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

The National Black Child Development Institute was founded 40 years ago to help black children and families get the early education, health care, and other resources they needed to be successful in society.  I’m interested in making this organization about of my community of practice because of their PEP, Parent Empowerment Project.  Since my challenge focuses on increasing parental involvement during the early years, this program will help me implement ways to meet my challenge.  NBCDI developed a comprehensive curriculum designed for parents to improve the influence they have on the lives of their children.  In the program, parents learn what is best for the child, how to become better parents, and ways to use the resources available to help their child develop.  There are a series of 2 hour classes offered to the parents by training facilitators to empower parents to become engaged in the early learning process.  For more information, please visit http://www.nbcdi.org/what-we-do/parent-empowerment-project.  As of right now, NBCDI has an opening for a President and CEO.  In order for me to be eligible to apply for either position, I must have 15 years of leadership experience in addition to my advance degree.  Even though, I haven’t obtained supervisory experiences of this capacity yet, I have noticed that there isn’t an affiliation in the Dallas area.  With that in mind, I will explore ways to begin a chapter in my region. 

The Association for Early Learning Leaders is a nonprofit organization that has been serving ECE leaders since the early 80’s.  Their purpose is to promote leadership development that enhances the quality of the early learning program.  I am interested in adding this organization to my community of practice because it promotes meaningful collaboration among other ECE professionals not just within my community but within the nation as well.  It will also give me professional development opportunities to fortify my leadership skills after I’ve obtained my advanced degree.  In order to access the job opportunities listed on their website, you must become an ELL member.  Otherwise there is a $49 fee.  However, it does allow you to post employment or volunteer opportunities that you have within your program without a fee.  I am interested in the conferences they offer for owners and directors of child care programs along with the accreditation process they offer assistance with.  For more information, please visit http://www.earlylearningleaders.org/?page=Professional. 

The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organizations that focuses on advancing public education.  I would like to include them in my COP because of the resources and programs they have in place for partnering with parents.  The NEA offers positons in management, professional, and administrative support.  In addition, there are paid and unpaid intern positons.  Even though they have plenty of opportunities, none of the positions listed am I qualified to apply for due to lack of experience in leadership role.  However, I am interested in the fall internship because it provides hands on training to substantive programmatic work experiences that improve the quality of public education.  It will give me more in depth research experience, data analysis, participation with policy forums, and visits on Capitol Hill.  For more information, please visit https://neacareers.silkroad.com/.

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community

The three local or state organizations that appealed to me this are:  Commit2Dallas, Children’s Advocacy Center for Denton County, and Head Start of Greater Dallas. 

Early this year I applied to Commit2Dallas and was accepted in a long term professional development training that will begin this upcoming school year.  Their mission is to start within early childhood helping children become school ready and develop literacy skills by the end of third grade. 

CAC mission is to provide justice and healing for children who have been abused.  During this process, they offer emotional support, family services, therapy, counseling, and prevention education. 

I chose Head Start of Greater Dallas because of their high priority to partner with parents to ensure children get a great head start during the first five years of their life. 

As I look for job opportunities within each of these, Commit2Dallas have various ways to get involved but at this time there aren't any job announcements.  I also was unable to see any employment opportunities with the Children’s Advocacy Center but there are volunteer options.  The Head Start of Greater Dallas have teaching positions posted on their site.  At this level of my career, I am more interested in directing an early learning programs.  So, even though I didn't see any administrative positions in these three choices, there are plenty of director positions throughout the metropolis of Dallas.  I have acquired the education and skills needed to qualify me as a potential director for an already existing early learning center.  However, I would like to challenge myself to establish a new program within my community. 

For more information on the organizations I selected, please visit the following links:

http://www.hsgd.org/families-teachers

http://commit2dallas.org/cradle-to-career/

http://www.cacdc.org/about/mission/

Issues I have within ECE

Welcome colleagues to our last course of graduate school!  Brace yourselves, I have a lot to share during our practical starting with the issues I have in the early learning field.


 

Special Thanks

Thanks to all my colleagues who have supported me during this Communication and Collaboration course.    During the past eight weeks, I have enjoyed engaging in in depth conversations about what we have learned and what we have experienced within our professions.  Thanks to you, I have improved my communication skills.  Thanks for participating, sharing, inspiring, and given me the feedback I needed through collaboration so that I can be an effective communicator.  A special thanks to our professor, Dr. Lisset-Bird Pickens for taking the time to share her expertise, for investing in current and future ECE professionals, and for being an effective teacher that used various activities, assignments, techniques, and technology to help us become better communicators.  Again thanks and I look forward to continuing my educational journey with you!

Adjourning in Team Development

This weak I learned about the five stages that teams or groups go through.  The adjourning stage is a process the groups encounter when they are disbanding (O'Hair & Wiemann, 2012).  This is the time the group reflects on accomplishments and/or failures they experienced along the way.   Some groups don't disband; while others may never work together or see each other again after completing a group project.  I've had several chances working with others during my military career and during my educational career.  As a HR, we constantly had group projects and often times I worked with the same group for various projects.  It wasn't until after I decided not to reenlist that I experienced adjournment and had to say farewell because there would be no future projects for me.  In education, I get to work with my kindergarten team weekly in meeting academic goals within six week increments for the young children assigned to me.  We won't experience adjournment until the end of the year, if the team has to disband.  I don't think high performing groups, as with me and the Armed Forces were hard to leave.  It’s expected and comes with the job.  We are well aware of the turnover rate in the military sector.  For me, it would be harder leaving a smaller high performing group.  As always there are good bye rituals in place especially for members who have invested a lot of time or made a major impact on reaching the common goal of the organization.  When I left the military, those I worked with the most, we had lunch together.  I still contact some of them until this day.  When I left the early learning center for a public school teaching position, my colleagues and I enjoyed my last day on campus by bringing our classes together and celebrating my new opportunity.  Gifts were given, pizza was delivered, party trays displayed, cards and well wishes were expressed, etc.  I still remain in contact with some of the ECE professionals from my first campus and it was hard to say goodbye.  As I get closer to completing my master’s program with WU, I'm not sure how I will adjourn from the group of colleagues that I have worked with for the last two years.  I know we will all be excited about reaching a professional goal and graduating from the program, but I'm not sure how we will bring it to a close when it's the final week of the very last class we have to take.  Adjourning is essential to teamwork because it provides closure to the group project and to relationships that are meant to be long term or to continue.  It definitely helps to understand and improve any areas of weakness that may have been discovered during the project.  

Reference:  O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012).  Real communication:  An introduction.  New York:  Bedford/St. Martin's.  

Conflict Resolution

Not too long ago, me and my supervisor clashed.  I had brought, on more than one occasion, a pay discrepancy to her attention.  As before she had indicated that she would take care of the situation for me.  When it occurred again, I had reached my limit with depending on her to rectify the situation.  I preferred to take matters into my hands by skipping the middle man, which was her, and speaking directly with the counsel about my issue with not receiving holiday pay.  According to her, I wasn't hired as a full time teacher.  Even though I was working full time hours and received other benefits that are only designated to full time employees but because "the system" indicated I was part time, I couldn't get holiday pay.  To me, that didn't make any sense and when I questioned her about it, she just gave me a blank stare as if she didn't know what to say or do.  I walked away because I knew it was a waste of time and there wasn't much else to say to her about it.

Later, she handed me a letter regarding all her concerns about me and how unprofessional she thought I was during the brief conversation.  In return, I wrote her a letter addressing each concern she had and sharing my professional opinion with her as well.  A few days later, we meet and discussed our concerns in both letters.
The misconceptions she had, I was able to explain and give her clarity.  In turn, it gave me an opportunity to learn something about her as well.  She is what is considered an escapist.  She avoid direct conflict but leaves issues unresolved (O'Hair & Wiemann, 2012).  Even though I didn't receive my holiday pay and the conflict wasn't totally resolved, I reached a point where it was best for me to remove myself from the situation.  This is considered separation, a tactic used to resolve conflict (O'Hair & Wiemann, 2012).  I chose to resign for varies reasons that led up to the conflict, but in retrospect it was the best career move for me.  Now, I have the administrative support I need and don't have to debate over compensation that is rightfully mine.  I am blessed now to enjoy paid time off and not just for holidays!

Reference:  O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012).  Real communication:  An introduction.  New York:  Bedford/St. Martin's.  

Me, as a Communicator

This week I evaluated myself as a communicator.  I took three assessments.  One assessed my perspective of public speaking, the other evaluated my listening skills, and the final one measured how aggressive I am when I communicate with others.  I chose to compare my results to what my teenage daughter and one of my close girlfriend's thought about how I communicate with them.

My daughter thinks I'm a very direct and effective communicator.  She thinks I listens for the purpose of solving problems.  Which is understandable from parent's perspective.  She's not around me when I have to engage in meetings or public speaking, but based on family engagements, she is able to share her insight on how well I interact and speak out with them.  On rare occasions, she has witnessed an aggressive conversation of me arguing my point, especially in heated debates about politics, education, and religious beliefs.  

My friend felt like I am passive.  I listen more than I talk.  I only answer questions I'm asked.  She feels like she has called me over the years to vent and I didn't seem to be annoyed by it.  She doesn't think I get frustrated when people call me for my advice but choose not to take it.  She's only seen me on a few times in a public speaking setting.  I didn't appear to be nervous to her.  She thought I did well with explaining the requirements to new hires.  She commented that I've always been able to just talk to anyone, whereas she prefers to communicate with people she know and is comfortable with.  

Listening to others share how they perceive and accept me was very interesting.  I know I can come across strong, especially if I am adamant about my point of view.  I also know that I take others, feelings, into consideration before I respond or react.  I'm shocked that she felt like I was passive.  I think I am very vocal.  Professionally, I take other factors into consideration when working with young children and their families.  I definitely have to create solutions, once I voice my concerns or problems that I see regarding their child.  One of my duties is to educate the families I encounter.  I enjoy helping other achieve their goals and having effective communication skills are important in order for me to do so.