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

Appealing Jobs at the Federal Level

Head Start is a federal organization that prepare young children for school. Children who usually attend are from low income families. 

This organization appeals to me because it promotes early learning for the families who may not financially afford to send their children to school. Quality programming take place where the teachers do their best to meet the needs of the children.

There are two positions that were currently posted. The first position is an Assistant Center Manager. “The Assistant Center Manager of Head Start supports the Center Manager in planning, organizing, implementing, and coordinating services of the child development center.   The Assistant Center Manager supervises the transportation staff and extended day teaching staff, and is expected to act in the absence of the Center Manager.  The incumbent is expected to create and maintain a strong working relationship with parents and represent the Agency positively to the community.  The Assistant Center Manger of Head Start is responsible for supporting the Center Manager in the growth, compliance and quality of service of the Center” (Head Start, n.d.). 

This position requires that you have a BS degree in early childhood education. 

The Second organization that I like is Army Community Services. This organization provides military service men, women, and their dependents with resiliency programs that foster healthy development. 

There are currently no positions available where I currently reside.

Lastly is would love to work as a coordinator for Child Youth and School Services. This is a federal government. There are currently no positions available in my area. This position will grant me the opportunity to ensure that all children on the government installation are benefiting from the program. 

This position requires at least a BS degree in education and at least 3 years of experience in leadership. 

References

Head Start (n.d.) Retrieved July 27, 2013 from http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/hs/about/careers/Region3/Virginia/Assistant%20Center%20Manager%20-%20Arlington%20%20-%20%20Virginia.html 

~Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels~

 

The three organizations that I found that were appealing are Operation Military Kids, Zero to Three (National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families), and Military Child Education Coalition. The reason in which I chose these organizations are because their primary focus is supporting children from birth to youth impacted by deployments. This is my challenge for my capstone project. I am a military spouse and I work with children on a daily basis who are affected by rapid deployments.

There were no job opportunities for Operation Military Kids. However, there are three positions available for Zero to Three which are Chief Business Development and Marketing Officer, Development Manager, Proposals and Grants, and Senior Policy Analyst. Job opportunities for Military Child Education Coalition are Development Coordinator, Military Student Transition Consultant, and Parent to Parent. 

The job that interest me the most is the Development Coordinator with the Military Child Education Coalition. This position details planning and coordinating events, planning and coordinating all development activities and other duties assignment by the Director. This position gives me the opportunity to continue to provide services for the military children and families. 

Skills and experiences needed for this position is to have a minimum of a Bachelors Degree from an accredited College or University or 1-2 years of related work experience, strong organizational, planning and time management skills, flexible, resourceful, high energy and excellent interpersonal and communication skills. 

http://www.operationmilitarykids.org/public/home.aspx 

http://www.zerotothree.org/about-us/ 

http://www.militarychild.org/about-us/employment-opportunities 

Wordle

~As We Adjourn~

AS WE ADJOURN

Let me first start off by saying that I really have enjoyed each and every one of you. Though we have not met personally, the interactions that we have made with each other throughout this course have been very rewarding. I have learned to value both good and bad communication as we collaborated with each other the differences. I have learned so much from you all and I have learned from our discussions how to improve myself better as a listener as well as a communicator.

I hope to see some familiar names and faces (Blog) as I journey on through the program here at Walden. It has been nice collaborating, discussing, and blogging with you all as we shared our very own thoughts and opinions. 

My contact email is: da1trina@yahoo.com.  I am also on facebook listed as Oliver Katrina. Lets not let this be the end of the road for us. Anything that I can do to assist, please contact me. I try to have my cell phone with me at all times. (Email). 

I wish you all luck in all that you set forth to do. We are almost there (graduation). Hang in there and I hope to see you all on graduation day. 

Many blessings!

Katrina 

~Adjourning & Saying Good Bye~

Adjourning 

I know that we can can testify about the different types of groups that we have been a part of. For me, the group where we treated each other with respect and looked out for the well being of each other was the hardest to leave. Because we all worked so well together and everyone had high standards, we performed very well. Within the group, there were no cliques. We all had our own opinions and valued the opinions of others. We valued each other and especially our differences. This group was formed as a grade level. We were all second grade teachers and did everything together; lesson plans, meetings, and more.

When I had to PCS with my husband, we celebrated by going to dinner with each other and our families. There to my surprise, I was blessed with gifts from each person.

While working on my master's degree online, I have not had the opportunity to meet my colleagues and establish relationships. I know for sure that it is very hard to leave people or adjourn where there are relationships that are healthy. Adjourning may not be so hard in this case.

I must add, we people do not work together well as a team, it is easy to say good bye. I have to admit, I have been working with a group of managers where I am trying to buy my way out of. People are jealous, mean, unappreciative and have different worth ethics than I do. I can not wait until I am able to adjourn from this team. 

Adjourning is an essential stage of teamwork because it helps the team or group reflect on their accomplishment and failures as well as determine whether the group will disassemble or take on another project.(O’Hair & Wiemann, 2012. p. 257) 

Reference

O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). 

Real communication: An introduction. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

~Resolving Conflict!

~RESOLVING CONFLICT~

When being asked to think abut conflict in either my professional or personal environment, several encounters come to mind. However, I'd like to reflect on the personal aspects rather than the professional at this time.

Scenario: It is the holiday season and my husband and I are shopping for Christmas gifts. My husband looks over to me after I had spent a few dollars on items that our daughter have on her Christmas list and says, I am going to buy ( he has an outside child) my son items and I can buy Jonaisa ( our daughter) things later. 

Without asking any questions, I looked at him and began to yell using language that is definitely inappropriate. After about two long minutes of telling him how I feel and that he has to take care of all of his responsibilities, I felt a little bad. Being a man, he confronted me, letting me know that I was wrong and should understand where he was coming from. I felt as tough he was putting our daughter last (yes I am sensitive about this). Instead he wanted to ensure that hiss son items are shipped and under his tree before Christmas. 

Two strategies that I have learned that would help me deal with conflict is the cooperative strategy and taken from the nonviolent communication, "10 Steps to Peace".

When it comes to the cooperation strategy it is important because when I communicate, I want my relationship to benefit and have goals that with benefit all of us. When I think about the steps to keeping the peace, I will have to center everything on me making the necessary change to ensure improvement or satisfaction. I have learned from experience that the only person you can change is yourself.

The 3 R's is always a great strategy as well. In all we do being respectful and responsive in a positive manner should give great rewards in return.

This week has been great. I printed a view things from the NVC website and used with my staff to help build teams while improving the culture in the center and believe it or not, it has to start with the way we communicate with each other. 

~How Others View Me As A Communicator~

~How Others View Me As a Communicator~

After getting both my husband and a co-workers to evaluate me this week as a communicator, I was shocked to discover that my husband score indicated that I am people-oriented, mild when it comes to communication anxiety, and significant on the verbal aggressiveness scale. My co-worker rated me as being time- oriented, low on communication anxiety scale, and low on the verbal aggressiveness scale.

One of the things that surprised me the most is the fact that my husband feels as though I am a little more verbal aggressive than I do. I have to admit that I communicate with him more aggressively than I do with others because I am more comfortable with him and I now that he understand me and where I am coming from. I was also surprised to learn that my co-worker feels as though I am time-oriented. I do not want my co-workers to feel as though I do not have time for them.

Two other insights that I learned about communication this week is that stereotyping may be positive, negative, or neutral and could possibly lead to negative and/or bad communication. The second thing is self-esteem. As the text book mentions, people that have high self esteem are more confident in their interpersonal relationships because they believe that they are more likely to believe that being friendly will cause others to be friendly in return. 

Two things that I have learned from this experience to do better is to treat my husband just as good as I treat the people that I work with and have to communicate in a positive manner. I also plan on having more time for my employees. I do know that there are things that I have to get accomplished throughout the day. I plan on making time out of my schedule that is strictly dedicated for listing to my employees.