Wrapping up

During my time at Walden, I had the opportunity to meet some truly inspiring students and professors that helped me to clarify my professional goals, broadened my knowledge and skills, and presented new perspectives. I learned that each and every individual in our field is at a different point in their own professional journey and has passions specific to their interests and experiences. I also learned that these unique individuals are far more powerful and successful when they join together and embrace the interconnectedness within the early childhood community. Third, I learned that creating a strong professional network is key to continuing the rich interactions and relationships that have been fostered and developed throughout our careers, both in our undergraduate and graduate work and in our everyday lives as teachers, specialists, and administrators in the field. One of my long term goals is to contribute to the literature and research within our field in a way that is meaningful and applicable to the everyday classroom so that we can continue to improve what we are doing to foster the healthy development of every young child.

I want to thank each of your for spending your time here at the Walden community and supporting each other in our journey. It has been a pleasure working with each of you- some for a long two years and some for just a few months. Congratulations to all of us for our achievements thus far, and here is a 'toast' to the future- a bright one for each of us considering the goals, aspirations, and knowledge we have come by. I wish you all the best, and please feel free to contact me-- I will definitely save anyone's contact information that has posted it to their blog. Farewell!
Neisha Hill
neisha.hill@waldenu.edu
Add me on facebook- search for Neisha Hill in New Hampshire or South Carolina with a picture of a wedding ring as the profile picture.

International Organizations

The first international organization I chose to focus on is the International Step By Step Association. This is an organization that seeks to improve the care and education young children receive around the globe. They offer annual reports, peer learning activities, and opportunities to take action for their members. I chose this organization because I agree with each of their goals and I think their goals align with what I have chosen to focus on for my capstone which is improving the system of professional development for the early childhood workforce. Likewise, their organization aims to “advocate for and support competent early childhood systems for all children, especially the most vulnerable” (ISSA, n.d. a, para 2) and to increase awareness of the importance of a competent workforce in the field. Their efforts range from programs that embrace diversity to efforts to increase access to home visiting in the early years (ISSA, n.d. a). This organization has notable range and scope and their members seem to make considerable differences in the lives of young children and their families. Interestingly, they have one job opening which is in The Netherlands for a Senior Communications Officer who would oversee the communications of the organization, write newsletters, contribute to standards guidelines, and help other members of staff tailor communications to their specific audiences (ISSA, n.d. b). What I found interesting about the job requirements is that their posting suggests that candidates should have experience developing networks and cultivating contacts. Many of the other job requirements are ones that I would expect for this type of job, including skills working on a team, attendance to deadlines, and excellent written and verbal communication. I was excited to see that they want someone who has experience with networking since our capstone focuses so closely on creating a community of practice that will work together to create a response to a problem.

The second organization I chose is one called Save the Children that offers resources to children to grow and develop in healthy and safe ways- this includes gathering donations from sponsors and offering them in forms of water, education, food, or other resources. I chose this organization because I had not heard of it before and though there are many organizations that work with children without access to resources, this one in particular seemed to place most of the money they receive in the hands of young children, even offering their financial statements on the website (Save the Children, 2018). Not only are they involved in charitable giving, their mission attempts to inspire breakthrough innovations that solve and address the challenges children face, and to build capacity of local organizations to take on these crises and problems independently- this model of empowerment is something that really speaks to me because it is clear that offering resources and money to other communities will not solve the root of the problem or help them to overcome it (Save the Children, 2018).

The last organization I chose to explore was UNICEF because it is a well-known organization but my knowledge of their operations is limited. I found that UNICEF is essential in responding to emergencies and crises, but also that they have universal efforts to improve the quality of life for all young children and their families (UNICEF, n.d. b). Their endeavors include improving access to education, conducting research and analyses, creating innovative solutions to problems children face, and protecting the rights of the child (UNICEF, n.d. b) Their initiatives are not only far-reaching but also extensive; they have response policies on everything from immunizations to HIV/AIDS to Nutrition, and more (UNICEF, n.d. b). This organization has clear alignment with my professional goals since they have such a wide range of efforts to improve the quality of life for all children. UNICEF (n.d. a) currently has an opening for an Education Specialist that would work in Cambodia. This person would support the development and planning of programs, manage network and partnership, and build the capacity of those around them to expand the programs- skills necessary to perform this duty are policy planning, understanding of the public sector, and experience leading a team and planning programs (UNICEF, n.d. a). This is a job that I would be very interested in, but you also have to be able to speak and write in Khmer (UNICEF, n.d. a). A lot of the international jobs I have seen also require fluency in another language because of their international location.

References

International Step By Step Association (ISSA) (n.d., a) Home. Retrieved from http://issa.nl

International Step By Step Association (ISSA) (n.d., b) Vacancies. Retrieved from https://issa.nl/node/384

UNICEF (n.d. a) Vacancies. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/about/employ/?job=510977

UNICEF (n.d. b) What we do. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/what-we-do

Save the Children (2018). Who we are. Retrieved from http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.9384623/k.7DB4/Who_We_are.htm

Professional Opportunities and Organizations

As I have researched a community of practice to support professional development opportunties for the early childhood workforce, I have been introduced to many new national and local organizations that advocate on behalf of teachers and the children and families they serve. One organization that has a very recent publication from 2018 about improving the workforce is called the Early Childhood Workforce Initative. This is an international organization dedicated to promoting quality care for children and for supporting teachers, supervisors, and other professionals that work with children birth through age 8. One interesting aspect of this organization is that they offer competencies and standards-- I have found these documents, like those similar ones from NAEYC and the DEC to be very helpful to my practice, so I think this is a worthwhile organization to look into.
Their website can be found at http://www.earlychildhoodworkforce.org/

Another organization I found useful in my studies over the past several weeks has been the Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes. There are 22 of these offices accross the nation and are federally funded to improve quality in early childhood programs. Their mission is to strenghten state-led initiatives and offices to form more cohesive and successful policies. They publish a lot of research summaries that are easily accesable and written in plain English, so their resources are both helpful and understandable. I chose this organization because they have one mission which is to improve the existing system of education through research and evidence and they have a lot of power and jurisdiction in terms of making positive change happen. Their website can be found here http://ceelo.org/

The final organization I chose is the National Research Council. Though research is often easily accessible, the National Research Council publishes and conducts studies that are relevant to the trends and issues in our field, and even summarizes these studies so that they are more accesible to professionals. Their mission is to inform government decision-making and policy improvement by asking and answering questions that are posed by current frameworks of practice. Their role is important because they investigate ways to improve our systems in very hands-on ways. Their research has the capacity to pave new pathways for policies in the early childhood field. Their website can be found here http://www.nationalacademies.org/nasem/

The jobs that I am most interested in involve teaching adults in the early childhood field in university or college contexts. I found many job opportunities that fit well with my expectations, and I am learning that many of these jobs request similar skills and experience in order to apply.  One job for a position at Mayville State University requests applicants have served in supervisory roles, have a research statement, and experience with educational assessment. Similarly, North Carolina State University has a professor of early childhood position opening, which requests experience on state or national levels engaging in policy work and work leading research teams. Conversely, an assistant professor of education position in Missouri has little prerequisites listed in their advertisement, asking only for a Master's degree, expereince teaching, and knowledge of the professional development system. Each of these jobs has a wide variety of expectations, and has left me recognizing my need to become more involved in our field and with policies and leadership in order to pursue my career moving forward.

Communities of Practice

One local organization I would like to involve myself with is the South Carolina Association for the Education of Young Children, found at http://www.scaeyc.org/. They are a community of practice because they involve all stakeholders in South Carolina regarding the education of young children birth through age 8 in an effort to provide the most quality early childhood programs and to promote the value of the early years. They do not currently have any job openings since members of the board are elected, but there are several jobs in my area of South Carolina that would put me in leadership roles so that I could enter these organizations with my own trainees and experience in leadership roles. One of these jobs is for a childcare director in Greenville, South Carolina, and some of their job requirements include having excellent customer service skills and valid South Carolina credentials. This job did not list a lot of dispositions or skills they hoped to see in applicants, so I continued to look for jobs that had more information about what qualities they were seeking. I found a job in Greenwood South Carolina seeking a clinical supervisor that would oversee people in families homes. Some of the skills they want are great interpersonal and organizational skills, cultural sensitivity, and leadership capabilities. Though this job does not directly place me in a community of practice, it opens a lot of doors for me to communicate with peers from other disciplines which can then form informal communities of practice where we can learn from one another and work toward a shared vision.
The second organization I chose as a relevant community of practice to my work is the SCECA or the South Carolina Early Childhood Association (their website is found at http://www.sceca.org/). Their efforts are more directed at preschool children, but still cover all children from birth to age 8 in South Carolina with a similar mission to the SCAEYC.
A final route for me to enter into a strong community of practice is though early intervention. When I was interning in an early intervention program during my undergraduate studies, I witnessed the way the professionals at the community service agency worked together and shared their disciplines with one another. I think any early intervention program would have a strong potential for a community of practice since early intervention has really emphasized multidisciplinary teams where members must work together to meet the needs of every child and family. In Florence, South Carolina, there is an early childhood job posted, and the qualifications include a passion for helping families and children with developmental delays, being organized, and having time-management skills. It seems as though these kinds of jobs really want someone with a passion, dedication, leadership skills, and organizational skills. These are also skills that work well when someone is involved in a community of practice.