What Resonates with me about Early Childhood Public Policy and Advocacy

1.  I chose this specialization because I realized that I am passionate and dedicated to children and families.  I realized many years ago that there are many families that do not know their rights or options when it comes to their children's early education.  I hope to open my own child development center and give families the tools they need and experiences that they will carry with them throughout their child's edcuational experience.  I want them to take with them a lifelong experience that they'll pass on to their children so that their children can continue to pass it own.  Public policies play a major role in how children from poverty stricken families are served and families need to be involved in how these policies will affect them and their children.

2.  Becoming an advocated in the field of early childhood is essential because there is a need for people to intervene when it comes to how our children are receiving their education before they enter school.  They need teachers who understand the importance of early education and how to provide valuable edcuational experiences for not only young children but their families as well.  Many people do not understand that families also need to be involved in their child's educational experience in oder for it to be effective and meaningful to children.  Advocating for positive educators who understand and are willing to implement strategies that are effective for families.

3.  One goal I have is to learn policies that will help me to effectively support to children and families with special needs and who are poverty stricken.
Another goal is to become a more effective advocate for this issues that parents face when trying to obtain a better education for their young children.
A third goal would be to advocate and provide community based support for those children who are poverty stricken but may not be in childcare and  still need to have the skills necessary to succeed when they enter Kindergarten.  

Team Development

When working with a group that is high functioning it is easy to feel a part of a family.  Every voice is heard and respected and attempts are made to include everyone in the overall goal of the group. In high performing groups everyone's skills and knowledge are combined to meet the group's goals.  When group members begin to identify their role in the group, it makes the direction of the group more evident.  It helps everyone know what to expect and each member something to contribute. 

It was hard leaving a high performing group when coming up with a presentation idea for NAEYC because everyone shared information and worked towards the same goal.  This group made everyone feel a valued contributor and each member had a chance to demonstrate their contribution and passion towards the goal.  This gave me the opportunity to see what being a valued contributor felt like.  It was beneficial to be a part of a group of people who understood that I had something to contribute to the goal of the group.   I would love to have had a closing ritual of some kind.  This would have helped me reflect on my participation in the group and know how I could improve the next time I was a part of a group like this.  It would also help me determine my leadership potential and know how I could better conduct groups in the future. 

I think that I will adjourn from my educational colleagues by letting them know how much I learned from them and summarizing their journey through the Master's program.  I would also like to know how they will further their experiences in the work force and if they have plans to continue on with their eduation.  Adjourning is an important step because it gives everyone a chance to see if they are in the same place to continue on their journey together, see if they have the same interests and maybe even maintain working relationships.    

Conflict Management

The Third Side presented strategies that I found very helpful.  They are "going to the balcony" and "stepping to both sides".  These methods showed me that I am on my way to becoming a more effective communicator.  Both of these skills gives each person a chance to step back and see the other persons side of the story.  This can keep conflict down when a person can truly empathize with the other.  If you take the time to stop, look and listen, this keeps everyone from jumping to conclusions and reacting on strong emotions.  When emotions become involved, then that is went conflict can escalate and become violent.
     The strategies from the conflict resolution website were also useful.  The skills presented on this website helped me to see how obstacles can become possibilities for those involved.  They also gave me insight on how to create a supportive environment for those who are involved.  These skills involve a variety of ways to help keep conflict minimal and develop a more positive with the people involved.  I plan to continue studying these skills to help me with conflict management.

 

Who am I as a Communicator

When looking at how I evaluated myself compared to how others evaluated me, I think that the results were similar.  The one that surprised me the most was that when I answered the questions on the verbal aggressiveness scale, I had significant aggression.  When others' answered, I was in the moderate category. I had one coworker and one friend "grade" me on the tests.   I thought maybe they way I read the questions was a problem with this particular test but I thought that I was really more moderate when it comes to aggression, but I made me reflect on how I speak with others professionally versus personally.  Personally I am really relaxed and joke around alot, but in my professional role I am more on guard and conscious of how I speak to others.  I figured the difference is that in my professional life I need to be more guarded so that I can feel that I am being more effective to our families. 

I do however agree with my listening style outcome and the communication anxiety inventory.  I am a people oriented listener.  At first glance I was a little surprised that it stated that this can interfere with proper judgement because I tend to be very trusting.  When I first started as a parent educator, this was true.  But since then I have learned that I need to get more back ground information before I completely trust what people are saying.  I do not blatantly call out a parent when I know that they are not telling me the who truth, but I still have to learn how to ask more effective questions without offending a person.  I am getting a lot better!  On the communication anxiety inventory my score was a 57 which is moderate.  I pretty much knew this.  I am becoming more comfortable with speaking in front of others, but still have a long way to go before I am comfortable with public speaking.

Communicating Differently

I find that as I become more and more involved with people from various background, I try to become more conscientious of the things I say and how I phrase things.  I try to be careful how I ask questions as I assess parents to find their needs for our program.  I pay more attention to facial expressions and body language than I use to and try not to jump to conclusions when they answer questions but get them to expand on their answers.

One strategy I would use to help me communicate more effectively is self reflection.  This give me a chance to think about how I react to people and why this reactions are taking place.  It also helps me to get feedback from coworkers on how I communicate with them so that I can better communicate with the families that we serve.

Another strategy is looking at the source of my communication behavior.  This has helped me examine where I learned to communicate and figure out why I am not as effective as I would like to be.  The habits that I have formed over the years, until about 3 years ago, have made me introverted.  I have always been self conscious about speaking with others who are not familiar with me and found it hard to talk to others because I was not comfortable with myself.   This was the source of my withdrawl from others.  I am learning to be more open and expressive to others I come in contact with and have noticed that others really respond positively to that. 

A third stragegy is learning about diversity, so that I don't jump to any conclusions.  I try to be sensitive to those I do not know anything else about and learn as much as I can by repeating what I thought I heard for clarity, validating strong emotions and efforts that parents and caretakers make positively for their families, and praising the work that they do put in.  The praise is really hard to do with adults, at least for me, because I never had that growing up.  It is easy to praise the little steps that children take because they are learning and growing, but subconsciously I think that adults should have it all together.  I am learning because we think that adults should have it all together, we take for granted that they are struggling just like the children they are trying so hard to raise. 

Communication

Watching Private Practice with the sound turned off made me really focus on the characters' facial expressions and body language.  Without hearing the words, some of the characters seem really hostile towards each other.  One character had her mouth drawn when speaking with another character indicatinng to me that she did not like what he was saying and then with another character she appeared as if she was about to cry.  But when I turned the sound on, she was really interested in the guy she was talking to and ended up kissing him.  So her body language was a little confusing.  It was difficult trying to interpret what they really meant or determine the plot because it was so emotional.  It made me think about what type of communicator I am.  I am not good at noticing body language and this assignment helped me to focus more what the characters were not saying. 

Since I started facilitating parenting groups, I have noticed that I do not read people very well.  This assignment helped me see that I need to practice and focus more on the things people are not saying.  Nonverbal communication is just as powerful a verbal communication, and it's those suttle things that I did not pay attention to before that I know I need more work with.  The nonverbal codes that people use during cocmmunication are very important to decipher.

Competent communication

When I think of someone with competent communication, I think of my coworker.  She is very articulate at explaining what is expected.  She asks questions until she understands what is expected and she genuinely cares for the people who listens to her.  She is excellent at providing extensive and quality information.  I think this is because not only does she love to talk, she strives to understand what is needed and expected.  She knows how to get her point of view heard in a way that everyone understands and often brings humor to any situation.  I would definitely want to model my communication style after her because she understands the importance of being heard and giving families the tools they need to advocate for themselves.  She is also very good at validating feelings of others and praising the small efforts people make towards making a positive change for their behavior!