Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community

Parents as Teachers

http://www.parentsasteachers.org/

Parents as Teachers allow the assistance of professionals and educators to work with parents on educating their children at home.

Professional Association for Childhood Education

http://www.pacenet.org/Index.aspx

The Professional Association for Childhood Education represents early education and the development of quality early care programs. They promote licensed early childcare and education programs, acceptable quality measures, and promotes the retention of qualified staff.

Coalition of Infant/Toddler Educators

http://www.njcite.org/

The Coalition of Infant/Toddler Educators promotes quality and infant care as well. They promote collaboration and professional development.

 

These are job opportunities that interest me:

Interdisciplinary Early Childcare Education Adjunct Faculty (Online)

This job requires eighteen graduate hours in the teaching discipline and a Master’s degree. This individual will also have to complete training provided by the institution.

Director of Program at Read Alliance

A minimum of ten years of professional experience required, including experience as both a teacher and a staff manager. Deep commitment and passion for improving early childhood literacy and educational outcomes for children more broadly.  Experience managing and developing high performing teams.

Parent Educator

A degree in Early Childhood Education, Child Development, Special Education, Family Studies and etc. A one year certificate in ECE also.

 

Exploring Roles in the ECE Comunity: Local and State Levels

CoP’s

MS Early Childhood Association

This organization is for early educators of children from birth through third grade. This organization shares the same passion I do for early education. This organization is about achieving high quality learning environments for children. They are fighting for funding streams for early care programs so that families with low-income can have a quality education also. This is what I believe in and I fully support this organization.

The Southern Early Childhood Association

This organization is committed to improving the quality of education and care for families. They share ideas on local, state, and regional levels. I am a southerner who believes in equal and quality education for all students. This organization stands out because of the work they have done for almost 70 years.

Child Care Technical Assistance

This is an organization that has launched a website that lets educators, families, and communities come together to collaborate share their passions in early childhood education. This organization makes available lots of data and information on early care and quality education. It is basically there to assist. Technology is up and rising and there is always room for growth in education.

Job Opportunities that interest me:

Education Coordinator I

As an education coordinator, you will guide staff in the implementation of a developmentally appropriate curriculum. Partner with parents to support and share educational needs, and impact the lives of children and their families every day.

Requirements

·         Bachelors’ degree or higher preferred

·         Ability to leas staff in implementation of developmentally appropriate curriculum.

·         Must meet state requirements for education and additional center/school requirements.

Child Development Program Technician

As a child development program technician, you will lead program assistants. Orient new employees to their duties and monitors employees.

Requirements

·         A combination of specialized experience and education.

·         Knowledge of training in Early Childhood education.

·         Knowledge of child development center regulations, procedure, and processes.

·         Ability to communicate effectively orally, using courtesy and tact.

·         Ability to lead employees in the accomplishments of work assignments.

Child Development Teacher Floater

As a child development teacher floater, you will have to transition between different classrooms and settings in and educational environment.

Requirements

·         Experience working with young children in a setting

·         AA or BA in Child Development or similar.

·         Must have at least 12 ECE units

·         Ability to be flexible, and transition smoothly between various classrooms.

·         Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment.

My Farewell....

Farewell my fellow classmates. It has been a complete joy to have studied, conversed, and related with you all. I want to say thank you all for you insightful wisdom, and encouraging responses. I have learned so much throuout this class. It has helped me to understand about communication and how to properly do so with students, thier families and colleagues.As I sit here, I can almost taste the victory of the completion of this program. We are very near the end and it has been a very challenging journey for me. I have concoured and overcame so much and I stand very proud. Thank you, and Farewell.....

Love Trina

5 Stages ofTeam Development

After studying the five stages I have found that was very informational and to the point. When I think about the groups that I have been in, the ones that were high performance were the hardest to leave. When you are in a group and everyone is on the same accord and performing at their best it motivates you, and makes you feel good about the work that you are doing and that the group is doing as a whole. Groups that I have been in that have clear and precise norms seem to function the best. This is the stage were things become the “usual” way of doing things. When it comes to closing rituals I have wished that I had stayed in contact, or even gotten their information to keep in touch or refer back to them when I need some help or advice about something. As I adjourn from working with my many colleagues during the process of this degree, I plan to do things differently. I plan to keep in touch with some of them so that along my journey I can have someone to call on when I need some reassurance about whatever I am going through in the educational process at the time. I think that adjourning is an essential stage of teamwork; because once you come together and get past the storming stage you develop a type of bond with one another and the adjourning part just ends things on a good note. 

Conflict Resolution

In life there will always be disagreements or conflicts that will have to be solved with the nonviolent communication process or the 3R's. Currently at work I have been having conflict with my newly appointed supervisor. Previously she and I were friends and hung out after work, but things changed and we didn't hang as much anymore. I began to see her differently so I fell back from the entire situation. Things grew intense between us because I fell back and then out of nowhere she is my new supervisor. It was absolutely no problem for me, but she is very mean and low-down. I am always very polite, making sure that I am respectfully getting my points across clearly. It has gotten to the point where no matter how she tries to mistreat she can't, because I don't let her negativity influence my attitude then she has no reason and often finds it difficult to be ugly. The dynamic communication techniques of Nonviolent Communication transform potential conflicts into peaceful dialogues (Gray, n.d.). I go to work for one thing and that is to provide for my family, and I am going to make sure that she and I don't have any further problems.


Gray, John Ph.D., Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.  (n.d.)

The Center for Nonviolent Communication. (n.d.). The center for nonviolent communication. Retrieved from http://www.cnvc.org/

Who am I as a Communicator?

After taking the assessment I saw that I see my self almost the same way as others. I saw myself as a great communicator who has a great balance between respect and consideration for others. I see myself as people oriented, very emapathetic and concerned for others. I have always seen myself this way, but I was curious as to how others see me. I asked my cousin and my co-worker to both take the assessment as it relates to me. To my surprise they saw me totally differently. My cousin saw me as an alright communicator and confrontational. Very passionate about certain things and always standing my ground. I understand her feelings now when I think about them because she often gets the raw, uncut me. My co-worker on the other hand saw me just as I see myself, but more businesslike. At work I am straight to the point and very clear about whatever it is I am communicating about so I absolutely see how she could feel that way about me. I asked them both to be as honest as possible and this maid for a very interesting and exciting assignment.

Cultural Diversity

My life is full of diversity. There is diversity in my family and friends. There is diversity at work, in my community, and at my childrens school. At work I have to approach diversity very careful. I have to try not offend anyone, but at the same time not lose who I am and what I stand for. There are a lot of my co-workers that have different views from me whether it be reliegon, sex, or politics. The most sensitive one is politics. We all have different views on how things should be done and why things are done a special way. Politics is one of the things we try not to discuss in my office because it usually ends in a heated argument. You can't be mindful unless you listen to what people say(O'Hair & Wieman 2012). Reliegon is also a very sensitive topic in our office. When working in a diversified environment one has to be very careful about the things that he or she speaks out about. Learning about other cultures is a great start to improving intercultural communication, but many scholars believe that we also need to spend time with members of other cultures and co-cultures, virtually and face to face(O'Hair & Weiman 2012). Most times I find myself not joining in on any of the conversations no matter how passionate I am about the topic.

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