This has been an amazing journey! The end of this journey opens the door for many other journeys ahead. I have learned how to become a better writer, learning how to express my thoughts better. The feedback from different instructors and colleagues has been so helpful and unforgettable. I feel like I am for sure an emergent leader in the field of early childhood. I now have more of a international view of early childhood and recognize the importance of a global view. One of my goals when starting this journey in the MS ECS program was to learn how to become an effective advocate for children. I now have the knowledge of how public policies are formed and how I can be a social change agent.
One of my long term goals is to move towards affecting policies to advocate for people who teach young children to be educated, even down to the infants. Some many times in the field of early learning it is found that the least educated of teachers are the ones that teach infants and toddlers. The crazy thing about this is that this the time in life where children are learning the most. As I have learned how children learn, it has become even more evident that young children need educated teacher as well. The goal lines up with my goal of all children have the opportunity of quality early learning experiences as well as closing the learning gap. My goal is to continue with my doctorate degree eventually, but I have to take a break for now to spend more time with my children and husband. Working full time and having a family has been a challenge, but we did it!
There is still so much to do and though this part of the journey is ending, we shall continue. I want to thank all my colleagues and instructor for your words of encouragement and feedback through this journey. It was so helpful, you just don't know. I looked forward to reading your response. I would love to continue this journey with you all and so here is my personal contact information. gjonesdance@gmail.com and Gloria Jonesdodsondance on face book. Look me up and I will be looking for you! I am going to miss you all (with tears in my eyes), but I am so excited about moving on.
God Bless you all,
Gloria Jones-Dance
Friday, April 20, 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012
Job/Roles in the ECE Community
UNICEF stands for United Nations Children's Fund. This organization appeals to me in that its belief is that nurturing and caring for children is the corner stone for human progress. I think this is a powerful statement and commitment to mankind, speaking to poverty, violence, disease and discrimination. One of the jobs that sounds interesting in this organization is the Chief of Child Protection. In this job there entails a variety of ways in advocating for children. Skills for doing this type of position would include understanding child protection policies nation wide that affect children, especially relating to violence, disease and discrimination.
International Step by Step Association sounds like a pretty impressive organization in that it connects ECE professionals internationally. This type of organization gives people in the field of early childhood the opportunity to learn what is happening in the areas of early childhood, primary education, equal access, teacher education and civic participation in education. I did not see any job opportunities in this organization, but there were ways to become involved. Opportunities such as being an early childhood expert in the organization along with participating in task forces and writing policy papers. Skills for such positions as these is the knowledge of Early Childhood along with the ability to understand and write policy papers.
International Child Care is a christian health development operating in Haiti with the vision to see health and wholeness in children and families. This organization sees this as a way of responding to God by promoting health and well-being. The idea of making sure that families experience health and wholeness draws me in that this is part of the foundation of life continuing. A job that sounds interesting in this organization is the Community/Education coordinator which is basically supporting the National Director in creating and implementing strategies for marketing the vision and community affairs events. To do this type of job, a person would have to understand the full vision of the organization and be able to articulate it in a convincing and intriguing way. Communication skills and knowledge would be key in functioning in this type of job.
International Step by Step Association sounds like a pretty impressive organization in that it connects ECE professionals internationally. This type of organization gives people in the field of early childhood the opportunity to learn what is happening in the areas of early childhood, primary education, equal access, teacher education and civic participation in education. I did not see any job opportunities in this organization, but there were ways to become involved. Opportunities such as being an early childhood expert in the organization along with participating in task forces and writing policy papers. Skills for such positions as these is the knowledge of Early Childhood along with the ability to understand and write policy papers.
International Child Care is a christian health development operating in Haiti with the vision to see health and wholeness in children and families. This organization sees this as a way of responding to God by promoting health and well-being. The idea of making sure that families experience health and wholeness draws me in that this is part of the foundation of life continuing. A job that sounds interesting in this organization is the Community/Education coordinator which is basically supporting the National Director in creating and implementing strategies for marketing the vision and community affairs events. To do this type of job, a person would have to understand the full vision of the organization and be able to articulate it in a convincing and intriguing way. Communication skills and knowledge would be key in functioning in this type of job.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Job/Roles in the ECE Community
An organization mentioned on the discussion board this week located under the US Department of Education is a grant opportunity to neighborhoods called Promise Neighborhoods. There are several goals that are attached to this grant however there is one that really sticks out to me and the goal is building a complete continuum of cradle-to-career solutions of both educational programs and family and community supports, with great schools at the center. This goal supports the importance of high quality educational opportunities. I would like to be work in the department of education to measure the effectiveness of programs such as these. This might be some type of research analyst. To have this type of job a person would need experience with measuring outcomes of programs and hopefully some educational background in education.
Another one of the community partners I chose was the Children’s Defense Fund. I like their trial of thought that says “a strong, effective, independent voice for all American children”. This saying embraces and supports all children no matter where they come from. This organization is always current with what is happening in the nation surrounding children. I can appreciate that.
A job that appeals to me in this organization is director of early childhood development policy. Skills for this type of job would most definitely need at least a master’s level education in the field of early childhood, along with years of experience and skill in the understanding of policy development.
Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University is another one of the communities that I chose. This program focuses on research around any issues that surround children and how it affects children and the world in general. This is an amazing organization one of the jobs that would be of interest to me would be the project director for global children’s initiative. The goal of this initiative is to build an integrated international approach to child survival, health, and development in the earliest years of life. Types of skills for this job would be to understand how positive health and economic situations affect the well being of young children. This type of job would also need a person that has excellent public relations skills and a global respect for all people.
US Department of Education
Center on the Developing Child Harvard University
Children’s Defense Fund
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Exploring Roles in the ECE Commuity
Children's Defense Fund is an organization that I would love to work for. This agency advocates for children in every sense of the word. The mission to make sure that children are seen as the priority and this is the main focus. A job that I found of interest in this organization was the Director of Child Development Policy. This position is resposible for developing and implementing early childhood development policy recommendation. In order to do this type of position I would need to be current with policies that relate to early childhood and know how to connect with politicians.
There is an organization called Casey Family Programs founded in Seattle close to the area that I am located in. Casey family is committed to helping states and tribes implement effective child welfare practices. This agency is most popular for working with children that are in foster care and agencies that work with children in foster care. My heart is also to advocate for children in foster care, supporting policies and practicies that assure that these children have a safe and nuturing place to live. One of the positions that I would be interested in this type of agencies would be foster care placement. I would need to make sure that I understood foster care placement and guidelines around what type of homes and families that would best fit certain children. One of the goals for placing children in foster care is to find permanent placement for children that do not have a chance to going in to a biological placement. This position could be challenging.
Voices for Americas Children is another organization that really sticks out to me. The goal is to improve the lifes of all children especially the most vulnerable. This idea connects with what I believe in that all children deserves quality of life. A job I think my be interesting in this organization is a policy fellow. I would have the opportunity to impact policy on local, state and federal level in some capacity.
These are just three of the organizations that were of interest, but there were more that were of interest as well.
www.casey.org/about us/approach
www.voices.org/about
www.childrendefense.org/about-us
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Profile of a Volunteer
As I started thinking of volunteers that I am connected with in my own community, I started to think of one of the ladies I know that volunteers as the accountant at PTA. This person is a stay at home mom that has seven children, and is also very educated with a Masters Degree in accounting. She makes it a point to volunteer for all the events of all her children that attend different schools. She is kind and passionate about offering to take on projects that people such as myself are unable to take on because we work full time and never downs parents who are not able to volunteer. This person has volunteered for several years to take on the task of being in charge of the major fund raiser of the school, which is a major task and brings a lot of money to the school.
Besides that fact that she is able to stand in the gap for us parents that can not volunteer as much as she can, her efforts help to bring money into the schools, her efforts assist in making events happen for the families for the benefit of what is best for children. When I think about what is a vital take away message as far as my efforts as a advocate for children and families, my goal is to continue to seek ways that I can be an advocate the best that I can. I will remember that just because I can not do everything that my heart desires that every committed effort makes a difference. If I can help others know that their efforts make a difference then we can make change happen.
Besides that fact that she is able to stand in the gap for us parents that can not volunteer as much as she can, her efforts help to bring money into the schools, her efforts assist in making events happen for the families for the benefit of what is best for children. When I think about what is a vital take away message as far as my efforts as a advocate for children and families, my goal is to continue to seek ways that I can be an advocate the best that I can. I will remember that just because I can not do everything that my heart desires that every committed effort makes a difference. If I can help others know that their efforts make a difference then we can make change happen.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Using Social Media to Get Connected
Wow, after reading the social media required reading, I did not realize how connected I was to social media. I face book all the time and of course I blog. I also have a tweet account which I hardly use and of course I get information from you tube all the time. The one that I am just familiarizing myself with is change.org, which I find to be pretty informative as well.
When I think about which of these could be powerful for advocacy, I think all of them could be. Each of them reaches a variety of audiences. If I begin to use my tweet account and connect with more people via tweet, I could get the message out about the issues that I think are worth while hearing. I think many of the politicians have tweet accounts and I know that many influential people have tweet accounts and I could include my tweets about issues if I connect with them. Face book I use, but I could voice some concerns on this social media avenue as well. I really like that change.org site, like I said I am going to explore that site more.
What ideas do you have for promoting advocacy efforts?
When I think about which of these could be powerful for advocacy, I think all of them could be. Each of them reaches a variety of audiences. If I begin to use my tweet account and connect with more people via tweet, I could get the message out about the issues that I think are worth while hearing. I think many of the politicians have tweet accounts and I know that many influential people have tweet accounts and I could include my tweets about issues if I connect with them. Face book I use, but I could voice some concerns on this social media avenue as well. I really like that change.org site, like I said I am going to explore that site more.
What ideas do you have for promoting advocacy efforts?
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Advocacy Messages
One of the campaign advocacy messages that caught my eye is on the National Children's Advocacy center web site. The mission of this organization is to advocate for abused children. One of the advertisements I found on this web site was "an invitation to be a voice for the children through the protectors circle". The Protectors circle is a group of organizations that have partnered together to advocate for children, together they are called the protectors circle. Just the word protector is a sale word that will catch the attention of those who want to advocate for children, but would rather do it through donations. On this web site there is a certain donation that also allows anyone to become a part of the protectors circle. Great catch phrase.
National Children's Alliance has the advertising phrase that says "empowering local communities to serve child victims of abuse". When I hear the word empowering, it automatically makes me think of someone or something giving me power. The idea that this organization gives power to communities for such a cause,seems like it would cause initiatives that help abused children would cause mobility for issues that impact abused children.
These advertisements are very important in catching the eye of the public and causing mobility.
National Children's Alliance Retrieved from www/Nationalchildrenalliance.org
The National Children's Advocacy Center Retrieved from http://www.nationalcac.org/
National Children's Alliance has the advertising phrase that says "empowering local communities to serve child victims of abuse". When I hear the word empowering, it automatically makes me think of someone or something giving me power. The idea that this organization gives power to communities for such a cause,seems like it would cause initiatives that help abused children would cause mobility for issues that impact abused children.
These advertisements are very important in catching the eye of the public and causing mobility.
National Children's Alliance Retrieved from www/Nationalchildrenalliance.org
The National Children's Advocacy Center Retrieved from http://www.nationalcac.org/
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