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.

Evaluation

  When I thought of how I communicate all I could think of is I speak so that others can understand me and if not I do what's needed so that people get a clear understanding of  what I'm talking about. In every speaking engagement or conversation I've had so far in my life, I give eye contact, I do make some facial expressions which aren't bad like they use to be. I just breathe and go with the flow. I want to have the audience remember some of the things I've said to them. I also want to be a good listener as well in which I am; it took some practice for me to stop wanting to always jump in the conversation while the other person is speaking instead of being a great listening ear. When I'm speaking I often doubt myself because I may think I didn't engage the crowd enough but others will always tell me how great I was and how they love listening to me speak. Others think I'm a skilled professional at speeches or just talking period whereas I don't think I'm that great. I can say that others especially people who don't know us seem to be better at evaluating us.

Blog

When I think about how I communicate with different people based on their culture, race, religion, sexual orientation, and so on I can honestly say that I do communicate differently. The reason why I communicate differently is because some people whose children I teach sometimes don't understand some words I use so I have to talk on their level and make things as simple as possible. I also have co-workers who don't quite understand and they will say what does that mean, I live in the city and most of my co-workers live in a rural/country town. Since I know the things I say they don't understand I explain to them what they mean and now I use words that are direct yet simple. It doesn't matter to me about someone's religion, sexual orientation, background, culture or any of these things because I just communicate with people how I want them to communicate with me. I talk with respect and never raise my voice unless I'm provoked; but that doesn't happen. I make it a point to make sure people I'm communicating with understand whatever it is I'm talking about. I don't ever want someone to leave me standing alone because I'm talking over their head. This week we discussed the golden rule, the rule is simple do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Treat people how you want them to treat you is a must for me and has always been.

Television Show With No Sound

          The show I chose to watch was called "Mama June From Not to Hot, " in the show they showed a before picture of her and then a after picture. Two girls came in a room where she was then a man came over. Once the man came over he started looking at a dvd player taking it apart with a puzzled look on his face and picked it up and down. The girls and Mama June started laughing and so did the man. He hugged her and she had the biggest smile on her face, she twirled around as if she was showing off her outfit to them. The younger girl rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers at then. Another lady came over and they left and went to a doctor office, Mama June with a frown on her face pulled her shirt up and started pulling on her stomach which was hanging then she felt some plastic breast implants. The doctor looked concerned and kept touching the extra skin. The doctor handed her two plastic breast shaped bags. She put them in her shirt and her breast seemed to be larger, she smiled, laughed and played with them. The lady who went with her was pointing, looking sad, angry and not too friendly while talking to Mama June. They picked the two girls up. When they got to a ice cream shop this man in line kept looking at her breast, his eyes got big and never looked away. He threw his finger up to motion for the cashier then while they sat eating ice cream the older girl wrote something on a piece of paper and gave it to him. The ladies and girls sat tolling their eyes, touching June's hair and face. The older lady who went to the doctor with her touched the plastic things in her bra. she smiled and laughed while patting her friends back. The man smiled with a big grin on his face. He waved at them as they left, the next day she met him somewhere and he kept looking at her chest which was flat because she had taken the implants plastic things off. Her eyes started rolling as she talked to the man, she stood up placed her hands on her hip; hit the table and started walking away and threw a finger sign to the man. She looked angry while walking away.
          I re-watched the show with the sound on and Mama June had gastric bypass surgery. She went to the doctor to talk about removing the extra skin she has and that's why she pulled on the skin. Her friend kept asking was she sure about that. When they all went to eat ice cream the man waved at the cashier so he could pay for everyone's ice cream, he stared at her breast constantly, his eyes got big while looking. Her daughter took her number to the man so they could go out on a date. The next day when they went out the man asked her why did she look different and it seems like she lost weight on top since yesterday. Mama June stood up and told him it's men like him that make women go out and get surgery because they don't feel good about their bodies and want to look better. She hit the table, cursed while she was walking away and threw a finger sign at him.
          We all make some type of facial expressions while we communicate. I know I make al sorts o faces, although I try really hard not to, it still happens. This family hugged, smiled and laughed a lot because they genuinely love each other. Their non-verbal communication told me most of what was going on with them. Most of my assumptions  were correct. My aha moment was when she became angry on the date and when I watched it with sound I saw why she was so angry. I mean she was angry enough to hit the table and point finger sign at the man. This was a very interesting assignment this week that I really enjoyed doing.