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

            Hello Peers, this week we are researching National and Federal employment opportunities that intrigue us. I am anxious as always to see what others find. Who knows there may be an area of Early Childhood that I have not discovered yet that could be a great fit?

             One area of early childhood that I have always been interested in is Child Care Resource and Referral (http://rrnetwork.org). These are the folks that keep track of who is licensed and for how many children. They support families in finding safe and appropriate care. They also help support family childcare licensed homes by providing trainings, offering programs like the food program, where the provider can get reimbursed for serving healthy foods. The also having lending libraries where providers can borrow awesome resources without having to purchase all new items. I remember being jealous of the women that came to do home checks. I remember thinking how great it would be to have a job were you were you provided training and support to providers. I found information on a position of Program Assistant that required a B.A., clear background check and experience. I would assume a Program Director would require the same although with a Master.  

            My semi-retirement goal has always been to open an infant/toddler center with a good friend of mine. We talk all the time about what it would look like and all of the wonderful resources and programs we would have. The State of California Commission on Teacher Credentialing  (http://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentials/leaflets/cl797.pdf) matrix lists: holding a Bachelors in ECE, plus six units of supervision an done year of experience in order to e a Program Director. Being the Director of a center is a big job requiring many skills. You need to know business, be an administrator, teacher, know the law and be able to build curriculum.

            For my third choice I chose a Family Specialist/Counselor. I know for a fact in Oregon the qualifications are: To hold a Masters in ECE, Psychology or Human Services, a clear background check and experience. Being a specialist or counselor allows you to counsel children and their families from behavioral and developmental issues to supporting children and families in subjects such as trauma and abuse.

Child Care Resource and Referral, (2015). Retrieved from http://www.rrnetwork.org

The State of California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, (2015). Retrieved from

     http://www.ncsl.org/research/human-services/early-childhood-101.aspx#Data

Communities of Practice

            This week my blog assignment was to chose three organizations &/or communities of practice, either state or local that appealed to me. Over the last several years, as I have learned about organizations that support early childhood I have joined them. So as it turns out I happen to be a member of each on of the organizations that I have chosen for this blog. I have no doubt that Dr. Embree and my peers are very aware of both the National Association for the Education of Young Children  (NAEYC, 2015) and Zero to Three (Zero to Three, 2015).

            Many states also have State organizations affiliated with NAEYC such as Oregon Association for the Education of Young Children (OAEYC) and California Association for the Education of Young Children (CAEYC) each State holds their own yearly conference, which is wonderful for those members that are not able to attend the National Conference. I quickly came to trust and depend on the resources and information that I am able to get from this community of practice. The website holds a ridiculous amount of resources, articles, suggested readings, professional development opportunities, training opportunities and this is just the tip of the ice berg. You can have online communication with individuals and when you are able to attend a conference it is magical. At conference there are members from literally all over the world, sessions on just about every subject of early childhood and a whole floor of venders where you can try out manipulative, games and education resources before buying. It is a fabulous experience that feeds my passion for working with young children and always gives me new inspiration.

           Zero to Three is a more recent find of mine (8 years ago) and is just as useful and awesome as NAEYC only the focus is even more confined to children 0-3. I have not run across any state chapters but I am aware that they hold National conferences yearly (I have not been able to attend any just yet). This organization too has a multitude of great information and resources from pregnancy, nutrition, education, attachment, development, early intervention, sleep, and just about any other support or concern you might have. If you have a question they will be able answer it or guide you to where you can find the answer. I live in a tiny rural town. Until I met the local supervisor of our Head Start I had no one to talk to about my profession. Many of my peers at Walden have heard me say that when I moved to this tiny place I was offered a job at the county Mental Health where I soon discovered that they would not see any child under the age of fourteen because they did not believe that a child any younger would benefit from therapy! About three years later we had a director change and this new director still not believe that a child could be helped. However, by then the State was requesting that Counties step up their services to include young children and he allowed me take that piece on. Two years ago we had another change in directorship and this director was a previous therapist that I had worked with for years and had just recently had his first child arrive. He has fully supported my work and his helping find a home that we can purchase so that all of our children’s services will be separate from the adult services.

            The last organization that I present to you is The Early Learning Hub (Oregon’s Early Learning Hubs). I have been a part of this community of practice since it’s inception. It took a year for the group to move through the stages of cooperation, to coordination and a second year towards collaboration. The Early Learning Hubs are a mandate by the State meant to increase education, awareness, and resources to families surrounding the health, development, and education of the young children in the state. What I especially enjoy about this organization is that I can see how we are affecting the local community; it feels good to be able to help make change and to be a part of the decision making on just how this will be unfolding.

            For the job opportunities portion of this assignment I would have to mention a job title that my Director has developed, Supervisor of Children’s Programs. Which is pretty awesome coming from an agency that wouldn’t even give a child a second look seven years ago. The prerequisite is a Masters degree, which I will have completed soon.

Being perfectly honest the only other job or title that I would love to have is that of a Certified Play Therapist. From my research I would have to hold a masters in Psychology as well and at this point in my life that is not going to happen. I am about to turn 58 and am maxed out on loans to get this far. On the up side, I never imagined that I would have been able to earn both my Bachelors and Masters in my later years. I made a conscious decision when choosing my field of study for my education. Early Childhood has been my passion since I was in Kindergarten. I am content and proud of my accomplishments.

NAEYC, (2015). The national association for the education of young children. Retrieved

     From www.naeyc.org

Oregon’s Early Learning Hubs, (2105). Oregon’s early learning hubs. Retrieved from

     http://oregonearlylearning.com/other-priorities/community-based-coordinators-of-

     early-learning-services-hubs/current-early-learning-hubs

Zero to Three, (2015). Zero to Three. Retrieved from www.zerotothree.org

My Appreciation to Peers & Professor

     I would like to take this time to thank all of my peers and professor for allowing me to have such a great experience in this class. There has been a collaboration of thoughts as we have learned together what it takes to be a team working toward similar goals. We all have different experiences, yet we all care and have a passion to help support children and their families as best we can. We are all working toward that big goal of completing our masters in varying specialties. I have received support from peers and professor throughout our discussion boards and feedback from the professor on graded work. All of which has been helpful. This class marks the time in my degree where I will be splitting off from the big group and will be finishing my classes in adult teaching. I look forward to seeing familiar names as I move forward. For those of you that I will not see again I wish you well in all of your goals. I have decided to continue with my blog even after I have completed classes at Walden as a means of continued communication, anyone that I have had any classes along the way has my address. Go forth and do wondrous things my friends!

Toodles, Jenn Pore`

Adjourning is Such Sweet Sorrow

           Saying good-bye can be so very sad. This week I am to reflect on my experiences of when a group that I have belonged to has disbanded. I will admit that I have belonged to some groups that I was relieved when they ended. The most emotional group and I think a great example of a successful and fruitful group was the group of peers that I went through my student teaching class with. The professor was awesome! She new her stuff and was excited and passionate about sharing what she new. The college had a preschool on campus for students and staff. Our classroom was just across the hall from the preschool. It’s been over 7 years since we all went our separate ways but I still think of them often. We shared information, experiences, fears, tears and laughter together. There were about a dozen of us that earned money through out the class and we traveled together to a CAEYC conference in Anaheim and a trip to Disneyland all in the same week. We traveled together in a small bus from the college, told stories and sang the entire 11-hour drive. What a magnificent time we had! The day before we were to drive back home I received a call that my daughter had gone into labor 3 months early and that the baby was going to be delivered. I was recently divorced and living without electricity in order to survive and be able to have gas money to get to classes. Every single one of those women put their money together bought me an airline ticket, drove me to the airport, gave me what they had left for food money and a big group hug. Never have I experienced such humanity. To this day I tear up when I think of what wonderful people they are. Had I not moved away I am certain that I would still be in touch with some of them.

            I have no doubt that the reason the class/group was so successful is because we were all very much of the same mind. Yes, we were a very diverse class but we had the best interest of children in common and it proved to be a great group of people that learned together, supported each other, and we cared what happened to one and other. I anticipate that to some degree I will experience a similar experience when I graduate from Walden. Even though this is a different type of communication and not in person, I have many peers that have been in almost all of my classes over the last year. That is a long time to interact and not feel a loss when it is over. I expect that it will be bitter sweet. I am excited to be nearing the end of this long journey and to finally have earned my masters. I believe that to be successful that we must keep moving forward. In moving forward our classes together will end and I will genuinely wish each of my peers good will. It is an honor working with such dedicated people for such a wonderful reason. I will let my positive memories give me strength when I may have a tough day.

Jenn Pore`

Choose Your Battles in Order to Win the War

            This week we are asked to share a couple of strategies that I have learned to use in order manage or control conflicts. Our text (O’Hair, 2012) states that there are 3 strategies to solve conflict management and those would be: “escapist strategies, challenging strategies and cooperative strategies. This week my boss had accidentally left my credentials off my name when presenting an employee tree to the State during our site review. It really hurt my feelings because it made me look like a nothing on paper. I knew it was an over site and I chose not to say anything. By the end of the next day the review panel had brought it to my bosses attention and it had been corrected. I am so glad that I had not whined or pouted, it would have made me look pretty small.
             I have come to learn this week that one of my standards, choose your battles, would fall under the escapist column. I’m okay with that because when I use this choice it is generally because I have evaluated the situation and environment and have decided that it is not the time or that a bigger picture needs to be considered and I chose to save my energy for the bigger conflict. Sometimes it is more important to loose or forgive on a few small battle hills in order to win the war.

            Another of my all time strategies falls under what I now know to be a cooperative strategy and that is compromising. I think of compromising as a very respectful and useful form of dealing with conflict. Early Childhood professionals have been using it for years. When we offer children two choices to accomplish a task that we want them to do. We are compromising on the fact that we may not get our first choice but we are modeling cooperation and teaching decision-making skills simultaneously. Another aspect that I like about compromise is that everyone gets something that they want. Everyone likes to feel that they have been heard and that there wants and needs have been heard and validated, compromising is a good way to accomplish that goal.

Jenn Pore`

O’Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real Communication: An Introduction. Bedford/

     St. Martin’s, Boston, New York.

Communication Perceptions

            This week we had a fun and enlightening assignment, which was to take a test on how we perceived ourselves as listeners and communicators. Even more interesting was that we had to have two other people that know us, take the same test answering as how they perceive us. What I found surprising was that the scores were very similar. I had expected that maybe the others would score me tougher than I had scored myself. As it turns out our scores, as I mentioned were very similar with their scores seeing me as a better communicator and listener than I had rated myself.

            After this weeks reading I have come to realize (thankfully) that I very rarely engage in self-denigration. Most of the time I would have to say that my assessment of myself is more around the level of self-adequacy. I have made a conscious decision to be gentler and kinder to myself. This assignment has given me some important feedback. I chose my husband and a peer from work that has attended many meetings with me. The feedback I received tells me that even though I may feel a little nervous when I speak at meetings or trainings (I just taught a class last night on suicide prevention with a group of 24 in the class) that I do not appear nervous. That in itself has boosted my self confidence. I have not read the evaluations yet (fear of negative comments) but I would like to think that I will be able to read them and accept the criticism. I actually now believe that some of the evaluations may even be positive. The other way this weeks lesson has helped me is of course the reminder that as an EC professional my behavior and how I see myself can affect the children. If I appear hesitant or unsure of myself how is that going to inspire the children to speak their voices?

Jenn Pore`

Different ways of communicating?

           The question of the week is: Do I find myself communicating differently with different people and groups? I most certainly do. The first three categories of people that I thought of are family, peers, and clients. After putting some thought to the question I realize that I even communicate differently with the same people based on the circumstance. The first example that comes to mind is my grandchildren. I adore the ground they walk on and I believe that my manner, voice, body language, actions, and the fact that I tell them how much they mean to me ensures that they are aware. There are times when I am able to be with them in person, which is awesome! There are many times that I cannot see them in person so we Skype, text, send photos, face book, and talk on the phone. With each one of these methods there are inherent problems and advantages. To be even more specific as far as strategies I know that I choose subjects carefully with particular members of my family. Such as with my dad. I stick with comfortable natural topics that are not going to get him started down an ugly conversation. I love to listen intently to make sure I hear and understand that my grand’s want to tell me about their lives.

            With peers the subject and setting are pretty much set for us. Occasionally we have a personal conversation but for the most part the topics surround the weekly topic for class or a particular client. The communication (I hope) is always respectful and generally is focused on fact-finding, problem solving or validation of our understanding of a concept or situation.

            When communicating with clients these too can look very different. I have many different strategies or approaches that I use with children, which rely on the feedback that I receive from the child. Depending on the situation and how the child responds to me, determines whether I speak, sit and listen, put on music, introduce my dog or offer a means of drawing for example. In the excerpt from her book (Gonzalez-Mena, 2010) lists some things that teachers can do and one of them is “Recognize your own patterns of nonverbal behavior. Most of us are unconscious of these until we meet someone who doesn’t fir our patterns. Consider that even though your own way may feel right, normal. Or good doesn’t mean that they are in any way superior to another person’s nonverbal behavior patterns.” For me this equates into the reminder that it isn’t just about me miss-reading someone else’s non-verbal cues but that I need to be aware that I may be giving out non-verbal cues that are being miss-read.

Jenn Pore`

Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2010). 50 strategies for communicating and working with diverse

     Families. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.