Time Well Spent

Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did. ~Newt Gingrich

This is it!  My final blog post!  I am at the end of my master's program and will soon have that hard earned diploma in my hand.  As I turn the page on this chapter, I want to say a thank you to all my colleagues who shared this journey with me.  Congratulations to all of you who set out to accomplish your goals.  You did it!  And thank you to my instructor, Johnna Darragh.  I really appreciated your encouraging words and support throughout the classes I had with you.  

Going through this program was difficult.  I sacrificed time with my family, stayed up late and worried a lot.  Now that it is over, I am not sure what to do with myself.  All I know is that I had three really important reasons that started me on this journey and stuck with me through it all.  And here are two of them:

 I learned so much during this program, it is hard to narrow it down to only two or three things.  I see the impact this course has had on my professional knowledge every day at work.  I feel it in the confidence I have when I talk about the field.  I know the knowledge I gained has made me a stronger leader and a turned me into a real teacher.  As I move on to more challenging positions in my career, I can feel confident that I have the skills to be successful and be able to build on them as I work toward the next step in my career progression.

I want to leave you with one more quote:

"The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places."~Author Unknown  

We got to this place because we did not give up, we kept on going, always looking toward that dim light at the end of the tunnel.  Week after week, course after course that light got a little brighter.  And now here we are outside of that tunnel and into the light of new opportunities!  Congratulations, everyone!  Job well done, time well spent!

~BethAnn
bethannk3@msn.com

International jobs and roles in the ECE community

This week I will be discussing jobs and roles in the international ECE community.  There were several organizations that caught my eye when I was looking for some to share with you.

The first one is The World Association of Early Childhood Educators (2012).  Their core mission is to advocate for the development of every child, to educate their members in the latest research and information in early childhood education, help educators to network, and bring to light the importance of the early years. The first thing I noticed on their site was "Hot Topics" and the first one was "How brains are built: The core story of brain development".  I thought this was great because the challenge I chose for this course was nurturing brain development in young children.  I didn't see any links to career opportunities, but there is the option of becoming a member of the group and networking with other ECE professionals.

The second organization I found was the Association for Childhood Education International (2011).  Their mission is to promote and support the optimal education, development, and well-being  of children worldwide. They advocate for children, but also train and educate teachers and care providers.  They have many ways to help members further their education, including CDA programs, grants, scholarships and awards.  The work with many partners around the world and within the United Nations, as well.  Opportunities to get involved with the organizations seem to start with memberships or internships.  

The third organization I want to share is UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.  This organization is dedicated to building peace, eradicating poverty and building international dialogue, mainly through focus on education throughout the world.  This organization actually listed job opportunities and they seem to range from highly skilled positions to office and administrative support.  One thing that caught my eye about this organization is their campaign to create equality in education for girls and women around the world.   

References:
Association for Childhood Education International. (2011).  Retrieved from http://www.acei.org

The World Association of Early Childhood Educators. (2012).  Retrieved from http://www.waece.org/

UNESCO. (2015). Education for the 21st century.  Retrieved from http://en.unesco.org/themes/education-21st-century

Jobs and Roles In the ECE Community: National and Federal Level

There are many national organizations for early childhood education.  One of the most well known is the National Association for the Education of Young Children (2015).  I would love to work for this organization some day.  I am not sure what jobs are available with them right now as that function of their website is down, but I am certain that a Master's Degree in early childhood studies would be able to get me an entry level position somewhere in the organization.

Another national organization that looks promising is the NAECTE, the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators (2015).  As an organization, this is more of a Community of Practice as their purpose is to promote growth and advocate for their members, create a forum for discussions of issues in the ECE field.

A third national/international organization I find intriguing is the HighScope Educational Research Foundation (2015).  They are an independent organization based on the landmark research study in the Perry Preschool Program, which tracked 123 children born in poverty through the HighScope Preschool Curriculum in the 1960s until their 40's.  The study showed the effectiveness of early childhood education. They have several job opportunities such as vice president, training and curriculum specialists, and various teachers and administrators at several different programs.  I feel that with enough experience I could qualify for one of these positions.  It would be awesome to work for such an organization!

In the federal arena, there are several agencies that perform work in the ECE field.  Obviously, each military branch has their child and youth programs with plentiful opportunities to work in centers or administration.  But within the Department of Health and Human Services there is an office within the Administration for Children and Families dedicated specifically to early childhood development.  Their job is to "promote a joint approach at the federal level to improving the availability of high quality early learning and development programs" (Early Childhood Development, 2015). I am not sure I would want to work for the federal government any more than I do.  Eventually I would like to work outside of the military in one of the organizations I mentioned above.


References:
Early Childhood Development. (2015). About. Retrieved from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ecd/about

HighScope Educational Research Foundation. (2015). About us.  Retrieved from http://www.highscope.org/Content.asp?ContentId=761

The National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators. (2015). Home. Retrieved from http://www.naecte.org

The National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2015). Home. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org

Start of EDUC 6990. Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

In thinking about communities of practice this week, my mind jumps to communities within the early childhood field.  I am a member of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (2014).  This is a great organization, and if you don't already know about it click here.  This is definitely an organization I would like to work for someday if the opportunity ever presented itself.

In Hawaii, we have an affiliate organization of NAEYC, the Hawaii Education for Association of Young Children (2014), or HAEYC.  I was privileged to attend an HAEYC conference back in October and it was really nice such a large gathering of early childhood professionals.  I have not yet become a member, but I am considering it.  I would also consider working for this organization.

In my search for local organizations, I came across the Hawaii Early Childhood Action Strategy.  The Hawaii Early Childhood Action Strategy is a research based strategic plan, informed from the fields of neurobiology, developmental psychology, and human capital economics in early childhood systems development (Hawaii Early Childhood Action Strategy, 2014).  It is definitely something I want to learn more about.

References:
Hawaii Action Strategy. (2014). Home. Retrieved from http://hawaiiactionstrategy.org

Hawaii Association for the Education of Young Children. (2015). Home.  Retrieved from http://www.hawaiikeiki.org

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2014). Home.  Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org.

Goodbye-End of EDUC 6165

As this course comes to an end, it marks a new chapter in our studies.  We will all be moving on to our specialization courses for the remainder of our programs.  I will be focusing on Administration, Management and Leadership.  For those of you in this specialization, I look forward to seeing you there and continuing our collaboration.  For those of you going in another direction, I wish you the best of luck in your program and future goals.  Thank you all so much for every contribution, discussion and word of encouragement.  It was a pleasure working with you and learning from you.  See you at the finish line!

...for hanging out with me!

The 5 Stages of Team Development

This week we are learning about team development.  There are five specific stages in group development:  forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning (O'Hair & Weimann, 2012).
For this week's blog I am going to focus on Adjourning, the final phase of group development that occurs after the project, goal or task has been accomplished.  In my experience with Adjourning, i have been very happy to get away from my group or very sad to leave my group.  When I left my job in Japan, I was not sad to go.  Everyone I had built relationships and trust with had gone and the new team leader did not develop the team effectively at all.  When I left my job in Maryland, I was very sad.  I had made great friends, learned so much and knew I would miss my work there. I still keep in touch with my coworkers there. When I have to leave my job here in Hawaii, I will again be very sad as everyone here is so nice and there is a real sense of camaraderie and team work.  I am sure I will have made friends and colleagues that I will keep in touch with after I leave.  Unfortunately, being a military spouse means I have to leave my job every 3-4 years, so I have a lot of experience with adjourning.
Whenever one of my courses in this program ends, I always feel a little anxious, because I have got to know some of my colleagues pretty well and do not want to have to deal with the process of learning new people (even though it always turns out great).  there are a few people who have been with me since the beginning and I always hope that they are still in my group because they are so much fun to discuss with and always have good things to impart.

Tuckman's 5 Stages of Group Development

Using Conflict Resolution With Children

This week we are learning about conflict management and resolution.  While I am not directly experiencing conflict right now, the fact that I work with children and have two of my own means that I am constantly managing conflict.  One of the things that I have learned about managing conflict with children (and adults) is that you need let the children know you hear what they are saying.  More than anything, they want to tell their side of the story.  But to speak, the other has to let them.  So it is also important to make sure the other child gives that respect and is also able to respond.  Modeling calmness and respect is very important in these moments.  The other thing that I have found to be important is to let the children find a solution to the problem.  Helping them to figure out a compromise or find an alternative works much better when they feel they have come up the ideas themselves.

I think the best thing to do is to teach children how to communicate without conflict when ever possible.  Marshall Rosenberg, the founder of The Center for Nonviolent Communication has said: "When our communication supports compassionate giving and receiving, happiness replaces violence and grieving!"  We should keep this in mind when teaching children positive communication skills.

A very simple form of conflict resolution for children

    

Look familiar?

How about this?  Praising children for positive behaviors helps to teach and reinforce those behaviors.