Farewell!

To My Walden Family,

This has been an amazing journey, one that I will never forget. I have gained so much from this program. I have grown professionally and spiritually. There were many times when I felt like giving up and prayer is what pushed me through. My Walden colleagues have been the biggest inspiration. You may not know it but your determination pushed me to strive harder. Another thing that I learned was time management. My time management skills have increased tremendously! This program taught me the many possibilities that I am capable of achieving. This program expanded the view of early childhood education. I was introduced to many aspects that I had no idea of existence. My long-term goal is a simple yet challenging goal. It is simply to further my education. It may be through school or the workforce, however I wish to increase my knowledge of my specialty as far as I can. Having knowledge is power. This program awarded me power. It is a great feeling. I have enjoyed each of my classes as well as building healthy relationships with my colleagues. I wish each of you the best and I know we will all be great. Thank you for contributing your passion to this field. You make a world of a difference!

Angela               

E-mail: anburke2013@gmail.com

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

The three international organizations that were most appealing to me are as follows:

1 The Academy for Educational Development

This is a great organization, Something like I have never seen before. I say this because this organization is not only based on children and families but the community as a whole. This organization ensures that the community has the opportunity to reach their highest potential. The values of this organization reflect diversity and accountability in which I think are great aspects.

http://www.aed.org/en/index.htm

2. International Step-by-Step Association

I explored this website to see what it was about. I’ve learned not to assume anything about an organization based on its title. This organization ensures that every child has the opportunity to develop to his or her potential. What I liked most about the organization is that they provide it members with professional development and capacity building. I think this is a great tool because many people within the community may not have an opportunity to experience professional development and I feel, as this was a great resource for members.

http://www.issa.nl/index.html

3. Save the Children

I fell in love with this organization because it gave me the feel of  a missionary organization. It helps improve the lives of millions of children around the world. This organization has programs in 120 countries all over the world. They are not just one big organization, but many comprised into one working towards efforts to improve health education and economic opportunities.

http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6115947/k.8D6E/Official_Site.htm

Job Opportunities & Qualifications

Coordinator, Early Childhood

This position requires the applicant to recruit pregnant families and children ages with through five into the program, organize parent child groups and conduct child screenings as well as make referrals.

       In order to qualify for this position you must have:

 A degree in Early Childhood or related field, have experience and training working in a home visiting, infant/toddler early childhood/parenting education program,
 have experience working with pregnant women, children ages birth to five, and families in rural areas a plus
 Experience leading parent or community groups, a plus
 Experience with timely reporting and maintaining accurate records on program activities
, experience in collaborating with early childhood programs in the community and the individual must live in the Needles CA community.

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

The three national organizations that were most appealing in my eyes are listed below.

1. National Education Association (NEA). The NEA is the largest professional organization in the nation. Its vision is to advance the cause of public education. I love the fact that the mission is vey simple, "Every child deserves quality education". This organization was appealing because it aligned with my challenge. Every child should have to opportunity to receive a quality education, one of my main reason for advocating for more preschool programs.

National Education Association

2.National Association of Early Childhood Teachers Educators (NAECTE).NAECTE purpose is to advocate for improvements in Early Childhood Teacher Education. The great thing about the organization is that its members are comprised of all teachers from all grade levels. This organization is perfect for finding members of a community of practice that share common challenges.

National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators

3.National Association of Early Childhood Specialist in State Departments of Education. (NAECS). The NAECS is an organization for state education agency staff members with major responsibilities in the early childhood field. I found this organization interesting because it serves as a directory of who the decision makers are within your community or state.

National Association of Early Childhood Specialist in State Departments of Education


Job Opportunities of Current Interest

 Preschool Director

A bachelor's degree or higher in Early Childhood Education, Child Development, or a related field, and management experience in a large, licensed preschool or childcare center is a must. A candidate must have strong leadership skills, excellent communication skills, and have a good understanding of age appropriate activities for young children.

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community

Smart Start

Smart Start is an organization that brings teachers, administrators, families and members of the community together to ensure that young children have all they need for healthy growth and development. Throughout my working career, the programs that I have bee involved in has partnered with Smart Start on numerous occasions. Smart start has provided many resources to ensure that children have the best opportunities to succeed.

Childcare Services of NC

Childcare services of NC ensure affordable, accessible high quality care for all young children and their families. This organization provides improvements to the child care systems in NC and throughout the country. This is a great organization that provides support to local early childhood programs whose vision is to provide high quality education.

NAEYC

NAEYC assist teachers on receiving resources to deal with many different aspects of teaching. They offer assistance and training on special needs children and offer workshops on classroom management.  I believe that this is a great resource for all teachers to become more efficient within their careers. As a educator, this organization has become useful in helping me to understand the early childhood system.

Job Opportunities

Pre-K Teacher- Assists students, individually or in small groups, with lesson assignments for the purpose of practicing and/or reinforcing learning concepts and assisting students in reaching academic goals and grade level standards.

Pre-K Director- Preschool and childcare center directors are responsible for all aspects of their program. They direct and lead staff, oversee daily activities, and prepare plans and budgets.

My next career path consists of becoming a preschool director. I want to gain experience in the field of managing and administration. I have many ideas that I would like to implement in my center. After completing this program, becoming a director of an early childhood center is a goal I intend to reach.

References:

Smart Start. Retrieved from http://www.smartstart.org/category/smart-start-information/about-smart-start

Childcare Services Association. Retrieved from http://www.childcareservices.org/

Farewell

I had obtained a wealth of knowledge while taking this course. I have learned so many things from all of you as classmates and I have learned that we all share the passion. I encourage everyone to keep pushing, despite the obstacles that may occur we all have to keep our goals in line. Thank you for sharing all that you have. You have allowed me to be aprt of your work world as well as your personal world. If any of you would like to keeep in touch my personal email is mzkharisma@gmail.com. Please feel free to contact me about anything .May God continue to bless each of you.

Adjourning Relationships

The adjourning phase can be difficult. I often think about how it will be when I leave my current job to excel in my career. I believe that it would be very hard not only to leave my colleagues but steer away from the environment in which I performed the best. Leaving my current job will be my first real job that I have to leave. I have thought about taking the professional way out by letting my principle know when its time to report if we would like to keep our position for next year. Adjourning from my colleagues will be a difficult task because I have developed personal relationships with them.

To adjourn from my colleagues that I have been working with will be difficult but a rewarding experience. I say this because by us adjourning from each other, we will have the opportunity to advance in our careers and take all that we have offered each other along on our journey. It will be difficult because we will no longer be able to view each other’s insights or share personal stories that contribute to our growth. I have overall had a rewarding experience with working as a team with my colleagues.

Conflict Strategies

In the beginning of the current school year, I encountered a small colleague on my job that I had difficulty overcoming. I have an assistant as well as a one to one mentor with me in my classroom. There was a lot of mix up because it was confusion about “roles”. The mentor was completing assistant duties and my assistant began to get upset which caused horrible tension in the room. I can honestly say that I was in a difficult position. When it began to affect my students and the atmosphere of the classroom, I knew that something had to be done. I took it upon myself to reach out to both parties and come u with a compromise. This action took a few weeks to complete. Slowly but surely things began to work themselves out. I started to be specific when I needed certain things to be done. I started to figure out ways to not let them figure decisions out because they were both headstrong. As soon as I began to implement tactics to reduce confusion, everything fell into place. I often used the Escapist Strategy. Avoiding direct conflict was perfect. I began not to care to listen to the comments they made about each other, and they noticed, so they would stop. I also found that Cooperative Strategies also worked. Whenever something positive would happen, I would be sure to praise them both as well as include them in on the situation. This created a better atmosphere most of the time. My situation has improved tremendously and through reading the course materials, I have found more ways to implement conflict resolution strategies.