The job was only part time 30 hours per week. The pay was pretty good though. $19.91-40.00 per hour! That definitely caught my eye. The job description listed several different aspects of developing testing materials as the main duty of the position. 3.VAECE is the last organization I chose. This was appealing to me because I have attended many of their conferences and I share their purpose. The Purpose of this organization is to serve and act on behalf of the needs and rights of all young children and to work with all groups serving the interest and well being of young children in Virginia. They currently did not have any jobs available. However, they mentioned a volunteer board of directors and presidents of local chapters. I feel like I could do one of those jobs. I could do that in addition to my regular job. I plan to look more into the local chapter part of this because we do not have a local Chapter in our area. Maybe I will be the beginning of getting one started in our area.

When I Think of Research-EDUC-6163-6

The insights I have gained about research from taking this course are the facts of importance of validity, having an independent and dependent variable, and having equity in research.

My ideas have changed about the nature of doing research by me learning the steps to take for conducting research. I always thought you just went out and collected data. I didn't realize that you needed an outline or a timetable for research. This was a new idea for me.

The lessons I learned are basically as I said in the previous statement. I learned that it was important to plan an outline and design how you will gather data, how you will select participants, who will participate, etc. This was all new for me. I just thought it was an issue to research and you went out and did what you had to do to find it. The timetable thing makes sense because if you drag it out for a long time, it could change results.

Some of the challenges I encountered were the aspect of remaining neutral and putting aside biases. When you come into a research topic, you kind of start thinking about how you feel about the subject or what your take is on it. I faced these challenges by reminding myself the research hadn't been conducted yet, so I needed to put the opinions to the back of my head and concentrate on the facts that I gather. This is easier said than done. Way easier said than done!

My perceptions of an EC professional have been modified by raising the awareness of the importance of our profession to children. It also raised awareness of the importance of our future. We have an amazing task ahead of us that requires us to be dedicated to the children of today,because tomorrow they are our future. Research is something that is really needed to ensure that we offer our children the best opportunities possible. Research is also important to the fact that we need to offer those opportunities in the best way available.

Research Around The World

I explored the Early Childhood Australia Website.

I found they were researching many different subjects. Some that were interesting to me were Young Children's Learning which was about infants and toddlers learning. Another subject of research was Respecting Diversity and how it happens in the classroom. Also, my favorite research topic on the site was learning and teaching through play. This is something of great interest to me because I constantly have to defend our play based learning in our Head Start program. It was nice to see that in other parts of our world they also see the benefits of play based learning.

I was so surprised to see that they were studying play based teaching and learning. I know here in the United States and it is hard to get some people including parents to buy in to the fact but I had no idea it would be going on in Australia. I have heard many good things about the quality of Australia's educational system so them supporting play based learning makes me feel even better about us supporting it here in our Head Start program.

The other noteworthy information that I found was the fact that they have a Early Years Learning Framework. This is something we also have here in the United States. I was especially glad to see that our educational system has some of the same things as Australia, because as I stated before I have heard good things about their educational system. To think we are lining up with some of their practices is heartwarming.

Share a positive example of research for children and families

Conscious Discipline is a research based discipline program. Its motto is discipline isn't something we do to children, its something you develop within children. Our Head Start program is embracing this and has been doing so for the last three years. It has been really wonderful for some of our children who are behavior problems. Conscious Discipline teaches children to focus on their feelings instead of reacting to them. Our teachers and staff are having monthly trainings and our managers have been attending the conferences twice a year. Conscious Discipline is a really huge outfit now. It was developed by Dr. Becky Bailey and she can be contacted through her website and you can also learn more about Conscious Discipline. The web address is www.consciousdiscipline.com