Wk 6 International Organizations and Employment Opportunities

International Organizations and Employment Opportunities – EDUC 6990

I have been looking for various jobs that would go with the experience and the education level that I hopefully will be able to achieve by the ending of this year.

The examples given for blog assignment for week 6 included UNICEF, Save the Children, International Step by Step Association, just to name a few. I have visited the UNICEF website and have heard of the many accomplishments this organization has achieved when it comes to helping children.

UNICEF believes: All children have a right to survive, thrive and fulfill their potential – to the benefit of a better world that means equal access to services and care that can make all the difference in children’s lives. It means working to achieve gender fairness and equality. UNICEF works for a world in which every child has a fair chance in life. This humanitarian and development agency works globally for the rights of every child.

With this agency, I did not find any job that I would be qualified for, there is currently 1 permanent position listed which is Deputy Chief of Staff, other positions listed for UNICEF is temporary not to exceed 11 months.

Save the Children is another organization that gives children in the United States and around the world what every child deserves -- a healthy start, the opportunity to learn and care when disaster strikes. We save children's lives. This non-profit organization handles: Child Protection, Child Sponsorship, Education, Emergency Response, Health and Nutrition, Hunger and Livelihoods and HIV and AIDS.

This organization I was able to find a job that I would be qualified for Director National Head Start Program. This job requires a Masters along with experience. Searching for new jobs seem scary, but I guess that comes with the territory. I am comfortable right now and I would like a challenge and a position such as the one listed above is definitely out of my comfort zone.

ISSA International Step by Step Association – I did not find any positions listed on this website. Their mission for this non-governmental organization is to provide high quality care and educational services for all children from birth to 10 years old, with a focus on the poorest and most disadvantaged ensure greater inclusion of family and community participation in children’s development and learning, and to ensure social inclusion and respect for diversity.

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

This week's blog has been dedicated to finding communities that appeal to personal goals from a national/federal level. 

There are definitely programs and communities that I would like to involve myself with that could influence my professional and personal outlook on the entire early childhood community. 

NAEYC is the largest organization that I would align myself with professionally; specifically because of their own value statement and practice. 

"The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is a professional membership organization that works to promote high-quality early learning for all young children, birth through age 8, by connecting early childhood practice, policy, and research. We advance a diverse, dynamic early childhood profession and support all who care for, educate, and work on behalf of young children," (NAEYC). 

I am a strong supporter of diverse and impactful educational settings and environments for children and their families. I believe that it is important for children and their families to be comfortable within the educational system in order for the child to be successful. 

Another program would be Educators 4 Excellence. 

"E4E envisions an elevated, prestigious teaching profession in which educators are leaders both in and outside of their classrooms to drive positive outcomes for students," (E4E). 

E4E promotes strong relationships that heavily influence the positivity and the growth within the early childhood field. Starting strong can make a difference in the development of all children. 

Resources:

http://www.naeyc.org/content/about-naeyc

http://www.educators4excellence.org/about-us

Capstone wk 2 blog assignment

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

It has taken me a long time to have gotten this far with my educational journey. I have worked for the federal government for many years and I would like to continue working within the federal government.

I wasn’t sure if I was making an impact or a difference in what I do as an Assistant Director for the school age center I work at. I was recently told that I do make a difference for my staff, my colleagues and most of all the children and their families. I enjoy coming to work; it is fun, entertaining, challenging, and difficult at times, but my job keeps me humble and young at heart. There are not very many places of employment that it is okay to be silly but nurturing as well.

The job that I would like to pursue in the future would be a CYS Training Specialist. The individual would serve as a trainer and professional child/youth development education consultant for CDS, SAS, CLEOS and YS programs with responsibility for ensuring the quality and consistency of programming to include: environment, equipment, materials, program structure, special needs inclusion, curriculum, risk management practices to minimize risk of abuse; supportive interactions and positive social development and oversight and coordination of activity/program schedules.

Qualification for this position is successful completion of an undergraduate Degree that included at least 24 semester hours in child development or early childhood education, or other fields appropriate to the position to be filled consistent with: Early Childhood Education/Child Development or Elementary Education is required.

Professional Hopes and Goals

This course has definitely opened my eyes to new thoughts and thought processes when dealing with diversities and their influence on cultural dynamics. There are so many different aspects to consider when dealing with diversities. Not only have the cultural diversities begun to outline themselves, but diversities through age differences, religious differences and even sexuality differences have proven unwillfully interventional.

One hope is that I hope for the continued positive advancements towards equality and freedom. With the fight for equality and continuation, I definitely hope that we continue on a very diverse path on the way to equal freedom for all.

One goal is that I begin to understand the depths of diversity and diverse dynamics. With different aspects to consider, it can be incredibly difficult to understand the outlines of diversity and its influences.

To all my classmates, it has been a definite pleasure and good luck to all of your future advances!

Norway

The origin country of which the child that will be joining my group is Norway. 

Five ways in which I will prepare myself for the child will be to learn cultural practices and basic language phrases to have communication with the child and the child's family. 

Also want to understand the day to day basics of the schooling and compare it to the schooling or day to day basics of our day. I want to be able to reason with the change and not implode too many changes at one time. 

Another couple of ways I would prepare myself would be to find someone or something to use as a beginning barrier. A talking point. Usually children/families who have a different background are less susceptible to open conversation. I wouldn't want to put someone on the spot to and not have a way to rebuttal the situation. I wouldn't want to have no way of locking in a strong personal connection with the family/child.

I would hope that I'm prepared for the family's cultural differences. It's definitely hard to understand the differences that go into family's and their cultural insight, but I wouldn't want to have a lack of diversity training to not be able to help the family transition as easily as possible. 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

• What memory do you have of an incident when you experienced bias, prejudice, and/or oppression, or witnessed someone else as the target of bias, prejudice, and/or oppression? Keep in mind that one can encounter such incidents in real contexts, including online environments, as well as in fictional ones, such as movies, books, television shows, and the like.

When I think of an incident that strikes me as someone experiencing bias, I think of when my family moved from Alaska to Virginia. My children went to a school that was predominantly African-American and with this came strong culture shock. My children range in complexion and my middle child is more pale than her siblings and she would be bullied about her skin in comparison to her other siblings. This definitely angered me and it led to me having to let my daughter know of differences that were explained through different cultures. 

• In what way(s) did the specific bias, prejudice and/or oppression in that incident diminish equity?

I think that when my daughter realized she was always going to be different, it helped her to understand that she was being bullied for being different and that became alright to her. After explaining the important features of her differences, it wasn't as bad as the initial thought. 

• What feelings did this incident bring up for you?

I felt strongly concerned for my daughter. I was angry, I was frustrated, definitely worried, among other things. There were so many emotions going through this experience, but it definitely opened my eyes to a different culturally infused area. 

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

Microaggreessional behavior was definitely something that I didn't really realize until I knew more about it.

Upon realizing the details and the importance of micro aggressions, it can be easier to notice and deal with in a professional environment.

Having a diverse employee group, there are definitely times where it seems as though there are conversations about disagreements and other comments including religious beliefs, sexuality and even age differences.

This week, there were conversations about sexuality preferences and it made the scene uncomfortable to deal with, considering my daughter is a lesbian and I support her sexual lifestyle.

Perspectives on Diversity Culture

The friends that I chose for this assignment are Katrina, and Charlene. 

Katrina is an African American friend of mine.

Her definition of culture "When I hear the word culture I think of the cultural food, clothing, language, religion and festivals."

Her definition of diversity "A variety of different races."

Charlene is a Caucasian friend of mine.

Her definition of culture "When I think of the word culture I think of the culture's traditions, their food, and their religion.

Her definition of diversity "A mixture of races."

3 Culture Items

Three items that I have chosen as a part of my family culture would be:

1. Flag
2. Jar of sand 
3. Picture/postcard

I think that these three things would symbolize my favorite parts about growing up in Guam. The flag would be the most memorable as well as the picture, and the jar of sand would be just for me to remember how the sand felt on my favorite beaches. 

Thank you

I would like to post "thank you" to my fellow classmates in this course, I appreciate your thoughts and stories regarding communication. I have learned new ideas to not only observe but to try also. I wish everyone well and good luck with the continuation of your degree program and overall in life.

Adjourning Phase

Considering the adjourning phase and the groups that I've been involved in, there were some groups that were harder to leave than others.

If we label the 5 Steps of team development, each one of them has very important structural values. All successful group developments have considerable talents in each step.

There was a specific group that I was involved in when I was stationed in Fort Lee, Virginia. My job at the time was well informed on all instructions on the job. We worked well together, our chemistry was there, and personalities were all there as well. The best part was being able to get as much done as we did, and also have a great time doing it.

If I compare the group that I was involved in then and now, the comparisons are nonexistent. There are specifics that go into group dynamics and individuality is definitely one of them.

Communication Disagreements

There have been recent communication disagreements with my 2 daughters.

Having disagreements with family is obviously more personal than with a co-worker, but they're also harder to work through. My oldest daughter wants to move to Florida and start a new life down there, but she has no actual plan and no roadmap for her to get down there and succeed; she wants to just go and be there to live everything out like she's been planning. My second eldest daughter is having a serious lack of motivation to go back to school and she always thinks I'm attacking her when I ask her what her plans for the future are.

Beginning with my eldest; I just want her to go down there and succeed like she wants. I have no doubt she will be able to, but I also don't want her to think that this is all going to be easy, because it's not going to be. She understands the consequences, but I can't seem to make it clear to her that I'm just being overprotective rather than overbearing.

My second eldest and I always seem to butt heads, and I'm sure it's because of the personality differences. She always thinks I'm attacking her, but in reality, I'm just trying to figure out where she's heading so she doesn't get stuck like I did. I want her to be successful and I want the very best for her. I want her to understand the consequences of her waiting too long to go to school, but I think she wants to be young and live her life and not have to worry about the consequences; which I understand. It's just hard to reason with, coming from a parent's point of view.

Communication Differences

With the communication tests, there were so many different validations with the results and it was difficult for me to understand the results without finding some way to connect to all the final results. Once I thought about the questions in more detail, I was able to connect with the groups/classifications the questions aligned me in more. The problem was the Listening style test, and I did not agree with the results at all. I thought about the questions and I could see the similarities and why I was classified in that particular group but ultimately, I didn't agree that I become emotionally invested in the problems that are explained to me. 

With the results from my family member and my co-worker, the differences between all results were incredibly interesting. I figured that the test would be most accurate if I had a co-worker who wasn't someone I communicated with daily complete it, because they see an aspect of me that isn't too personal and they only have the image that is placed before them. 

When I noticed the differences, it was almost like the results were describing different people. Thinking about communication and the key factors that are immediate to effective communication like tone, body movements and eye contact, it can be interesting to think about. 

Cultural Diversity

The cultural diversity seen within my surroundings is surreal. It's actually something I don't think about often because I've always been surrounded by diverse populations. With my husband being in the military, it's assumed that there are other people around us from areas all over the world living right next to us. Living so closely allows all of our neighbors to become acquainted with one another and understand the idea of culturally infused areas.

With culture, there are definitely some boundaries that people overlook because they are unaware of the impact their lack of knowledge will influence. With people that I am unfamiliar with, I typically hesitate on my responses because I don't want to offend them or their culture in any way.

Communication Skills

The TV show I chose to examine was Criminal Minds. I'm not familiar with the characters, story line, or plot for this show, so it was difficult for me to go through the entire episode and not know what was happening. I could gain some familiarity with the characters and how they communicated with one another through facial expressions and body movements, but ideally, it would've been a lot simpler if I knew the characters and what the show was/is about. Body language and facial movements were the most crucial points of communication with this show, considering the lack of knowledge I had about it. 

I assumed certain personalities for the characters and their relationships through the show while it was on, but as I was watching it recorded back with sound, I was definitely wrong in some cases. Comfortably, there's nothing more easing than being able to understand characters and their personalities after watching the episode in sound. If this was a show I was familiar with then it would be less difficult to gauge the relationships between characters because I would already have an understanding of the dynamics within the cast. 

Communication

The person who I have chosen as a competent communicator is my Aunt Annie. My aunt has been a positive role model when it comes to communication. She would always exhibit interest and that she was listening and processing what was said. Between the compassion in her voice, her eye contact and she listened as I spoke. The look that she would give me that she understood, what I was saying and she would ask me if I understood as well. There was never a moment when she displayed disappointment, but she did express verbally when an action of mine was disliked or disapproved. She was family, so communication was always respectful, not that I would ever disrespect her. My aunt was known as the aunt or person who everyone loved. She was very compassionate and she didn't have favorites, she treated everyone the same. When it came to communication we were treated differently because the types of effective communication were not universal. It wasn't a "one size fits all" type of method. My aunt had a gift to speak with her siblings, her nieces and nephews and everyone else in between.

I admire my aunt's compassion and that she listened, when she spoke, it wasn't degrading or speaking down to you, even during confrontations, my aunt did not speak with anger, but with clear thoughts. She adjusted her communication tactics depending on the situation. I would hope that what I have learned from her growing up, would be something that I could model and practice with my communication efforts.

I am still a working progress in communication; I have learned that effective communication is different for everyone, and even from generation to generation. I need to learn to communicate with children so that it's effective and then be able to change to parents and then to staff and the director. Just because I speak doesn't mean the communication is understood. There is a lot to effective communication and this is just the beginning.