National/Federal Organizations of Community of Practice

The three organizations that I am most interested in working with in the future are

 The Council for Professional Recognition promotes improved performance and recognition of professionals in the early childhood education of children aged birth to 5 years old. I am interested in this organization because I am passionate about Training and professional development and this agency have made an impact in the life of many teachers.

No vacancy available at this time.

However, I believe I am a good candidate for this agency because I am already one of their Professional Development Specialists and I am very familiar with the CDA process.  Also, because I have the passion, the knowledge and skills to work in area of the early childhood field.

                                                                    

This organization is one of my favorite because they advocate for the age group I am most passionate about.  I believe they do a wonderful work in the field in regards of the well being of infants and toddlers. 

They currently have an opening for a training specialist that I am very excited about.  The position is focus on work with the Early Head Start National Resource Center.  As an Education Manager for an Early Head Start program this opportunity sounds really interesting.  Also, the training specialist will focus on coordinating training events and conferences for early head start leadership.  They require a M.S degree in Early Childhood education which I am hoping to obtain soon.  I will definitely keep my eyes on this organization since I learned they have this kind of opportunities.

 NAEYC is the biggest organization in the world working on behalf the well-being of children.  I am interested in them because I believe that all early childhood programs should be held at the high quality such NAEYC.

I am interested in becoming a NAEYC assessor in the future.  At this time they are taking applications for next year.  The applications will be reviewed at the beginning of 2014.  This is a contractor job in which I will have to be familiar with NAEYC accreditation and I will have to pass training and reliability test.  It is important to be knowledgeable about developmentally appropriate practices and child development in order to be successful on this position.

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

         Early Childhood Council of Hillsborough Council

This program appealed to me because provides information and referral services, prevention and early intervention to children and families free of cost.  The ECC continues to grow its membership while managing key services of Developmental Screening, Child Care Inclusion & Technical Assistance, Training and Professional Development.

No jobs are available at this time.

However, I believe that I am an excellent candidate for a job in this organization.  As an early childhood professional that is making a specialization in training adults I would be very interested in working in the area of technical assistance, training and professional development.  

 Early Childhood Council of Hillsborough County

             Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough County

The Early Learning Coalition provides a variety of services to the community such as child care referral and resources.  Also, they oversee the QRIS system for Hillsborough County and provide technical assistance and training to child care providers.  Another goal for the Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough County (ELCHC) is to strengthen Hillsborough's child care system to more effectively support the needs of children with disabilities and their families.

ELCHC strives to help expand child care options for children with disabilities and their families by providing funding to the Care Options Program to support the inclusion of children with special needs in early childhood settings. Services are available to providers to enhance staff's knowledge and competence in serving children with disabilities or behavioral challenges. 

Not jobs available at this time

In this organization I will be interested in working either in the QRIS system as one of their program specialist and also to provide training and technical assistance.  I think that after I complete this M.S. program I will have the knowledge, experience and credentials to qualify and be successful at the job.

Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough County 

          Tampa bay institute for early childhood professionals

The Tampa Bay Institute for Early Childhood Professionals is a space dedicated to the positive growth and transformation of the early childhood professional. "The Institute" offers a variety of services and resources aimed at helping current and aspiring early childhood professionals enrich their skills, chart a successful career path and ultimately improve the quality of care delivered in early childhood programs throughout the Tampa Bay area.

The Institute offers area early childhood professionals a full range of professional development services such as career advising, special trainings and seminars, a well-rounded lending library, Live Scan services, laminators, die cut machines and MORE!

Not Jobs available at this time

In this institute I will be interested in a trainer/instructor position.  During my M.S program I learned the skills and obtained knowledge about adult learning theories, techniques and strategies.  

 Tampa bay Institute for Early Childhood Professionals

A Thank You Note

I want to take this opportunity to thank all my colleagues for their support and great posts during the 8 weeks of this course.  Much success and I hope to finally meet you at graduation day.

Adjourning Teams

The groups hardest for me to leave was the groups in which the team members were able to build a relationship.  They were also high performing groups I believe that because of the relationships built and the communication the groups were able to perform highly.  The group that was hardest for me to leave was 3 years ago; when I left my previous job to come to the one that I am currently working.  It was a group of 6, and the group was very diverse each one in the team was from a different cultural background, but we felt like a family.  I worked with that group for two years without any supervision, because right after I was hired the program director was terminated, and the agency was never able to replace the program director, but we still have to run the program.  So we decided we will go to work together to make it happen, and we would meet and discuss our issues and figure out how to make things work.  We listened to each other, and in some circumstances we disagreed and had to resolve a conflict between us, but we always came through any issues successfully.  The agency had 3 teams doing the same  work in three different counties.,  Happens that we were the highest performing group without even having the supervision and guidance of a program director.  We were our own leaders, and we consulted each other for everything.  It was very hard to leave this team because we were very and we enjoyed working with each other.  The relationship built was very solid.  Three years after none of us worked there anymore, but we still get together occasionally, and we wish we could get to work together again.  Adjourning is important because is a sign that goals were accomplished and that there are now new challenges to overcome.  When adjourning a team, I like to get together celebrate accomplishments and summarize the work done.  In terms of adjourning the work,  I have done with colleagues in my M.S degree I would like to meet them in person during the graduation and thank them for the support and experiences that they share with me during this time. Also, writing in our blogs a brief summary of all our accomplishments during our journey in the M.S. program.

Conflict Resolution

Unfortunately, disagreements and conflicts can happen at any time in different situations.  In my personal life when dealing with my family we tend to disagree in many things.  I remember I used to argue a lot to make a point.  Sadly,  the situation was a little exhaustive for me and my family, and we would go nowhere.  Now the two strategies that I think can help me to resolve conflicts and disagreements with my family is first, listening attentively and reflecting about how is that what they are saying is affecting me and them. Then focus on their point of view and not on them and understanding that we all are entitled to have a different point of views.  Second, is to brainstorm with all parts involved how can we compromise and resolve the issue or make things work.  If we have trouble finding a solution in which we can all agree, I will request that we take some time to think about it and then we can discuss the issue again in a later time.

I believe we can use all the principles of nonviolent communication or the 3R’s to resolve any issues.  The main thing is to be willing to have nonviolent communication and accept and respect what others think.

Communication Assessment

I was very surprised that the two people that evaluated me coincide with their evaluation in the three areas.  They were coinciding with my own self-assessment, but the verbal aggressiveness.  I considered myself to be in the range of moderate, and they both considered that I was in the range of significant.  I never in the world thought that I was in that range so now I have to be more careful and how I respond to others.  Through this exercise,  I learned that is important how other perceive you as a communicator and that you are not always projecting what you think.

Communicating Differently

Every day I communicate with people from different groups and culture.  As an early childhood professional, I communicate with children, families, and colleagues.  Also in my personal life I also communicate with different groups of people.  First my husband is from a different culture than mine, my son is from a different age group, my sister practices a different religion than me and my friends are all different.  One of the things I learned about communication and that I confirmed while studying this course is that listening is essential for effective communication, but also that you cannot communicate with everyone in the same way.  What I personally do is to learn people and talk to them how they want to be treated.  I was very surprised this week, when I learned about the Platinum Rule because I was practicing the Platinum Rule while communicating with others, but I did not even know that such of rule existed.  Besides the Platinum Rule,  I also communicate different when I am in my professional role.  When I am communicating with colleagues and parents my communication is always more serious, concise and  I use vocabulary related to my profession.  When I am, communicating with children my tone of voice changes I tend to be more soft and sweet when talking with children.  Then when talking with family and friends communication is more casual.