“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” Gandhi

The End of Another Journey…..

I have found over my lifetime that time is not a set measure of time.  When I am happy in the moment time seems to go so much faster than when I am dreading the event.  With that being said, it is sad to see the end of yet another goal and journey that I have set for myself coming to an end.

Throughout this program I have learned a wealth of information about the development of young children, programs and policies that I did not know prior to my arrival here.  What I thought I knew was enhanced by the lessons that my professors provided me.  Sometimes in life we experience situations that we do not understand in the moment, for instance “why is little Suzie so curious about that mirror?” or “why does little Johnie mimic everything I do?!”  Through our classes we have learned the answers to these questions and many more.  Our learning puts life’s little mysteries into perspective for us.  With this we can move forward and assist other parents and families to better understand the importance of the developmental stages their children experience and help promote their learning.

When I entered this program I was not sure how I what to expect from the advocacy and policy aspect.  I feel more confident upon our graduation that I can and will be an effective advocate for young children in my own community as well as all over the world.  I look forward to moving into a career where I can make an impact on the policy that affects the early childhood education program.  I believe that I have a lot to offer, but I also know that I have more to learn as I proceed on my journey.

One final goal that I have for myself upon graduating is to achieve all the professional goals I have set for myself thus far.  I hope to find a career that will allow me to impact the lives of young children and I am looking forward to beginning a program that would provide quality early childhood education to young children within my community at first, and eventually across the region.

I look forward to meeting many of you in person as we move forward in our careers.  I hope that we can lean on one another for support and guidance. I have enjoyed working with you all, what a wonderful group of individuals we are.  I appreciate the help that you offered me, and the comments. You all are wonderful and I will miss our short discussions each week.

To all of my professors, I thank you for the guidance, knowledge and patience that you have given to me throughout this program, I appreciate it.  I look forward to sharing my successes with you in the future.  Being a teacher, I know that any success I have I owe to my teachers.  Thank you.

Blog Assignment: Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

Save the Children

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

Save the children is an organization that I can support.  The Save the Children organization works with children and families around the world to impact child protection, child survival, education, health and nutrition, HIV/AIDS, and emergency response.  Their main areas of operation are Africa, Asia, Latin America/ Caribbean, Middle East/ Eurasia and the USA.

In the United States where one in four children live in poverty.  The Save the Children organization believe that “all children deserve a fair chance at a bright future” and therefore they provided early childhood education, literacy, physical activity and nutrition and emergency response programs that benefited more than 141,000 children, families and caregivers. (Save, )  They work in underserved areas of the United States such as the foothills of Kentucky and the deserts of Arizona and they state that their programs are making a difference in the lives of those they serve.

This organization helps children here at home, but also in other nation’s that face issues that are worse than starvation and homelessness.  Children all over the world deserve to feel safe at home and to be provided with the basic necessities to help them to develop appropriately and healthy.

UNICEF

http://www.unicef.org/

This organization is a committee of representatives from different nations that have been brought together to fight for and protect the rights of children all over the world.  Their areas of focus are child survival and development, basic education and gender equity, HIV/AIDS and children, and child protection, policy advocacy and partnerships. 

UNICEF is tackling issues such as deadly diseases in poor countries, purchasing bed nets for those areas where disease is spread by mosquitos, planting trees in Libya, debating why rich countries have so many children living in poverty, and battling the outrage of child massacres that have occurred in Syria. 

UNICEF appeals to me because it is battling for issues that are devastating to children not only here in the U.S. but around the world where people live in brutal societies.  Children are such innocent souls and they are caught in situations and environments that are created by adults and politicians.  The children need someone to fight for them and this organization does that everyday.

Job opportunities that I found are:

Consultancy: To support Early Learning Development Standards (ELDS) implementation in Uzbekistan

Purpose
An international expert in Early Learning Development Standards will be contracted to provide support to the Government of Uzbekistan in the ELDS implementation process in the country. In particular, expertise will be provided in the areas of using ELDS for curriculum development, teacher training, and monitoring of quality teaching and learning.

The assignment will include a 4 day, in-country workshop as well as feedback on teacher training modules developed by the participants after the workshop. For details please see the Terms of Reference.


Qualifications & Competencies
- Internationally recognized advocate and trainer on the subject of ELDS
- Internationally recognized expertise in ECD
- Advanced university degree in education or the social sciences, with a specialization in issue related to the survival, growth and development of young children
- Familiarity with UNICEF mission and mandate as well as approach to ECD
- Proven skills in developing guidelines, strategies, operational results-oriented action plans for different stakeholders -policy –makers, ECD specialists, frontline workers and practitioners, teachers and methodologists, families and young children
- Excellent training and facilitation skills
- Extensive experience of working in international environments
- Previous experience of working in CEE/CIS Region

 Deputy Director, D-1, Division of Communication, New York Headquarters

If you are a passionate and committed professional and want to make a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you.

UNICEF seeks a Director (D-1), Division of Communication at New York Headquarters.
Purpose
Under the supervision of the Director of the Division of Communication (DOC), the incumbent will provide strategic guidance, quality assurance and ensure overall management of DOC to promote the global visibility of children’s issues. 

In particular, the incumbent will guide and manage teams to ensure the timely identification, implementation and monitoring of divisional priorities. S/he will establish a systematic approach to identify issues of strategic importance for UNICEF and also ensure the effective co-ordination of DOC in support of global priorities. Emphasising team-building, s/he will promote the alignment of functions and capacities for an agile, effective and efficient communications team. The incumbent will also maintain working relations with key stakeholders in the organization - including HQ divisions, Regional and Country Offices and National Committees - to leverage and maximise the impact of organizational assets to promote children’s issues on the global agenda.

 The incumbent will oversee the Divisional budget, personnel/staffing and daily administrative operations. S/he will represent the Director within and outside UNICEF including the United Nations system as required.

Minimum Requirements
-Advanced university degree in journalism, communication, international relations, social sciences.

- Thirteen years of relevant work experience in an international development context, especially at global levels, in the areas of journalism, communication,  public relations.

- Extensive management experience working with a wide range of stakeholders , particularly in the development and implementation of corporate communication priorities for a global organisation with HQ, regional and country locations.

- Fluency in English. Knowledge of another UN language is an asset.

Other Relevant Qualifications

Extensive experience managing teams of senior technical professionals, including in high pressure environments.

Proven  co-ordination, organizational and interpersonal skills that motivate and mobilize staff and stakeholders across different organizational units to collectively drive for results.

Strong abilities to communicate and persuade both in internal and external environments on strategic organizational priorities.

Capacity to drive change across the organisation (i.e. good manager in the division; ability to reach out and partner; understanding of working in decentralised organisational culture, work effectively with other Divisions, Country and Regional Offices).

http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/index_currentvacancies.html

Although both jobs seem very interesting, I am nowhere near qualified for these jobs.  I do find them interesting and it is always good to know what you will need to improve your professional resume into the future.

Resources

Save the Children. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6115947/k.8D6/Official_Site.htm

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2011, from http://www.unicef.org/

National and Federal Organizations

National Association for the Education of Young Children their mission is “to serve and act on behalf of all young children with primary focus on the provision of educational and developmental services and resources”(NAEYC, 2012).  This community of practice prides itself on “convening individuals and groups with diverse perspectives to generate new knowledge and understanding of issues” that are affecting education and the development of young children (NAEYC, 2012).  This organization is a wonderful asset to any professional community because of its diverse membership.  They also advocate for public policies and funding to support comprehensive systems of high quality early childhood learning for young children and families which is an area that interest me professionally.

The National Association of Child Care Professionals is an organization for child care owners, directors and administrators.  Although this organization seems exclusive, the goal of improving, enhancing and strengthening the credibility of the people who lead the child care industry seems like an important step to ensure that child care workers are seen as credible among other professionals.  This organization will be important as the early childhood field moves forward to ensure that qualified teachers and high quality programs are in place for all children.  Although I do not meet the criteria to join at the moment, the opportunity to join a community of professionals with these members would be beneficial in understanding the management perspective of early childcare programs.

The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) is another national organization that appeals to me.  This organization conducts and communicates research which supports high quality, effective, early childhood education for all young children (NIEER, 2012).  The research that is completed here is important in the struggle to improve the conditions and wages for teachers as they become highly qualified to teach through earning degrees.  But also the research provides evidence that supports the need for high quality early childhood programs to enhance the development of young children and families.  All early childhood professionals, and students alike, benefit from the work that is done through this organization.  They are key players in the fight to develop legislation, regulations and policies to improve the quality and increase access for children nationwide.

Job opportunities that interest me are Early Childhood Education Director, Early Childhood Community Outreach Manager, and any job that would allow me to work with making policies for early childhood programs. For each of the jobs listed I found that at least a Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood, business, public policy with at least 3-5 years of relevant experience were necessary.  All jobs required the ability to communicate effectively with the public, compassion and ability to work with a diverse population, and write reports, manage budgets and supervise staff.  Some coordination with the community and ability to problem solve were also characteristics that were needed.

National Association of Child Care Professionals. 2012. http://www.naccp.org/

National Association for the Education of Young Children. 2012. http://www.naeyc.org/about/mission

National Institute for Early Education Research. 2012. http://nieer.org/about/vision

Employment Opportunities in EC

My search for job openings in my community or county did not go well.  I did not find one job opening for a Early Childhood Educator of any types, much less one with a Master’s degree.  This was very discouraging.  However, as I was researching online I found several job opportunities in state and governmental jobs and even jobs overseas!

The first site that I visited in my county was the Partnership for children.  They offered no employment opportunities on their site.  I then searched the SmartStart organization. I know that we have a Pre-K program in our county and in the years when I worked for the program it was administered by the SmartStart program.  I did not find anything about the Pre-K program on their page, however there was a link for employment opportunities.  So I clicked the link and followed it.  On the next page there were several options for state positions.  Here I found two job opportunities that I felt I might be qualified for.  The first was a SmartStart Learning Community Director.  This job entailed developing classes for employees to take in an online environment and working with computer programmers to develop a chat room and discussion board where employees could respond.  Ultimately, the director would be developing classes and maintaining the assignments and grades for the employees.  They would also be responsible as a contact person for log in information, etc.  The requirement was a Master’s degree in Early Childhood, experience in online classroom management and development, organization and implementation of a curriculum and at least 3 years experience in leadership.  The second employment opportunity was a Project Manager for a Race to the Top grant.  The candidate would be responsible for administering the funding and meeting all of the qualifications of the grant.  They have to coordinate programs to meet the qualifications and ensure that all aspects are met.  A Master’s degree in a related field, experience in early childhood programs, and extensive knowledge of early childhood program history is required.  Both of these jobs were on the state level.

The Office of Health and Human Services website I found an employment opportunity for a Grant Reviewer.  I thought this was an awesome job opportunity.  Perhaps it is because I long for a quiet environment at the moment to hear myself think, but this is an opportunity to review grants to see if they meet the requirements for funding.  The requirements are that you have expertise in the area in which you select.  You must have a four year degree or further to apply, and you should have an area of expertise that you can demonstrate through references on a resume.  If selected you have 6 weeks to review grants that are at least 3,000 pages.  You work 6 days a week and must be available by phone for conferences if necessary.  Also, you have to have access to the internet and telephone during set hours each day.  The plus is that you work at home….however, you will be on call so to speak for 6 days a week during the 6 week period that you are reviewing the grant.

Finally, while I was on the Office of Health and Human Services website I searched jobs in education.  I found many jobs in the United States and abroad for childcare workers, youth program workers, teachers and various other jobs.  Most of the opportunities were on military bases.  However, I noticed very quickly that the early childhood opportunities were not paying very much money, even those that were in other countries!  It amazes me that we have not made any progress on this issue in the past few years.  If you are looking for jobs, there are a few out there. I fear it is going to be harder than I imagined to find a new job with our new degrees.

http://www.hhs.gov/careers/

https://www.governmentjobs.com/js_login.cfm?&TopHeader=northcarolina

http://unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/3445

Profile of a Volunteer

The volunteer that I wish to profile is Mr. Terry White.

For as long as I have known Mr. White, and that has been almost a lifetime, he has been willing to give his time to others to educate them on the ways of our ancestors.  Mr. Terry White is a knowledgeable member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and has spent many years educating children and adults alike on ceremonial traditions and how to prepare instruments and regalia in the traditional way.

In our community, the traditional way of living is become a distant memory to many.  With dedicated members like Terry White, adults and young people alike are able to understand the traditional ways of our ancestors and now have the opportunity to participate in traditional social events such as Pow Wows and even in spiritual traditions such as the Sweat Lodge.

His volunteer efforts began long ago, in my opinion, as a teen ager. He was willing to take anyone under his wing and introduce them to the tradition on drumming and singing.  He would also give his time to assist anyone that wanted to learn to bead, build a drum or make a flute.  If Terry could not help you, he was sure to find someone that could.  In adult life, Terry continued to volunteer his time in community drum groups and maintained his knowledge sharing with anyone willing to learn.  Over the last few years, many culture classes have been arranged around our county to help teach our children the traditional ways of their ancestors.  Mr. Terry White has continued to volunteer his time to teach and lead the younger generation and even volunteers to chaperone the youth to events across the nation to introduce them to tribal traditions of our neighboring tribes.

Mr. White’s work impacts the lives of others because he is a positive role model for our young Native Youth.  Mr. Terry demonstrates patience and understanding when working with the youth that is admirable.  He is humble and eager to offer assistance to anyone he can help.  Because of the work and time he gives to our communities, the traditions of our ancestors are alive once again.  Our children are beginning to connect with their ancestors and can see how we are responsible to one another as well as our Mother Earth for our actions.

I believe that as we live in the 21^st Century it is important that we remember where we come from as a people.  All cultures have a past, present and future, however if we do not understand the past, it is hard for us to adapt to the present and our futures seem to be a mystery.  When we have pride in our heritage and can participate in cultural events with others that are identical to ourselves we can find an inner strength and a desire to make our people proud by being the best person that we can be.  Mr. Terry White has made it possible for many people to reconnect with their heritage.  But not only does he spread traditional values and procedures, he takes the time to listen to our youth and to guide them to positive paths and provide them with the support they need to achieve their dreams.  He is truly worthy of recognition.

As I reflect on my goal to be an advocate in the early childhood field, I see Mr. Terry as a role model because he gives of his time and knowledge without seeking any recognition for his efforts.  I believe this is the true spirit of an advocate, to be passionate about an issue, to give of yourself and your time without expecting recognition in return.  The only objective that you have is to help children and families achieve their dreams and to be as successful as they can be.

“Using Social Media to Get Connected”

The most obvious past experience that I have with social media is Facebook.  Facebook is a great source for social media.  I had not really considered using it to promote an advocacy effort until reading this week’s module.  This is a wonderful way to express the views of the issue and to persuade others to support your issue and join the efforts.  Other social media sources that I have used in the past would be creating and following a Blog and and viewing videos on you tube.  Each of these outlets could lend themselves to promoting and advocacy effort.

Facebook allows a person to create a site where you can post the goals and objectives of your organization or collaboration in order to allow others to better understand the purpose.  By creating such a page you provide free advertisement as well as a link that will allow millions of people to view your organization or collaborations page, this also allows you a way to reach many people that you may not have contact with otherwise.  This source allows people to comment, ask questions or provide feedback in order to improve the efforts of the group.

Blog pages also allows you to explain your goals and objectives, but it gives you the opportunity to provide research, articles or updates to help others gain a better understanding of the importance of their action in the matter.  Blog pages also allow you the opportunity to communicate with people outside of your community and opens dialogue that can be productive in moving your efforts forward.

Advocacy Messages

IF VIDEO DOES NOT PLAY PLEASE CLICK LINK BELOW. I APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE BUT I AM STILL LEARNING.

http://bcove.me/qs4c7pes

IF VIDEO DOES NOT PLAY PLEASE CLICK LINK BELOW

http://bcove.me/p9imoggq

http://www.adcouncil.org/Our-Work/Current-Work/Education/Early-Childhood-Development#Asset1774

Advocacy message

These advertisements are so precious.  I believe that they are effective because they demonstrate how everyday moments can become teachable moments between parents and children.  I believe that a lot of parents forget to talk to their children about learning experiences as the opportunity arises during the day.  What is cute is the way the commercials do not show the children at first so it looks as though the adults have lost their minds at first, but then when you see the infant and toddler it is clear that the voice and the actions are to amuse the babies but at the same time the information the parent and grandparent are sharing are valuable.  

In the brief overview that follows these commercial on the Ad Council.org it states that learning begins at birth.  Born Learning is an organization that has made it their personal mission to assist parents and grandparents in making the most of the years between birth and third grade so that there is no achievement gap in the child’s learning.  Children are born absorbing information.  We tend to consider babies as “non thinkers” but the truth is their little brains are ready to learn from the moment they are born.  It begins with the most crucial survival instincts, but then it moves on to other information in the environment such as emotions, speaking, moving, eating and all other actions that are taking place around it on a daily basis.  In psychology we learn that a baby’s brain is like a sponge constantly absorbing information, it can also be compared to a blank slate when it arrives that the child’s environment determines how and what is written on the slate.  WE as parents, grandparents and caregivers have a responsibility to our children to be the first teacher that they know.  Therefore we must begin at birth teaching them all that they need to know to be successful in life.  And yes that does mean that we have discussions with infants that we perceive cannot even understand what we are saying, because we may never know just what kind of impact the conversations we have with babies before they can speak back may have on their intellectual development.  So the next time you are around a newborn, infant or toddler take the opportunity to teach them, do not allow teachable moments to escape and add to the gap in the child’s learning.

http://www.adcouncil.org/Our-Work/Current-Work/Education/Early-Childhood-Development#Asset1774

“My Own Capacity”

     The issues impacting young children and their families and/or the early childhood field that fuel my passion are providing high quality early childhood programs for all children ages 3-5.  I truly believe if we are going to turn around our failing education system in the United States that we have to reach children at younger ages.  With the current state of our economy, there are going to be more at-risk children that will be in need of services in the future.  I am also passionate about these high quality programs identifying children with learning or other developmental disabilities at early ages so that they can receive services that may improve their abilities and their rate of success in school in later years.

     The skills that I have that contribute to advocacy efforts are that I am a people person, therefore I love to talk to and listen to people, I also am willing to devote time working with organizations and committees to improve the circumstances for children, I am a patient person and finally I have great communication skills.  All of these skills can help me as an advocate because you have to be able to listen to people and determine how you can best help them, you have to have the patience to work through an issue by meeting smaller obstacles and achieving them in order to make the path for your goal to be accomplished, and you have to be able to communicate your thoughts and ideals effectively with everyone that you meet and those that can assist you with accomplishing your goal.

     I also believe that I have experience working with professional organizations that will help me when necessary to make contact with different organizations.  Past experiences and relationships are always learning experiences but also are a valuable way to expand your support for an issue. 

     In order to be a more effective advocate I hope that I will continue to learn strategies, procedures and policies that will help me to know the best way to accomplish the objective or issue that I choose to pursue.  As a professional I am aware that there is always room for growth and improvement and I seek daily to improve myself in all areas.  

My Role as an Adovocate

What motivated me to start advocating for very young children I believe was my experiences in school and those I observed with other children made me passionate about helping children learn.  However becoming an advocate for young children began to truly blossom with the birth of my oldest child and has become more prevalent as I have proceeded on my professional journey.

It is essential to acknowledge and foster advocacy efforts at the micro level, as well as the macro level because without communication or feedback from the micro level the macro level has not ideal of the impact they are making on the population.  It is the advocates at each level that work together across the grid to ensure that the best interest of a certain group or population is being maintained as policies are being made or changed at the macro level.

To be a community leader it takes passion for an issue and being able to “move public will and promote community-wide investments” in that issue. (Zero, 2008) 

The resources that it takes to be a state leader on early childhood issues according to Robin Roberts is  that as state leaders on early childhood issues you have to be open to working with other organizations at the state level.  Collaboration is key to the success of state leaders because you “cannot be effective unless you are collaborative” says Roberts.  The article also shares that there has to be a partnership from the “grassroots level all the way to the state level”.  Without collaboration work at the state level is ineffective and individuals at the local level feel unsupported in their work. (Zero, 2009)

Strategies and tactics to mobilize others are uniting community, organizations, parents/families, teachers, local, and state officials to discuss issues and support policies to improve early childhood education.  Public education about early childhood development and education is also a strategy to mobilize support for early childhood issues.  Other strategies include passing on information through mailings, emails and other sources.  Newsletters that highlight advocacy events and strategies and proposing opportunities for action on issues can be passed out and forwarded to local and state officials.  Workshops also provide a strategy for mobilizing support, through workshops others can get information about programs and clear up any myths they may have.  Also, organizations can hold meetings to update others on advocacy opportunities and discuss successes they have had with advocacy to help others with future advocacy efforts.

To advocate for young children and their families one should take on a leadership role by being a facilitator for families and stakeholders. According to Brian Spicker  “bringing all the stakeholders together to support the face-to-face work with children and families” is key to being an advocate.  Robin Roberts suggest that building relationships is key to advocating for infants and toddlers.  Once you have determined what goals you would like to achieve you should seek out people and groups that are working to achieve the same issues or goals.  By working with others and maintaining an open line of communication, the work you do will be much stronger.  She also recommends creating a common message to present in order to prevent confusion or conflicting information when presenting information in public.

Zero to Three Policy Center. (2008). Advocacy strategies to improve outcomes for very young children: Interviews with leaders at the state and community levels. Retrieved from
http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/AdvocacyLeaders_final.pdf?docID=1882

Personal Advocacy Reflection

Thinking back over my life time there are many instances where people have advocated for me, when people were willing to go the extra mile to help me achieve goals or dreams.  I believe that I have been fortunate.

For this assignment, I believe it would be most fitting to share my earliest recollection of advocacy.  Being a minority in an all white school in Warren Michigan in the late 1970's was probably one of the best opportunities that I have had in my life.  The advantage I had was being of mixed race where it was difficult to tell my race, unless you had met my father in person.  My teachers were the best teachers!  They were patient, polite and dedicated.  As a child I probably wasn't as appreciative as I am today for all of the times I had to stay in class and redo or complete work while my classmates were outside playing, but I know today it is because of these ladies that I am who I am today.  They identified that I had a speech problem and referred me for services, although I am not sure if I had a speech problem or if it was a dialect issue, but either way I was given the opportunity to learn to speak proper English.  They did whatever it took to make sure that I had the same opportunity as every other child.  No excuses.  Mrs. Mabry and Mrs. Thompson were my Kindergarten and First grade teachers and I truly feel that they went beyond their teaching duties to make me successful as a student. 

It is this spirit that I would like to offer my students. I want every child to have the best opportunity possible, and that means that early childhood educators have to identify developmental delays or neurological impairments and help the families get the children the services they need.  The first five years of life are so vital to the development of children, if we can identify delays or problems with development there is time to correct or improve the issue.  

Tools for Policy Makers and Advocates

Hello classmates. :) Here is the blog page for this class as well.  I look forward to hearing your thoughts of my posts and to reading your blogs as well.

Jennifer

Collegial Experience

Being a part of a caring, collaborative learning community while promoting my professional growth and development has been encouraging, informative and enlightening to me as an individual.  While on this professional journey there have been many times when I have felt that I had bitten off more than I could chew.  My peers and my professors have always been right there to offer words of wisdom, comfort and motivation to ensure me that if I step back for a moment I will see that I had made the right choice in pursuing my Masters and that I did have the ability to handle the situation.  This last class my health has not been good. I have been in the hospital and had to start taking medication daily just to stay safe.  Although the stress of the whole situation has been overloading, when I shared my situation with the professor and my advising team they were all willing to assist me and to ensure me that everything would be okay.  Sometimes we all need to be encouraged and uplifted, and as a professional there will be times when it is our job to make others feel encouraged.

Another great aspect of this collaberative learning community is that we all come from different social, economic and cultural backgrounds so we have a lot of insight to offer one another.  We also have different professional backgrounds that allows us to provide one another with information that we may not be privelaged to have otherwise.  In this class in particular, Debra was very informative about the Head Start system and offered us a lot of insight into the practices and routines of the center she was familiar with.  It is great to hear from someone who works in these systems daily and can share freely their opinion about matters.

Finally, the whole experience has been enlightening. The perspectives of others, the backgrounds of the professors, resources that we were introduced to, it all comes together to provide us with professional connections, information and resources to take with us as we proceed on our journey.

A goal that I have for using my collegial experience to enhance my system development and advocacy work on behalf of young children, families, and the early childhood community is that I intend to become employed in an agency where I can make an impact on the lives of children. I would also like to find a local advocacy group that I could become involved in so that I can begin to utilize all that I have learned on my collegial journey, I hope to make contact with some local agencies this summer when I have completed my course work and I am on vacation from my current profession.

I have truly enjoyed working with and meeting all of my peers and the professors that I have been fortunate to have during this time.

Until we meet again,
Jennifer

My Hypothetical Family

Who Are You?

     My hypothetical family consists of two young parents who already have a two year old daughter and have just found out they are expecting again.  The twenty year old parents struggle to maintain the household and their relationship is like a roller coaster.  The young lady is very unstable emotionally. She is very over protective of her daughter to the point that the child has no independence from the mother.  The mother has completed her classes for her high school diploma but has put on hold her plans to further her education in order to work.  The husband works in construction with the wives family member, but does not work regularly.  He is often sick, or they wake up late and therefore he misses days of work because he cannot meet the work van.  The stress of the financial situation adds further stress to the young relationship. The husband is a high school drop-out, has no driver’s license and smoke marijuana daily.  He loves his children and his wife but has difficulty with meeting the expectations that she has for him.

     The daughter attends child care while the mother goes to work.  The department of social service pays the majority of the fee and the parents are responsible for a small portion.  The daughter is perfectly healthy except that she has eczema. She is developmentally on target and at times appears ahead of her peers.  She is happy and loving.  She appears nervous around loud noise or people arguing, and often needs comforting or reassurance that everything is okay when she has encountered such a situation. 

     The young couple cannot foresee that the child that they have conceived will later be diagnosed with autism.  According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, autism is a “developmental disorder that appears in the first 3 years of life, and affects the brain’s normal development of social and communication skills”. (National, 2010) 

     Of the comprehensive systems, Health would offer the newborn the best chances of being diagnosed early and therefore being set on a path to receiving services that would improve his development, social experiences and education in later years.  Health and observation of the parents will be key to diagnosing this child with autism.

     Early Learning and Development programs will be able to provide him with developmental, social and communication skills that are modified to meet the needs of an autistic child if he is diagnosed at an early age.  Autistic children require a staff that understand that they are distracted by visual and audial clutter and therefore the environment in which autistic children are in has to have clear and defined boundaries and must not be cluttered with “distractions” such as art projects, student work, PA systems, music, computer sounds etc. that the children are not supposed to be attending to or may be distracted by.  Autistic children, depending on the severity of their autism, require modifications to their environments in order to promote their development. (Stokes, 2011)

     Family Leadership and Support can take place when parents are informed on the needs of their autistic child.  They take leadership in informing the educational staff of practices that are working at home and allow the staff to share practices that are working in the classroom setting.  The family and school staff should work together to create a relationship that encircles the child with emotional, developmental and social skills that will enhance their well being. (Stokes, 2011)

Questions that I have at this point are if autism will work for this assignment, should I say "I" in the assignment instead of the wife/mother or husband, and am I doing this correct????  Any feedback would surely be appreciated. 

Also I appreciate the patience you all are having with me during this time.  I am working hard to get back on my feet, but I know that this leaves Debra working alone for the most part. Thank you all for your patience.

Jennifer 

The Political Will to Improve Early Child Care

During this week’s studies I have been examining the Pre-Kindergarten strand of the Early Child Care System.  What I have learned throughout this experience is that there are many advocacy groups and organizations that have an interest in improving the early learning programs in America.  The two most influential groups in my opinion have been the researchers on child development and best practices, and the support of the educators across America.  These two groups, along with many others, have worked hard to show Congress and the American political system just how important it is for young children to have a high quality early child care program to attend.  The foundation of a child’s learning is constructed during these very important years, however over the last few decades the American economic and social status has made it virtually impossible for parents to provide their children with the basic needs they require, much less their developmental needs.  Parents are in no position to provide the learning experiences children need to develop cognitively, physically and socially. 

As I researched the NC Pre-Kindergarten program I was able to review the website of the Children’s Defense Fund.  On this site I was able to view a link for Advocates and Family Resources.  Earlier in our program I was concerned that I had not gained a good understanding of the Advocacy strand of the program. On this link there was a list of organizations and programs that are influencing the policies that are currently being made.  I have been a follower of the Harlem Children’s Zone for the last few years and I was aware of the work that they are doing in their community.  However, I never considered the fact that they are advocates for children everywhere and are advocating for the necessary changes that are needed to improve not only their own programs, but the programs everywhere.   Pre-K Now and Educator Sector are two other groups that I will be investigating to find out more about. 

As an educator I feel very strongly about what can be done and what needs to be done to improve the opportunities that children have.  I feel frustrated and lost at times as to what I can do on a larger scale to help improve the lives of children. This link has helped to give me at least a few options to research to see if they are options for me to become a more active advocate for children.

Children’s Defense Fund

http://www.childrensdefense.org/policy-priorities/

http://www.childrensdefense.org/policy-priorities/advocate-family-resources/child-advocacy-groups/early-childhood-development.html

Parent and Family Stories

The professional significance that I drew from the stories is that parents appreciate when early childcare staff offers resources and recommendations to assist them and their children.  I also found that the parents all seemed inspired or motivated by the staff and the work that they did with the children.  The personal significance that I drew is that I felt that the parents are just like ourselves, they need encouragement and motivation to be the best they can be too.  I know there are days when I am discouraged, but after listening to the parents in the videos I see that sometimes the brief conversations and opportunities to share our own stories with parents can help them as well as ourselves to feel that we are all in this together.

Almeda Richard Keys was inspiring to me.  After listening to her story I thought about how I was feeling disconnected with Early Childcare in this class.  I have not been involved in Early Childcare in almost 7 years and as we have worked on our assignments I am feeling lost.  Debra is in touch with the field and seems to be so well informed.  Mrs. Key’s story offered me a solution to this problem, perhaps I need to seek out an opportunity to serve on a board or volunteer in some capacity in the Early Childhood field so that I can become more in touch with the current issues and policies that are affecting this field.  I am passionate about the early learning and the developmental years, but I have been away from this area of education for many years so it may be necessary for me to find a way to get the experience that I need before I can feel that I am a value to this area.

The involvement opportunities offer parents the opportunity to observe the teachers and staff in action with the children.  They also offer the parents the opportunity to see how teachers “teach” the children through play, and the effects of appropriate social opportunities have on children.  For children it is beneficial to see parents and teachers working together to help them, and for children to see their parents assisting and taking an interest in their learning experiences.  I think for everyone involved it offers them the opportunity to understand the others role and responsibility in the learning experience and it also offers teachers/staff and parents the opportunity to learn more about one another so that the relationship can be made stronger over time.  Teachers will not understand the situation of the family unless they speak with the parents, nor will they know how they can assist the families that are in need.  Parents will not know what the teachers can offer them if they never speak to one another.  In the end, I believe that we all offer each other support, inspiration and motivation to better ourselves and the children through our positive interactions with one another.

The value of hearing the parent’s stories for everyone is that we as professionals, policymakers, government officials or community members can see what the true benefit of the Head Start program is for every family involved.  I believe that every family will have a different story of how the program benefitted their child or family because we are all coming from different backgrounds and circumstances.  I feel the key theme that we will all hear through the testimonies is that the children were benefitted by programs that offered them resources when they were faced with problems or concerns, and that because of the program all of the children were/are better prepared for school and life in general.  The opportunities to develop mentally, socially, emotionally, and physically in a developmentally appropriate setting is the best gift we can give every child.

Parent involvement is an essential system element for all strands of service in the early childhood field because they are the first teachers that children encounter.  When the parent is involved in the learning of a child it demonstrates to the child and the teacher/staff that the experience is important to everyone.  When a parent supports a child in learning, they are more apt to be self motivated and strive to do their best.  The parents also learn valuable information both from observation and material provided that will assist them in providing learning experiences in the home setting as well.  It is so easy to find teachable moments within the home setting that will benefit the child with literacy, math, science, arts, and history.  Sometimes parents just need to see how simple providing teachable moment can be, to be motivated to find the opportunities themselves to be “teachers” at home.