When I Reflect About My Collegial, Professional Learning Community

Post at least three consequences of your experience being a part of a caring, collaborative learning community for your professional growth and development. Use any format you choose.

One consequence of being part of a caring, collaborative learning community for my professional growth and development has to learn information about families that I may not want to know.  If I find out a child in my class is having issues at home such as neglect from the parent, it makes it difficult to see past it.  I want to do everything I can to help the child.

Another consequence is not being able to help every child.  I have a few children in my class that need additional resources to help them succeed.  Due to their insurance or the resources being too far, many of them are unable to get the help.  It breaks everyone’s heart who is involved knowing that the child could get everything they need but due to the parent’s financial or transportation issues they cannot get their children there.

The final consequence is that too many people try to get involved.  When there are a lot of people involved, although they all have good intentions, it becomes too much for the family and the child.  They can become overwhelmed with information, especially if everyone is telling them something different.  It may be best for only a few individuals to be informed and understand the situation that a family is in or any problems that they may be having.

Post one goal for using this collegial experience to enhance your advocacy, policy, and/or system development work on behalf of young children, families, and the early childhood community.

One goal that I have to enhance my advocacy, policy and system development work is to become more familiar with the resources that are available in my area.  By doing this, I will be able to provide the families and their children with the information that will help them.  I will also be able to help them find additional services that they might not be aware of.  By advocating for them, I will provide them with a safe person to turn to whenever they have any questions or concerns.

My Hypothetical Family Situation

The family that I created is one containing a father and mother with a baby on the way.  The unborn child will be born with downs syndrome as confirmed by a prenatal test.  My family’s socioecomic situation is a very poor one.  The father is a day laborer and only picks up odd jobs with no steady pay.  I stay at home taking care of the house and resting until the baby is born.  Neither one of us speaks English and struggle even more as a result.  We have little money and struggle to put food on the table and provide ourselves with a home to live in.  The family situation has been impacted by the sociocultural, economic, and politics of the community.  We are living similar to many other families in the community where only one adult works odd jobs and they can barely get by.  It is a result of where we live that many of the families we interact with have the same problems.  The economic status of the town is poor.  There is little money for education for the public schools and funds for the community to help those less fortunate.  The politics in the town is torn. The leaders of the community focus on the other members of the town who are able to provide for their families and focus on other problems such as having multiple children and continuing their education. They do not worry or acknowledge the less fortunate members of the town.

Due to the current financial situation, there is no money for in-home child care.  We are hoping to have help and support from the friends that we have made in the community.  When the baby is born, we will be trying to get my sister to move in with us for additional help.  Another problem is that neither one of us has a driver’s license.  We must rely on taxi’s or friends in order to get around.  This will become a problem when the baby is born and we must attend doctor’s appointments.

The three sectors of comprehensive systems would benefit my child now and in the future.  The health services would inform us of how to care for the child since it will be our first along with any obstacles that will arise due to the downs syndrome.  The early learning and development will keep us informed of what developmental signs to look for and how to help our newborn keep on track with their needs.  The family leadership and support will help inform us and any other people that are able to help with what we need to do to keep our baby help and striving.  It will allow us to stand up as a leader with a child with special needs and how they need additional services.  One of the major early childhood related services that would support me and my family is Early Head Start.  They provide services about how to properly care for children and how to keep on track with doctor’s appointments.  Some will often provide transportation to the appointments to provide extra services.

The Political Will to Improve Early Childhood Systems

Share one or more strategies you have discovered as you worked on the assignments in this course, and particularly this week, that are currently being used by advocates or organizations to influence the political will toward improving early childhood systems in order to foster the well-being of young children and their families.

The one strategy that I saw being utilized is more bills being passed by people of power.  Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania put a bill into act that opens up the opportunity for more children to have access to preschool of higher quality.  This helps improve the early childhood systems in order to foster the wellbeing of young children and their families.  By someone standing up and speaking out about the programs, they are making the public more aware of how important the early childcare programs are.  People who use their power in the positive manner influence others to do the same.

What part of this work appeals to you most and why?

This aspect appeals to me.  I like seeing people of power using it in a positive way.  Too often we hear about political figures using their power to influence people to do what they want rather than what is right for the public.  Having someone like Bon Casey represent the field in a positive way helps shed light on its importance and how the community as well as the families that they need to help their children at an early age.

Parent, Family, and Community Engagement

The professional and personal significance you drew from these stories:
The one story that stood out to me was Tess Dunlap's.  She explained how unaware she was about the Head Start program and all that it did for the children.  Like many of the parent's who have children enrolled, she saw it as nothing more then a daycare.  Tess soon realized how much more it was.  The program helped her overcome family issues regarding alcohol and even gave her the courage to get her bachelor's degree.  This story helped prove that the Head Start programs are much more than a preschool.  They provide the children and the families opportunities that they might not get if they tried on their own.


Your opinion regarding why or why not parent/family involvement is an essential system element for all strands of service in the early childhood field:
Parent/family involvment is extremely important when it comes to sevicing the early childhood field.  Having volunteered in Head Starts, it is obvious which families take the time to help their children succeed and which ones do not.  Having the families and parent's involved shows the children that they care about what they are learning and what they are doing in school.  Parent's are their children's first teachers.  If they do not make the effort to help promote what the teacher's do within the classroom, the children will not be able to get the most out of their experience at the Head Start setting.

Quality Programs for All Children

Today’s society takes early care and education very lightly.  It seems in my opinion that it is treated as more of a day care, especially preschool programs, rather than something that will help their children further their education.  Hopefully within the next 5 years, our society will realize programs such as Head Starts are there to help children and not babysit them.  Having volunteered in my local Head Start, I have seen how parents mistreat the program and use it to their benefit rather than their children’s.  They would drop the child off and run out of the door not taking any interest in their art work or what the teacher has to say.

I hope the opinion on early childhood education changes drastically.  People need to be aware of how important the programs are for the young children and how much they benefit from it.  By advocating to parents and the community, as professionals we should aim to show the importance of the programs and the other systems they coincide with.  Hopefully the change will show the public that children benefit long run from the services of early childhood education.  It will demonstrate that they are better prepared for school and are more successful in their lives. I imagine that the programs will strengthen their education with the young children.  They will implement more programs and a committee for the parent’s to attend to show them how important the programs truly are.

Early Childcare Policy and Advocacy

Part 1: Why did you choose this specialization? Share what resonates with you about this specialization. Consider the relationship between your passion and aspirations related to public policy and advocacy and what you hope to accomplish with regard to promoting the well-being of children, families, and the early childhood field.

The specialization that I chose which sparked my interest is handling challenging behaviors.  Many parents feel unsure of how to deal with their children who have behavioral issues and what their rights are in terms of education.  This issue has caught my attention and has made me want to further investigate information for the parent’s such as what their rights are and how to get help for them in their home setting with the difficult child.  I hope to accomplish with regard to promoting the well-being of children, families, and the early childhood field to educate everyone on how to properly handle the misbehaving children.  I would like to inform them about what their rights are as parents and the policy of the school’s their children are attending.  This will allow them to fully understand what they can do to help their children and how they can prevent any uncertainty that they may have.

Part 2: Why are advocates essential in the early childhood field? Explain why you believe becoming a skilled and confident advocate is crucial for early childhood professionals and for the field.

Becoming a skilled and confident advocate is crucial for early childhood professionals and for the field because many of the families that we deal with and interact with are not familiar with their rights as parents.  They are unfamiliar with the different policies and how to advocate for their children.  Many of the families have language barriers and are unable to advocate for their children themselves.  By being skilled and confident in advocating I will be able to assist the families accomplish and fulfill their goals for their children in terms of getting assistance they may need.

Part 3: What do you hope to learn about public policy and advocacy? Articulate at least three goals related to this specialization at this point in your coursework.

One goal that I have is to learn the policies of my local school district.  By doing this I will be more efficient in helping the families I deal with on a daily basis.

Another goal that I have is to strengthen my database in terms of resources that are available for the parent’s and families.  This will help me be a more efficient advocate for the families and what rights they have.

The final goal that I hope to learn about public policy and advocacy is to find resources for the families dealing with specialization about handling difficult children.  By having the information available, I will be able to assist the parents and families in a quicker approach to help get the situation taken care of and addressed.

Communication and Working as a Team

The hardest group that I had to leave was back in elementary school.
We were all moving on to a new school after being in the same class
together for 2 years. We had all matured into a little family and
knew that a big change was coming. We all had strong bonds with each
other, and often worked on various projects throughout the year
together. Each of us has different relationships within the group and
felt comfortable with every member of the 5 girl click that we had
formed. It was very difficult to leave the group when the school year
ended, knowing it was never going to be the same. We all had certain
roles we played within the group, such as mine was keeping the
notebook that we all shared. It was difficult to leave the group
because we were very close. We spent a great deal of time together
throughout the school day, and were to the point where we were
finishing each other’s sentences. Having such a strong bond, we had a
clear understanding of what each member did to participate and what
they brought to the group. Each one of us had a different personality
and we worked well together.
The closing ritual was nothing major, we all hugged good bye and said
we would be in touch, unsure if it was true. We tried to maintain
contact over the summer but quickly get involved with activities or
family vacations and lost touch. It may have been better to try to
utilize a different closing ritual such as exchanging addresses and
writing letters.
Adjourning with the group of colleagues that I have formed while
working on my master’s degree will be different then in real life.
Being that everything is online; the best method may be to simply send
congratulatory messages or emails. Everyone has worked hard to reach
this stage in the program and should be proud of what not only they
have done but their colleagues as well. Being part of the group, we
must send our appreciation to those who have helped us along the way.
Adjourning is an essential stage of team work because it allows
closure. Everyone is aware that they have successfully completed the
task that they had set out to do. They were able to work together as
a team on a project and be triumphed. Without adjourning, some may
feel incomplete or lost.