My journey has only just begun…

 

 

This week is the last week of my Master’s program and I am being asked to write about my journey through this program, some things I have learned, goals that I have, and a farewell message.  However, this is not a farewell to my journey because my journey has only just begun!

Over the past 18 months, there are so many things that I have learned about myself, about the field of early childhood education, and about the new journey that I am about to embark on.  I have always seen myself as a leader and as a team player.  I love working with children, but more so I love working with adults and helping them to find their passion in working with children.  What I have learned about myself through out this program is that I have way more of a passion for this field than I ever thought I did.  When I really dug deep into research, the issues and trends of the field, the organizations and resources that are available to ECE providers and professionals; I realized how much work we have to do to make a difference in the lives of children.  I have learned that we are teaching young children as if they all come from the same mold, teachers are teaching the same curriculum and using the same strategies in classrooms across the country.  We cannot continue to go down this path.  Children are all different, unique, and have so many different things to give to this world.  With that being said, EC educators are also all unique and different.  If we are going to prepare our young children for the future, we must look at ourselves, reflect on ourselves, what we do each day and make our classrooms fit the needs of the children that are in them at that time.  If that means changing what we do year after year then so be it.

My goal is to continue on this journey of following my passion for working with children.  However, I will do this by motivating and working with adults.  In our week 8 assignment, I made my “speech” based on what I will be doing in 15 years.  I would love to meet that goal of starting my own professional development consulting business.  I would love to work with organizations so that they can obtain the best, quality professional development that is out there for their educators.   There is no doubt that there are plenty of professional development resources and organizations out there, we just have to do right by our teachers to help them find what is best for their own professional lives and the children that they are working with.

I would like to thank every professor that has assisted me during this program, provided me with amazing feedback and support.  It has been a long time coming for me to complete my Masters Program (20 years, 3 kids and a marriage later…) but I have FINALLY done it and I am so relieved and proud of myself!  This program has been amazing, supportive, and flexible to meet the needs of working parents.  To all of the classmates and colleagues that I have met along the way…. thank you!  Thank you for your support and all of your amazing feedback on discussion posts as well as blog posts.  I will keep copies of all of my blogs posts and discussion posts for a long time to help me along my journey.

With that all being said, one door is closing, another chapter to my journey is ending and a new one is just beginning…..

Best of luck to each and everyone of you!!!!

My personal email address is-

ryanathanleia@gmail.com

 

 

This is my FAVORITE quote of all time! It speaks volumes for what we need to do as teachers! Take responsibility for your professional development, make it happen! I am on a journey to help you do that!

International Organizations-Jobs and roles in the ECE community

UNESCO is an international organization that interests me because they are very set on helping and promoting education for children and for all learners alike. ”UNESCO’s educational objectives are to support the achievement of Education for All (EFA); to provide global and regional leadership in education; to strengthen education systems worldwide from early childhood to the adult years; to respond to contemporary global challenges through education” What also caught my attention was the Incheon Declaration Education 2030. This declaration states a mission and vision to have equal and quality education for all learners by 2030. There are an abundance of jobs available for UNESCO at this time however none that would interest neither me right now nor that I seem to qualify for. Most of the jobs are in other countries and require dual language speakers.

UNICEF- their priority is to make sure that all children regardless of their backgrounds or their upbringings have access to quality education. UNICEF focuses on the most vulnerable children to make sure that they receive the education in which they deserve. “UNICEF helps governments, communities and parents gain the capacities and skills they need to fulfill their obligations for children. These obligations include ensuring the right of all children to free, compulsory quality education, even during a humanitarian crisis, in the recovery period after a crisis, or in fragile or unstable situations. We focus on gender equality and work towards eliminating disparities of all kinds” (unicef.org/education). UNICEF has a goal to decrease inequalities in education and eliminate discrimination in education. It is also very critical for children that are living in countries that are in conflict to still be able to receive and education. UNICEF works to make sure that the children in these areas are not missing out. UNICEF is a very important organization. Education of children is just one of their many priorities. I would love to work for an organization such as UNICEF. They also have many, many job opportunities. Although. I did not see one that would fall under my expertise and experiences.

A last organization that I chose is the Alliance for Childhood organization. They are based in the US, Brazil, Sweden, Belgium, United Kingdom, Thailand, and Germany. The Alliance for Childhood organization works on critical issues in the filed such as restoring the importance of play into childhood, childhood and media, childhood obesity, high stakes testing, and the commercialization of childhood. These are all great topics that really peaked my interest. The website has some amazing publications and research based articles that relate to all of these topics. There were no job opportunities that I came across.

 

www.allinaceforchildhood.org

www.unicef.org

www.unesco.org

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community

The first organization that I explored is The Child Care Council in Rochester, NY. The Childcare Council is a local organization that provides many services to early childhood providers, also to parents and children. The reason why this organization has always been an interest to me is because of the training and professional development  services that they provide.  They are also very involved with the community as well as supporting parents in their efforts to find quality childcare. Professional development for teachers is very important to me and it is what I want to do with my career. This organization is one that I would be very happy to work for.  Currently they do not have job openings to meet my professional needs. They have a training position for health and safety that requires a nursing education degree as well they have an office assistant position. The following information has been pulled from the Childcare Council website at childcare council.com :

Child Care Council is a Child Care Aware® Quality Assured agency that provides information, training, and resources to child care providers and parents in Livingston, Monroe, and Wayne counties in the State of New York.

Community Focus – We know how important it is to not only ensure our children are cared for, but that their care givers are supported and strengthened as well.

Quality Resources – We provide training courses, community programs and important licensing information for parents and providers so that they can offer the best care possible.

Comprehensive Services – Our knowledgeable and diverse staff will guide you through every step of finding and providing quality child care.

The second organization that interests me is the New York State Office of Children and Family Services. I am already familiar with this organization as well due to my prior experience as a center director. The NYS OCFS not only oversees the licensing and regulatory status of childcare centers but they also provide many support services to teachers and parents when it comes to early childcare education.  They have an entire online training and professional development program for ECE teachers as well as provide regulatory information on the trainings that are needed to stay in compliance as a teacher at a childcare center.  The main thing that interests me is that through the NYS OCFS I am able to become a certified NYS trainer for early childhood programs  they have what is called the NYS Early Learning Training Credential.  This information as been pulled from ocfs.ny.gov

“The New York State Association for the Education of Young Children (NYSAEYC) has developed a trainer approval process that verifies the education and qualifications of trainers who provide professional development to early learning providers in the state. Approved trainers have had their qualifications verified by NYSAEYC through the NYS Early Learning Trainer Credential program”

NYS OCFS has many job opportunities for various positions and areas  however what I am most interested in doing is going through the process to become a NYS certified early learning trainer  I plan on filing the paperwork at the completion of this program.

There really was not another local or state agency that I could find of interest to me  I also could not really find any local communities of practice in my area or at least one that clearly defined themselves as such  I would gather that the Childcare Council works as a Community of Practice in that they really work with a variety of people with in the ECE field as well as the community to provide the best possible training and development as well as support services to teacher, children, and families

childcarecouncil.org

ocfs.ny.gov

Resolving Conflict through Non Violent Communication and The 3 R’s

Ways in which we can solve conflict with others and avoid having conflict when communication with others-

Non Violent Communication or NVC is based on compassion, empathy, and understanding when communication with others.  Communication and involvement with one another involves non violent strategies, deepening understanding and connections with each other as well as conflict resolution (Center of Non Violent Comunication, cnvc.org).

The 3R’s promote respectful, reciprocal and responsive interactions between teachers, parents, and colleagues.  It is important to be able to use these when communicating; especially with colleagues, because we are working for the same goal and that is to do what is best for children.  We need to promote positive learning environments, model positive communication and be respectful to the beliefs of others (Corso, 2007).

I do not have a full time job at this time, however I am a substitute teacher at a school that enrolls pre-k-6th grade.  I do work there pretty regularly.  There is a teacher assistant that I have worked with many times and her and I tend to have disagreements on teaching styles and ways in which we should do things when it comes to the kindergarten students.  There was one day when she was in charge of teaching a math lesson.  The school follows the common core math program and this classroom in particular is very traditional meaning they teach kindergarten students via workbooks when doing Math.  There is not a lot of hands on learning going on, just many, many worksheets.  It really is a difficult situation for me anytime I am working in that classroom.  There was a particular day in which we had hit the 60 minute point of doing math worksheets with these 5 year olds.  They were very restless, starting to act out, and no longer paying attention.  She kept scolding them for getting off task.  I made a few comments about how I thought they were getting frustrated because we had been doing these math papers for an hour and they had already reached their limit.  She insisted that we had to finish (we probably had another 20 minutes to go).  I explained to her that I thought we needed to stop because they were no longer even learning in an effective manor because they were at the level of frustration.  She would not listen and became defensive saying that “they always have to finish, we cannot stop now”  It was hard for me because I did not feel that what we were doing was developmentally appropriate.  This situation happened again the next time I was in that classroom.  This time, I put my foot down and told her that we were only doing Math worksheets for 30 minutes and then if she wanted to continue doing math, we could do some hands on learning centers.  She agreed, but not with out hesitation.

I think that a few things were going on between her and I.  There was certainly not a respectful understanding between us about how the math was taught in this classroom.  For me, it was not my room and I probably should have just let her do what they typically do.  However in my mind, I was the teacher for they day so I should be able to make the decisions.  I was not being respectful that this was where she worked everyday and it really is more her class than mine.  We could have solved this situation better by having a non violent conversation about what we were both feeling and how we both felt about the math lessons.  Maybe there is a reason why they do math worksheets for 60 plus minutes a day.  While I do not personally believe that there is any justification for this in a kindergarten classroom, maybe there is in this one.  I have not had a chance to discuss these situations with her because I have not worked with her in awhile when teaching Math.  I have worked with her in other kindergarten classrooms, but not during Math, in this particular classroom that I speak of.  I still want to be able to solve this conflict with her by asking her questions about why she feels the way she does about the Math and why she became so defensive and passionate with me when I said we needed to stop.  Maybe she felt threatened by me? Maybe my approach was all wrong? Maybe she feels pressured by the actual classroom teacher so she is used to doing it that way? I need to listen to her, respect her reasoning, and be responsive to what she has to say.  I also want to be able to tell her my beliefs because when I come in as a substitute teacher, although I know it is not my classroom and I should be doing what the teacher left for me to do, I still have an obligation to those children in my care to make sure I am promoting a positive learning environment for them.  I was definitely not promoting that  by allowing math to go on to a point of causing these children stress and frustration.  Any learning that get to that point needs to stop and be re-directed.

What I learned about communication

This week I evaluated myself on different forms of communication and listening skills.  The 3 different evaluations that I look were on my communication anxiety, verbal aggressiveness and listening skills.  I also had a colleague, that I have worked with in the past, evaluate me on each of these areas.  It was definitely a learning experience and I feel as though I have a better understanding of my strengths and weaknesses when it comes to my communication skills and styles.

When I evaluated myself I found a few things.  First, I think in some areas I was too hard on myself.  I did not think this until I received the results from my former colleague.  She was definitely easier on me but understandably so.  She was still honest, just not so harsh.  I think we are always harsher on ourselves.  Second, I learned that I also was too easy on myself in certain areas.  I was actually surprised that my verbal skills score put me into group 1 because I know that I need to be a better listener.  I honestly went back and took the test again and read the questions more carefully.  the second time I took it, I was in group 3.  I do not feel I am being too hard on myself at this point.  I know that listening is a weakness for me and I have learned so many things just in the past 4 weeks that I need to better about myself.  Lastly, I learned that overall, communication is a strong point for me.  I really like to speak with people, learn from people and help people by teaching them.

As I mentioned above, I was super surprised about the results of my listening skills.  I was not surprised that overall I am a solid communicator.  What I learned the most this week is that my passion for wanting to become a trainer for teachers and pre-service teachers is validated.  I am not afraid to speak in front of people and I am very confident when I do.  I want to be able to share my skills, passion, and knowledge to teach others.  I was disappointed that I was unable to obtain a second person to evaluate me.  I tried, but was unable to get the evaluations back in a timely fashion.

Communication based on Cultural Groups

The question at hand- do I feel that I communicate differently depending on the group of people that I am with?  I think that everyone at some point in their life does this.  To me it is something that most people either do unconsciously or consciously.

Some of the times that I find myself adjusting my communication based on the people I am with is with my girl friends.  I am a mom of 3 kids, a wife, a stay home and only work per diem, I am very busy and do not get out much.  When I am with my best girl friends, I definitely communicate in a way that I would never communicate at home or when I am working part time as a substitute teacher.  I have a few really good friends that are African American who are always trying to change the way we talk when we are with them, in a funny way!  We all grew up together and my one really good friend, Sharessa, always says she wants to convert me 🙂  We have a really special bond and people tell her she acts “white” around me and vice versa.  We have been friends for so long. we have picked up on different things from each others cultures, like the way we talk, dress, or act.

When I am working as a substitute teacher at my kids school, I find myself adjusting my communication numerous times through out the day.  First, I communicate one way with the children yet when I see some of my own kids or their very good friends, I may change it up a little.  Then I talk with the teacher’s in the teachers lounge as a colleague in a more informal way.  However, I find if I end up eating lunch with my children’s teachers, I become a little more formal and professional because now I am “mom” and teacher.  It can be quit the ordeal to play mom and teacher at one place.

When I am at church and with our church friends, we speak more calmly, about religion, and it is always a very positive and calming environment.  Although I still see many of the children I teach, the teachers I work with, and my children’s friends;. it is church so the communication just is different.

Communication Skills and Styles

I am not a huge television watcher so I explained this assignment to my rather intelligent 12 year old son and he told me to watch “The Middle”.  He explained to me that they were a pretty typical family like ours- crazy! LOL. I wasn’t sure how to take that.  Then I watched it muted and un-muted and laughed.  I wouldn’t say that we are quite that crazy, haha but we certainly are busy like they are!

Would I observed from the muted viewing was that they communicate with each other with a lot of emotion. I could easily see when someone was mad, upset or frustrated with another person in the family.  I could tell when the mom was going crazy when she was talking to the kids as her arms were flying through the air and her head was going! It was very interesting and kind of comical watching it.  The one girl in the show was having a conversation with a friend of hers and they were laughing and then they had looks of confusion on their faces.  Not really sure what was going on there.  Most of the communication was easy to figure out due to the emotional stance that they placed on their communication such has body language, facial expressions and other things.  They seemed happy yet frustrated with each other at times, playful yet annoyed.  The families seem sometimes.

When I watched the episode with sound, it was even funnier. Most of my assumptions were pretty spot on.  At one point the mom was yelling at the boys for not cleaning up after themselves and that was the point when she was talking to the kids with her arms flying around and her head was going.  The one part in which the girls were laughing together and then had a look of confusion on there face was interesting.  They were laughing but it was more of a nervous laugh because they had gotten caught doing something that they were not suppose to be doing.  So it was a completely different perspective than what I was thinking when it was silent.

I think my assumptions would have been a little different if I new the show better because I would be more familiar with the characters and the roles they play.  Although most of my assumptions were correct, I think I would have had more correct.  I think that this assignment helps me to better understand nonverbal and verbal communication and how know someone can change your perspectives on communication.

Effective Communication

Someone that I know that exhibits very effective communication skills is the principal at my children’s school.  She is very conscientious when she speaks with the children, their families as well as the teachers at the school.  I have been fortunate and unfortunate enough to deal with her on a regular basis because 1. my daughter has some special needs so she has had her share of visits to her office and 2. I am a substitute teacher at the school so I get to deal with her on a more positive side.

When she is dealing with a child that is having some issues, she always asks them what and how they are feeling.  I find this to be very critical when talking with a child who is having a difficult time expressing their emotions. It is a very effective way of communicating.  She also listens to them very carefully so that she can validate their thoughts and feelings when they are done talking.  She repeats what they have said and confirms their thoughts.

When having conversations with parents she always makes sure to ask them what their thoughts are first before she speaks and gives her professional opinions.  I think this is very critical to communication with parents because she is letting the parents know that this is their child, they are the experts and they have a say in what is happening.  She always respects the parents thoughts and opinions.

I would definitely want to model her behaviors when it comes to communication.  She is responsive, uses respectful body language and eye contact.  She ask questions, lets others voice their own opinions and concerns, and always restates the thoughts of others to make sure that she is understanding them correctly.  She is definitely a strong role model for how communication should occur when dealing with young children and their families.

Professional Hopes and CGoals

One hope that you have when you think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds

One hope that I have when I work with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is that I will always find a way to be understanding and supportive to their diverse needs.  Every child and family, regardless of their culture, religion, race, economical status; needs to be supported and understood for who they are and for where they have come from.  I want to have that courage and that knowledge to be able to give them that respect and that very important gift that they deserve from me as an advocate for early childhood education.

One goal you would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice

One goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field is that they continue to work on improving the education for new teachers when it comes to understanding diversity, equity, and social justice.  I know that the field has come a long way in making sure to better educate teachers in these areas; but I would like to make sure it continues to improve and that new teachers embrace this part of their education. It is so very important to their success.  Another goal that I have for the field is to improve on the amount and quality of professional development that is given to veteran teachers on the issues of diversity, equity, and social justice.  I have been in the field of early childhood education since 1998.  In my undergrad studies, I took one class on multicultural education.  I have been in the working field since 2000, I have never once taken a professional development course on any of these issues.  I truly believe that they need to be required as part of continuing education and re-certification classes for current educators.  

A Note of Thanks

Thank you to every one in this class for sharing all of your experiences, words of wisdom, and stories with me and everyone else.  This class was a lot about stepping out of our comfort zones, sharing our stories, and being honest with ourselves about who we are.  No one past judgement on anyone, yet just simply supported each other through all of our struggles and accomplishments.  I wish you all the best and hopefully our paths with cross again.  

Welcoming Families from Around the World

The country of origin that the family in my care would be coming from is India. The reason I chose India is because when I was a Center Director, we had a lot of families from India and a few from Pakistan.  While we did our best to meet the needs of these families, we definitely could have done a much better job!

Five ways in which I will prepare to be culturally responsive towards this family-

1. I will find out what language they speak.  While the primary language for most Indian families is Hindi and some English, there are a few different dialects that they may speak.  The parents usually speak both Hindi and English but often the young children have not learned English yet when they come to America.  It will be helpful to be prepared that the child will not speak English and this can be difficult.  We need to be patient and understand that they child may have some behavior outbursts because lack of communication can cause a child to become frustrated.
2. Religion- religion practices will be different and I need to understand that the child may not be able to participate in certain holiday celebrations
3. Food- children that come from India, eat differently. We need to be prepared that this child may not like our American, daycare food.  Being culturally responsive to the families will be important to the overall health of the child.  Finding out what kind of foods the child will eat will be helpful
4. Dress- finding out if the children have certain dress requirements is important. I know that we had children that would dress very warm when it was hot out but then in the winter, they would have clothes on that I would wear in summer.  I think the weather must be different over there so understanding this can help the children be better equipped for our weather patterns.
5. Educational history- finding out the past educational history. Has the child been in a setting like this before or only home with a loved on.

From experience, these preparations would benefit me because these are the areas that would have helped me in the past when enrolling Indian children at the center in which I was a director.  While we assumed most of the children would have spoken some English because their parents spoke fluent English, they do not.  They are so young so they are still learning.  Also, not all Indian immigrants speak Hindi so it is helpful to find out what language or dialect they do speak.  Understanding religious practices will help so that when we plan for holidays in our classroom, we can be sure to include any holidays that these children may celebrate.  This will allow the children to feel included and welcome in the classroom environment.  Food is a big one.  When we had Indian children come to our program, they were certainly not accustomed to American foods and what we thought were child friendly foods (chicken nuggets, pasta, mac n cheese) were not always very tasteful to these children.  Being prepared and culturally responsive in allowing parents to provide foods for their children would be very beneficial to the health of these children so that they are not skipping meals throughout the day.  Education is important because many of these children may have never been in a childcare or preschool environment.  Many of them are cared for by their moms or grandma’s and are used to a lot of one-one attention.  They are going to take much more time to adjust to their new environment because of so many new things that they are not use to.  We have to be prepared to be responsive to their needs, their nervousness, and to their sadness.  It will take time and patience is certainly in order.  It is helpful to ask the parents for some strategies to better help the child transition and how we can make them feel more comfortable.