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

Here are my three National, Non-federal Organizations Serving the ECE Community:
(1). National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP)
(2). National Head Start Association (NHSA)
(3). Nemours

I chose the first organizations because poverty is a big issue world-wide and especially in the early childhood field. It is my hope and desire that poverty would decreased dramatically because I don't believe that it will ever end due to the fact that we take advantage of things such as clothes, food, shelter, water, and etc. My second choice was chosen because I am going to change my age group and focus on Head Start children for my Capstone Project because those years are very important and critical when it comes to play and hands on learning. The last organization was chosen because I had never heard of it before and it deals with "a children's health system devoted to treating and preventing illnesses from birth through adolescence while focusing on policy and practice changes that improve the environments where children live, learn and play" (http://www.eceobesityprevention.org/getting-started/national-organizations/).

I did not find no job opportunities on the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) websites, but I was interested in the Making Work Supports Work project because the "“Work support” benefits—such as earned income tax credits, child care subsidies, health insurance, and food stamps—can help families close the gap between low earnings and basic expenses, but work supports are means-tested, so families lose eligibility as they work and earn more and small increases in earnings can trigger sharp reductions in benefits, leaving families no better off—or even worse off—than before. In short, working more doesn't always pay" (http://nccp.org/topics/worksupports.html).

There were no job opportunities currently available, but there were NHSA Conferences and Training Opportunities that interest me such as the 2014 Fall Leadership Institute and the 31st Parent Conferences and Family Engagement Institutes. The Ongoing Training for the Spring 2014 Director's Webinar Series on Early Childhood Education interest me and it included many  on-demand webinars and our Innovations for Better Outcomes series. Also, the Ongoing Training for Basic Family Services and Basic Health Services Credentials Program in which "The National Head Start Association understands the importance of enlisting skilled family and health service professionals in providing comprehensive, high quality services to children and their families; therefore, NHSA offers two credentials that are specifically focused on these critical support services to families and The Basic Family Services and Basic Health Services Credentials Program is designed for Head Start family and health services providers to demonstrate their knowledge, skills and abilities in 12 competency areas and the Head Start Program Performance Standards" (http://www.nhsa.org/professional_development/credentials_program).

I could search jobs on the Nemours website, but the careers interest me such as the Therapy & Rehabilitation because I wanted to go to college for Sports Medicine and "they have access to a newly opened world-class Sports Medicine Center, offering expansive rehabilitative equipment and resources" (http://www.nemours.org/careers/locations/delaware/therapy.html).

References:
National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP). (2014). Work support. Retrieved from http://nccp.org/topics/worksupports.html

National Head Start Association (NHSA). (2014). NHSA conferences and training opportunities. Retrieved from http://www.nhsa.org/professional_development

Nemours. (2014). Therapy & Rehabilitation. Retrieved from http://www.nemours.org/careers/locations/delaware/therapy.html

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

The National AfterSchool Association (NAA), The National Center for Fair & Open Testing, and The STAND for children are organizations that are at the local and state level, but they are associated with communities of practice. I chose these three organizations based on my Capstone Project. because later on I know that it will be useful when it comes to the final project. Also, I wanted to find organizations that I have never heard of so that I could learn new information to share with my colleagues so that we can instill this knowledge into our children minds in hopes of them wanting to learn.

The NAA had three job opportunities currently available that interest me like Leadership at the Movies-Part 1 & 2, Talk Tuesday, and Ten Tips for Hiring. The National Center for Fair & Open Testing website did have a numerous of job opportunities which are currently available, but I just looked through a couple of pages and decided that the New Research, Good Reads interest me. The STAND for children website did have job opportunities that are currently available, but it did not interest me.

The Leadership at the Movies-Part 1 & 2 offers the first five leadership principles which can earn you "two thumbs up" from your colleagues and funders as well as the youth and families you serve and the last five principles are the next steps to completing that transformation. The Talk Tuesday helps our young people develop the skills and talents to find gainful employment and to attract businesses to our cities. The Ten Tips for Hiring provides you with ten steps to getting the right people in the door that will put you on track to strengthening your team. (National AfterSchool Association-NAA) http://naaweb.org/professional-development/item/132-leadership-at-the-movies-part-1 and http://naaweb.org/professional-development/item/135-leadership-at-the-movies-part-2 

The New Research, Good Reads was a study that found a significant increase in incarceration rates for students who fail high-stakes exit exams. The Effect of High School Exit Exams on Graduation, Employment, Wages and Incarceration shows that students who fail these exams were more than 12 percent more likely to face incarceration than students who pass and these states also had lower graduation rates than states without these exams (National Center for Fair & Open Testing)http://www.fairtest.org/new-research-good-reads 

I think that if you are apart of these organizations, then they will help you with the skills and experiences that you would need to competently fulfill each of these roles.

References:

National AfterSchool Association (NAA). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://naaweb.org/?searchword=employment&searchphrase=any&limit=20&ordering=newest&view=search&option=com_search

National Center for Fair & Open Testing. (2013, Nov 9). New research, Good reads. Retrieved from http://www.fairtest.org/new-research-good-reads

STAND for children. (n.d.). Employment opportunities. Retrieved from https://careers-stand.icims.com/jobs/search?ss=1&searchKeyword=louisiana&searchCategory

Reflecting on Learning

I am excited that I have come this far with only eight weeks left before I will be graduating with my Masters. I am determined to stay focus with the Lord's help because I tend to get distracted, lazy, and procrastinate. In the future as an early childhood professional, my most passionate hope for the children and families with whom I work or will work is to apply what I have learned and put it into practice what I have been taught throughout this course of study to my personal and professional life. I am aware that all the books and resources in the world cannot teach me everything that I need to know about children and their families when working with them because some things will come from experiments, hands-on activities, observation/observing, persona dolls, personal stories, teachable moments, and etc.

To All My Colleagues:
First of all, I would like to say thank you all for being helpful and supportive of me throughout this program through your blogs and group discussions. Secondly, I am please to say that it was interesting and wonderful working with you all. Thirdly, I hope to see you all in our last course as we prepare to graduate together. Fourthly, I wish all of you the best in this educational and life journey! Lastly, but not least, I would like to thank Dr. Kien for all of her feedback on my papers which will help me in the future and for grading and responding to all of my questions in a timely manner. I enjoyed working with you as well.

PS: ALWAYS REMEMBER TO KEEP GOD FIRST IN EVERYTHING THAT YOU DO

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

To my colleagues, I chose France as the area of the world because I have always dreamed of visiting it. I have seen in books, magazines, movies, and on television how they show France as being beautiful to me. The language of the people is spoken in French in which I know a little of it because I took classes in high school. It has been a  many years ago since I have spoken French. I will have to refresh  my mind by getting a tutor to help me or by listening to cds that can teach me as well.

One challenge that children in this region of the world are confronting would be a series of workshops on the conditions of vulnerable children. It is estimated that more than 2 million French children are living below the European poverty line. Another challenge was to stop the recruitment of children in armed conflict. A third challenge is when 2 million children are trafficked worldwide and more than 100,000 websites use pornographic pictures or videos of children. The last challenge was when a boy orphaned by AIDS demand action for children. These experiences might have an effect on children's emotional well-being and development because "AIDS related illness killed more than half a million children worldwide and 540,00 children under the age of 15 became infected with HIV" (UNICEF).

My personal and professional reflection is when "UNICEF France Chairman Jacques Hintzy states that millions of children in the country, especially those from diverse backgrounds were living in poverty and exclusion in which tens of thousands of teenagers have expressed their anxiety about the future" (UNICEF). The insights that I gained is how France has to depend on other people and partner with organizations and nations to help children with AIDS/HIV, child exploitation, children in armed conflict, and promotion of children's rights. These influences they may have on me as a person and as an early childhood professional is to ensure the children, parents, and teachers that there are interventions and resources that will help them to face challenges and illnesses whenever they do occur.

Reference:
UNICEF. (22005). At a glance: France.  Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/france.html

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

My reaction to the topic of the sexualization of early childhood would be that children learn from their environment whether it is negative or positive through others,music,siblings,television,and etc.The first part of this topic was shocking , but as I began to read on,it was very informative, insightful, and interesting. It was nice to know that help is on the way even though "today's sexualized childhood is very distressing and there's no way around that "(Levin & Kilbourne, 2009, p.7).From my personal experience, I have seen a bunch of bullying, child abuse and neglect, and domestic violence that further illustrate the exposure of young children to a highly sexualized environment.

One implication that this may have on children's healthy development is that it can affect children s brain development even if they are are not the victim and it will lead to problems with the emotions and behavior which makes it complicated for them to learn .Another implication is when children are affected by the stress of violence which affects their growing brain and might delay normal childhood milestones. A third implication is when children are being harmed as a very way of getting at the other adult and child's needs might be neglected.The last implication is that the children who are being bullied are more than likely to be prone to depression and suicidal tendencies even when they grow up and they are most likely to be sick with headaches and stomach troubles.As an early childhood professional,to the best of my response to these concern and to reduce the negative impact on children i would change attitudes,support the victims,teach children to have acceptable behavior towards each others,supervise aggressive behavior into acceptable activities. The way in which my awareness of the sexualization of early childhood has been influenced and/or modified by studying the topic this week is that children are more knowledgeable and wiser about learning and paying close attention to their surroundings.

Reference:
Levin, D. E., & Kilbourne, J. (2009). [Introduction]. So sexy so soon: The new sexualized childhood and what parents can do to protect their kids (pp. 1-8). New York: Ballantine Books. Retrieved from: http://dianeelevin.com/sosexysosoon/introduction.pdf

Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practices

I feel like there are consequences that you should expect for the children and their families with whom you work while you experience specific "-ism(s)".For example, if a child sees an interracial couple or parents at school and tells another student that the mommy and daddy is different colors, but they suppose to be the same color. Another example would be a child who has a Black father and a white mother, but when he/she see some Black woman at school and says "I did not know women are Black " which also represents sexism because it was a discrimination against women. The examples of "-ism(s)" that I provide could be happening in my personal life.

I had a personal experience with religionism when I use to work for The Boys & Girls Club of the Miss-Lou and it was two Jehovah Witness's boy who would come majority of the time, but this particular day we where having a Christian Religious Choir that was made of teenagers from different areas of cities/towns who were coming to perform for our children, so when the oldest boy found out that it was a religious group, he then pulled me to the side and said my little brother and I cannot participate. I asked him why and he said that our parents will not allow us because they were a different religion. I had to take both of the boys and put them into another room.

Observing Communication

I was unable to observe an adult and young child communicating in a real-life setting, so I viewed this type of interaction in a book called Helen Keller. An account of my observation was the story of Helen Keller when she was a healthy child until she became both blind and deaf due to a nearly fatal illness (brain fever) or (Historians believe that Helen had contracted either scarlet fever or meningitis) at the age of 19 months until she died on June 01, 1968 at her residence at the age of 87 after suffering from a heart attack. First, I learned and noticed that Helen was a wild child because she would break dishes, and then slap and bite her family members. Secondly, I learned and noticed that Helen Keller meets with Alexander Graham Bell when he advised that her parents write to the director of the Perkins Institute for the Blind and several months later the Kellers finally heard back from the director who had found a teacher name Annie Sullivan for Helen Keller. Thirdly, I learned and noticed that Annie took a job for the course of her life as a teacher to Helen without no knowledge and understanding of formal training to teach a deaf-blind child at the age of 20 (Annie) when she arrived at the Keller's house on March 03, 1987 and Helen called it the day as "my soul's birthday." Fourthly, I learned and noticed that Helen and Annie went through tough times such as battle of wills when the the teacher and pupil were very strong-willed and often clashing, Helen's breakthrough of learning how read and write, fame for Helen and Annie when they became famous overnight due to Annie sending in regularly reports on Helen's progress to the director of Perkins Institute and then he released Helen's story to the press, Helen and Annie go on the road. Lastly, I learned and noticed that Helen Keller was the spokesperson for this newly formed organization called the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), and then afterwards Helen lost Annie (the teacher) because of health deterioration over several years when she completely lost her sight (blind) and could no longer travel.

The connections between what I observed and the effective communication strategies presented in this week's resources was that Annie Sullivan did present an equally irresistible challenge when she dealt with Helen being confused and her doubtful family. Annie was successful in the end when she teaches Helen how to communicate with other their language by including its purpose, power, and how it promotes children's thinking (Rainer, J., & Durden, 2010). Annie taught Helen self-control which help her to be more open to learning. I feel as though nothing should have be done to make the communication more affirming and effective.

My thoughts with regard to how the communication interactions that I observed may have affected the child's feelings and/or any influences it may have had on the child's sense of worth was that Helen was actually affectionate sometimes, but at the same time she had a devilishness side when she smashed continuously to smash the dishes and and bites people. Helen, at heart was a child that desires to be loved and hopes to understand the world in which Annie opens up the door to that world. My insights on how the adult-child communication that I observed this week compares to the ways in which I communicate with the children is that they tend to throw tantrums when things go wrong or they cannot have their way and that is when I find a method/strategy to punish them to let them know that this is the consequences of acting out. What I have learned about myself this week with respect to how well I talk with and listen to young children is that I am easily to get bored sometimes with our conversation because they tend to rumble off or they be like do not worry about just forget it. I can improve by thinking positive when it comes to our conversation because they could teach me something new or I could suggest to them to tell me something exciting that happened to them that day.

Reference:
Rainer Dangei, J., & Durden, T. R. (2010). The nature of teacher talk during small group activities. YC: Young Children, 65(1), 74-81. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database. http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=47964033&site=ehost-live&scope=site