A personal thank you

I would like to personally thank everyone for contributing to my blog.  I have enjoyed working with you all in this class.  I wish you all the best.

Debra Morgan

Five Stages of working with Groups

Are high-performing groups hardest to leave? Groups with the clearest established norms? Which of the groups that you participated in was hardest to leave? Why?

High performing groups are the hardest to leave.  People enjoy working with others who share their vision and complete tasks successfully.  Also groups that establish norms impact people’s behavior.  They become accustomed to the groups and do not want to leave.  I worked with a group to develop the school float last year.  Everyone worked so well together that the group discussed future projects.  Since most of us work together as teachers, we were inspired by the collaboration of the group.  It was hard to leave because everyone was supportive, creative, and made the project very easy.  We had trust and good communication in the group, and it is hard to find that in other groups.

What sorts of closing rituals have you experienced or wish you had experienced?

 

When the group adjourned, the group held a small party to celebrate the success of the float.  A lot of hard work went into the project, so the party was a way to wind down and say goodbye.

How do you imagine that you will adjourn from the group of colleagues you have formed while working on your master's degree in this program?

 

The scholars in my class have become common names over the year.  Working with them in the discussion helps me to learn course concepts.  As a result, I will miss them when the program is over.  Therefore, I hope to meet some of them at graduate so that we can adjourn properly.

Why is adjourning an essential stage of teamwork?

Adjourning “provides the team the opportunity to say good-bye to each other, and it is likely that high performing teams will keep in touch with each other as they have become a very close knit group” (Abudi, 2010).  Adjourning is important because it gives the team the ability to finalize the project and to move on to other projects.  This is an important stage because it is not the end of the team; instead, it is the beginning of new things.  Teams do not have to stay together once the project is done; therefore, they have to adjourn properly.  This can include a celebration, a party, or a recognition ceremony.

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

Handling conflict

Handling conflict

The current conflict in my organization has been between the teachers and the administrators. Due to budget cuts, teachers are required to ride the buses in the evening.  Teachers argue that this is outside of their job description; however, administrators support that the changes are required.  The teachers are riding the buses; however, they feel that they should receive more compensation for the extra duties. 

The best way to resolve this conflict is through compromise.  However, the administrators and the executive director have all the power.  In order to create an effective conflict resolution strategy, the power has to be equalized, giving teachers a say in the matter.  When power is equalized “participants may bring different amounts of power into a situation. As long as both are interested in negotiating a solution, power is essentially equalized” (Billikopf, 2009).  Therefore, teachers will be able to compromise when they are given an equal say in the situation.  Otherwise, the conflict will continue.

 Nonviolent communication can also benefit the situation.  Instead of forcing changes on teachers, administrators can do a better job of explaining why the changes are needed.

As a result, “NVC also assumes that we all share the same, basic human needs, and that each of our actions are a strategy to meet one or more of these needs” (The Center for Nonviolent Communication, n.d.).  Since teachers want to make more money for what they are doing and administrators need to meet budgets, the two parties can come to an understanding by using nonviolent communication.  Therefore, I believe that clearly explaining how these changes benefit all parties will receive a better response from the teachers.

 

References

Billikopf, G. (2009, August). Conflict management skills. Retrieved from http://cnr.berkeley.edu/ucce50/ag-labor/7labor/13.htm

The Center for Nonviolent Communication. (n.d.). The center for nonviolent communication. Retrieved from http://www.cnvc.org/

Evaluation of communication

This week, I took the Communication Anxiety Inventory, Verbal Aggressiveness Scale, and Listening Styles Profile.  I scored moderately one the first two scales.  The scores were 61 for communication anxiety and 64 for verbal agressiveness.  I was categorized in group one for listening styles.  This information showed me that I was a people person.  I am a moderately anxious during speaking, and I moderately agressive.  I agreed with these results because I tend to be mildly anxious when speaking in public and I do not like agression.

After reviewing the reactions and responses of my two participants, I was shocked that they both scored me high in aggression and low in anxiety.  They perceive me as a strong speaker who is willing to speak her mind.  However, this is not how I perceive myself.  I found it odd that they rated me high on the agression scale.  This showed me that I may be more agressive than I thought.

I will use this information for my personal and professional development.  I like being a people oriented speaker.  However, I will evaluate my future speeches and conversations for aggression.  Based on what I have learned, I may be more aggressive in my personal life due to my level of comfort with friends and family.  However, I am well aware that I am anxious when speaking in professional settings.

Communicating with people

This week, I learned that the Platinum rule is to “do unto others as they would do for themselves” (Beebe, Beebe, and Redmond, 2011).   This rule applies to communicating to diverse groups of people.  After evaluating my communication with others, I realize that I communicate differently in different situations and different contexts.  When I talk with colleagues, I am more professional and flexible with my communication style.  However, in personal communication, I am very informal and I do not try to incorporate cultural awareness in to my communcation.  As a result, I experience cultural myopia during personal communication.  When I work with parents, I am informal yet professional.  I try to talk to them in terms that they can understand.  However, this makes it difficult for me to avoid implying my own cultural beliefs in the conversations.  Therefore, I will work to establish better communication practices with others now that I am aware of my current communication styles.

Three strategies that will help me communicate more effectively are developing cultural competency, monitoring nonverbal cues, and avoiding industry jargon.

 

Reference

Beebe, S. A., Beebe, S. J., & Redmond, M. V. (2011). Interpersonal communication: Relating to others (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon

Communication in Television

I recently watched a show called "Grimm".  I downloaded one of the espisodes and watched it with the sound off.  During the episode, I could see the nonverbal communication between the characters.  This helped me to understand when something was funny, when people were excited, and when people were arguing.  Based on the physical interaction and facial expressions, I could determine that there was concern in one scene and anger in another. 

Next, I watched the same episode with the sound on.  I was correct that there was humor in one scene and anger in another.  However, I was incorrect when I thougt that the two main characters were arguing.  They looked angry at each other; however, I learned that they were angry at a suspect they were discussing.  This helped me to better understand how verbal and nonverbal communication play a role in understanding the context of the message.

Role Model

Communicator Role Model

My communicator role model is Louise Lloyd.  Mrs. Lloyd is the director of the agency where I work.  She is a strong ethical communicator because she is professional, uses inclusive langauge, and works well with a diverse group of people.  Mrs. Lloyd exhibits professional behavior and shows respect for diverse cultural beliefs and traditions. 

I would like to model myself after Mrs. Lloyd by learning to communicate with a variety of diverse people.  Sometimes, I do not understand that I may offend others by communicating with them based on my own beliefs.  Therefore, I want to learn to disclose what is relevant to me and the audience.  This will help me establish stronger relationships with parents.

Professional Hopes and Goals

One hope that I have when working with diverse families is that I can assist every family in having an enjoyable and productive learning experience in my school. 

One goal that I have for diverse families is to become a strong advocate for families. This goal will help me improve the quality of the early childhood learning experience.  I also want to ensure that there is equity and fairness for all families in early childhood education.

I would like thank all of my colleagues for their support and comments on this blog. I have enjoyed working with all of you.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

I have just received a new child from Slovakia.
In order to prepare to work with the child, I will first research the country and learn about its government, traditions, and customs.  I will also research the language of the country and ways to communicate with the child and the family.  Developing cultural comptency about the family is important in order to estabish relationships with the family.  I will further work with the family to learn ways to include the child's culture in the classroom.  The flag to the right is the flag for Slovakia.  As a result, I can have the child write a report about her country and to provide me with her life experiences.  This is very important for me to establish a relationship with the child and to further understand the child's cultural traditions. This will also help other students in the class become more culturally aware of diversity and the child's home country.  Lastly, I want to learn about Slovakian holidays and the family's religion.  This will help me understand how the child interacts with others and what days the child may observe special holidays.

Using the information that I gather from research, I will develop a communication strategy for the family.  This will also help me to understand the needs of the child in the classroom.  Overall, I hope that this experience will help build a strong parent-teacher relationship with the family and make the class room more productive and engaging for the child.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

As an African American woman, I have experienced oppression and bias growing up in Mississippi.  As a result, I understand how the lack of equity in society has a negative effect on groups and individuals.  When I was only ten years old, I walked into a restaurant with my mother, and we were told that the restaurant was full so we had to leave.  We had been traveling to Tupelo and only stopped in the restaurant to grab a snack for the trip.  We did not know that the town we stopped in was predominately White and racist.  However, we soon learned that blacks were not welcomed in the restaurant.  This was during the 60s and these practices were common in some parts of Mississippi. 

When I saw five Caucasion people sitting in the restaurant with over ten tables empty, I knew right then that we should leave.  My mother politely thanked the owner and we left.  As we walked out of the restaurant, the owner came out and told us that we could find a meal around the corner.  He even explained that he did not want us to feel bad because this was how things worked around here.  This incident stuck in mind because it was the first time that I felt less than equal to others.  This was the first day that I realized that being black would be a challenge for me. 

Times have changed, and people are less open about oppression.  I knew then that people would have to change in order for the situations to change.  Thankfully, times are much better and I can eat whereever I please. 

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

This week's focus on microagressions truly made me look at how others interact in my workplace.  I have been the victim of microassaults and even microattacks throughout my life because of my race.  As a minority, I have been called names and I have been the recipient of racially biased remarks.  However, this week, I was shocked to have a microassault based on my age.  I was in the process of working with a colleague on a school project.  She asked if I could bake some cupcakes for the PTA meeting next week.  As I started to deny the request, my coworker stated that "she knows I can cook because women did all the cooking back in my day".  The coworker was very young and she implied that as an older woman, I had to spend my days cooking.  Even though I did cook for my family, I took this as an insult.  I perceived the message that younger women are more professional whereas older women are homemakers.  This shocked me because it was a harmless remark.  However, I was very insulted.  I denied the request to bake the cupcake and was quickly told by the coworker that she would just buy some.  Because of the course work, I realized why I was offended.  I was insulted, and I know that it was unintentional.  However, it was offensive and I did not like it.  Have any of you experienced similar situations?

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

This week, I asked friends and family how they defined and viewed diversity and culture.  One of the best definitions was provided by a male cousin who view culture as a shared set of beliefs and values among a group of people who support and create those values.  Culture is a part of our society and there are subcultures that form within the dominant culture.  As a result, people can have different views of culture.  My  cousin also stated that diversity is based on differences in society.  Diversity can include language, culture, race, and religion.  Therefore, I agree with the definition that diversity is based on the differences that exist in our society, and it is the basis of the American Melting Pot.

My Family Culture

My family culture is based on the values and the beliefs that we have established over time.
As a result I would take the following three items.

1. Bible:  The bible is essential to my culture and my religious beliefs.  This item would help to explain what I believe in and what has defined my life.

2.  African statue.  This item expresses the creativity of the African American culture.

3.  My grandmother's quilt.  These quilts would explain what the African American family means as as a unit.

If I could only keep one item, I would keep the bible. This is the most important item for me.

When I Think of Research...

When I think of research, I think about the goal of the research project.  Research is designed to provide solutions to problems and to provide answers to research questions.  Now that I look back at my research project, I have a clearer understanding of how to conduct research.  I find that it is necessary to choose the proper design to address the problem or question.  Since I chose to work with language development programs and the academic progress of Hispanic children, I decided to use a mixed method approach.  This approach is a "combination of the qualitative and quantitative methods of research" (MacNaughton, Rolfe, and Siraj-Blatchford, 2010).  This method allows researchers to present concrete and narrative data in the research project.

I have learned that there are many challenges in conducting a research project.  These challenges include ensuring validity, reducing bias, and being sensitive to participants.  As an early childhood education researcher, I have learned that it is important to address these issues directly and to carefully plan the research project to avoid these issues.  Furthermore, I have learned that action research is beneficial to early childhood education. 

When I think of Research...I think of solutions to issues and problems that affect early childhood education.

References

Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing early childhood research: International perspectives on theory and practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Research Around the World

The European Early Childhood Education Research Association offers journals and research in the field of early childhood education.  This site provides information about research on learning, program improvement, and individual learning strategies.  The site allows people to search for various topics in its back catalog.  I chose to search for language programs for Hispanics because I am researching bilingual programs for Hispanic children.  The site returned a list of journals based on Hispanics in education.  Therefore, I plan to use this site in the future for research information.

 References’

European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA). Retrieved from

http://www.eecera.org/

Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

Research benefits families because it provides strategies and solutions that empower families to create change.  I read a research study where the achievement gap was studied, and it was determined that the quality of teachers and attention to student needs could reduce the achievement gap.  In another research, poverty was addressed by creating programs that assist low-income parents in education.  These research projects made it possible for educators to improve the quality of education in schools.  Although further research is needed to combat poverty and the achievement gap, the current research has provided a foundation for the future.

Slaby, R., Loucks, S., & Stelwagon, P. (2005). Why is preschool essential in closing the achievement gap? Educational Leadership & Administration: Teaching & Program Development, 1747-57.

Teale, W. H., Paciga, K. A., & Hoffman, J. L. (2007). Beginning reading instruction in urban schools: The curriculum gap ensures a continuing achievement gap. Reading Teacher, 61(4), 344-348.

Personal Research Journey

Bilingual educatoin is a growing concern in public education.  Families are more diverse, and there is a growing Hispanic population in my own area.  As a result, teachers in the Head Start program are not equipped to work with bilingual children or children needing ESL programs.  Currently, there are only four teachers in the Head Start program that speak a second language.  Three of these teachers speak Spanish and are overloaded with Spanish speaking children.  Therefore, I would like to research the benefits of bilingual education in the early childhood learning environment.

My Supports

My Support:
I have several support systems.  My primary support comes from family.  They are there for me and they help me to cope with the problems in my life.  My family provides emotional and financial support.  They understand that sometimes I need a word of encouragement and sometimes I need money to make it out of tough financial situations. 

My friends also provide emotional support.  Friends listen to your problems and they talk to you when you are in need of friendship.  Friends are just like family to me, and I would not be where I am today with the help and support of good friends. 

My teachers are a support system in school.  The teachers help me to complete my educational goals. They provide support and advice so that I complete my assignments on time. They also provide feedback that I can use to improve my future work.

Oddly, my phone is a support device.  I store important numbers in my phone and I have contacts that I can call when I need them.  I do not think that I could remember all of the numbers in my phone; therefore, my contact page makes it easy to stay in touch.  I also use my phone for driving directions and for messages.  I even download my email to my phone. 

Challenge:
A challenge for me would be to divorce my husband.  During this process, I would need support from my family and my friends.  I know that divorce is an emotional challenge and a financial strain.  I would have to find somewhere to live and I would have to deal with the court process.  Therefore, I would need financial support from my family and emotional support from my friends and family.  I would also rely on my bank and my job to work with me as move through this transition in my life.  Since I would have to move, I would need housing near my job.

My Connections to Play

Play is important to children and their development. 

Quotes
"A child at play is a happy child"
"Play influences social development" Vygotsky

Connections to play
Play has always  been a part education.  When I went to school, we had recess.  During that time, children were allowed to play freely.  We played games and it allowed us to socialize.  As a result, children developed physically and socially.  Today, schools are trying to eliminate recess and play.  This will affect student development and the learning process.  Play can be creative or exploratory and it can be fun, so children need play to learn; it comes naturally to them.

Relationship Reflection

I have good relationships with several friends.  Relationships are important because people are part of my support system.  As a result, these relationships are important to me.  The factors that lead to good relationships are mutual respect and caring for each other.  When people work together to ensure that they each other are okay, they develop ties to each other.  For example, my friend Marianne works with me.  We help each other at work and provide support for each other. This strengthens our relationship because we trust each other.  Other important relationships for me include family and coworkers.

Family relationships are important becuase we help each other and provide emotional and financial support.  I work with family members to help take care of children in the family and to achieve goals in life.  Coworkers also work with me to achieve goals.  Another important relationship for me is my relationship with church members.  These people provide spiritual support. 

Final Blog Assignment

Consequences of learning about International Early Childhood

1.  International connections make it possible to learn about how issues affect the world.
2.  A global understanding of an issue such as poverty can help to solve domestic poverty issues.
3.  The exchange of information benefits all early childhood educators.

Goal for International Awareness

Early childhood professionals focused on international awareness should create a central website or newsletter that combines global research and information on solving world issues such as hunger.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

This week, I visited the UNESCO site.  I learned that UNESCO advocates for Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programmes that attend to health, nutrition, security and learning and which provide for children’s holistic development (UNESCO, 2011).  This site provides information about early childhood edcuation and other related areas to child development.  UNESCO also founded the first World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education.  This allowed various groups and organizations around the world to discuss issues on how to improve ECCE.  The site also provides resources and publications on various issues to child development.


http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/

Sharing Web Resources

Sharing Web Resources

In my research, I have mostly used childpoverty.org to find information about early childhood issues. This site provides a publication called, “Who Are America’s Poor Children?”  After reading and downloading this publication, I find several interesting facts about new research in early childhood education.  I also found a site called http://www.campaignforeducationusa.org/learn-the-issue-ece.  This site provides a link to information about initiatives for early childhood education on a global scale.  Based on what I have learned in the newsletter, poverty causes disparities in education and leads to achievement gaps in education.

References

childpoverty.org

Global campaign for education. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.campaignforeducationusa.org/learn-the-issue-ece

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

The Global Children’s Initiative is a wonderful program that focuses on the health and well –being of children around the world.  On the site it is stated that “one essential, cross-cutting aspect of the Center’s approach is its commitment to work collaboratively across disciplines and institutions, drawing together the best and most creative expertise available to achieve the Initiative’s goals” (Global Children’s initiative, 2012).  After exploring the site, I learned three interesting facts.

The Global Children’s Initiative focuses on:

·         early childhood development

·         child mental health

·         children in crisis and conflict situations

As an early childhood educator, I was surprised to learn about the Global Children’s Initiative.  Since it focuses on early childhood development, this should have been a part of my resources at work.  However, I only learned about this initiative in this class.  Therefore, I am glad that continuous learning has improved my education and my understanding of outside resources.  I think that health is an important part of children’s development. Therefore, research conducted by GCI in the United States has helped to develop programs in other countries.

References

“Global Children’s Initiative” (2012) Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative

Sharing Web Resources

Early Childhood:

Site: http://www.earlychildhood.com/

This is a great site for early childhood educators because it provides links for other educators to communicate and share information.  This site also has research and resources through other site links.

Early Childhood News: The Journal of Professional Development http://www.earlychildhood.com/

This site features sample articles from the print magazine for professionals who work with young children. Early childhood educators can use this site to find articles and news about current issues in Early Childhood Education.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 1

This week, I listened to podcasts.  I was also concerned about poverty in other areas.  The podcasts provided me with a lot of information that I did not realized existed in other countries.
I plan to continue listening to audio from other countries.  In my research of poverty sites, I learned that there was a high rate of poverty in India.  Since many companies had outsourced technical jobs to India, I assumed that the country was prosperous, especially with the high number of technicians in the country.  However, I learned that poverty was a serious issue. 

I have also researched India on the childhood poverty organization website.  I learned that:

About 62 million under the age of five are malnourished

34 percent of new-borns are significantly underweight

20% of the children are out of school

These are interesting statistics that show how poverty and hunger can affect a country. 

http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/

Sharing Web Resources

I have been following childpoverty.org.  This website provides statistics and information about children around the world.  The key elements of the site are that it focuses on poverty and education.  It also provides information about different countries.  I recommend this site to any educator that is interested in reading current information and research on these issues.

http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/

Establishing Professional Contacts

I have chosen to use the World Forum Foundation. The website is http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/wf/about.php .  This foundation has a radio broadcast that can help me learn how educators around the world work, and I can learn from their experiences. 

I further plan to contact other organizations such as the Association for Childhood Education International, which is located at  http://www.acei.org/.  This organization will allow me to find information from other teachers around the world, and I can learn from their practices.