Finally, the Final Blog Post!!

First of all I can hardly contain myself!! Finally, finally, we are finished. The blog was my nemesis throughout the duration of my program. This may not count as a deeply felt learning from the course, but I have to admit I am not a blogger!!!J

So…when I began my program I truly felt that I was going to utilize my education to work as a Program Director of an early childhood education program. Now, I cannot see myself doing that. I feel my passion has been discerned over the course of this program and I feel my area of expertise lies in working for organizations that assist children and families that are suffering due to traumatic experiences both locally and internationally. My background is in mental health and I feel both my experience and knowledge are complementary to support this goal.

Next, I had the expectation that I would primarily be working with children and didn’t really take into account the large family component that is necessary for successful implementation of programs.

Lastly, I think I found a belief in myself. I found the belief that I do have the knowledge and skills to make change happen. I finished this program and I now better go and do something with it, because I have been given the gift of knowledge to help others.

My long term goal has always been to work internationally with children and families. I have investigated programs such as Food for the Poor and HEART over the past several years and would love to work for one of those organizations when my children are all old enough to endure such travels. Essentially, I would love to work to help alleviate the suffering children endure from starvation to loss of loved ones in order to help children heal and have the opportunity to grow and learn, give children the gift of childhood!!

I would like to thank all of my colleagues in these courses! It has been inspiring to hear the great work all of you are doing in your communities and for children. I have learned so much from the experience and knowledge you have all shared with me and I wish you all the best of luck!! Dr. Teri, I appreciate the hard work and dedication that you have poured into this final capstone project for all of us. It is clear that you have a passion for helping your students and to see all of us grow and be successful in our profession. I am so thankful for the guidance you gave me and the commitment to our educational goals you have shown.

On a side note, I have been out of touch with the “real” world for so long I look forward to reading some fiction and probably need a good recommendation!!

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” – Albert Einstein

International Organizations

I first chose to explore the World Association for Infant Mental Health (WAIMH). This is a membership required organization that seeks to explore ways to improve the overall well –being and healthy mental and emotional development of infants worldwide by taking into account factors relating to culture, geography, and environment. This organization seeks to find scientific research and resources to assist all infants globally. Since my paper revolves around infants and early childhood mental health I felt this organization was a great resource to learn what is currently taking place worldwide with this issue. I felt this was very exciting to find out about, and could prove to be an excellent resource long term.

http://www.waimh.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1

Next, I looked at Plan International. This is an organization similar to UNICEF. The premise behind this organization is to assist all children globally with increasing their overall chance of success by promoting their potential and strengths despite environmental stressors. While education is one factor that Plan heavily supports, other factors such as health and safety are much larger concerns. As Maslow points out, basic needs of safety and security must first be met in order to work on other needs. Once again I am very interested in how to serve children educationally that have challenges related to safety and security. Also, I have always wanted to go and work in India or Latin America when my children are all old enough to endure the travels, so this organization speaks to me on a personal level as well.  

http://plan-international.org/what-we-do/education

Lastly, I researched the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This is a group sponsored by the United Nations to bridge the gap between different countries and cultures in order to promote global collaboration on topics relating to education, health and safety, and communication. In terms of education this organization works to bring educational opportunities to all children of every nation in a safe and humanitarian manner. This organization offers a wealth of information in terms of resources, journal articles, and current events worldwide on topics pertaining to education. The amount of information this organization offers is tremendous and I feel that it offers useful and valuable resources.

http://en.unesco.org/themes/education-21st-century

I recently read on LinkedIn that individuals who volunteer are more likely to land a job, due to the experience they gain volunteering as well as the networking opportunities. With that in mind I found internships available through UNESCO. An individual must be enrolled in a graduate or post graduate program in a field that UNESCO supports, such as education. The internship last for 2-6 months, and while there is no pay for the position it offers supplementary experience and education to standard coursework. Individuals must speak and write English, be proficient in MS office, as well as have a student Visa. While I don’t plan to pursue my Doctorate degree just yet, this would be a great opportunity for someone that does plan to do so.

http://en.unesco.org/careers/internships

National Organizations & CoP

National organizations or Communities of Practice (CoP) that appeal to me include the Children’s Defense Fund, Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health, as well as Zero to Three. First of all I chose the Children’s Defense Fund to utilize as a great source of information to cite and gain information from. The Children’s Defense Fund offers numerous articles on specific relevant topics to my challenge statement, stays current on policy changes, and can be a source of advocacy or referral information (Children’s Defense Fund, 2012). The Cradle to Prison pipeline initiative the Children’s Defense Fund is currently working on directly relates to the early intervention strategies for young children that I hope to address such as how to address trauma in early childhood. The second organization I chose to explore is Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health. This organization offers several CoPs that are specific to topics. For example, there is a specific Child Welfare CoP as well as Early Childhood CoP, both which address current mental health needs of children, which I felt to be very valid to my challenge statement. Each CoP has an individual assigned as the community lead.  Based on the website the Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Heatlh state both of these CoPs offer “Access up-to-date information, events, funding opportunities, and resources, or ask a question related to child welfare services and the needs of children and families in the child welfare system” (Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health, n.d.). This would be a great resource to learn from other professionals around the country dedicated to a unified goal. Lastly, I looked at Zero to Three as this organization offers resources for early childhood educators, stays current on policy changes, and has relevant information pertaining to the mental health of young children and how this can translate into success in classrooms. Additionally, this resource offers information about state policy changes as well as national policy changes. This is imperative for all early childhood educators despite the challenge as funding, standardization, and other initiatives affect the strategies and models of intervention.

            Current job opportunities available that interest me include a Project Director for Early Education Services division for ICF International. This organization works as a contract agent for community and government projects in key areas of development such as education. The organization serves the United States as well as other countries worldwide. This project actually is located in Fairfax, Virginia and serves to address retention, education reform, and professional development. Qualifications include a Master’s degree and five years’ experience in early care or education, as well as military experience and quality control experience. While I meet most qualifications for this job I do not currently have military experience.

References:

Children’s Defense Fund, (2012). Programs & campaigns. Retrieved from

http://www.childrensdefense.org/programs-campaigns/

Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health, (n.d.). Communities of practice.

Retrieved from http://www.tapartnership.org/communitiesOfPractice.php

Zero to Three National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families, (2012). Building early childhood

systems. Retrieved from http://www.zerotothree.org/public-policy/

Community of Practice

I just became a member of the Graduation Matters community of practice. This community of practice is dedicated to working to discover why children don’t graduate high school or transition to higher education and find ways to assist in increasing the rates of children that do. This community of practice appealed to me initially because I am the mother of five children, I work in higher education, and I am obtaining a graduate degree in early childhood education. I feel as though I have a lot of offer to this group, but also I have a high investment in it as well. Not only personally as the goals and mission of this group may affect my own children, but also as a professional that has a great deal to offer in terms of knowledge and experience.

Next, I am interested in Early Childhood Professionals of Wyoming. This community of practice is a way for early childhood professionals within the state to ask questions, become informed of pertinent policy changes, or work together to discover best practices for increasing the educational attainment of the children within our state. State organizations such as this are imperative to knowing and understanding our state legislature, funding, policies, and even culture.

 

Lastly, there is not a formal name, but a community of practice exists between the community colleges within my state that offer early childhood education programs. This highly appeals to me as I consider my future goals, career, and endeavors that lie ahead. This community of practice serves to share information, work together when seeking state funding, and also works collaboratively when addressing state legislature about policies or procedural changes that may negatively or positively impact early childhood education within higher education.  

 

As we begin to wrap up our course work and complete our studies I have been exploring job opportunities. I am most interested in ways to combine my background in mental health with my graduate degree. I have been invited to interview for a position that assists children and families that are homeless, have substance abuse issues, or mental health needs to gain self-sufficiency through intervention and support. In order to fulfill the roles of this job I would need to rely heavily on my skills developed as a mental health case manager, but also include the knowledge I have gained in terms of how to offer support to families, encourage families and professionals to work collaboratively together, as well as demonstrate a respect for family cultures, diversity, and individual cultures. Next, I have been working to help pave the way for the development of an early childhood education center on the college campus where I currently work. This would require a great deal of skill and knowledge gained in terms of finding funding resources, budgeting and allocating funds, as well as developing a program from the onset in terms of curriculum, floor plans, marketing, and licensing.

Week 8 Collaboration and Support

This week I have reflected back on the first class of our Master's program that discussed the importance of meaningful relationships and support systems that included colleagues. I have heard it reiterated throughout the duration of our program as well the importance of colleague support. I am hopeful that throughout the past year I have been able to provide support by sharing resources, being encouraging, and providing meaningful input. I know that my colleagues have done this for me. I have had many colleagues share a vast amount of information and resources that I have found to be very beneficial. I have found a community of support with my colleagues that know and understand the demands and pressures of maintaining work, life, and school balance as well, which is equally as important. I hope going forward that my colleagues feel they can reach out to me as a resource if needed.

 I wish everyone the very best in their future endeavours and I am so pleased that such a wonderful group of dedicated individuals will go on and empower so many children and families going forward. The scope of our reach will be magnificent! Thank you all for enriching my education and showing me a different perspective!! I am on LinkedIn and my email address is mtate4321@hotmail.com.


I think the collaboration continuum demonstrates the convergence of our group and how we have been able to move through the process of first contact to collaborative effort!

Adjourning

I often feel the hardest good byes come with groups that have over come and evolved into high performing groups. I think the rocky starts often, not all of the time, build bonds that create an environment where everyone knows the alternative and chooses to work together as a cohesive group.  I was involved with a Mothers of Preschoolers group several years ago that was by far for me the hardest group to leave. In the beginning there was a learning curve for all as to how to communicate and set clear expectations with one another, but once that was established it was a fantastic group that complemented one another in many aspects. Together we accomplished so many goals, and became great friends in the process. Ultimately, several us of moved away, which caused the group to adjourn. As a ritual we went out together, had dinner,  and reflected on our times together. For me when a group adjourns and there is no sort of closing ritual it seems as there is no closure on the experience as well. It is left open ended and perhaps fragments the process and entire time spent together. 

In one of my undergraduate research courses our instructor put us in groups the first week and each week we had assignments with our group that were due. In an online format this was extremely challenging, but it was the first time I actually got to know my other school colleagues, and have made life long friends because of it. I have never really thought about how our cohort group in the Master's program would adjourn. I have spent a lot of time in the online format and it has been difficult to establish the same kind of bond that comes with face to face communication. We have all been extremely dedicated to our studies and straight to the point, so although we will have spent two years together it has all been so focused and concentrated. I believe I must try harder to establish relationships with my colleagues and perhaps wish everyone well when the time comes, but try to remain in contact as the collaboration with colleagues in any format is vital.

Communication and Conflict

Recently in my workplace there has been a lot of disagreement amongst my colleauges in regards to learning how to implement old policies with an entirely new team. Our division has grown substantially and many existing employees have transfered to new positions at our college, so we are all learning each others personalities and experiencing growing pains. Two strategies we have developed to address these issues have first of all been to develop weekly meetings. The goal is to allow each individual the opportunity to share specific concerns and work as a team to approach these concerns to resolve and address them. This creates a collaboration effort that is respectful and reciprocal. Additionally, it addresses NVC as the object is to be empathetic to one another's needs and work together for resolution without trying to strong arm a view point from someone. The second strategy has been to develop a group forum online so that daily tasks can be addressed by the group as needed. The purpose for this was to address issues as soon as they arrive, otherwise little issues can become much bigger when not addressed in a timely manner. Once again this creates a collaborative effort. This is a little more challenging as empathy is harder to address in an online format and non verbal cues are missed, but on the reverse side of this the team is able to work together respectfully to collaborate and address the needs of one another. This had encouraged a team effort by allowing each individual to feel valued for their contribution, but also to feel supported when they are facing a challenge.