Time Well Spent

Dear Dr. Myers and fellow Walden Classmates:

These last 8 weeks have been extremely amazing and wonderful to work with such a diverse group of people with the same goal in mind. I have no doubt that we will all leave a remarkable impact on the field of early childhood education in unique ways. It is my greatest wish to work with each of you one day to make a great impact on the lives of children and families all across the world.

As I move closer to the completion of this course, I am reminded of the following quotes to make it to the end or to continue to push myself. I have listed the quotes below:

• "Children are the living messages that we send to a time we will not see."(John Whitehead, founder of Rutherford Institute)
• "The price of greatness is responsibility." (Sir Winston Churchill)
• "Be the change that you want to see in the world." (Mohandas Ghandi)

Each of these quotes move beyond the field of education but can definitely relate to what we (parents, teachers, advocates, etc) need to strive for and make the years of early childhood benefit all children.

This course has left 3 deeply felt learnings that I have gathered from this course include: being passionate, create the right team, and continue to make changes. First lesson learned was being passionate was taught to me by searching for a topic that I felt needed addressing in the field of early childhood (this because the foundation for my major assessment). The second lesson learned to create the right team or people from diverse background to add something meaningful to the goal. The final deeply felt learning that gained from this course is to never be afraid to make revisions to plans. Revisions doesn't mean failure but simply changing a component to take a step closer to reaching the goal.

I am now more convinced after completing this course and this program, that I will meet my long term goal of establishing a resource centers for children and families. I want to use all of my resources that I have gathered along the way through the wonderful contacts of professors and classmates to make this dream a reality with hopes of working with many of my classmate in the near future.

Best wishes on your many endeavours and pray that our paths meet in the near future.

Sincerely,

TaShunda Pollard-Chapman


 <a href="http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/5458752/My_Future"
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Jobs/Roles in ECE Community: International Level

This week I am looking at jobs with organizations in the early childhood field from an international perspective. In this blog, I will share the organizations that I find interesting, current positions with the organizations and reasons why each of them was chosen.

1. Organization: International Youth Foundation
     Website: http://iyfnet.org
     Position: Program Manager-Employability (MENA Region)
     Requirements: Masters of Education with experience in working with youth, ability to travel,
         excellent computer skills with Microsoft products.
     Significance: I chose this organization because it works with children and trains them with job
     skills that they can use in the future. It is important to me because it gives youth skills to earn
      money the right way and builds confidence while learning a trade.

2.  Organization: Plan International USA
      Website: http://www.planusa.org
       Position: Program Associate/Health
       Requirements: Good communication, in depth knowledge of spread sheets, power point
         presentations, word processing and experience in Spanish.
      Significance: I chose this organization because it focuses on developing health programs around
         the world which is very important because there are limited resources in many parts of the
         world for children and families. This is a dream job for me because it will provide the
         opportunity to travel to remote parts of the world to help communities establish and learn about
         good health.

3.  Organization: World Food Programme
     Website: http://www.wfp.org
      Position: Junior Professional Officer
      Requirements: none were listed only an application
      Significance: I chose this organization because it focuses on creating food programs around the
         world for children and families because poverty and lack of food are common in many parts of
         the world.

Each organization that was chosen taps into an interests of mine: working with youth, promoting good health and working on eliminating poverty which are all common issues that families with children face daily.  I believe that each of these positions would ideally be a dream job because it would allow me to travel and network with individuals in the field on an international level.

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

The purpose of this blog is to address about 3 national or federal organizations or communities of practices that appeal to me and I chose them:

1. DECAL- Bright from the Star
Website: http://www.decal.ga.gov
Position: Program Evaluator/Standards Coordinator
 Qualifications: Bachelors degree in Early Childhood education or related field plus 4 years of
experience that included both classroom instruction and curriculum and standards administration; or a Master's degree in Early Childhood or related field plus 2 years experience that included both classroom instruction and curriculum and standards administration.
 Reasons for Picking Agency: This is a great resource for the state of Georgia that provides teacher   professional development and provides a place for child care employers to list jobs statewide. I have plans to relocate to the Georgia area and keep this as a resource to find other jobs in the area as well as professional development opportunities. The job was interesting to me because it gave a chance to observe and make sure that each program is following the standards and providing a quality early childhood education for all the kids in the program.

2. National Education Association
 Website: http://www.nea.org
 Position: Director of Minority Community Organizing and Partnerships #H008
 Qualifications: Bachelors degree required. Demonstrated record of effective coalition and          advocacy. Proven ability to measure and evaluate the success of outreach efforts. Effective skills
in supervision, decision-making oral/written communications, interpersonal relations, team
 building and collaboration.
Reasons for Picking Agency:  I decided to pick this agency because it was one that I never heard of before and found it interesting because it targeted not only early childhood programs but the entire education system. The job was interesting me because it dealt with forming a committee with the community to provide a better education for all children.

3. Zero-To-Three (National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families
Website: http://www.zerotothree.org
 Positions: none currently available
 Qualifications: Bachelors or Masters degree in Early Childhood as well as experience with
 children and families.
Reasons for Picking Agency: I decided to pick this agency because it worked with children from birth to three year old and their families to make sure that the families know what to expect so that their child can receive the highest quality education.

Resources

DECAL (2012). Retrieved from http://www.decal.ga.gov

National Education Association (2012). Retrieved from http://www.nea.org

Zero-To-Three (2012). Retrieved from http://www.zerotothree.org

Exploring Roles in ECE Community: Local and State Levels

I decided to look at the ECE community in state of Georgia because it is my hope in the next few months to relocate my family to this area. Georgia has a huge early childhood education community but the organizations that i decided to focus on are:

A. Georgia Association of Young Children
Website: http://www.gayconline.org
 Mission: To encourage and support healthy development in young children by working with others
(1) increase public awareness of the importance of early childhood education and (2) to improve the quality of programs for young children through learning opportunities for early childhood educators (Georgia Association of Young Children, 2012).

The reason that I chose this organization because it works to increase community awareness of the benefits of early childhood education programs while striving to improve the overall quality of early childhood programs.

Job Opportunities that interest me:
- Trainer Position for Georgia Association of Young Children is a job opportunity to interests me greatly because it allows me to use the skills learned while working towards this degree. The skills needed for this position include knowledge of the early childhood field, experience in the classroom setting, great communication skills, organizations skills and the ability to travel for various training settings.

B. Georgia Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agency
 Website: http://www.gaccrra.org 
  Mission: Support all Georgia families, caregivers and communities in a unified effort to provide,
  promote and receive high quality childcare for all children in Georgia to reach their full potential,
  being ready to succeed in school and life (Georgia Association of Child Care Resource & Referral
   Agency, 2012).

The reason that I chose this organization is because it works with numerous organizations that benefit children including the Department of Children and Family Services as well as monitor programs throughout the state of Georgia. It provides referral services to parents so that they can make the right decisions on early childhood education for their children. It also pushes the centers to stay in compliance and strive for higher quality service pushing success rates of the children.

Job Opportunities that interests me:
-Early Care and Education Specialist for Georgia Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agency is the job opportunity for this agency that really interests me. The skills needed for this position include a degree in Early Childhood Education, a license Training of Adults, knowledge of state regulations regarding early childhood programs and great communication skills.

C. Bright From The Start
  Website: http://decalga.gov
  Mission: Delivers exemplary early childcare education programs that improve the quality of early
   learning experiences, increase school readiness and improve overall school performance
   (Bright From The Start, 2012).

The reason that I chose this agency because it houses a few agencies under it such as Head Start and Even Start. It also provides opportunities for teachers working all age groups and lists employment opportunities for centers throughout the state.

Job Opportunities that interests me:
-Lead Teacher- listings for the following counties: Henry, Newton, McDuffie and Rockdale in Georgia. The major requirements to work in these positions include a degree in the ECE field with at least 6-12 months in the classroom setting.

Other opportunities listed on the agency website include: Teacher Assistant positions for DeKalb (3 positions), Cobb and Rockdale counties that require either a CDA or TCC certificate.

References

Bright from the Start (2012). Retrieved from http://www.decalga.gov

Georgia Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (2012). Retrieved from http://www.gaccrra.org

Georgia Association of Young Children (2012). Retrieved from http://www.gayconline.org