Time Well Spent...

I cannot believe that we are in the final week of this program...we made it! This capstone course has truly solidified my passion for the field of ECE, as well as my personal and career goals. Three main takeaways have resonated with me throughout this course:

1. Early childhood education is so multi-faceted. There are several aspects of this field, all of which sort of present their own issues. Thus, as we approach learning for children, each issue must be catered to from an individualized standpoint. 
2. Teachers. Deserve. More! Through my capstone project, I notarized my understanding that teacher compensation is a huge issue within the field. So much so that it causes other major issues such as teacher retention and lapsed student achievement. 
3. We have more work to do than I thought. Early childhood education is my only career choice, and I now realize that it is up to me and the rest of my colleagues to continue to advocate for the field that we love.

One long term goal that I have is to open my own center someday. This way, I can continue to advocate for the field, all while implementing new ideas that I come across that will hopefully improve the field as a whole. 

To my instructor: Thank you, professor, for deepening my passion for my current efforts and to reach my career goals. You've pushed me to think beyond the magnitude of a problem and find a segmented way of solving it one step at a time. I have enjoyed my time in this course and I will definitely continue my efforts to improve teacher compensation throughout the field.

To my peers: I wish you all the greatest luck in your future endeavors! Please continue to remember we all have been blessed with an opportunity to be a blessing to others...and this degree will solidify that. I appreciate all of your wonderful feedback and encouragement throughout this course. I appreciate you all! CONGRATULATIONS!

International Communities of Practice

UNICEF:
UNICEF currently works in 190 countries to fight for the rights of young children, and assist them to reach their full potential. This organization interests me due to the fact that they cater to children and adolescents, beginning in early childhood. This demonstrates to me that UNICEF honors the importance of early childhood and assisting with the needs of young children to provide them with better opportunities for the future.

Adolescent Development Officer:
Responsible for the development of program initiatives for social change
Masters Degree in a related field, minimum 2 years related job experience

This position interests me due to the development of program attribute. I currently work as a program administrator for my current center, so this position directly aligns with my experience and expertise.

Save the Children:
Save the Children provides resources and support for children in crisis. I chose this organization due to its critical nature and support for children experiencing hardship.

Site Coordinator:
The Site Coordinator oversees all afterschool programs, including homework help and enrichment activities.
2-3 Years related experience

This position interests me due to my experience as an afterschool activity leader. I also am very familiar with the importance of afterschool programs and the positive effects they have on children and families.


UNESCO:
The UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) seeks to build a bridge of peace through education, science, and culture. I found this organization interesting because it not only strives for peace, but also quality education for young children.

National/Federal Communities of Practice

Government Services Administration
The GSA assists federal workers in obtaining workplace childcare facilities. I chose this community of practice due to my support of quality childcare options working-class families. Too often the working class is forgotten in terms of affordable and accessible childcare options for their children.
https://www.gsa.gov/resources-for/citizens-consumers/child-care/child-care-services

FEMA
FEMA provides child care assistance to families that have experienced disaster-related financial burden. I chose this community of practice due to the increasing amount of natural disasters affecting families all over the nation.
https://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/133703

Department of Family and Children Services
DFCS is an essential community of practice that protects the health and safety of all children. The well-being of children is always at the forefront of my work within this field, hence why I chose this community of practice.
https://dfcs.georgia.gov/private-agencies

DFCS Field Program Specialist
This sole responsibility of the person in this position is to monitor the health and well-being of children and families within a specific region. In order to obtain this position, I would need a related  Masters degree and two years of supervisory experience.

Communities of Practice

The following are communities of practice that I currently am apart of and that share a common passion for children and early childhood education:

NAEYC: The overall goal of the National Association for the Education of Young Children is to promote quality learning experiences for children ages birth through eight. I chose NAEYC specifically because of their push for quality within the early childhood setting. For me, quality is the basis of every contribution I make to this field. Therefore, it was a no-brainer to choose NAEYC as a contender for a community of practice that I am drawn towards.

GAEYC: GAEYC is the Georgia Association for the Education of Young Children. It mimics NAEYC in the same regards to assuring quality within early childhood programs. This community of practice is a little more intimate, and focuses distinctly on the needs of children and families in the state of Georgia.

Bright from the Start: This entity is an extension of the Georgia Department of Education. Bright from the Start is the licensing agency for every childcare entity in Georgia. I chose this community of practice because it clearly communicates the expectations for keeping children safe and healthy while in our care.

Job Opportunities:

Field Director- A field director travels to centers in need of a director, whether they may be out on leave or the center may not have one in place yet. This position interests me because it would present me with the opportunity to travel the country, experience new things, and share my experiences/knowledge with childcare centers in various locations. I would need to further develop my knowledge of fiscal management and critical policies/procedures for each center and state.

Regional Manager- The regional manager oversees several centers at once, and works remotely to resolve issues, improve client relations, and ensure quality. In order to be successful in this role, I would need to improve my communication skills and interactions with clients.

Team Development

One of my favorite places I've ever worked was an elementary school where I taught pre-k. Of course we had our ups and downs, but for the most part our team felt like a family...so much so that we still have strong relationships to this day. It was hard to leave this team because of the "family" feel. We all had each other's backs, supported one another (both professionally and personally), and laughed like no other. When I left this position there were a lot of tears and reminiscing, and soon after I left many people from the school moved on as well due to a change in leadership. A closing ritual we implemented was getting together for dinner to reflect on the good times, which served as a confirmation that we would all keep in touch. We turned this into a tradition, and at the end of each school year we still get together for dinner to catch up.

From this program, I would like it if all of us could adjourn by congratulating each other for completing the program and posting a photo of our degrees to some sort of photo thread. This would allow me to see that all of the colleagues I've met along the way completed this journey with me and that we were all successful.

Adjournment is so important because it gives everyone a sense of completion and accomplishment. Even though adjournment is celebrating the ending of something that was once good, it still serves as  time to reflect and celebrate accomplishments.

NVC & The Three R's

I recently had a conflict with one of my teachers regarding non-submission of lesson plans. This is a repeat offender whom always has issues with submitting things on time and fulfilling classroom responsibilities. She also has a tendency to be combative when addressed with feedback. While having the conversation (or any conversation with her) based on our history, I tend to enter the conversation already agitated and visibly frustrated. Through what I have learned, what I give people is what I will reciprocate...which is one element of the three R's. In order to have mutual respect between the two of us, I must also learn to listen for understanding, rather than just listening as a requirement or just to respond.

I asked one of my fellow EC's for advice on communicating with staff, and she explained that I should commit to going into conversations/feedback with a mindset of understanding rather than walking in with a plan as to how the conversation should go. When you go into a conversation with pre-conceived ideas and actions, you tend to not listen as effectively as you should.

Who Am I as a Communicator?

This week, I chose to have one of the teachers on my staff and my oldest sister to evaluate me through the assessments. My teacher's results were almost the same as my own, the only difference was she did not sense any of my communication anxiety. My sister, however, scored me higher on my verbal aggressiveness in the sense that she feels I get aggressive in conversation when I don't agree with someone. I have heard throughout life that we tend to give people different versions of ourselves, and that is what I believe these assessments mostly revealed.

Diversity in the Workplace

The staff at my current place of employment is quite diverse. We have a large mix of racial and religious backgrounds presented throughout our teaching and administrative staff. At times, I do find myself speaking to individual people in different ways, yet it is not because of their cultural background. I do however have an awareness of each person on staff and how they best receive information. Just as we cater to the children and their individual learning styles, I cater to each person whom I come into contact with and their communication styles. This takes a while to master, and it takes for one to get to know people on both a personal and professional level. Catering to communication styles and reception in each and every person can continue to foster healthy lines of communication and overall effectiveness.

Communication through "Friends"

I chose to evaluate communication cues through the show "Friends". I have never really watched the show, so I chose it due to the fact that I am unaware of the relationships amongst the characters.

In the episode I first viewed the opening scene in silence. The characters are all sitting around talking in a group setting. The conversation seems to be light hearted and genuine between friends. Everyone's non-verbal cues speak to their strong bond as friends. Each of the five characters in the scene seemed relaxed in nature and their body language signaled me to believe that they all got along within the group. Another character enters the room and seems sad. Many of the characters reach out to touch and comfort him, while the others seemed confused as to what was going on with him. One character in particular seemed unbothered with the other character's emotions, as he continued to read a magazine with his feet propped on the table throughout the encounter.

After watching the scene with sound, I now know that the scene does consist of a group of friends sitting in a coffee shop discussing topics such as relationships and past experiences. The group was grilling one of the female characters regarding a date with a new guy. The conversation was indeed light-hearted and consisted of light banter and jokes between friends. When the sad character walks into the coffee shop, he is visibly upset and only one friend in the group seems to know why. The uninterested friend attempts to lighten the mood by offering him a cookie. I learned that the character is sad due to someone named Carol (a former girlfriend) moved her things out of his home earlier that day and left him. The group continues to banter on and the uninterested friend makes jokes pertaining to how he should have known his girlfriend was a lesbian all along and he wouldn't be hurt.

It would be much easier to interpret the scene if i'd seen the show prior to this moment and knew the characters as well as their situations.

An Effective Communicator...

One person in my life that I have always viewed as an effective communicator was a previous director of mine. I was young and of course, bullheaded, when it came to receiving feedback and understanding the operations of a high quality childcare center. Back then I viewed this person as a nitpicker, as I thought she was targeting me out of the group. I can now look back and appreciate the ways she communicated feedback with me, and I now even utilize some of her methods with my own staff. First, she never belittled me in front of a group or even one-on-one. She also made it a point to always communicate what she liked to call "the why" behind everything she corrected me on. She also modeled a lot for me, demonstrating how things should be done instead of just telling me or expecting me to know. I always reach out to her and let her know how much of an influence she was on me, and we both laugh because we realize how unaware of all of this I was back then. I can now appreciate and even reflect what she taught me and how she communicated with me with others, which is such a benefit for me.

One Hope, One Goal, & a Note of Thanks

One Hope: The children and families that I come into contact with will feel that I am accepting, understanding, and welcoming to their individuality and cultural diversity. I also want to assist others with their own personal understanding of diversity in hopes of helping the world become more understanding and tolerant of one another.

One Goal: To continue to emulate the change I wish to see in the world, as well as implementing more opportunities and aspects of diverse cultures within my school/classrooms.

Thank you for all of the words of wisdom, shared stories and experiences, and open thoughts throughout this course. I hope that you all have learned something from me and all that we have learned through our time together. I wish you all the best of luck in your future endeavors.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

In order to create a comfortable and accepting transition for the family from Mexico, I would ensure the following:

• Add accents to my home that would remind the family of their home culture such as books, music, popular food/snacks, etc.
• If possible, I would have a translator present just incase the family does not speak English and to provide them with a relatable person to ask questions and provide information.
• If there are small children that would attend my childcare center, I would prepare any documentation and registration information to go over with the family and translator once they arrive.
• I would learn simple Spanish phrases and words to help the family realize that I am open and willing to learn about their culture as well. 

I transition such as this is already difficult enough. My hope is to ease the minds and spirits of this family and these accommodations would demonstrate how hard I would try to embrace their culture within our shared home.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

A memory of when I experienced prejudice personally came when I first started working in corporate America. I was always told that my name would make it hard for me to obtain jobs in a white-washed corporate setting, but I was determined to prove everyone wrong. I was on a panel of interviewers at a company job fair. Amongst the panel was the president of human resources. We'd never met nor conversed, so she was not aware of who I was nor my position within the company. She read over a list of what she thought was the list of interviewee's, but instead she was reading the list of interviewers. She went through the list out loud and when she got to my name she struggled to pronounce it (as most people do). After butchering it several times, she laughed and jokingly stated "wow I would never hire someone with a name like that". I looked down the table, pointed to my name tag, and stated "you already did".

She apologized over and over and said she did not mean to offend me, and I told her it was okay. I did feel a little embarrassed, as I knew that this was more than likely her thought process for most interview candidates. However, I am glad to have been sitting there when she made the comment and hopefully she will never make those types of judgements again.

The president of HR would have to change her mindset if she was going to learn anything from the incident. There is no telling at all just how many people have been denied jobs from that company based on something they themselves had no control over. I truthfully and whole-heartedly believed that she learned her lesson that day, one that will hopefully stick with her for the rest of her life.

Microaggressions

Throughout my studies this week my eyes have definitely opened to microaggressions that I have either experienced or witnessed throughout my lifetime. One in particular that still bothers me to this day was an experience with a former Hispanic parent during my tenure as a Parent Liaison. The parent was excluded from running for a PTA officer position just because she did not speak English fluently. The administration felt that she would have a hard time communicating with others and immediately diminished her from running. She felt sad and embarrassed, even expressing to me that she frequently felt discounted or less intelligent because of her English. I felt so bad for the parent that I ended up collaborating with her to create a group for Hispanic parents within the PTA. These parents served other Hispanics throughout the school and community to assist with inclusion efforts and expanding cultural partnerships in the school. The parents had awesome ideas for events and workshops for Hispanic parents and families. They worked closely with the PTA for every event and provided translators. In the end, the administration supported these efforts and eventually became more welcoming to Hispanics and their families. This was important because the school population was composed of mostly Hispanics.

With the information I have retained this week, I now know that microaggressions are their own sector of prejudice and can be either intentional or unintentional. In the end, hate is hate, and causing anyone to feel uncomfortable because of who they are is unjust and inhumane.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Friend Perspective...

What is culture?
Culture is, in essence, who you are. Its the language you speak, clothes you wear, religion you practice, and so forth. Some people can't really explain what their culture is or a group they belong to, but I think that's because they are not in touch with who they are just yet.

What is diversity?
Diversity to me is what makes us different. I'm mixed but you're fully black, therefore we're diverse in that sense.

Co-Worker Perspective...

What is culture?
Its a combination of your heritage and morals. A balance between what you think is right and what you've been taught is right.

What is diversity?
The differences in people, which could be anything. We all are different in some way, and that's what makes us unique.

Parent Perspective...

What is Culture?
Culture can be anything that has an influence on your life...and it's different for all people. So, i'm Jewish and I consider that to be apart of my culture. Whereas someone else may not let their religion define who they are, so that wouldn't be considered apart of their culture. It varies from person to person.

What is diversity?
The differences between groups of people, that set us apart from one another.

I have learned that the definition of culture and diversity vary from person to person. This is because every person has different ideas and opinions on what makes them unique or "who they are" as a person. Ultimately, culture is the unspoken set of rules that govern our lives, which I learned this week. My parent here at the center has deepened my understanding of culture and diversity. Her notion that people may not credit certain parts of them to their culture helps me to understand why everyone's perspectives are so different.

My Family Culture

The three items I would take with me are family photos, my grandmother's purse, and my nameplate necklace. Family photos are very important to me and I know that wherever life takes me I can always look back on those photos as a reminder of who I am. My grandmother's purse has been kept in my family for years after her passing. We tend to keep important family heirlooms and documents in this purse, and we consider it to be a very important piece of her memory in our family. This would help me remember how my mother kept up with the bag for so long and how much it meant to us. Lastly, my nameplate necklace was given to me by my mother a few Christmases ago. It symbolizes that not only did she give me an important piece of jewelery, she also gave me my name, which is a huge part of my culture and who I am as a person.

If I were to have to give up two of the items, I would feel very sad and would want to keep all of these items as close to me as possible. However, I feel that I could live with just keeping my grandmother's purse with me upon arrival.

I have learned that I have much more value over myself and my culture than I thought. Also, I now know that much of who I am today stems from my family and how loving they are. They have shaped me into the loving, compassionate, and caring person that I am today!

Looking Back...

The information collected in this course has opened my eyes to the reality of the importance of research to the field of early childhood education. My research topic focused on the effects of inequities on the development of young children. This type of research would be helpful to this field due to the fact that inequities such as poverty, homelessness, and immigration are becoming more and more prevalent in the lives of young children and families throughout the entire world. Because of their growing relevance new ideas, techniques, and comprehension of these issues would be vital to the continued growth and development of young children. If this research proposal were to be followed through, this could benefit the lives of so many families, educators, and public agencies fighting against inequities each day.

As a result of this course, my ideas of the importance of research have definitely changed. Research is critical to the growth and development of the entire world around us. Thus, ECE outlets must invest more time, energy, and funding into research in order to keep up with the constant change. I value all of the information that was offered to me in this course and can definitely see myself passing this knowledge along to other ECE professionals and families that I come into contact with along the way.

European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA)

Upon exploration of the the EECERA website, I discovered that many of the same issues in early childhood education here in the US are prevalent all over the world. Professionalism, parent communication, transitions, and other prominent topics that I experience on an everyday basis were presented on the EECERA website.

I also stumbled upon an article entitled "Parents' Play Beliefs and Engagement in Young Children's Play at Home". I have always been interested in the role of play in the development of young children, so this article immediately struck my interest. The authors discussed their study of the effects of the level of parent engagement in play at home in the development of their young children. The study concluded that most parents participate in play with their children more so as teachers rather than playmates. I never really considered this to be true, so this was an eye opener for me when looking at play engagement from adults as a whole. 

You can access the article here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1350293X.2018.1441979?journalCode=recr20

Option 1: Biting in Childcare Centers

Biting is a common occurrence for toddlers in group care settings. I have worked in childcare centers and in the public school system prior to my current role, however, most of my experience has been with infants and school-aged children. As the infant/toddler education coordinator, I got my first taste of biting in the toddler age group within the past few years. Anytime teachers called to report a biting incident, my heart would automatically sink to my stomach because I knew how any parent would feel to hear this information. Working in a mega center with over 8 toddler classrooms, you can imagine just how frequently biting incidents would occur. Personally, I knew I was not well informed on biting and in order to work with parents against this issue, I needed to be prepared. I started doing research into biting in toddlers and I quickly learned that, for lack of a better term, biting was a "norm" in toddlers. Being that they did not have the language development nor the ability to regulate their emotions just yet, toddlers tend to bite others in response to these factors. I also stumbled across an article by Hope Solomons that explained how to handle biting incidents and contain them so they do not become a habit. I have linked the article below for any of you whom struggle with this same issue in your roles. I shared this article with my teachers and discuss its contents with parents whom grow concerned about biting incidents. Lastly, I always advise my toddler teachers to read the story "Teeth are Not for Biting" by Elizabeth Verdick. This book explains to children the uses of our teeth and reiterates several times throughout the story that teeth are not for biting. I even recommend this book to parents of children whom struggle with biting. It is always a hit and the children love reading it.

http://www.jpedhc.org/article/0891-5245(91)90060-4/fulltext

Developmental Stages of Young Children

My chosen research topic for this course is the developmental stages of young children. I chose this topic due to its level of relevance in my current career role as an Education Coordinator at a mega childcare center. My goal is to utilize all that I learn in this course and deliver it to my staff. I constantly find myself trying to find new and innovative ways to explain the stages of development to the teachers I supervise so that they can be more intentional and confident in their planning process. So far in my research I have stumbled upon some interesting studies regarding how a child's stages of development can greatly effect the people around them, especially their parents and teachers. You can view the article by visiting the link at the end of this blog. I would like to know if anyone has come across any research related to the developmental stages of young children? If so, any assistance would be greatly appreciated. I am excited to read and discover new things through all of your chosen research topics as well.