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.

My Communication Style

For this assignment I chose to have my husband and my closest colleague evaluate me. I felt it necessary to tell them both to be honest as I would not be offended and knew I had areas that needed improvement. With this being said I still worry about the validity because who knows how honest one can be when they still have to interact with me everyday. I am hopeful they were both honest, I chose them because they communicate with me in different capacities, but definitely more frequently than anyone else, so they should know my communication patterns better.

I was extremely surprised that they both evaluated me as having less communication anxiety then I evaluated myself. They both placed me very low, and I placed myself in the mild range. This is a huge change for me as I have not always been a low anxiety communicator, but due to the demands of my job and my family I have grown into this role. The next surprise for me was that I was rated by myself and my evaluators as being a people oriented listener. This was wonderful for me, as I have always felt I am a time or action oriented listener, which made me feel badly. I was pleasantly surprised and feel maybe I have been giving myself a hard time for years for no reason at all!!

Not surprising to me was that my husband rated me a little higher on the verbal aggressiveness scale than my colleague, not much but a little. I guess he knows my true colors!!

Communicating Differently?

My community is located neighboring the Wind River Reservation. I grew up here primarily and only just moved back last September. I grew up with an awareness that there were cultural differences that existed, and limited knowledge about what exactly those differences were and why. Now as an adult and professional at the community college here I look at these differences with a different awareness. I absolutely communicate differently with individuals of cultures that are not the same as my own.

Yesterday we had an informal meeting to discuss how as a division within the college we can establish better communication with one another. Several of us are relatively new and we all are knew to working with one another. One of my supervisors stated so much is being lost in translation and interpreted differently than the actual intent because we haven't taken the time to get to know one another. 

I believe that this can statement be applied to communication in general or communication with regards to culture. I do not communicate differently because I feel superior or view my culture as the "better" choice. I believe that now I have taken the time to learn about the cultural significance and differences in communication in order to be more affective and accepting. I would much rather learn about an individual, establish a relationships, and build a rapport so that I can learn from others as well as teach to others not just education but culturally as well.