Cari's Journey Comes to an End

The idea that this program is complete is shocking and feels a bit surreal.  I have sacrificed time with my family, friends and many many hours of sleep.  My perspective has been changed and my passion has been ignited.  For this last assignment, we have been required to identify three major things that we have learned so here they are:

1- Diversity is a strength for any group.  This realization was perspective changing for me and I will hold on to it for my whole life.  I used to think that diversity might mean only conflict but now I can see that differing perspectives can be an asset and can make a group stronger.

2 - Anything that requires a sacrifice will be worth it in the end.  Whether it is earning a master's degree, losing weight or hiking a mountain, all are rewarding but all require sacrifice.  Actually, I would venture to say that the most rewarding things in life come as a result of a sacrifice made by someone.

3 - SET THE BAR HIGH.
As a preschool teacher, I am constantly raising the bar for my students.  I want them to continuously grow and achieve new accomplishments.  As soon as they master something, I raise the bar.  We need to do the same thing for ourselves as adults.  We need to never be satisfied with what we know or have already mastered because there are always more things to learn.  If we do not set the bar high for ourselves, we will not grow in our understanding.  I hope to be a life-long learner.  I hope that each and every opportunity that arises before me will result in me expanding my knowledge in some way.

A Goal For the Future

The only goal I feel I can share is that I hope to always follow my passion.  I want to work in an area where my passion lies.  I want to be excited everyday when I wake up to go to work because I know I will make a difference and I am passionate about my job.  I do not know where my next place of employment will be or when I will change jobs, but I know that when I do change jobs, it will be because I find something that I love to do.  

My Colleagues

To those of you who have gone through this process with me.  We did it.  It has been rewarding, challenging, at times frustrating and exhausting.  We have all made sacrifices and gone through difficult times but we made it.  We now have the tools to go from here and to make a real difference in the field of early childhood.  

I hope you are proud of yourselves!!

It has been quite a journey and now that it is coming to an end, a new journey begins.

Good luck to you all and remember:  

Stay focused on your passion and your job won't feel like work! :)

Capstone - Week 6 - International Agencies

This week we are charged with finding three international early childhood agencies that interest us.  Then we need to explain why they interest us and list at least one job opening in one of the agencies.

The first international early childhood agency that I found interesting is the World Bank Group because their mission is to work to reduce poverty.  Poverty effects so many children around the world and it is such an important topic for the field of early childhood.  The website is:

http://www.worldbank.org/

The second international agency that interests me is the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI).  They state their mission as follows:

"Our mission is to promote and support the optimal education, 

development, and well-being of children worldwide, 

and to influence the professional growth of educators 

and the efforts of others who are committed to the needs of children

 in a changing society. We have consultative status with the United Nations."


This is a mission I can support fully.  Their website is:

http://acei.org/ 

The last agency I found interesting is called Learn 4 Good.  It is an international job finding website for early childhood.  The link is:  http://www.learn4good.com/jobs/e/98136/employer/search/  

There are many jobs listed at that last site but I am more interested in local openings.

There actually is a director position open in a small town near my hometown.  The only requirement I do not meet is a minimum two year requirement for supervising people.  Officially (meaning a paid position), I have not supervised anyone.  This is the only area where I am not qualified for the position.  I still think I would apply if the timing was right.  The link for the position is: http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/JobDetails.aspx?Job_DID=JHS80M6ZHWR05TYVSWZ&siteid=CBSIMPLYHIRED&showNewJDP=yes&ipath=EXGOO

Capstone - Week 4

If I were going to choose any three national or federal early childhood organization to work for, I would choose the following:

1- The Center for the Childcare Workforce

 http://www.ccw.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=41

The reason I would like to work for them is because I have a desire to change the field of early childhood for the better, not just one child at a time.  Right now I am a preschool teacher (which I love) but I know I do not want to be a teacher for ever.  There is much that could be improved in the field and I would love to be a part of that (especially the wage issue).

2- The second national agency I would love to work for would be NAEYC (The National Association for the Education of Young Children).  The reasons are self-explanatory because of who NAEYC is and who they have been for the early childhood field I appreciate them.

http://www.naeyc.org/

3- The third agency I would like to work for would be the Association for Early Learning Leaders.  Their focus is to promote and support leadership qualities in early childhood and in turn, they support high quality programs.

http://www.naccp.org/

If I were going to picture the ideal job for me in the field of early childhood, it would be related to advocating for the teachers in the field.  I also would love to be the person who comes in to help motivate teachers or better yet, administrators who need encouragement and focus.  We all know that people do not get into this field for the money. We all want to make a difference for a child or for a family.  Based on what I have been learning, it seems like people in the field who are unhappy and complaining about the money, have lost their passion and focus.  I would love to help people regain their passion because I feel like the best way to improve the quality of early childhood everywhere would be to have professionals in the field who are devoted and focused on high quality interactions, education and relationships with children and families.  

In order to have a job like this, I believe I would be qualified now.  The thing I lack is a history of speaking on topics related to the field of early childhood.  Most of the public speaking experience that I have had is related to motherhood not early childhood education.  That being said, I believe I would be able to speak on any topic, I would just need to prepare.

Another job I would be interested in would be a behavioral interventionist.  Or at least I think that is what they are called.  The job description I am thinking of would be someone who comes into the classroom to help with a behavioral issue of either an entire class, or a specific class.  I know where I teach now, some of the teachers, who did not have any kind of behavior modification training or classes, have a difficult time with class management.  Simple techniques would really help them with behavioral issues that could change the environment of their entire classroom.  I may be qualified for this job now but I would have to learn some techniques for observing and for documenting.  I actually have the opportunity to do something like this in a classroom next to mine so I will be able to see if I like it or not.  If I do, I will either need training, or maybe just research.  I am truly a behaviorist at heart so I am looking forward to my future.

Week 2 Capstone

Communities of Practice that appeal to me:

1- Torrington Early Childhood Collaborative - http://discovery.wcgmf.org/partners/communities/torrington

I chose this group because they are in my area and their mission is something I can identify with.

2- Connecticut State Department of Education - http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/site/default.asp

State Dept of Education seems self explanatory

3- Connecticut Early Childhood Alliance - http://www.earlychildhoodalliance.com/

One of the best parts about living in a small state is that each of these organizations is close enough for me to visit and hopefully small enough to call and interview someone.

Job Opportunities that are Available:

Most of the job opportunities that are posted on normal job searching websites are for early childhood teaching positions.  I am qualified for basically all of them.  The problem is, the job I want is probably not even listed and if it is, I do not know where to look because I don't know what I want.  Right now I know I want to be a part of the positive change in early childhood in my state.  This week I will be attending a forum that is related to my capstone project and I am so excited because I would like to meet some of the people who do what I think I want to do.  Right now I am qualified to be a head teacher (as I am a co-teacher for head start right now) but I do not think I want to teach anymore.  Time will tell!

Here we go!!

We are finally there.  The last eight week class before we graduate.  I hope you all are looking forward to it as much as I am.  Here we go!

Week 8 of Communication and Collaboration

I do not think I am alone when I say this class has been very eye opening for me.  I have learned so much about my own communication skills (or lack there of), the communication skills of those around me and the purposes of collaboration.  I feel so fortunate to have been able to take this class and I believe I will review the resources regularly as I continue on through my career.  Thank you to my colleagues for reading my discussion posts and my blog and for sharing your insights and experiences!

I appreciate you!!

I hope to see many of you in my next class but for those of you who are moving on to a different journey than mine, good luck and I hope you do well!  We are the future of this field and I am proud to share that responsibility with many of you!  See you soon!

Adjourning Week - 6

This week we have learned about being a part of a group and the 5 different stages that are involved in a group's development.  The last stage is the adjourning stage when a group's members dissipate and move on to the next group or project.  Right now I am about to leave the group of women I have worked with for the past two years.  An opportunity has surfaced for me to change jobs and I am going to take it!  I have enjoyed working where I have been but it also has been difficult at times and I am actually looking forward to leaving even though I love the women themselves.

Since we have been learning about groups this week, I have been thinking about the many groups I have been a part of.  I have played sports, worked for restaurants, had roommates in college, lived in a close knit family and now I have my own family who is my primary group.  The hardest group I ever had to leave was the family I grew up in.  My senior year of high school my older sisters both moved to Virginia and my younger sister and mom moved to Florida.  Saying goodbye was very difficult, not because I would never see them again, but because things would never be the same again.  This is not a bad thing all the time, but it can be hard.

I suppose that as we adjourn, we become enabled to learn from a new experience rather than staying in the same group.  I guess we may be able to say that it is our moving on, that helps us grow.

Conflict Resolution Wk 5

     This week was all about conflict and conflict resolution.  We were challenged to examine a conflict we have had at work or personally and to see if we would handle it differently now that we know what we know.  I think for me the answer is "YES!!"  I am currently involved in a long-term conflict with a family member and knowing what I do now, I definitely would have handled things differently if I could do it over again.
     Unfortunately, I am afraid the damage has been done and the relationship involved may be forever damaged.  If I could do it all over again, I would focus on common goals and needs and I would stop the conversation if communication turned to insults.  Unfortunately, many insults were made and many feelings were hurt and now, I do not even know if the work to fix the relationship would be worth the shadow of a relationship we used to have.  Maybe it is possible.  I believe it would take a miracle to heal the damage that has been done.

Evaluation Results WK 4

This week, I filled out three questionnaires about my personal communication style.  After I completed them, I asked my husband and my friend who is also a colleague to fill out the same questionnaires about me.  The results that I got were basically the same as my friend and husband.  What surprised me the most was that my husband actually got the exact same results as I did.  My friend got slightly different numbers but the same result as me.
What I realized as a result of this week was that I need to be careful to not trust too easily even though I think trust is very important for relationships.  I also learned that I apparently am able to identify my own communication abilities which I was not sure if I could do.  I really wanted my husband to fill out the surveys because I know he knows me best and to see that not only did we get the same group results but we actually got the exact same number as results, speaks to my one self-concept.  This was an interesting week.  Can't wait to see what comes next!

Communicating Across Cultures WK 3

     It is amazing how much my own concept of culture has changed over the course of getting my master's degree thus far.  I used to have the understanding of culture as being this general definition of who we are based on where we live or where our parents maybe lived.  What I see now is that culture is far deeper than just where you grew up or where your parents are from.  As we communicate with anyone who is not in our immediate family, we are communicating cross-culturally.  Today, I went to a family barbecue, held by my neighbors whom I had never spent any time with.  In my family we have family get-togethers that are normal for us.  This gathering was very different than the type of gathering I am used to.  We live literally five houses away from this family and our cultures are very different.
     What I have noticed is that the common bond that seems to form an instant foundation for communicating across cultures is kids.  When you ask about someone's child, and are truly interested in him/her the adult you are talking to will usually offer information and seem pleased to talk about their child with you.  Another thing I have learned is that people do not like to hear about your children when they do not ask.  I have watched people offer advice to people who have not asked for it and it seems not well received.
     Our assignment this week is to share how we speak to other culture differently and I guess my answer is, yes, I speak carefully.  I certainly do not talk about sensitive matters like religion or politics.  I simply stick with things like weather and kids.  We all have those two things in common it seems.  I am still learning but I will continue to practice and neighborhood parties that are out of my comfort zone might just be one of the best ways to learn.

Non-Verbal Communication (Week 2)

     For this week's assignment we were instructed to watch a television show that we were not familiar with while the volume was turned down to see what we could learn about the show, based on the non-verbal communication taking place.  I chose a show I had never watched called "Psych".  From what I could gather without the volume, this show is about a man, possibly a police officer, and his partner (I am assuming) and I think they were trying to solve a crime.  The two men were working with police officers who looked and acted more like police officers but they did not always look happy with the two men.  I got the feeling that they were tolerant of the men, but they did not necessarily enjoy their presence.  At one point in this episode, one of the men's parents were involved (I assume they were his parents based on the greeting they gave each other).  This show moved quickly from scene to scene and was not very entertaining to watch without the volume up.
     About halfway through the show, I turned the volume up and it seemed like I was basically right about most of my assumptions.  There was a lot of dialogue during the second half of the show and even though they did not introduce themselves, I am pretty sure most of my assumptions were correct.  I do believe that there are shows that O watch on a regular basis that I could probably know what is happening with no volume, based on the watching the characters.  I think being familiar with a person makes that person's body language familiar so much so that you do not need to hear what they are saying.
     A good example of this is how familiar I am with my own children's body language.  I can tell from across a playground, without hearing a word, if they are having a problem with each other or with another kid, just by their body language.  At the same time, I can know if they have made a friend or are tired or bored.  They are my kids and I make it my job to know what they want, even when they may not know it yet.
    I think what this assignment has taught me is that the non-verbal messages we send are equally important, in regards to communication, as the verbal messages.  Actually, I was having a conversation today with someone while I was trying to watch my kids at a pool and I was so aware that I was not giving my full attention to the conversation that I actually felt bad.  I would have never even thought of it had it not been for this class.  I would have considered it multitasking, not as being rude!  I am amazed at how my perception has changed in only two weeks.  I can't wait to see where I am six more from now.  I can't wait to see where we all are!!

Blog post - week 1 Communication and Collaboration

     Well, if I were going to choose someone who demonstrates competent communication in the context of family issues, it would be my basically "adopted mother" Donna.  We call her "Mom", "Auntie Donna" and sometimes "Mimi".  When I was in college, I would come home for breaks and vacations to Auntie Donna's house to live since my family moved away to another state and so she was like my adopted mom.  What was different about her kind of communication was that it was the first experience I had with unconditional love and acceptance and this influenced the kind of communication we had.  I will always remember having an argument with her and I must have looked terrified because as we were hashing things out, she looked at me and said, "Cari, I need you to know that even though we are having a fight, I still love you."  This was a very powerful statement for me at this time because my past had taught me that when I became too difficult, I was no longer worth the trouble.  To hear that regardless of my behavior or my attitude, she was going to love me  no matter what?  This was a life changing realization for me.
     When it comes to my own children, I use this same kind of philosophy.  My oldest just turned 12 and we have had this conversation already, that no matter how he behaves I love him regardless and I always will!!  I hope he feels the safety and the love that I felt when Auntie Donna said it to me.  It also made me feel important and I always want my kids to feel important enough to me that I will never walk away from them or forget about them and that I am always here for them.  They may not like what I have to say all the time but I will always be truthful and I will always have their best interest at heart,  This is the kind of communication I want to have with most people.  I want to be honest and open and loving because I believe the average person really appreciates it.  As do I.

Professional Hopes and Goals - week 8

     Over the past eight weeks we have learned about diversity and equity in the field of early childhood.  I have one major hope for myself as a result of this class and it is this:
     I hope to continue to learn about the issues related to diversity and equity for my whole career and to never stop!  The issues that come with diversity alone are so broad but also so important that it seems a little daunting to me to face them at all but I know they are so important for the future of our country and the future for our children.
     The goal I would set for the field of early childhood would be to make diversity training mandatory for all directors and assistant directors out there.  We need to have leaders that care about this issue and that have a passion and a vision for change so we can have a brighter future.
     Lastly, I would like to thank those of you who are reading this post for sharing your stories, life experiences and your questions with me.  If we all take the time to learn from each other, and truly listen to each other's perspective, I believe we can be part of the future of change.  Thank you so much for teaching me about your perspectives and for listening to my stories as well.  I wish you good luck in the next class, maybe I will see you there!?  Take care!

Welcoming a Family from Around the World Week 7

If I was going to have the time to welcome a new child to my class from another country (like Taiwan for example) in a way that would make the child and his/her family feel welcomed and important I would do the following:

1.  Before the family arrived, I would make a few of the pictures we use in the classroom and label with the written word, labeled with the words in their native language.
2.  Next I would try to have the child's name on his/her cubby, labeled both in English and Mandarin so the child's home culture could be recognized as being important as well as his new English speaking culture.
3.  I would try to research the country where the student was from like the geography of Taiwan and what the culture there is like in order to familiarize myself so I can help the child feel welcome.
4.  Another thing that I think would be important would be to be sure to read through the file carefully of the child entering.  Our entrance interview would be very informative about the child himself and it would help me learn about him personally not just the country he came from.
5.  Lastly, I would try to learn how to say a few phrases like "Good morning" and "Goodbye" in mandarin so I could great the parents every morning in their own language and say goodbye as well.  I think this would make them realize that they are important enough for me to do some research about and that I want to learn about them and connect with them.

Not only will these preparations benefit me by expanding my knowledge and making me more sensitive to cultural similarities, but they will also allow the family to see that I am trying.  This will be beneficial because it will create a foundation of trust and openness that I would want with all of the families in my class.

Bias, Prejudice and Oppression - Week - 6

This assignment is interesting to me because it made me think of a social experiment my middle school teachers conducted using my seventh grade class over twenty years ago.  We had been learning about discrimination and the teachers wanted to give us a small look at how it felt to be in the middle of a real situation where people were being discriminated against.  Now, keep in mind I went to a very small school with an average class size of about 15 students per grade and I was able to have a very unique schooling experience.  That being said, I have not even thought of this particular instance in many years but it definitely made a mark on me personally.

So one day when I went to school, something was very different than the day before.  As our morning began, certain kids were made to sit in the back of the classroom.  We found this odd but did not say anything as we were not suspecting anything strange was going on...yet.  As the day continued, the different treatment of those same students continued and escalated.  They went from being made to sit in the back of the classroom, to being made to stand.  From being asked to sit by themselves, away from the other students, to being asked to sit alone and not talk to anyone.  One of the students being discriminated against was a good friend of mine and I remember feeling so mad at the teachers for treating him unfairly.

By the end of the experiment, I was starting to just join my friend in whatever the alternate activity was, like I remember refusing the chair if my friend was denied a chair and refusing to speak if my friend was forbidden to speak.  I was so mad by the end of the experiment, as many of my classmates were, that they actually ended it early.  Apparently we were not being cooperative enough.  One of the best results from this activity was that we were able to have a very honest discussion about oppression and what we would do if we saw oppression in action, or what we would not do.

Obviously this experiment had a big impact on me.  I think the greatest outcome for me was it made me realize that even though I may have gotten in trouble for disobeying a teacher, I cared less about getting in trouble than I did about the poor treatment of my friends.  This is true for me to this day.  I would rather face consequences for standing up for what I know is right, than see someone being oppressed and not do anything about it.

Week 4 - Microaggressions

The topic of microaggressions was a new one to me.  I have experienced them but I never knew they had a name.  The best way to describe a microaggression is by saying that they are those small comments or acts that are insulting but not on purpose.  For example, imagine a woman discussing her diet with an acquaintance and during the conversation, she tells the acquaintance she is a vegan.  The other woman responds by saying, "Wow, I never would have guessed you were a vegetarian because you seem so well put together."  Now, "well put together" is not an insult but the hidden message in there is that most vegetarians are not well put together.

Please pardon the example, I hold nothing against vegetarians, I am simply trying to give an example of a microaggression.  Many times these statements are made with regards to people's race or sexual preference but personally, I have experienced them in normal everyday situations that I experience as a wife and mother.  Back when I was a stay at home mom, people used to ask me what I did for a living and after telling them I stayed home with my kids, I was often greeted with smiles and "Oh, that must be nice".  Now I remember at the time feeling not important because I couldn't share work stories or anything with my working friends and in this kind of situation, I always felt like the person asking would not be able to understand me at all so why try to explain.  BUT the reality of the situation was that staying home was nice, but it also required a lot of sacrifice.  There was a person kind of being condescending about me not having a job, while my husband and I were going without many things so I could stay with my kids and sow seeds into them as people.

My experiential reality was definitely invalidated during this time and now looking back, I realize why I felt caught and never knew what to say.  I did not want to be insulting back, but I also did not want the person I was talking with to completely misunderstand me.  This week was a very eye-opening week.  It changed my perspective and made me want to try to be very careful about what I say.

Week Three Diversity and Equity

We have been discussing culture and diversity in our third week of class and I asked some of my friends and family member to discuss the definition of both culture and diversity.  The answers surprised me and I felt everyone enjoyed the topic and we had some great conversations about culture as a result.  The three main people I asked were my brother in law who grew up outside the U.S., my friend who grew up in an Italian-American family and my husband who grew up in a French Canadian family mixed with an English family.  I chose these three because I knew their childhood were very different from my own and I respect their thinking and I wanted to see what they said.

Some of the answers I heard while defining culture were words like: race, ethnicity, traditions, food, mind sets, beliefs, geography, religion, social class, spending habits, language, occupation, gender, appearances and values.

Some of the answers given to define the word diversity were: "All of the above."  meaning everyone is included, someone said universality and also someone said, acceptance of the differing types of cultures we just spoke of. we learned, we

As far as what we have learned, I was fascinated to hear what my friends had to say given that they do not have any of the background or resources that I do as a grad student.  I was actually pretty impressed with their answers.  The biggest difference I found was how none of them really discussed the family culture.  No one talked about how your parents or the number of siblings you have can influence your culture.  Besides that, I was thoroughly impressed with their insight and their candor.

Wk 2 Diversity and Equality - Family Culture

     Hmmmm.  Three items to bring with me to my new home in who knows what country...  Only three?  Well, my bible is number one.  I have notes and memories and I do not want to get to a new country and be without a bible especially given the circumstances under which we would be leaving our home, possibly forever.  It also would be important for me to be able to teach my children from it and to ensure they have an understanding of it regardless of where we live.
     Item number two would be a photo album I put together with pictures of our entire family.  It includes four generations of family members and has writing in it describing who everyone is.  This would help my children to know what life was like before the catastrophic event that landed us in this new country and it would help us remember our life before as well.
     Lastly, I would bring a large tarp.  I know it sounds strange but wherever we are going, we could use a tarp if needed for help keeping cool or staying dry or staying warm.  It doesn't necessarily preserve our culture but it would help my family and the practical side of me can't help it.  (My husband wanted to bring three different kinds of weapons.)  Haha!  (My son says that's not funny Mom, that's smart!)
     If we arrived and we were told we could only keep one, I would probably take the tarp.  I have the word of the Lord in my heart and we could pass our family history down with stories and descriptions.  The tarp is the thing that would help my children and I would choose that.  As long as we were able to talk, I think we could convey the truth about our family and our history verbally with the best result.
     This assignment was interesting.  I shared it with my family and we all had very different ideas of what we would bring.  The boys were very concerned with survival tools and not as concerned with sentimental items and even I was concerned with keeping my family safe over bringing items for cultural preservation.  I am looking forward to reading my classmates to see if they are similar or different than mine.

Week 8 BRC - Final week

This class has taught me many things about research.  One of the most important things it has taught me is that I do not need to be intimidated by research.  When you look at research, piece by piece, for what it is, you CAN make sense of it.  The biggest change that has happened for me that I was not expecting was my attitude towards conducting research myself.  At the beginning of this class I really wanted nothing to do with research. I really was not at all looking forward to this class either.  But what I have discovered is that the data that is provided by research is so powerful and valuable and I really may want to be more involved in research in the EC field in the future.  I actually wish I could conduct my research simulation because I really want to know the results.

As I was putting my research simulation together, I realized how much attention to detail is needed in order to carry out a study that is valid for the field of early childhood or for any field.  It is amazing how many variables are present in every study that researchers need to pay attention to.  The biggest challenge for me during this course was having a lot of new terminology that I was not familiar with to learn and use.  The way I dealt with that was, I took the terms one at a time (just like research, piece by piece) and kept investigating each concept until they made sense.  Piece by piece, for what they are.

It is hard to believe it has already been eight weeks!  I hope the people who read this post will have a great week off!  Thank you for your encouraging words and support and good luck in your future classes!

Week 5 BRC

For this week's assignment, I chose to look into the website for Early Childhood Australia at www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au to look into what kinds of issues are current for the early childhood professionals in Australia.  There were many issues discussed on the website but as I was looking at the "Voice" which is the site's newsletter, I noticed that at the end of the publication for this past January, they showed a discussion that was posted on Facebook about how to celebrate Australia Day in the early childhood setting.  Apparently, the holiday they celebrate in Australia called Australia Day, is a source of pride for some residents of Australia but for the Aboriginal people it is a source of pain.  The discussion shown was about how to balance the celebration of the holiday while still being sensitive to the indigenous population at the same time.

This is a great example of a dilemma that we face regularly as early childhood professionals.  We often face the challenge of balancing priorities for our very culturally diverse classes.  This just happens to be a good example of how international issues can be different but the similar.

This website also contains articles published in the AJEC or the Australasian Journal of Early Childhood.  This journal contains articles that have subjects that seem very similar to articles here in the US.  I suppose the similarities in issues shows how even though our cultures are different and our upbringing may be different, young children are very similar, even the same for the most part.  Kids are kids, whether they are here in our country or in another.