Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

Three local or state organizations or communities of practice that appealed to me are:

-NAEYC.  This is an organization that helps teachers receive resources to deal with many different aspects of teaching.  From offering assistance and training on special needs children to offering workshops on how to make your classroom run more efficiently.  This organization reaches out to teachers everywhere to make sure that teachers have a voice in their careers.

-Childcare Services of NC.  This service offers a lot of assistance the staff members at NC schools.  They offer assistance with tuition reimbursements, bonuses for staying at your school for longer than 6 months, and information on finding affordable health insurance.  This was important to me because sometimes as a teacher I feel that we are the last to be considered when changes are made.  Most people don’t think about how much a teacher is making or if she can afford the simple things in life that may be offered to others.  This program opens up doors for the teachers and allows them to have a resource that can help them expand their goals.

-Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health.  This organization reaches out to families that have children, parents, or siblings with mental health issues.  It is a resource that offers assistance in finding proper care and information that will make the home life easier.  This resource can be used for staff members at schools as well as a tool that will help students become more successful inside of the classroom.

            Job opportunities that are of interest to me would be:

-Working as a Kindergarten teacher in a public school.  In order to be able to work at this job I would have to go back to school (again) and receive my licensure from NC (Employment).  This would require me to practice inside of a classroom for a period of months while completing more class work.

-Working with Childcare Services doing Statewide Contracts (Child Care Services Association).  This position would help teachers choose curriculums that are best suited for their students and their programs.  This job would offer me the opportunity to reach out to many teachers and schools and help them choose curriculums that would help their students learn, play, and grow.  In order to receive this job I would have to be willing to travel more than what I am able to do at this time.

            I am confident that I will be able to find a job or organization that will suit my needs once I have finished my degree.  I have had the opportunity to reach out and expand my resources of contact people.  Throughout my learning process I have met and talked with many people about changes that they wanted to see in the early childhood program.  I am optimistic that I will be able to build a team of people together that would want to see quality education for all students.  This is my goal for the future.

References:

Child Care Services Association.  Retrieved: March 11, 2013.

www.childcareservices.org/.

Early Childhood - Get Connected.  Retrieved: March 11, 2013.

www.tapartnership.org › Communities of Practice › Early Childhood.

Employment - Public Schools of North Carolina.  Retrieved: March 11, 2013.

www.ncpublicschools.org/work4ncschools/employment/.

National Association for the Education of Young Children | NAEYC.  Retrieved: March 11, 2013.  www.naeyc.org/.

Thanks Week 8

Thank you all for sharing such personal and compassionate thoughts through out this course.  It has been a pleasure working with you and I wish you all the best in your future classes.

Good-byes

In my opinion high –performing jobs aren’t the hardest to leave.  I feel that the hustle and bustle can sometimes be overwhelming and meant to be short term.  Groups that have strong norms are often hard to enter into so you often feel like the outsider if you weren’t at the beginning stage of development.  You can sometimes find yourself wishing for the completion of the task.

I feel that the hardest stage for me to say good-bye in is the performing stage.  I think that when we are all working hard and doing our best it makes for a fun place to be and a hard place to leave.  I also think that the norming stage is hard to leave because you are learning about everyone and the way that they do things.  The more that you learn about people the closer you get even if you don’t like the way that they handle certain situations. 

The closing rituals that I have experienced have varied depending on the situation and the location.  I have experienced parties, rewards, and simple good-byes when situations came to an end.  I know that some people like to show how much they have appreciated you by throwing parties while others feel like you have done your job so it’s time to move on to the next adventure.

I think that by adjourning from the group of teammates that I have formed will be bitter sweet.  Bitter in the sense that I will no longer have the group of colleagues to bounce ideas off of and to build a strong foundation for my teaching experience.  Sweet in the sense that I will have received a degree that will hopefully open new doors for me in my future. 

Adjourning is a natural part of any relationship and project.  There has to closure in order to move on.  It may not mean that you are leaving a person or a job but it means that you have completed one task and you’re graduating to the next. 

Communication and disagreements

  

One situation that I experienced was where I felt like the truth wasn’t being told at work.  There was a colleague that constantly told things about people that weren’t true which led to hostile feelings and frustration.  There were people that wanted to quit over this one person.  Our boss didn’t see the deception until it was too late.  People started going to the office to talk about their issues and that’s when our boss realized the severity of the situation.  Because the staff didn’t know how to handle this person there were a lot of words and emotions that were passed from person to person that weren’t nice and kind.  Once our boss saw the issue for what it was she was able to handle it and gather the troops back into a positive environment. 

            I think that the strategies that could have been used would have been for the staff to share their issues with the boss before the situation got out of hand and from there discussed with the lady that was at the center of the conflict about how they didn’t care for the way she was conducting herself around them.  They could have sat down and talked about ways to walk away from her when she started conversations like that and they could have come together as a group to find positive ways to redirect her attention so that it wouldn’t be so negative.  I think that if we had gone to the boss as a group before it had gotten so bad then the situation wouldn’t have progressed so negatively.  The 3 R’s would have been appropriate…Respect other people, respond with positive words and actions instead of negative ones, and show positive reciprocations instead of negative interactions. 

References:

The Third Side.  Retrieved: July 26, 2012.  http://www.thirdside.org/

Communication assesments

When I looked at the assessments this week I was surprised to see that the 2 other people thought that I was a good listener and that I tried to stay away from arguments (Communication Anxiety Inventory).  I felt this about myself but I didn’t realize how others perceived me.  It is good to know that I am putting off the vibes that I work hard at.  I want people to feel comfortable talking to me and knowing that I will listen and try to help them with their problems.

The other insights that I gained this week are once again people are different.  The 2 people that I spoke with stated how they don’t always handle situations the same.  My husband stated that he is shy and will run from any opportunity to speak in public but he is not as good as listening as he felt that I was.  My co-teacher states that she doesn’t like public speaking either but that she views herself as a good listener and a person that is willing to help others.  I also realize that in order to communicate you have to listen and carry yourself in a manner that will be received by others. 

Listening will help with both my personal and professional lives because it gives me the opportunity to hear what those that I care about have to say.  This is important to me because by nature I love to help others and I can’t do that if I am not willing to hear their thoughts and concerns. 

I feel that I have to carry myself in a way that will invite people to want to talk to me.  My husband works with a lady that is always loud and willing to start a confrontation.  He talks about how his other colleagues don’t want to do projects with her because she is always stirring up trouble.  In this situation this person has closed the door to others communicating with her because she isn’t allowing people to discuss issues at hand without putting others on the spot.  One of the questions asked in the survey was when do you lash out at others when you don’t have solutions to a problem (Communication Anxiety Inventory)?  I think that this is what this person is doing.

References:

Communication Anxiety Inventory.  Retrieved: July 18, 2012.  n.laureatemedia.com/2dett4d/Walden/EDUC/6165/04/mm/quiz/quiz_communication/index.html.

Sommunicating differently with different people

I do communicate differently with people of different groups.  I think that we all do.  For example: I talk to the pastor differently than I would talk to my family or friends.  Even though I might joke and play I am careful to make sure that my words are positive and godly.  I also talk to my boss differently than I talk to my co-workers.  My co-teachers and I play, discuss things that are bothering us at work, etc but my boss can’t always relate to the conversation so it is hard to share those experiences with her.

I feel that three strategies that I would use to communicate differently would be:

-Listen (Beebe, Beebe, & Redmond, 2011).  (I need to listen and make sure that I understand what is being stated before I respond.  I need to be mindful that whoever is talking to me is trying to express their feelings and thoughts so I need to take the time to understand before I start to share my feelings.)

-Use the “Platinum Rule” (O’Hair, & Wiemann, 2009).  (I need to respond to people in a way that makes them feel that I am trying to respect and understand their thoughts and feelings even if I disagree.  I need to show concern for others regardless of their situation or backgrounds).

-I need to be open minded (Vuckovic, 2008).  (I need to make sure that I am not making judgments on people because of race, religion, gender, situations, etc.  I need to make sure that I am looking at the situation for what it is and not for who is in it).  

References:

  Beebe, S. A., Beebe, S. J., & Redmond, M. V. (2011).  Retrieved: July 10, 2012.   Interpersonal c  communication: Relating to others (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

  O’Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2009). Retrieved: July 10, 2012.   Real communication: An introduction.  

  New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Vuckovic, A. (2008).  Retrieved: July 10, 2012.   Inter-cultural communication: A foundation of communicative action. Multicultural Education and Technology Journal, 2(1), 47–59.

communication through TV

Communication and tv.

I watched The Mentalist for the first time.  The commercials seemed interesting to me because it reminded me of one of my favorite shows Psych.  I watched it with the volume off at first.

What do you think the characters’ relationships are based on the ways in which they are communicating?

Looking at the interactions of the characters I saw them as a team.  They talked a lot to each other and were always around each other.

What are they feeling and expressing based on the nonverbal behavior you are observing?

I saw confused faces, fingers pointing, and embracing of victims’ families.

Now, watch the show with the sound turned on.

What assumptions did you make about the characters and plot based on the ways in which you interpreted the communication you observed?

I first tried to decide who was in charge on the show because the person that appeared to be the one that everyone kept reporting to wasn’t the person that was solving the cases.  I assumed that a man had feelings for one of the detectives by the way he looked at her and continued to try to be around her.

Would your assumptions have been more correct if you had been watching a show you know well?

My assumptions probably would have been better had I been more familiar with the show because I could have had the background information on the characters and the makeup of the program.

Write about your experience in your blog, including what you learned about communication from this experience and insights or “aha” moments you believe would be helpful to your colleagues.

Aha moments that I had watching this show was that you can look at the way people move and their body language and detect some of their feelings.  However, you still have to be careful because everyone might use the same action for different reasons.  For example, someone yelling might not be in anger but they might be trying to warn someone of danger.