MY ROLE AS AN EARLY CHILDHOOD ADVOCATE

            There are many reasons why I chose this specialization. Children and their families need someone to stand up for them. I want to be an individual that children can count on for support, opportunities, and reach out to resources to help children. I used to be in positions where I did not know what to do to help or how to do them. I am in a better position now to learn more about resources I can use to help children.

            Advocates are essential in the lives of children in order to give them the best needed opportunities to develop and succeed in life. Creation of awareness by starting children on strong foundation can prevent some delays that each child might exhibit later. I want to be involved in being part of an organization that will bring resources, find funders, and help in making things happens for children.

            I have a lot I want to learn about public policy and advocacy, for instance learning about policies, who makes them, their implementation and how children can benefit from the policy. I would like to learn ways of supporting children and protecting them from    things which will get in ways of their development. I would also like to have skills that would enable me be an equipped and informed role model, mentor, or someone children can look up to protect them from hurt or harm and surround them with positive influential people.

Reflecting on Communication in the Early Childhood Field

This semester has been loaded with many new experiences and learning opportunities for me. It has been a wonderful 8 weeks journey sharing information and resources throughout the course. Now is the time for us to enter into our different specialties, with the skills and knowledge to bring about positive changes. I hope we are undergoing positive changes within ourselves as well. The knowledge that I have gained in this class will help me throughout my life personally as well as my professional career. In this field it takes collaboration between the parents, community, and the educators to achieve the same goal. I considered myself to be a very observant and conscious communicator, paying close attention with my eyes and ears.

            I want to thank everyone for your words of wisdom and your support throughout this course. I am looking forward to the next transition and wish everyone much luck and success in the future. It has been a pleasure working with all of you and I hope we can stay in touch (my personal email is danfav32@yahoo.com).

Team Building and Collaboration

This week we have been discussing about team work and the ones we have been involved with as a leader or a follower. We as educators need to work in groups as we partner with families, communities and others around us. As a daughter when I came to America to stay with my dad and step mother, I had to say goodbye to my mother, sisters, cousins and other family members that I have grown to love and share some connections. It was difficult on both sides because we all felt that if it were possible we would have loved to travel together.

            The closing ritual I wish to experience is seeing my father alive again, beaming with smiles and happy that I finally graduated and got my masters degree. He used to remind and challenge his children that whatever others can do we can do better. He finds a way to motivate us any chance he got so that we can aim higher.

            It is important to have closure when working with any team or in a relationship because when a relationship is over or when a task is accomplished, you would like to know why it ended and ask yourself if you achieved your desired goal.

            I appreciate my colleagues for helping me understand that we are all unique individuals with different cultures, backgrounds, developments and goals. So adjourning will not be difficult because it is the time to reflect on what we know about each other from our discussions and blogs. It is important in a team to recognize our achievements, failures, relationships we have formed and goals we have accomplished, all these are important when a team is departing. In the adjourning stage the teams are coming to an end and the team members are moving off into different directions (Abudi, 2010).

Reference

Abudi, G. (2010). The Five Stages of Team Development:  A Case Study.  Retrieved from http:www.projectsmart.co.uk/the-five-stages-of-team-development-a-case-study.html

Conflict Resolution

Reading the information on the center for Nonviolence communication website has opened my understanding to conflict resolution. Recently, I found out that my younger brother pulled out from school and started hanging around with friends. I was so furious when I found out the school situation and I was talking to him in a very loud voice on how he wanted to waste his life. It seems to him that there is no need to have zeal and hope for the future since my father passed last year. He feels that he is a grown up person and knows what he wants for his life and that is not school. He finally came back home because if he does not, he would loose everything that the family had worked very hard to put together for him. Unresolved conflict escalates because no one is paying attention to the conflict or, even if someone is, because no one sets limits on the fighting, or, lastly, because no one intervenes to provide protection (www.thirdeye.org).

            I could have used the escapist strategy and let him wander around and see where he will end up. It is good that I reached out to him.  The strategy I would use in resolving conflict is creating a conducsive atmosphere that would lead to an open effortless conversation. Another strategy I would use is the cooperative strategy to benefit relationship, serve mutual rather than individual goals, and strive to produce solutions (problem solving approach) that benefit both parties. (O’Hair & Weimann 2009).

References

O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2009). Real communication. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

The Third Side. (n.d.). The third side. Retrieved from http://www.thirdside.org/