The Journey is coming to an end

We have finally made it to the end of this journey. I thought it was going to be a long journey but it seems like just yesterday we started in our first course. I have learned many things well enrolled at Walden University.

1. There is a whole world out there that needs our help for Early Childhood Education. I need to step up and start helping to get the word out there that Early Childhood Education really does matter.

2. There are many Early Childhood Educators out there willing to help you out. With this program I have met so many wonderful people that I will be able to contact when advice is needed. 

3. Never give up on your dreams/goals. There were many times that I asked myself why did I go back to school. After finishing this class I am glad I never gave up. I encourage everyone to keep going on with their goals/dreams. When you reach the end you will feel awesome!

This program has encourage us all to create goals for our life. My long term goal is to keep helping other Early Childhood professionals. I have started this year by being a cooperative teacher for a student teacher. I look forward to train many other teachers and to help them through their journey.

Now I leave you with a video of me and some quotes that are inspirational to me. 

Please feel free to find me on Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/cheryl.d.52 or you can try to search me by Cheryl LaBonville. Please let me know that you are from Walden University. 

You can also email me at clabonville87@gmail.com

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

I have looked into organizations that are in the United States that have to do with Early Childhood Education. Now I am going to be looking in to organization that work internationally. 

The first organization that I have chosen to look into is Save the Children. The reason I have chosen to look at this organization is because they invest in all children. Their main focus is children who are in crisis. They work all around the world but mainly in third world countries. They give the children what they need to become a healthy adult. Such as health care and education. I think it would be an amazing experience to work for them. A job posting that I found would be interesting is a Specialist, Program, Early Childhood Development. In this position I would have to support staff to make sure they are achieving the standards. I would have to rain staff. I would have to observe, coach and mentor staff at certain sites. I would have to collect data. I would have to communicate with the professionals above me. Those are just some of the main duties. In order to be hired for this job I would need a Bachelors degree in Early Childhood Education. Though they prefer a Masters. Three years of experience with infant/toddlers. Experience as a trainer, as a home visitor and working with professionals. 

The second organization that I have chosen to look into is Association for Childhood Education International. The reason I picked this organization is because they want to share new approaches to early childhood professionals. They have different campaigns, programs and events to do this. Their main goal is just to promote early childhood education. 

The third organization that I have chosen to look into is UNICEF. I really enjoyed looking into this organization. They do a wide variety of work in the early childhood field. They work on child protection, children who are disabled,  child survival, education, emergencies,and gender equality. I cannot think if one thing that they do not help with. I feel it is great that their is an organization out there that helps with everything.

The fourth organization that I have chosen to look into is UNESCO. The reason I like this organization is because they work with all age groups. They have all different things they work for such as life long learners, literacy, teachers and women and girl's education. They seem to update their website all the time to stay up to date. 

The last three organization that I looked into some had job postings out of the United States. The other ones just has how to get involved. 

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

I had a hard time at first looking for jobs in the early childhood education field for the national/federal level. I thought I had to find a job for the federal government. I then realized that I could find a job just on their website but it could be for other places since that was really all I saw posted. 

I did find what I believe is a national job for National Head Start Association. The job I thought sounded interesting was Operations Coordinator. The job duties are "to develop plans, monitor and coordinate operations of Head Start centers in accordance with all applicable guidelines, and to train mentor and support staff to achieve program goals"(NHSA,2015). Since I am not a member of the National Head Start Association I was unable to view more detail on this job. I have chosen this association because Head Start is a wonderful program. I feel they do great things for families that need the help. I would love to be part of that.  

The second organization that I found was National Association for the Education of Young Children. The position I thought sounded interesting was the Director of Quality Assessment and Assurance.  I have chosen this job because I think it would be interesting to look at the assessment scores of centers/classrooms. The qualifications and skills needed for this position are bachelor's degree, able to recruit, 3 years of experience with supervisory, able to motivate staff, and experience with early childhood evaluation.  The reason I have chosen NAEYC is because they are a very well known organization. I believe in everything they work for. "NAEYC promotes high-quality early learning for all children, birth through age 8, by connecting 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, 2015).

The third organization that I found was National Children's Advocacy Center. The position I thought was interesting was Family Advocate. This position is in charge of training and consultations to professionals. The education and experience needed is a Bachelor's degree in related field, license to provide mental health services, experience in related field, case management experience. The skills needed are confidentiality, knowledge of child development, able to work any hours, professional and able to speak English. I reason I have chosen this organization is because it has to do with my challenge. "The NCAC models, promotes, and delivers excellence in child abuse response and prevention through service, education, and leadership"(NCAC, 2015). 

The fourth organization that I found was Zero to Three. The position I thought was interesting was Policy Specialist. A Bachelor's degree is need for this position. The skills are strong writing, time management, dependable, able to travel, interpersonal skills, solve problems. Microsoft office, and 2 years of experience. I have chose this organization because I have research it many times and I  always find new facts about them. 

Resources

NAEYC. (2015). Our Mission and Strategic Direction. Retrieved from 

        NAEYC: http://www.naeyc.org/about/mission

NCAC. (2015). Mission Statement. Retrieved from National Children's Advocacy 

       Center: http://www.nationalcac.org/mission-statement/mission.html

NHSA. (2015). Professional Development. Retrieved from National Head Start 

       Association: https://www.nhsa.org/our-work/professional-development/careers

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

Ever since I started my Master’s degree I have had a list of jobs in the back of my head that I would be interested in once I graduate with my degree. Below are a list of jobs that I would be interested in working with:

·         Child Protective Services

·         Department of Education

·         Education Specialist

·         Child Abuse Prevention

·         Child Care Licensing Consultant

The first organization that I looked at was Child Abuse Neglect Council also known as CAN Council. I have been interested in this organization for a very long time. The reason the CAN Council has appealed to me is because of the work they do. I would love to work for them and be apart in stopping child abuse. Their mission statement explains everything; “We are building communities where children are free from abuse and neglect” (CAN COUNCIL, 2015). As many of you know I am all about stopping child abuse so I feel this organization would be a perfect match for me. They do not have any job postings that I could find on their website. I did find many volunteer positions that are available at CAN Council. The one position that interested me was a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA). The skills needed to become a CASA are commitment to children, common sense and persistence, objectivity, responsibility, communication skills, and the ability to talk to a variety of people. It did not state experience was needed to become a CASA. They do put you through an in depth training to become a CASA. After you complete the training you have to do so many hours of training each year.

The second organization that I looked at was Department of Human Services for the State of Michigan. Though this is not an organization it is a Community of Practice. Department of Human Services have appealed to me because they are able to help make decisions. I feel they are higher up and have more control on what goes on in a child’s life. The position I have chosen to do with Department of Human Services is Service Specialist 9-P11 Bay County. The common name for this position is a CPS worker. The education requirements for this position is a bachelor’s or master’s degree in a major human service area such as child development. You do not need experience for this job.

The third organization that I looked at was the one I am currently employed with Mid-Michigan Community Action Agency. I have chosen this organization because I love what they do for the community. Not only do they provide early childhood services they offer assistance in many other forms such as housing and utilities. They are also great to their employees. I am currently a lead preschool teacher for the agency but the job that I would also be interested in is early childhood education coordinator. They qualifications for this job is at least four years’ experience working with children.  You will also need a Master’s degree in child development or another similar degree field. I have chosen this job because I would love to work with other professionals making them a better teacher and training them.

The fourth organization I found was Starfish Family Services. The reason I have chosen this organization is because they want to invest in the lives of children. They want to help solve problems before the problem escalates. Besides working with children they also work with parents to help create a positive parent-child relationship. The job that I have chosen from this agency is a Curriculum Specialist. The skills needed for this position is PQA reliable certification. I would also need to have a Bachelor’s degree in the field of early childhood education. I would like this position because I would love to observe the teachers and classrooms. Where ever I can teach adults and children I would love. 

Profile of a Volunteer

I have elected to do a friend of my who volunteers not only in early childhood but also for other  organizations. Her current efforts are for Alzheimer. Her father passed away from Alzheimer which had a big affect on her life. She now participates in many events and is an awesome advocate. She has a team for the Walk to End Alzheimer event. She is always advocating on Facebook on other local events. When ever there is a big holiday or event she is always asking for pop bottle returns. She even offers to go pick them up. She then donates that money for their team which goes to the Walk to End Alzheimer event. She is a great advocate and is not afraid to get the word out their about the horrible disease. 

I feel her efforts have impacted many people. Since she has it on Facebook she is reaching many people. I see many people donating pop bottles to her. The team that she organizes is a big team. She has definitely made people aware of Alzheimer. 

A vital message that I have taken away from her efforts is to just keep advocating. She is not afraid to keep posting things on her Facebook. The more you advocate, even if it repeating your self, the more you will get the word out there. 

Using Social Media to Get Connected

I have been using social media for a long time now. I have been using social media since MySpace. It then went to Facebook and now I am using blogs. I feel that if using social media the correct way it can be very helpful. If using social media the wrong way it can lead to be very damaging.  

I feel that all social media tools can lead to effective advocacy. Sometimes social media is the best way to get the word out there. I feel if advocates use social media the correct way they can reach most of the nation. Most people have a Facebook account, with using Facebook to advocated, the message can be continued to circulate all around the web. 

There are different ways that you can use social media to advocate. If you are using a blog I would write how my advocacy project is going. I would write the data and how it has changed since I started working on the advocacy project. I then would also encourage people to join my efforts. If I was using Facebook I would just post a little picture with a saying on it. Just posting that, people would like and share the message making it so all their friends could see it. For example if I shared a picture over 500 people would see the picture. Looking at one of my friends that is always on Facebook she has over 1000 friends that would see the picture. That is 1,500 people that would see the post and that is just with two people liking the status. 

What would you do if you were using social media to promote your efforts?

Advocacy Messages

One message that is inspiring advocacy message "It can wait". This message was created for those who text and drive. There are many accidents, some are fatal, all because someone is texting and not paying attention to the road. I feel this works to some point. I feel it needs to be out in public more. There are still many accidents that happen because everyone thinks it they are fine texting and driving. I think a big thing that helps is putting a picture of a car with "It can wait". 

A second message that is inspiring is "Take a Stand, Lend a Hand". This message is to stop teen bullying. Though it is inspiring in am not sure if it helps. You always hear about stories of teens being bullied. As a teen it is hard to stand up and lend a hand because you may become bullied. Though if you step up you could save a life. 

A third message is "It shouldn't hurt to be a child". This message if for people to help stop child abuse. I feel this message works for the right crowd. 

 

My Own Capacity

• Which issues impacting young children and their families and/or the field of early childhood fuel your passion?

 

The biggest issue that fuels me to be an early childhood professional is that not many people think preschool is a big deal. They think that their child is ready for kindergarten because they know their ABC's. I want to get the word our their that it is very important for a child to go to preschool. Another issue is there are not many people into early childhood. Its my passion and I want to be there for the children. I am so excited where I am at I get to train high schools students and now I am going to start having college students in my classroom. I cannot wait to share my knowledge to students who may possible have the same passion as me. 

• What special skills do you have that will contribute to your advocacy efforts? How will you incorporate these skills into your work?

I feel that I have the skill of patience. I will incorporate this in my work because you have to have patience in order to get anywhere. Things are not going to happen right away. 

• What resources do you have at your disposal that can benefit your advocacy work?

I cannot think of any resources that I have right off hand besides other professionals in my community.

• What knowledge, skills, dispositions, and/or talents do you possess that will contribute to your advocacy work?

I also am very outgoing, People are more likely to listen to someone who is outgoing rather then someone is monotone. 

• In what ways do you hope to grow in order to be a more effective advocate?

I hope to grow in many ways, There is not one subject that I need to increase my knowledge on. I am always looking for conferences to attend because I know that those will all help me to become a better early childhood professional. 

My Role as an advocate

A big push of what motivated me to advocate for very young children is working in the field. There are to many times where children get pushed aside. People do not think that they matter at that age. It irritated me when people say Head Start is not a good program. I then thought nothing would change if I did not stand up for what I believe in. 

Many of you on my last blog as what kind of fundraisers would I do or have I done. I have not done a fundraiser for early childhood yet. One of the biggest fundraisers I helped put on was a dinner. We raised $4000 for a man who lost his house in a fire and then 10 days later lost his leg in a freak accident.  The big thing about this fundraiser was we had a lot of community support. His local church got involved, we had many donations of food, we also had many business donate items for a silent auction. We offered free delivery of the dinners which we were able to delivery to hospital staff. The paper and radio stations advertise the event. None of this would have happen unless you went out and asked. 

Another thing I have done was did a food drive for one of my families. I had teachers bring me food and donate money. I then went to a local dollar store and I was talking to the cashier about what I am doing. I was just making small talk with her as a check out. The next thing I knew is she cancelled my ordered went in her purse and gave me money. She said you are not done shopping yet go back and get more food. The main lesson for this is don't be afraid to ask or even just talk to people about it. They will normally do something for you. 

You need to acknowledge those efforts at both levels. The governor not even the mayor had no idea about the family that could not put food on the table. Same with the man that was in a accident they didn't know about it. Though with all the efforts we did the officials of his city ended up showing up and buying dinner. 

All that it takes to be a community leader on early childhood issues is the passion. You have to have a heart and know how to touch others people so they can help out too. Both of these events above had a story. Don't be afraid to tell people the stories. It will touch their heart and they will help you. 

The resources that it takes to be a state leader is also the passion. You also need your community support. Once you have community support they can help you be a state leader. 

The tactics that I use is getting into their heart. People are not as cold heart-ed as many people think they are. If you touch them they will help you. They will also spread the word. For the dinner we had we had many people who were not even from the community come to dinner. They saw it on Facebook they heard from friends, they heard on the radio and felt it was the right thing to do. 

The advice I would give is never give up. 

Personal Advocacy Reflection

When I was in high school I had a friend that had cancer. He was two years older then me but was very close. He was like family. He has been battling cancer since he was 7 years old. There were so many advocates for him. There were always people fighting to cure cancer. He always had people putting on fundraisers for him and his family. He was only suppose to live 2 years after he was diagnosed. He ended up living until he was 18 years old. During high school his one goal was to walk on graduation day. He achieved that goal. The school had it so he was the last one to receive his diploma. The whole entire audience gave him a standing ovation. Many of them crying because they knew it was his goal. In the fall of his senior year we did not think he was going to make it. He had tumors in 5 different spots of his body. He is a fighter and kicked those tumors out of him. After he graduated high school his next goal was to attend college. He achieved that goal. He attended college for one month until his cancer took a turn for the worse. He ended up not being able to fight the cancer anymore. He passed away on November. With him, his family, the doctors and many friends advocating for him has helped he live a very long life. More then any doctor told him he would live.

 

I have hosted fundraisers for other people. I would love to have a fundraiser for those in early childhood. I feel that is going to be my next step. To raise money for those programs who need the extra help.

Hey everyone! We are almost done with this journey. It is very exciting to see that in 17 weeks we will have our graduate degree. For this blog we were not given something to write about so I thought I would introduce myself. My name is Cheryl. I am from Michigan. I have been teaching preschool for 4 years now. I knew for a very long time that I wanted to be a teacher because I love children so much. I love to hang out with family. I have 3 brothers, two sisters and then a bunch of in-laws. I am expecting my first child in November. Everyone says I have good planning because we graduate at the end of October and I am due November 7th. I am excited to meet my little girl. So when I am not working and doing homework and I working on stuff for her arrival. 

Have a great Fourth of July weekend! Can't wait to get to know you all more. 

Create a family

For this assignment we were asked to create a hypothetical family. I have to pretend that this is my family. My family is a young couple who is expecting their first child. My husband and I have decided to do a special test to see if their child has any diseases so they can prep before the baby is born. Our worse fear became true at the appointment that shared the results. Our sweet bundle of joy has Down syndrome. We are a middle class family with both of us having decent jobs. Though we both have decent jobs we do not make enough money to be able to afford all the upcoming medical bills that we will have with our child. The doctor suggest that we are able to terminate but we both right away said no. Our family was going to be watching the child while we are at work. Now that we know our child has Down syndrome they are unsure if they will be able to take care of our child. We start looking into child care but we are not able to afford to send our child to any of the centers that will take a child with Down syndrome. After many center visits we found a program called Early Head Start. We never thought we would qualify but we were accepted because of our child having Down syndrome. Early Head Start will help us find ways to afford all the medical bills that we will have. 

One thing that people are doing to advocating for early childhood is the fact the preschool really does matter. People are advocating that preschool does matter to get more funding. This really interested me because we do need more funding in early childhood education. The only thing is that it hard to get funding when there is not funds out there. I personally believe that instead of making cuts to programs that are well needed, not just education. I think the government officials should make cuts to their pay checks. That would give us funds for other programs that need the money. 

Parent, Family and Community Engagment

As I was watching the video clips I felt relieved. All I hear now a days about Head Start is that it is just a free day care. After watching all these videos it made my professional thoughts feel so much better. It is always good to hear people talk good about Head Start. It makes me feel so much better to know I am really making a difference in these families lives. 

When we get parents involve they feel like the belong. It is important for them to be involved because what we teach the children the parents can continue at home and in the summer. That way their child is receiving services all year long. 

I feel if more people watched these videos they were better understand Head Start. I think the government officials should watch these. That way they can see true testimony and maybe put more money towards it. 

Quality Programs for all children

Early Childhood is a great debate I believe in the United States. Many people I feel do not know the importance of early childhood services especially preschool. I feel like many people feel that preschool is just a day care. I have received comments many times on when am I going to go to school to become a teacher. I tell them I am and then they say no a real teacher. People do not realize that that is degrading and wrong to say but that is just the view of the public. 

I feel that only a handful of people look for a quality early childhood program. I feel like most parents just put their child in a program that is close to their home. They do not look into the program to see if it is the best. When something happens that is when they complain. 

I feel like funding is a huge issue because people do not feel that early childhood should be given money but then they are also upset when the cost is to high for them. Leaving many of the children in the care of relatives. I feel like relatives are a great source of care but children also need the social side of the child care experience. 

The reason I feel all of the above is just listening to parents and people in the community. 

What resonates with me about early childhood public policy and advocacy.

We are finally at the point in our journey that we are in our specialization courses. We only have three more courses to take and then we are Graduate Students. For my degree I have chosen to go in the specialization of Public Policy and Advocacy. The reason I have chosen this path is because of what I want to do with my degree. I would love to work for the Department of Education to make education better for everyone. I would also like to help stop child abuse and get signs out to all teachers out there. With that being said that is what I chose Public Policy and Advocacy because those jobs relate directly to the degree.  

Everyone can be an advocate but only a few have the passion for it. I want to advocate for the children and families that are not able to advocate for themselves. Advocate are so important because they are the ones that can change something bad in to good. If you want to be a good advocate you need to know everything about what you are advocating. 

For this specialization it is hard to come up with only three goals. I want to learn as much as possible so I can help change the world. I know I will not do it alone or even change the whole world but if I can change one aspect of anything that is one step closer then we are now. So my goals are going to be broad.

Goal one: To become a better advocate.

Goal two: To learn about all the policy pertaining to education.

Goal three: To teach others about public policy and how to become a better advocate. 

Good luck in your courses we are in the home stretch to graduation. 

To all my classmates that have helped me through my journey. As we all go to our different directions to finish up our degree we may not talk to each other anymore. If you would like to stay in contact you may email me at cheryl.labonville@waldenu.edu. Good luck in the rest of your journey. 

Everyone has been part of a group at one point in their life. With every group there are multiple stages. The last stage is the adjourning stage. This is the stage where the group is leaving/dismissing. This can sometime be the hardest stage in a group. 

One of the hardest groups to leave that I was apart of was my high school band my sophomore year. Though I continued to be part of the group through out my whole high school career my sophomore year was the hardest year to leave for the summer. My sophomore year we were such a big family. We achieved so much by doing great at competitions, to helping a terminally ill classmate, to having the honor of representing the State of Michigan at the World War II memorial opening in Washington D.C. We also were invited to play at many other national events and also we were also invited to play in Ireland at their St. Patrick's Day Parade. Because of money we only were able to choose one and we decided to play in D.C. It was also hard to leave this group for the summer because our teacher was retiring. We were all very close and it was hard to say goodbye to her and all the seniors who were not coming back. To say goodbye we had a awards ceremony/good bye party. One last time to spend time together. It was hard at the end but we still stay in contact with each other. Especially when our classmate that was terminally ill past away the following December. We got back together and held each other through this hard time. We still stay in contact through Facebook till this day but we are not as close as we were. 

To be honest since this my program is all online I have not really gotten close to my classmates. I look forward to reading their post and see who will follow me into my advocacy program.

One conflict that I recently had was with the speech therapist that provides services to one of my students. I had bought it to her attention that I was worried about the child having Autism. She has the child's older brother and tells me that it is the mom that just wants more money for her children. When talking to my supervisor she said if I do not have the support of her I would not get anywhere. So with much regret I had to just work with the child on my own with what knowledge I had. At the last conference that I had with the parent, without me saying anything, she had a concern with her son. She has known someone with Autism and she sees many similarities. So I decided to talk to my supervisor and disabilities coordinator one more time. They said mom has to bring the concern to the speech therapist. If the speech therapist does not do anything then we will go from there. That is where we are standing on this conflict. Just by the comments that the speech therapist has made I do not think we will get very far with out a fight. We are hoping that we are able to get it figured out by the end of the year so the child does not fall behind in kindergarten. The conflict has still not be resolved but I will still stand strong on my opinion that this child needs help. I know you are suppose to compromise when their is a conflict but in my opinion I have to advocate for this child to succeed.

My co-teachers are being very supportive. They all think that something needs to be done. They are not sure what it is but they have stated that their are times that his response are not like a typical five year old.  

Communication Evaulation

This week I had a chance to take assignments to see where I am on communication. I feel I scored very well and agree with what the scores describe me as. I also had the opportunity to have two people take the same evaluations on me. The scores they came up with on me were very similar to what I can up with. I was surprised that they were very similar. People always have their own opinion so I figured they would think of me differently then I think of myself. 

The first insight that I have had this week is who I really am when it comes to communication. I am happy with who I am but I also learned what I can work on to become a better communicator. The second insight that I had was I need to communicate as I know what I am saying. If I show any signs of nervousness I will not be taken as serious as I would with confidence.