Time Well Spent

 

The three deeply felt learnings from this program:

1. Gaining knowledge about not only how to teach and work with children but how to include families and the communities in the process. This program taught me what is important and that this is about the children.

2. Learning about issues and trends in the Early Childhood education field and how I can stay prepared.

3. Learning the history of the early childhood field, learning to be passionate about what I do for children on a daily basis and be an advocate for children.

These are just a few but this program have taught me so much and I can’t wait to get my dream job to share all the knowledge I have acquired at Walden University.

My long-term goal is to continue to do everything I can do for children and their families, to advocate for them, to assist families and community leaders. I will get certified by taking the Praxis exam for the state of Louisiana. I look forward to teaching Early Childhood Studies to adults in a community college setting as well as continue teaching at one of the local school Districts. I will also volunteer my time to children in need at local after school programs.

I want to thank Dr. Dartt for all the wonderful feedback she has given me and I also want to thank all of my colleagues. Your feedback on the weekly Blogs as well as discussions have been greatly appreciated. This has not been an easy journey but I can finally say I made it!! Thank you all and the best of luck to you.

 

Monica Owens-Davis

Owens_monicay@bellsouth.net

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

The three international organizations that appealed to me are the following:

O.M.E.P.: Organisation Mondiale Pour L'Éducation Préscolaire) is an international non-governmental and non-profit organization that is concerned with all aspects of early childhood education and care field. This organization associates persons without distinction of race, nationality or political beliefs, aim to improve education and care for children from birth to eight years of age. “OMEP was founded in Europe (Prague, 1948) and have National Committees in 24 countries throughout Europe”(www.worldomep.org). It is the oldest and largest international, non-governmental and non-profit organization.

 “Early Education Services (EES) was launched in India in 2007 by ICF Incorporated to tackle some of the major challenges facing early childhood education in India”(www.icf.com). Some challenges included lack of national early childhood education standards and professional development system. ICF provides early childhood education training and technical assistance, does much needed research and evaluation, and supports corporate child care in India. The population is high in India and there are many challenges facing early childhood education. I chose this organization because the ICF organization was founded by in 1969 by former Tuskegee Airman C.D. Lester began a venture capital firm in the Washington, D.C. area.

Association for Childhood Education International is concerned with making sure each child have a bright future in every nation. ACEI has been an international organization driven by the belief that education is essential to human development.

The reason I chose these organizations is because one day I am going to travel all over the world and my first two places I would love to visit is Europe and India. I want to visit the Taj Mahal in India. When I visit I would love to do some volunteer work in the Early Childhood Education field there.

 

References

 

Retrieved from https://www.acei.org

Retrieved from http://worldomep.org

Retrieved from https://Icf.com          

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

The three national/federal organizations I chose that appealed to me are National Head Start

Association (NHSA), National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and

National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI). These organizations appealed to me

because they all deal with helping young children and their families.

 

“National Head Start Association is a non-profit organization committed to the belief that every

child, regardless of circumstances at birth has the ability to succeed in life”(www.nhsa.org).

Head Start has helped over 32 million children and their families over the last 50 years. This

organization helps prepare them for school and for life. Not only do the organization help

prepare children for life but it also work with local programs, professional development, and

family engagement. A job opportunity I saw was for Digital Communication & Design Associate

which ensures projects in all digital content stays on track for social media websites. You have to

have a Bachelor’s degree and be able to brainstorm sessions to develop new ideas for content

development and social engagement. Duties also include coordinating reports and analytics to

evaluate effectiveness of content and marketing projects. Must have knowledge of HTML, CSS,

Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms. The organization also had other jobs listed

for teacher and teacher assistants.

 National Association for the Education of Young Children help all young children thrive and

learn in a society dedicated to ensuring they reach their full potential. The NAEYC organization

has always promoted high quality early learning for all children up to the age of eight years old.

The job I saw that I would be interested in is Deputy Chief Executive. The job duties for this

position is to develop a vision and oversee implementation plan for membership recruitment,

retention and engagement. Other duties include providing strategic guidance to conferences and

event teams with the main goal to maximize participation and effective participation to ensure
valuable membership orientation experience. Other jobs opportunities listed were for payroll

administrator and Senior Director, Federal Relations.

 

The last organization I found appealing was National Black Child Development Institute BCDI). For

over 40 years, the National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI) has been at the forefront for engaging leaders, policymakers, professionals, and parents around critical and timely issues that directly impact Black children and their families. I had never heard of this organization but I am glad I found it because as an African American woman it is important to me to see organizations like this one. “NBDCI is a trusted partner in delivering culturally relevant resources that respond to the unique strengths and needs of Black children around issues including early childhood education, health, child welfare, literacy, and family engagement”(www.nbcdi.org). The mission “to improve and advance the quality of life for Black children and their families through education and advocacy.” There were no current employment opportunities for this organization.

 

References

Retrieved from: www.naeyc.org

Retrieved from: www.nbdci.org

Retrieved from: www.nhsa.org

 

 

 

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Level

The three organizations or communities of practice I selected are the following The salvation Army/Boys & Girls club, CCAA Head Start Programs, and Childcare Association of Louisiana. All three of the organizations plays a vital role in the community for children. The first organization I chose is the Salvation Army Boys & Girls club because they not only offer various programs for afterschool for children but they also offer other services for homeless people, veterans and displaced families. I was interested in the organization because we recently got one where I live that provide free summer program classes for children. “Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination” (www.salvationarmyalm.org). The Salvation Army has been around a very long time. “Boys & Girls Clubs of America Mission to enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens” (www.salvationarmyalm.org). The organizations are two programs working as one to assist children to grow up to become smart well rounded adults. I’ve always said I would volunteer my services to the program one day when my schedule is not so busy. I would love to teach in their afterschool programs helping with homework and other lessons.

Another organization I chose is Caddo Community Action Agency, Inc. and its mission is to stimulate a better focusing of all available local, state, private, and federal resources upon the goal of enabling the poor, the low-income families, and low-income individuals, in rural and urban areas of Caddo Parish, to attain skills, knowledge, and motivations to secure the opportunities needed to achieve self-sufficiency. The agency offers programs for Head Start children, parental involvement and fatherhood initiative. “The mission of CCAA Head Start Parent Involvement is to create and sustain a partnership and collaboration with all parents, encouraging them to participate in all aspect of our program” (www.ccaa.org). The agency has helped so many children and families over the last 50 years. The program is getting children prepared for Kindergarten by helping them academically and assisting families in the community with programs that will help them be able to provide for their family long term. The Head Start program has highly qualified teachers, teacher assistants, and other staff. This is the agency I work for but I would love to work in another area of the program with children with disabilities and mental health.  

The last organization I chose was Childcare Association of Louisiana which educate, advocate and collaborate for the well-being of children. The vision is to provide high quality Early Childhood Education so that all children grow up to be thriving adults. All three organizations are focused on the well-being of children. I teach because I love children and I strive to be better daily to make an impact on their lives. I encourage children to be the best they can be, we do not know their situation at home but while they are at school I give my all to them. They are the future and it’s a wonderful feeling to know I am teaching future doctors, lawyers, nurses and teachers as well as other occupations.

 

 

 

References

Retrieved from: http://www.ccaa.org

Retrieved from: http://www.childcarelouisiana.org

Retrieved from: http://www.salvationarmyalm.org   

 

 

Final Blog

I would like to personally thank everyone in my group and the rest of the class and Dr. Williams for sharing so much knowledge with me as well as others over the last 8 weeks. This hasn't been an easy journey but I can say I made it through another course and I'm thankful. I have read blogs, discussions and comments in which I've learned a great deal from all of them including the well thought out feedback. I want to wish everyone Good Luck on your journey to your Masters.

Monica Owens-Davis
monica.owens-davis@waldenu.edu

Adjourning

When I think of the 5 stages of team development I can most definitely relate to all o them. The adjourning phase is the last phase in which group members discuss things they have accomplished, things that didn't go right, some things they could have done differently while in the group. When I think of groups I've been apart of I can say that most of my experience with the adjourning phase was mostly we discussed things that resulted in a great outcome and when we come together again for the next project how we can make things go smoother as it relates to working together. In some groups I've been in such as groups at school or work related groups I have kept in contact with some of those people who I worked well with; we decided to exchange numbers for future references. Another positive outcome was once our project was done I have had a few groups to have a final celebration/luncheon. I felt appreciated and that my input in those groups were needed and it made me feel like I mattered and was apart of a group who made things happen. A closing ritual we used was prayer. I'm from the south and we do a lot of praying, not saying other people from other places don't. I feel that adjourning is an essential stage of teamwork because it's a great time to express things that happened while preparing for a project such as goals of the group, accomplishments of the group and failures. It also let the group know who all provided valuable input and how could things have been different and what can be done the next time they all work together.

Conflict/Disagreements

          I've had many disagreements and conflicts with co-workers, family members, and in personal relationships in my life. The most recent conflict I've had is with a co-worker who I've worked with for quite sometime now and she asked someone else something about something I was doing in the classroom. I was at a loss for words because we work together daily and I couldn't understand why she would ask them and not me because we work together. My first thought was to just go off and be real ugly about it since she showed me no consideration when she went to someone else. I ended up taking the high road, first I prayed that the Lord help me hold my tongue so I wouldn't say anything too harsh that could lead to a physical altercation. I did confront her about it all in which she denied and I wasn't surprised one bit, so I talked and let her know that we work together if she need to know anything to ask me and no one else. I also made it my business to let her know we need to respect one another and have to reciprocate that respect. It can't be one of us respect the other while the other doesn't respect the other person. We have to work together as a team and if not someone has to go elsewhere. Needless to say that issue has been resolved and things are going smoothly. The strategies I used was to first talk to the co-worker and the other strategy was to offer suggestions on what she need to know that's going on in the classroom ways we could work together better so that type of conflict wouldn't come up again between the two of us.