Time Well Spent

The Masters Degree in Early Childhood Education program at Walden University has shaped and formed me into a better teacher. I have learned so many things about myself as well as a deeper look at where I came from. I learned that unconsciously we often have biases that form our thoughts and opinions about things. I learned to consider this before making assumptions or judgments on things. I learned that no matter the statistics of things the opportunity is there to change these things. For instance I am a single mother that was brought up in extreme poverty. I worked my way out of this and plan to help others do the same.  I learned that balancing school, work, and kids alone can be very stressful. It was very rewarding as well! I would like to thank all of the instructors and my fellow peers for all of your support in this program.

I have a strong passion to help the early childhood education in my community. I really enjoyed the capstone project. I feel that I can really make a change in my community with this project. I am working on helping families with children with behavior challenges. 

I am currently a preschool teacher in the lee county school system. My long term goal is to become a professor. I have already applied for the Education Special Program here at Walden University. I plan to start in May. I need a little break! I have been in college for the past 11 years. I have a few applications at local community colleges.  I would like to teach Early Childhood Education in my county. I plan to teach preschool for at least 10 years.

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

Academy for Educational Development: This website offers information about current event going on with education and development. I enjoy keeping up on current events.

Save the children: Last year I joined the email notification list for this group. I enjoy being notified of changes and opportunities to help.

United Nations Children’s Fund: I always enjoy reading all the current events offered on this website. It helps keep me in touch with what is going on in the world.

The job that I found that was interesting was an Early Childhood Education (ECE) Specialist, American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start Region XI T/TA, Washington, US. The Early Childhood Education (ECE) Specialist position provides technical assistance and training to Head Start Grantees in areas related to school readiness, training and career needs of Grantee staff, and collaboration activities. The Head Start Regional T/TA is part of a larger, comprehensive Office of Head Start (OHS) system: the OHS T/TA system. The project will provide technical assistance and training to American Indian and Alaska Native Grantees.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

·  Provide training and technical assistance to improve teacher/child interactions as described by the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) for center based preschool programs and other measures available that are suitable for programs serving children from birth to three or children in family child care settings.

·  Assist Grantees with the selection and implementation of a research-based, developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate curriculum inclusive of the domains on the Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework, Head Start Program Performance Standards and other regulations across the birth to five spectrum.

·  Assist Grantees to develop and implement effective mentoring and coaching strategies designed to improve teacher/child interactions, classroom quality, and developmental and school readiness outcomes for all children including children with disabilities and dual language learners.

·  Assist Grantees in implementing family engagement that is systematic, integrated and comprehensive across program systems and services in support of successful home-school partnerships and children's school readiness.

Qualifications:

·  A Bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education, with a preference for a Master's degree;

·  A minimum of 5 years of experience in programs serving young children birth to five is required;

·  Theoretical knowledge of child development;

·  Demonstrated experience conceptualizing and conducting extensive and intensive T/TA that is grounded in theory; and proven experience in providing effective T/TA that translates theory to practice;

·  Demonstrated experience working with both education managers and teachers;

·  Ability to develop, train and provide presentations to individuals, small and large groups;

·  Understanding of developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate curriculum and assessment;

References

Academy for Educational Development. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.aed.org/en/index.htm

Save the Children. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6115947/k.8D6E/Official_Site.htm

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2011, from http://www.unicef.org/

UN Jobs. (2015). Retrieved from http://unjobs.org/themes/early-childhood-development

Job roles in the EEC community

               National Association for Special Education Teachers: This organization provides resources for teachers to look up when they have questions.  https://www.naset.org/earlyintervention2.0.html

               The NAEYC, The National Association for the Education of Young Children is an organization that works on behalf of the Young children in our nation. This organization also checks early childhood educator’s backgrounds and approves them to work in the force. They also say how many credit hours that you need to receive each year to stay up on your education. Each year I am supposed to get a specific amount of credit hours to continue to teach.

National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) is an organization that works nonprofit to assist family child care needs. When I need resources I can look on the website and see if they have the information that I need.

Teaching abroad always appealed to me. I have two children and don’t feel that I could actually do this in real life. I still find it very interesting.

Teach in Thailand! Teach Away is now interviewing for an Early Childhood Co-ordinator position at a private international school in Bangkok, Thailand.

This school, located in the heart of the residential district of Bangkok, boasts a beautiful environment and caters to young learners. The school aims to provide an intellectually stimulating learning environment that encourages communication and the search for knowledge through creativity and exploration. Teachers selected for this international teaching job will enjoy a multi-cultural environment with students and staff from over thirty different countries.

Candidates for this position should hold a Bachelor's degree in Education. Administrators should also have experience in working with the Reggio Approach. 

Teaching Job Benefits

Accommodation:
Accommodation Details: Subsidized
Airfare Reimbursement: Full
Airfare Description: Economy ticket provided
Vacation: Paid vacation days and national holidays
Bonus:
Airport Pickup:
Health insurance Description: Provided
Relocation Allowance Description: Shipping allowance of up to 30,000 THB on completion of contract
Training Description:
Education Allowance Description:
Furniture Allowance Description:
Other Allowances: Visa provided

Qualifications & Requirements

Required Certificates: Teaching Credential/License
Preferred Certificates:
Level of Education Required:
Major: Education/ Early Childhood Education
Teaching Experience: Minimum of 10 years relevant teaching experience
Additional Requirements: Private or International school experience preferred

References:

http://www.naeyc.org
https://www.naset.org/earlyintervention2.0.html
http://www.nafcc.org

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

 The local organization that I am interested in being involved in is The Lee County Partnership for Children, Coalition for Families in Lee County, and Haven.

The Lee County Partnership for Children

www.leecountypfc.org/

The Lee County Partnership for Children provides programs for young children and their families in Lee County, North Carolina.
I have a lot of interactions with the Lee County Partnership for Children in my current role. They provide the children in which we receive for our program. They also come to us and help us with the layout of our classroom as well as getting ready for assessments. The reason that I would like to do more with this program is that they provide a lot of services to our community to help. For instance they do the books for kids program. They also set up a lot of activities in our communities to help families.  

Coalition for Families in Lee County

coalitionforfamilies.org/

The Coalition for Families in Lee County is a non-profit organization whose efforts are centered to empower and encourage individuals.
I also do a lot in my current position with the Coalition for families. They also come to our school and help with families or children that are delayed or need more one on one help. If we need resources they also help us out. I would like to do more with their smaller programs that help families.

Haven: Helping abuse and violence end now.   
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Haven-In-Lee-County/100159626739469
http://www.haveninleecounty.org/
Our mission is to help people heal from abuse as we work to end domestic violence and sexual assault through community education, intervention and primary.

I do not do a lot with this program this year. In years past I have had children in this program. This program is for woman and their children to go to as a last resort when they have been abused. They have a really nice facility in Lee County. We help donate coats and food to this program. I would like to donate more of my time to help these children with activities.  

The job that I am interested in:

The job that I am interested in is an Adjunct Early Childhood Instructor at Central Carolina Community College.  This is a part-time position that would serve Lee, Harnett or Chatham Campus. Job includes planning, implementing and instructing early childhood course content in a student-centered learning environment. This job requires a Masters in Early Childhood, Child Development,or Elementary Education. Teaching experience is required in an Early Childhood field. The candidate must be familiar with Blackboard or other on-line learning system. I still would like to teach in my Lee County preschool position but take this on as well. 

References

Coalition for families. (2015). Parents as teachers. coalitionforfamilies.org/

Haven. (2015).  Helping families. http://www.haveninleecounty.org/

Lee County Partnership for children. (2010). NCPreK. www.leecountypfc.org/