Time Well Spent

I must say that the learning from this program is deeply felt as they appealed to every part of my being.  However, I would mention three of them here: 1) Week 2 of EDUC 6160 – Early childhood Development was on Amazing Changes—Infants and Toddlers (0–2 Years Old), wherein we discussed the changes that take place in children from birth to age 2.  The discussion centered on The Many Faces of Attachment, which talked on what makes babies feel attached to adults, whether parents, siblings or care givers.  2) Week 5 of EDUC 6161 – Effective Program & Practices taught us the Child Centered Curriculum, Part 2.  This is a current trend that needs to be emulated in the preparation of curriculum in order to make class activities enjoyable for the children through learning and play.  3)  Week 6 of EDUC 6360 – How Adults Learn was on different perspectives of adult learning and this gave me an exposure into the variety of approaches to adult learning in existence today. 

A long term goal that I am projecting is on becoming a renowned international children advocate.  This is someone who will be ready to stand up for the children, their families and the communities as often as necessary.  That is, being the mouth piece of the less privilege in the society.

Waoh! It has been a very long and rigorous journey, but it has been very educative, instructive and friendly.  Actually, I am now thinking, ‘does that mean no assignment for me as from Monday, April 29, 2013?’  It has been very rewarding sessions of interchanging of ideas, ones that might not be achievable in the classroom.  To this effect I want to say THANK YOU to all my instructors and colleagues in this program since inception and especially those that I am parting from now.  You all have made my learning worthwhile and you all have been good collaborators!  I’ll miss you all, but I know we can always contact one another.

Some Favorite quotes

We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today. ~Stacia Tauscher

A child seldom needs a good talking to as a good listening to.  ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

Creative play is like a spring that bubbles up from deep within a child.  ~Joan Almon

Children find everything in nothing; men find nothing in everything.  ~Giacomo Leopardi, Zibaldone Scelto

My contact information is:

Name: Momoh, F. F.

Email: alffmomoh@yahoo.com

Phone: Mobile: 234 802 292 1327

             Office:  234 01 277 2222 Ext. 67267

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

The three international organizations or communities of practice that appealed to me are: 1) United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).  I chose this organization because of it focus on the survival and development of children in the areas of health, nutrition, immunization, malaria and advocacy & partnership.  Of special interest to me is the interest in basic education and gender equality for children.  This is of interest to me because it links my challenge as it focuses on prioritizing education in early childhood, providing equitable access while monitoring the quality of education. Developing of child friendly schools is also a focus of the organization, I found this inspiring as most schools today are not child friendly, and teachers are not as warm and welcoming as they should.  2) The International Step by Step Association (ISSA) is another organization that appeals to me for its quality care and education for all children, especially in their early years of life.  The aspect that caught my admiration was the inclusion of children with special needs now so when they “become policy makers and architects, they will shape the world with their own hands…..make this world acceptable for all…..learn to ignore differences…..learn to treat all people fairly”, including those of different races or culture. 3) Save the children is an independent organization that focuses on creating lasting change in the lives of needy children around the world.  This organization collaborates with communities to make children and families find help within themselves.  It is of interest to me because the organization is quick to respond to children needs when there is any disaster by providing food, medical care and education, it also helps in the rebuilding of disaster struck communities through long-term recovery programs.  

The current available jobs that interest me in UNICEF are 1) Human Resources Assistant (Payroll), G-6, DHR, New York, although I feel that this might not get me directly working with the children.  I would need to have competencies in HR, dealing with people, especially difficult people. 2) Deputy Representative - P-5, Nigeria, Abuja.  This has to do with the designing and implementing of advocacy strategies towards promoting public awareness of UN-supported program and goals, while collaborating with Regional Advisers and HQ Officers for overall coordination.  I would need to have competency in advocacy, good communication skills, passion, with excellent promotion strategy in order to acquaint the public with the organization’s programs. 

I could not find any job opportunity from ISSA website, but I feel that the organization would need people to spread the word about the organization and what they do, I would like to feature in this.  The required skills and experience would equally be good communication skills, passion, and advocacy. 

Job opportunities for Save the Children organization abound and could be found under the tag “Take Action”.  I intend to join the volunteer group, advocate for children, spreading the word, and donating.  In all of these, passion is an essential skill required and very good communication skills.

References

International Step By Step Association. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2011, from http://www.issa.nl/index.html

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/

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: National/Federal Level

The three national/federal organizations or communities of practice that appeal to me are:

The National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) is a non-profit organization established towards promotion and support of educational programs of children and youth with disabilities in the United States and outlying areas.   I chose this organization because its activities provide professional support to its members and others interested in special education.  Also its goals include the creation of school environments that is conducive to learning, and the building of effective family-school partnerships.  Retrieved from http://www.nasdse.org/

The IDEA Partnership’s Communities of Practice approach help state agency personnel accomplish their goals.  The organization sees communities of practice as a new approach to solving complex educational problems. Retrieved from http://www.ideapartnership.org/documents/CoPGuide.pdf

International Coach Federation (ICF) International assists social service providers with solutions, training, and tools needed to develop and implement successful programs to support children, youth, and families. Retrieved from http://www.coachfederation.org/

The job opportunity for the organizations is to assist in telling people all over the country.  One can also make donations where necessary.

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

The communities of practice that appeals to me are: “AmpleHarvest.org”, “America’s Grow a Row”. “Family to Family”, and the “US Department of Agriculture (USDA).”  Please find the links to their sites below:

            http://www.ampleharvest.org/L-AIRS.php?gclid=CLDxr87igLYCFcHHtAodzCIAKQ The AmpleHarvest.org campaign is working closely with AIRS agencies nationwide in an effort to reach and register as many food pantries across America as possible. Currently, 5,802 food pantries across all 50 states are registered. Visit www.AmpleHarvest.org/map to see the national map.
            America's Grow a Row is an organization that grows and gleans fresh, healthy produce that is then donated to food pantries, soup kitchens, crisis centers, and food banks all over the state of New Jersey.
            Family to Family A program creating a bridge between suburban communities with enough to share and some of our country's most impoverished areas.

            US Department of Agriculture Consumer Corner Federal Nutrition Assistance Programs. Hunger and Food Aid Information.  Learn about improving food insecurity and hunger for children and low-income people by increasing their access to food, a healthful diet, and nutrition education.

The reason why I chose the above organizations is because they are communities of practice that are set up with the view to eradicate poverty in the society.  Apart from the contribution of sustaining agriculture by way of planting, the communities also educate people of all generations about hunger in our society and ways to help.  These are programs involving every family member, children inclusive; hence, I see it as way of teaching our children the habit of giving.  A statement from one of the organizations says “…..cultivating tomorrow’s leaders go give back.”

The job opportunities that interest me in relation to my chosen communities of practice above are the dissemination of information about the organizations and looking for ways of establishing something like those in my community.

The skills and experience that I would need to competently fulfill each of the roles are passion, effective collaboration and communication skills.  With passion, I would be ready to work joyfully and putting in my best, even without pay.  Collaborating and communicating effectively is highly important in contacting and co-opting other individuals into the group, and also continuing together towards achieving success.  I would also need commitment and identification with the group’s expertise.

Adjourning!

Hello everyone!  So soon another 8 weeks has rolled by and as usual, we have been very supportive of one another.  However, i need to mention the fact that I have been able to come this far  because you have always being there with your unflinching support, therefore, I am saying, from the bottom of my heart, a very BIG THANK YOU TO YOU ALL for always being there for me.  I will always cherish your supports, your probing questions and insightful comments, and as we move into our specializations I hope we will still keep in touch to share new ideas as we journey through.

Team Building and Collaboration, Part 1

The adjourning stage is signifying the ‘near-end’ of the project at hand and team members are readily moving off into other new roles or projects.

I would say that separation is not always an easy task, no matter the relationship.  For example, a quarrelsome couple was once separated by work; the husband had to move to another office location different from where the wife was and they both cried openly and lamenting on how they would miss each other.  Therefore, it is hardest to leave any of the groups, whether high-performing or low-performing.

It is good for a group to have very clear established norms where the members are able to work effectively together as a team (Abudi, 2010).  However, for a group to get to adjourning stage they were able to learn one thing or the other from one another, therefore, I feel the members would not find it easy to separate.

All of the groups I participated in were very hard for me to leave, and it is not about the projects only, but particularly about the individuals involved and the relationships formed.  I have experienced, severally, very moving and highly emotional closing rituals.  Moving from one segment to the other where one is not sure of meeting all the current class member is adjourning phase and for me, it has not been very easy, imagining how it will be like at the final segment is making me sad already.

Adjourning is an essential stage of teamwork because it gives room for success celebrations and capturing of best practices for future use.  It is an opportunity to say good-bye to each other (Abudi, 2010), exchange more contact details where necessary in order to facilitate networking.

References

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

Nonviolent Communication and Conflict Management

The disagreement was with a co-worker from another department who did not understand the depth of an issue but decided to resolve it by dishing out blames with insults, not knowing that there was a new order from the departmental head.

The two strategies I have learned about that might help me manage or resolve the conflict more productively are to analyze the source of the conflict and also to focus on issues and not personalities as the other person has started attacking my personality by mimicking the way I speak and commenting that “this is not all about grammar…..”  I feel that these strategies might be effective in order to know if there are other underlining factor(s) that are not visible to everyone concerned and also to help in the timely resolute on the issue instead of taking time off the issue at hand to start defending behavior.

For this conflict, I feel that compromise might not be appropriate because it involves delivery on target and the departmental manager set the target.  This was communicated to me but probably not to this worker in that same department.  It has been a telephone conversation and each time I tried to call afterwards, the phone either rang ‘no reply’ or picked and replaced; I could try a face-to-face discussion.

Although the situation here is a case of misunderstanding as a result of communication break down between the other person and the group manager, I have been applying the principles of nonviolent communication to inform the person of the change in target from the departmental head.  The 3 R’s of repectful, reciprocal, and responsive might not be very effective in this contex.

 
Although I would have loved to, but it was not appropriate for me this week because many people were off duty; on training, vacation, and conferences, hence, very few of us remaining had a very busy week.