Time Well Spent

I cannot believe we are at the end of this journey but only to embark upon another. Three deeply felt learnings that I have from this program is the key to success is knowing your passion and purpose in life. I also learned that it is critical to examine and respond to our own biases in order to respond adequately to others. Lastly, one person can make a difference, and everyone can inspire, but a community can accomplish so much more. One long term goal is that I will be an advocate on children's behalf for as long as I live, and to never let my passion die. My fairwell message to my colleagues is to keep the passion and believe that you can go out and make a difference. I will never forget the community that was built here and hope to connect with some of you one day. Thanks for all of your support and encouragement. To Dr. Myers, thank you for the positive feedback that I received as it gave me the drive to continue. I learned something from each and every class that I took and have high regards for this University. Here are two Quotes and a song that I leave you with. "The test of the Morality of a society is what they do for their children". Dietrich Bonhoeffer In America there is no "other people's children"- anonymous Here is a Song by Malvina Reynolds called "Little Boxes": And they all play on the golf course, and drink their martinis dry, and they all have pretty children, and the children go to school, And the children go to sumer camp, and then to the University, Where they put them all in boxes, and they come out all the same.

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

The three international organizations that appeal to me is Save the Children at www.savethechildren.org, International Step by Step Association at www.issa.nl/index.html, and the Alliance for Childhood at www.allianceforchildhood.org. I was interested in Save the children because of their work rebuilding and restoring normalcy to children's lives after a disaster. One of their focus is to increase rural children's access to physical activities and nutrition which is in line with my Capstone challenge to restore play. Career options that I saw were emergency responders, education specialists, monitors and evaluators. Most of the jobs require specialized training or a teaching license. The International Step by Step Association was interesting because they form interest groups and task forces that work together on different issues related to children. Some of the jobs that I saw posted were translators and interpreters as well as an associate expert in the education field. The Alliance for childhood is an organization that I have always been interested in because of their play advocacy around the world. This is the website that I found the information on "playing out" which was a neighborhood play day that was started in England by two moms. This organization has helped individuals find their voice to go out and make a difference in their own neighborhood. I like the idea of ordinary people feeling confident and empowered to go out and actually do something. The best part is, there is not any special job requirements; just a passion to make a difference in the lives of children.

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

The three National Organizations that I chose is the U.S Alliance for Early Childhood, Alliance for Early Childhood U.K, and the European Alliance for Early Childhood. I chose them because they all have the same focus to restore play to earlychldhood. The U.S. Alliance has a mission to promote policies and practices that support children's healthy development for a love of learning, and the joy of living. Their public education campaign is to have a more just, democratic, ecologically responsible future. They also strive to make playgrounds more fun and accessible. Some communities have built playgrounds with themes that will appeal to more children; one that has been successful is one that teaches science. They also partner with pediatritions and other influential people in the community that can maked a difference. The alliance in the U.K. has a group of moms who started Street Play. Their mission is to provide safe access to informal play by setting up these street play dates,providing workshops for residence and parents, coordinating street organizers, providing free resources and advice, educating the community on the benefits of play,and working with policy makers to enable street play. The Alliance in Europe strives to improve the quality of childhood. Their focus is on the toxic effects of our cultural changes. More specifically, how the modern world is damaging our children and what we cando about it. I also like the CAYC because their mission is to let children play, as their focus is on birth through nine years of age. They provide professional development to those who care for children in any capacity. I chose all of these because their mission had a focus on play. It was interesting for me to see how other countries are addressing the lack of play issue. The one that was especially helpful was the street play that the mom's started in the U.k. You can see it on www.allianceforchildhood.org.uk It showed me that anyone can make change, and that is a job that is available to anyone. Other than that, I did not find any job opportunities but just becoming a member and being a part of a coalition. In order to be a part of these organizations or Alliances I think some experience in how children grow and learn would be important so that you can be an informed advocate. But, for the advocacy I read about, it did not take any prerequisite except to want the best quality childhood possible for our children.

Exploring Roles in teh ECE Community: Local and State Levels

I chose Child Care Aware of North East and North Central Kansas as the state organization to explore. This organization has a mission to help families find access to affordable, high quality childcare. They have several jobs in their organization including marketing and communications, finance, directors for quality initiatives, infant and toddler project managers, data and tech specialists, healthy kids coordinator and rating system specialists. I chose this organization because they are influential in my state and I believe in everything they are working for. Also the variety of jobs available gives more people a chance to collaborate with others. I did not see any job opportunities at the moment. The qualifications for most of these jobs is a B.S. degree in the related field. Another organization that I chose is our local Child & Resource Center Smart Start Program that I currently work for. I have been at this job for 5 years now and enjoy working with child care providers and center staff to help educate and improve their environment as well as their professional development opportunities. We currently have two positions open as Early Childhood Facilitators and the qualifications they are now looking for is a M.S. in ECE. The other job that I chose is the job of a professor at the university. I like this job because they collaborate with other organizations in our country as well as around the world. They are then able to do research that they can then try out in their lab preschool. I also like the teaching part of the job. I would have to have a PHD in order to do this and I do not see that happening. However, some staff for the undergraduates do have their M.S. degree's only. So, we will see what happens in the future. I do know that I would like to be involved with some kind of issue where I can actually make a difference and see change. Not that I do not get that on a smaller scale in my current job, because there are always success stories.

Capstone

I am excited to get started on the Capstone project. It has been a somewhat stressful beginning but I have hopes that it will become easier as the weeks progress.

Professional Thanks and Support

Over the last eight weeks I have learned a lot about my own personal schema and how it has affected my communication skills. I have learned to be mindful and "other oriented" as well as how to be a better active listener. To collaborate successfully as a team takes trust, cooperation as well as coordination. I learned about the three R's of conflict resolution and how to read non verbal interactions.

I want to thank each and every one of my colleagues who have given me insight through the discussion and comments on my personal blog. We have shared personal information and built online relationships that I will truly miss. I hope some of you will be moving on to Teaching Adults in the Early Childhood Field specialization with me. My wish for you is that you will take what we have learned in this class and transfer it to your personal life as well as your professional life working with families, children, and building collaborative teams that can make a difference.

Team Building and Collaboration

During the adjourning phase the group that I found the hardest to leave was the one where we had the clearest established norms. Having established roles help to develop supportive relationships and collaboration because it is easier to build trust when we respect each others opinions and value their differences. Also, we work off of each others strengths to build a more solid team that can accomplish goals.

The closing rituals that I have experienced include having a potluck in honor of the group as a thank you, having a recognition ceremony, or meeting socially in a central location where each group member is more relaxed to close out the project. In my previous job we had a hard time adjourning because we had established norms and specific roles that were respected by all. My previous colleages and I had such a great working relationship that we still get together several times a year to keep in touch.

I imagine it will be somewhat difficult to leave my online relationships that I have built. I find comfort in seeing familiar names enrolled in each of my classes, and I tend to answer the posts of them more often than those I do not know as well. There is some comfort in sharing history with others along the way through class participation, and it would be nice to stay in touch with some of my classmates after we graduate.

Adjourning is such an essential stage of teamwork because we need to reflect on what worked and did not work in order to learn from mistakes or celebrate our accomplishments. Additionally, the adjourning stage gives us some closure which is important so that we can move on to another goal or project.