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.

Who Am I as a Communicator?

Thinking about the similarities and differences between how I evaluated myself as a communicator and how others evaluated me, one thing that surprised me the most is that others rated me highly than I rated myself.  This is surprising to me because even though I always tried to those moments of jittery, I still had the feeling that I was clumsy and that they were obvious to people around, especially when I am called upon suddenly to perform a task, e.g. in church; while people clap I usually felt rioting within, it was always a battle. 

This week, I gained a better understanding that true communication involves other people around us, and that the combination of both their evaluation and ours help us to know who we are as a communicator.  I also had a better understanding on the risk of judging people with first impression and using that as base in communicating with such people; this is because we would not have had a clearer knowledge about the ‘person’ of that individual.  I believe that these will inform and enrich my professional work and personal life a great deal.

Communication and Culture

Yes I communicate differently with people from different groups and cultures.

I communicate differently with each of the different groups that I mentioned; they are, Choristers (singles and married men and women of diverse cultural background - professionals), Teenagers (boys and girls of age 13 to 19, from diverse cultural background), and Workers - in – Training (singles and married men and women of diverse cultural background).

The first strategy I could you to help me communicate more effectively with the groups I have identified is good listening skills and a show of genuine interest.  Active listening helps to resolve issues timely and effectively.  Another strategy is to capture people’s names correctly and use it often during the cause of communication.  This creates a warmly atmosphere that makes the other person feel at ease.  I will also be watchful so that I am not the only person doing the talking, I will allow others make their contributions too so that they feel as being a part of the conversation and not just listening and carrying out instruction.