My Own Capacity

As I consider my own abilities I reflect on why it is I am in this profession. I have always wanted to make a difference in the life of a child so I became an early childhood teacher. When I first began teaching I did not, and am still not sure, I truly understand the capacity I have within my reach to make a difference. Thinking about topics and how I could make a difference I looked at my own personal situation. What I have found is there is not a set curriculum or skills to be acquired in Pre-Kindergarten in my current state. While there are teaching and learning standards, I do not believe all programs follow them or use them. I have learned this through the different programs I have worked in over the last six years. So one topic I am interested in is developing a set of standards and curriculum to follow for Pre-Kindergarten so that each child ,not just in the state of New Jersey but the nation, who attends a Pre-Kindergarten program enters Kindergarten on a level playing field. Additionally, if a child for whatever reason does not attend a Pre-Kindergarten program the set standards for skills children must have for Kindergarten should be made available to parents in order for families to equally prepare.

Another issue I have come across is how private centers would like, and sometimes require, teachers to have Bachelor's degrees but only want to pay an hourly rate. Insurance benefits and retirement have to be paid in large part, or in whole, by the employee. On the other hand, public systems have a minimum of a Bachelor's degree with certification requirement and pay a salary to teachers. In addition to salaries, public systems offer benefits and retirement paid for by the state.

I would hope that my personal experiences with both of these issues would give me the opportunity to have an adequate footing to stand upon for these issues. My sincere love of children and priceless enjoyment over watching the 'light bulb moments' when they learn new things drives me to continue in this field. I want to grow as an effective educator to continue to influence the lives of the children I come in contact with but also I want to learn and grow in order to change the field of early childhood for generations to come.

My Role as an Advocate

Just like my motivation to become a teacher, my desire to become an advocate stems from my passion to make a difference in the lives of children I come in contact with on a daily basis. What I am learning about advocacy has allowed me to see that no matter how big or small the issue may be, there is always the possibility to make a difference. So it is important to acknowledge issues already addressed, changes already made, and current advocacy efforts in motion to be able to increase awareness and support of the issues at hand while not repeating the same exact issues that have already created change. While I believe being an educator has already put me in a leadership role of sorts, I also believe that anyone with the passion and desire to make a change to make a difference can become a leader within the community. Leaders must understand current problems within their community or state, research information on the topics, share the information with others within the community or state, and form a plan of action in which to address the proposed solution(s) to the problem to turn an issue into a change to make a difference. To move beyond the community to the state level, I believe one must know who the elected officials are, how best to contact them, and have some understanding of how the political system works.

As I identify issues I am passionate about and wish to use the issues to make changes within the field I would share my plans with my colleagues, my community, my family and friends in hopes of increasing the number of us working for the changes needed to make a difference in the field of early childhood. This is also the same advice I would give to anyone wishing to make a difference or a change in any area. If you are passionate about an issue, have a desire to create change and make a difference, do the research, make a proposed plan for solutions, contact others who may be interested in joining your cause, and then take your proposal to the legislators. I have learned that just one person can make a difference. If all of us strive for change, differences will be made and lives will be improved.

Personal Advocacy Reflection

As I think about items I read in the course text over the past couple of weeks, I am hoping that the situation I share is one of advocacy. I began working in the preschool I am now last year in January. This year around October or November I had a little girl come into my class. Through the first couple weeks she was there I learned that mom only  worked on the weekend and dad had just started working a full time job through the week. Mom shared with me that she was concerned her children would not have a Christmas. I happen to know someone who ‘adopts’ a family for Christmas and asked if a family had already been selected and was told no. So I shared the situation of the family of the little girl in my classroom. Her family was adopted for Christmas, the little girl in my class and her two brothers each received a new coat, two outfits, and two toys apiece using a list I asked for from the mom. The parent in my class was thrilled, I received pictures and the children were excited, and the individual I know was pleased the gifts went to a good home.

 If this is a small taste of what it is like to advocate for a cause then I look forward with great anticipation to finding a cause in the field to advocate for and making changes.

A New Course Begins

As we continue on this journey I am looking forward to this course. As the pursuit of my Masters degree draws to a close with the courses specific for advocacy, I hope my knowledge increases and my ability to be more effective improves. I hope that as we work over the next eight weeks we will learn from our course materials and each other. My wish is for us all to have continued success as we strive to make a difference in the lives of the children we teach and the families who support them.

Good Luck

As the course draws to a close I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my fellow colleagues and instructors. I have learned a lot from each one of you and have grown in my professional development and growth. While some of us will depart ways here as others continue on together for the remainder of our journey my hope is that each one of you acquire the knowledge and skills you are looking for and use them to promote change in our early childhood field. I would love to keep in contact as we embark on the remainder of our journey, so if there is anything I can do to support any of you please feel free to contact me via email at heidi.doughty@waldenu.edu . I wish each of you the best and good luck in all of your future endeavors.

Team Development

I have to be honest and say that right now, even though I have spent all week thinking about it, I cannot think of a group that was hard for me to leave. I learned something from each group I was a part of, based either on how much harder I had to work to make up for those that didn't or who I didn't think would work but yet they did. I gained different insights from a group project than those given by the teacher of the class as we often had to go beyond what we knew. Group experiences that I can recall were not positive experiences for me, except when I could be a part of a group of my choice in which case I was a part of a group I was friends with, so there was no good-bye stage.

For this Master's degree program, as each course closes, I have thanked each group of colleagues I have worked with and wished them all well. I believe that I will continue to do this as each course ends bringing each of us closer to completion. I think the adjourning stage of team development provides closure but unfortunately for me a lot of the groups I was a part of never fully made it through the five stages and members were just grateful to not have to work with each other any longer.

Conflict Resolution

As I thought about this post, I thought about a parental conflict I had the third year I taught. The parents did not believe I was in the right profession as a teacher, believed I was singling their child out, and felt their child could do no wrong. As I reflected back, I realized that some of the nonviolent communication methods mentioned this week by Dr. Rosenberg may have helped. However, it lead me to question what do you do when you are speaking to someone who is not willing to budge or compromise at all and nothing you say or do changes the other person's stand? I like the idea of the 3 Rs and the nonviolent approach that Dr. Rosenberg described this week and I am going to attempt to implement them in the communications I have from here on whether in my personal life or in my professional life. What I have learned this week will change how I approach communication with others, however I am just not sure about others I communicate with who are not willing to compromise.