Parent, Family, and Community Engagement

• The personal significance I drew from these stories is that the all the families have so much respect and gratitude for a program that showed them how to be better parents and implement all the techniques from the classroom into their homes.  They also have so many wonderful resources for the children outside of the Head Start Program.  Head start not only assist with the parents but all the important people in the children's lives like grandparents.  It is extremely important for parents to be involved in their children's programs because they can reinforce all the daily learning in the classroom into the child's daily life at home.  The child will learn and comprehend a lot easier because it is consistent and the parent are not contradicting what has been taught to the child during the day.  From the abc's to social interaction with peers and following simple directions.  I  think the value of hearing these wonderful stories are extremely important because we need to hear from the people whose lives are most affected and show how the politicians that this program has changed their lives for ever.  The politicians need to hear these stories and make that our government continue to fund this program for children and families  all of the country.  That the saying no child is left behind is true and not some "political slogan to get more votes.  As you can tell already I know that parent is involvement in this program and all activities that their child is in because it shows the child that they are important and we support them in everything they do.  Also to reinforce what they are learning and make sure they are on the right track to be a productive member in our society.

Quality Programs for All Children

Quality Programs for All Children

 As a Preschool Director for the last sixteen years I do feel society has changed overall their views on early childhood education.  There are more resources out there for families, teachers and administrations.  There are so many amazing trainings for professionals in early childhood.  What has not changed is how we look at our teachers and how we compensate them for the wonderful work they do in their classrooms.  My teachers could go work at McDonald's or the local gas station and make more money then they do as an early preschool teacher.  The teachers that had a college degree in Early Childhood only worked for my school for a limited time until they were able to get into the public school system.  I tell my teachers that they are the experts in this industry and are professionals but their salaries says otherwise.  I think if we can really change how society  and especially the parents look at  teachers as professional experts in early childhood instead of baby sitters.  Then hopefully we can have a starting salary for preschool teachers.  I am very passionate about this because  my preschool teachers are the ones who introduce them to their ABC's and 123. They help them with their social skills and so much more.  I think if we raise their salaries and show them that we do recognized them as experts I believe you will see less turnover rates in our schools and teachers who are professionals at all times.  And in return happy children and happy parents and schools that are full in enrollment.

Part 2 of Why I choose Child Advocay and Public Policy

The goals I would like to achieve in my professional life with regarding to Child Advocacy and Public Policy:

1. I would love to work for UNICEF or Children's Defense Fund
2. Working with the United Nations
3. Assisting with an organization to help children that are living in homeless shelters.
4.  Work for CASA fulltime

What Resonates With You About Early Childhood Public Policy and Advocacy?

The reason why I choose this specialization is because everyday I see children in my school that are in foster care system or living with their grandparents or other family members.  I want to be the voice for the children who do not have that person who wants to best for them including a safe and loving home.  In 2014, I completed my training to become a CASA volunteer for Johnson County Texas.  In November 2014 I received my first case, two teenage girls were sexually abused by their father and watched their father shot their mother.  It makes me so disgusted that it had to come down to this for the girls to be removed from their parents care.  CPS workers are overloaded with so many cases that I feel that they are unable to truly give the attention the children. As a CASA volunteer I am their voice during the entire process in the foster care system.

Week 4-Blog

I think as myself as a good communicator but I become very nervous when communicating in front of a group of people.  My anxiety level starts to rise when I have to speak to a group of people.  Even when I start to talk in front of my staff at our monthly meetings. When it comes to listening I think I need to improve my skills.  I tend to try to multitask when communicating with others and i realized that I was not giving them entire attention and it was disrespectful.  I also realized that I need to slow down when communicating with others.  Because sometimes my verbiage can be confusing to others because I am talking to fast.

For my Collegues

I want to thank all of you for helping me understand how to be a better communicator and an effective listener.  You all wrote wonderful discussions and blogs and by doing this I had to examine myself and see what I needed to do to achieve my goals as an educator.  Many of you gave examples in your discussions that resembles some of the issues I deal with on a daily basis and it made me feel like I had people that understood what I do everyday and it is okay to feel unsure but at the same time still a good leader in this field.  Thank you so much for everything and I look forward to our next class together.

My personal email address is;  carerichardson74@gmail.com

Blog Assignment 6-Adjourning

Adjourning stage is the hardest stage because this where the team reflects on the project or overall experience.  "In the "adjourning stage" the project is coming to an end and the team members are moving into different directions.  This stage looks at the team from the perspective of the well-being of the team rather than from the perspective of managing a team though the original four stages of team growth (Abudi, G. 2010)."
After working at my preschool as the Assistant Director for eight years I transferred from Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Grand Prairie, Texas.  I became part of a family of teachers who achieved so many recognitions from our company because of our enrollment and teacher turn over rate.  We piloted a new training program and it made a tremendous difference within our company.  Saying goodbye was extremely hard but when I do go back to Iowa I always stop by the old school.  But a lot has changed since then.  There are only two teachers that are currently working there and the children are all now in public school.  I still talk to some of my teachers and director thanks to face book.  I learned a lot about team work and letting go from that experience.  I am currently a director at a preschool in Cleburne, Texas and I have a strong team that are more like family.  We currently pulled together to be a Christmas float and last night we participated in the parade and it was a huge success. I have learned that I need to embrace in the daily achievements with my team because in this industry is can change at any time.  When I left Cedar Rapids we had a big going away party.
Another adjourning moment I have watched and saw how difficult it was for both my sons to play their last high school football game.  There were a lot of tears and no one wanted it to end.  Both boys have kept items from that time.  Of course they are in college and started a team again but they have told me it is not like the days in high school.  The boys had a big party at the end of the year.  Some of them still talk to each others.
As for the masters I think it will be easier to adjourn from Walden because for me it is an online class and really haven't connected with anyone because my professional life takes most of my time.  My children and finance also consume a lot of my time so I really do not get a chance to talk to other students.  And that makes me a little sad because I think that my colleagues are all amazing people.

Reference:

Abudi, G. (2010). The five stages of team development: A case study. Retrieved fromhttp://www.projectsmart.co.uk/the-five-stages-of-team-development-a-case-study.html