My few last words.....

     There are so many areas of learning that have intrigued me over these past two years, how do I narrow down to three? One subject that made a deep impression on me was activism. To be an advocate for improvement to the early childhood field is an option that had never occurred to me until I studied it with my classmates at Walden, and will always be a possible avenue to pursue. I don't imagine ever retiring, so when I am physically unable to keep up with the kids, or if a specific issue becomes urgent, I will attempt to make a difference through writing policy. Current research and policies will be on my radar when considering politicians worthiness.
     Secondly,  I hold a deep appreciation for researchers and the difficulties in studying this field. Little brains are so hard to tap into, but the importance of understanding what is going on in those minds is extremely important. To then add in the many challenges young children are facing today that are still unanswered puzzles, the work they do seems insurmountable. Thanks to my Walden education, I can learn about the latest research being conducted and determine for myself it is valid and whether I agree with it or not.
   Thirdly, a specific topic that hit me was the study of biases and prejudice. I was shocked and a bit embarrassed to learn that I was guilty of many micro aggression comments and/or invalidations. This is an area that I will actively be aware of forever. I will be conscious of my words and actions, and teach others this awareness, the importance of it, and how to stop committing micro aggressions, micro invalidations, and micro insults.
     My long term goal is to become well known in this field as an agent of change. I want parents and educators to look toward my methods for guidance, and recognize the benefits of working cooperatively with each other for the good of mankind. I want competition to be recognized as important, but not to the point of creating hate.

SO.... no goodbyes here, just so-long-for-nows!! Thank you to all my colleagues for your support and encouragement, your inspiration and for providing me with different lenses to see my career field. I especially need to thank the fantastic professors and the ease of the Walden system to get this old technology challenged lady through the program.

     I hope to follow my colleagues through their blogs...I will try to keep mine up to date and hope some of you will, also!

Doing my favorite thing :)

How I feel about every day

The word I hope to spread

 MY EMAIL IS RENEEBADAY@GMAIL.COM. I welcome any and all shared contacts!

Please look for each other at graduation and don't hesitate to come up to me if you recognize me!!

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS THAT ARE MAKING A POSITIVE IMPACT ON CHILDREN

     United Way Worldwide's mission is to improve lives by mobilizing caring power of communities around the world to advance common good. I was attracted to the fact that they utilize the power of communities. I liked their method of focusing on education, income, and health as the building blocks of a good quality life (United Way Worldwide, n.d.) 

     Director of United for Children is a position open in Norfolk, Va, so it would not take much to relocate there. The position involves integrating individuals, families, neighborhoods, and schools to break the cycle of poverty. Only a bachelor's degree is necessary, but a large amount of community organizing and data collection in involved, requiring past experience.

     The Global Partnership for Education attempts to ensure that children still get an education despite disruptions to their lives. They support developing countries. . . prioritizing the poorest, most vulnerable, and those living in fragile, conflict affected countries (Global Partnership, n.d.). I find this important because these children are already so traumatized we need to help them get on track with their education.

     They post a job opportunity for Knowledge Management Consultant that I found interesting. It is a position that involves data collection, advising on the assessment process and instruments others chose, help compile and analyze the data, and write the findings. A Master's degree plus 5 years work experience would be necessary before I could adequately do this job, but I was intrigued by interview processes in early childhood when taking the research class. This is a job, because it is temporary to last the length of the assessment, that I would like to try.

  

     Education Above All believes every child should live have the opportunity to learn through a quality primary education. It was created by Sheikha Moza bint Nasser of Qatar.  Their aim is to reduce the number of children who are missing out on their right to an education.

     I would like to be a Senior Education Specialist with this organization because it involves working to develop innovative evidenced-based family related programes and activities by developing training workshops for local NGOs in order to enhance and strengthen efforts to better understand family relationships (Educate a Child, n.d). 

References

Educate a Child. (n.d.) Senior Education Specialist, Retrieved from:

  

     http://educateachild.org/about/our-people/leena-al-derham

Global Partnership. (n.d.) Retrieved from: http://www.globalpartnership.org/

United Way Worldwide. (n.d.). Our Impact. Retrieved from: https://www.unitedway.org/

EXPLORING ROLES IN THE EARLY CHILDHOOD FIELD AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL

     ZerotoThree is an organization I actually follow on a consistent basis to look for job opportunities. Their mission is to provide parents, professionals and policymakers the knowledge and know-how to nurture early development and to ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life (Zero to Three, n.d.)
      I live in Northern Virginia, so their headquarters are easily accessible to me, and I have a huge respect for this organization. I frequently refer parents to their website for advice or to back up information I have told them. The wealth of current information on their website is impressive, and I would love to work for this organization.
     The current job opportunities listed as of today provide opportunities in different offices they have around the country, with varying requirements and job descriptions. If I could take any job to get my foot in the door, I would do that. A minimum requirement for all of them is early childhood experience, and strong communication skills.
This is an organization I came across while researching for my capstone project. Their mission is to improve the lives of children, youth, and older people through intergenerational collaboration, public policies, and programs for the enduring benefit of all (Generations United, n.d.), which aligns perfectly with my vision. They have been in existence for 30 years, and were awarded the Best Intergenerational Communities Award for 2016. Their website lists many projects and policies they have improved or are working on toward the accessing of untapped assets within these segments of the population.

I was excited to find there is an intern opportunity for the summer of 2016. My current job works with the county school schedule, so I will be off for the summer and can actually apply for this. The job skills listed as necessary are proficiency in Microsoft Word and Excel, effective communication skills, research and analytical skills(with oversight) and a passion and commitment to issues affecting children, youth and older adults.

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Intergenerational Center creates opportunities for all people to contribute through their stages of life in daily multi generational activities, which helps to build a society that values people of all ages and abilities (Easter Seals, n.d.). With all the searching and research I have been doing, I am so surprised this has never come up before.
     This organization, in addition to operating a care facility, provides training sessions for:

1. Adult and Senior Day Services
2. Inclusive Early Childhood Education and Child Development
3. Home and Community Services
4. Assistive Technology
5. Inter-generational Shared Site Programming
6. Family & Corporate Caregiver Issues

The organization has openings for lead teachers at this facility. I am highly qualified, as I have been a lead teacher for 7 years. I would be interested in working at this center to see how the daily operation of interactions among the attendees works and what doesn't work.

References:

Easter Seals. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.easterseals.com/DCMDVA/our-programs/intergenerational-programs/

Generations United. (n.d.). Retrieved from: http://www.gu.org/ABOUTUS/OurMission.aspx
http://www.zerotothree.org/

Zero to Three. (n.d.). Retrieved from: http://www.zerotothree.org/?referrer=https://www.google.com/

Exploring Roles in the Early Childhood Community at Local and State levels

An organization I have been following for years and have been recommending to parents is the Dr. Yum Project. The mission of this group is to transform the lives of families and communities by provide an understanding of the connection between foods and overall health, as well as empowering them with the tools to live a healthy life.

It all started with a pediatrician in our local office who was concerned with the obesity rates. She started a website with recipes that were created and tested by children, and has now grown into a physical kitchen where classes are taught to children, gardens are grown and cared for by children, and nutrition information is exchanged with families and each other. By involving the children in their own choices, there is a better rate of success trying and enjoying new healthy foods and an awareness of how to make proper choices to live a healthy life.

This organization's mission is to champion for public policies that will improve the lives of Virginia's children. They combine statistics and indicators of children's well being with current research to determine unmet needs and threats to children's health and safety, then recommend policy solutions to policy makers and educate community leaders and concerned citizens to support these solutions.
I find this organization to be well organized, factual, and strong advocates for young children and their families. Their accomplishments include reestablishing funding for home care visits, increased funding for early intervention of children with developmental delays, safety improvements to early child care system, and increasing attendance for pre-k in lower income families.
The Rappahannock Area Community Services Board is formed to improve the quality of life for people in the district that suffer from mental illness, intellectual disability, and substance abuse through responsive care to individual needs. I have been involved with this organization for the past 3 years, and would look to be an area of service for their attendees.

The first two organizations are strictly volunteer, but the last, the RACSB, offers job opportunities as care givers in the residences, and as house managers. I was interested in either of these positions as a second job, but my primary job did not allow the scheduling to work; I have been involved as a volunteer on and off for 3 years and find the interaction among different abilities to be helpful social skill builders.

My Wordle :)

I am thankful for the opportunity to learn together with others that share my passion

     Studying for my Master's Degree has been a journey requiring a great deal of effort that I didn't know I could put out. Each week I surprise myself with what I think about, learn, and complete. Having colleagues to communicate with makes a huge difference in the relatability of the course content, and I appreciate all the differing insights I am privileged to be exposed to.
     I am more than half way finished, and am at the same time looking forward to and dreading the end of this experience. At this time I would like to thank Professor Hampshire for her patience, encouragement, and critiques to help my development.

Adjourning

     In thinking about the adjourning phase of group collaboration, whether it is difficult to disband or not varies with the importance of the goal. If the goal of the group's efforts were to get medication for a child which was not yet FDA approved, and they were successful, adjourning would be happy, sad, and satisfying at the same time. If the group's purpose was to write new policies and procedures for an organization, the members may become close during performing stage, but not as close as those participating in an emotional risk.
     A life saving drug was not available to a boy from Fredericksburg because it had not been properly tested by the FDA. A group of us got together to sensationalize the issue and promote the urgency of this little boy's plight to people outside our local area. Josh Hardy received approval for the medicine on March 14, 2014. He still has a long way to recovery, but without the efforts of our group and many others, he would not be here. It was bitter sweet to break up the group of people who worked passionately together. We all had opened up with our individual emotional burdens, and formed a strong network which can be called upon for future missions.
     I don't believe I will feel any emptiness when adjourning from my Walden classmates. I don't feel I made the connections I make with people I work with in person.
     Adjourning is an essential stage of teamwork because it ensures completion. Review of the success or failure of the efforts made by the team are a valuable learning experience.