It's been quite a journey... And We Made It!!!!

As I begin to write this last blog in our Master’s program, I have mixed emotions.  I am happy to have reached this milestone, but sorry to lose the continuity of my new-found routine.  I will miss the discussions and my interactions with my professors and colleagues.  I will miss the daily learning… although I understand the importance of following through with my extended learning.

Choosing three deeply felt learnings was a challenge; there are so many.  First of all, I learned so much about myself, as an individual and as an early childhood professional.  I realize that, although I’m not a spring chicken, age is not a factor in learning.  Yes, I wish that I would have pursued my Master’s degree many years before, but, in spite of that, I am proud that I did it now.  I have learned that anything is possible if you have a strong passion for it.  I have lost friends who did not understand that school work came first, but I have gained the respect of my true friends.    I have come to respect my husband in a new light, realizing how lucky I am for his support, understanding, and pride in me.  He has always been my rock, but in this instance, he has taken over my chores and responsibilities so I could study and read. 
Next, I learned that I do not know all that I thought I knew about early childhood education.  This field changes by the minute.  I do not believe that curriculums can be pre-packaged; I do not care if they are NAEYC approved or not!  As educators, we need to step back and reflect on each group of children we are lucky enough to teach.  We need to adapt our curriculum to the needs of our young students and their families.  Although I present workshops, I need to push myself and to continue to grow.  I need to attend more workshops at the conferences that I attend, listening to the ideas of others.  While I do not have to agree, I do have to hear.  In addition, the importance of families is critical in our early childhood classrooms.  We MUST know our families; our classrooms MUST reflect our knowledge.  When I was a director, my teachers’ classrooms were all pretty and quite structured; but they did not reflect their children.  All of the classes looked the same.  I still see this; I have a passion to change this.  Of course, this boils down to my new-found passion for anti-bias learning, which cannot occur unless teachers learn about their students and their families.  The mom who I thought was lazy because she did not come to a parent meeting might just be the mom who had to work an additional shift to pay a bill.  I have left my biases behind me. 

Finally, from this particular course, I have learned I cannot solve all of the problems at one time, but rather, I need to pick and choose.  This has helped my organization skills tremendously.  While I wanted to solve the lack of diversity education in every preschool classrooms throughout the United States, I slowly accepted to change all of Florida.  Then, with some guidance, I limited my challenge to one particular school; my goal became workable.  I struggled with this, shed more than a few tears, and even laughed a bit.  The intense impact of this realization was real and can be applied to my personal life.  My job situation is very unique, because I do not have one job but several.  Sometimes, it is a challenge to remember where I am to be at what time or what exactly I was to do in this class on a particular night.  This class has given me the power to organize my goals to where they are workable.  I can still tackle various jobs, but I only need to accomplish so much on a particular day.  Working on one particular workshop at a time does not mean that I cannot handle more; rather, it means that I can complete this workshop in a positive manner, giving it my utmost attention.  Perhaps, in many ways, this course has assured me that I do not have to get a 9-5 job; I can, in fact, do it all, just in a more organized fashion.  I can continue to reach for the stars and succeed, one step at a time. 

Which brings me to my long term goal of continuing to teach early childhood professionals.  Initially when I started my company, I wanted to present workshops within the state of Florida. Then, I began to present throughout the United States; I love the huzzle and buzzle of traveling except when I am stranded at the airport for a night!  Listening to early childhood professionals in and about Florida and within the United States has given me an amazing pride in the field of early childhood.  It has been awe-inspiring. I definitely want to train internationally.  This might take some time, but I am not giving up.  At the June NAEYC conference in San Francisco, I made an awesome educator from Singapore, and she invited me to present… at first I thought she was joking, and I played along with her.  But, we have been in contact several times via e-mail. I do not know if this will happen, but how phenomenal would this be?  I’m ready to move further, reaching more educators.  I love presenting, sharing, and making a difference in the lives of young children; it is definitely what makes me tick.... it is my passion. In addition, now that I have some spare time [?], I hope to write some additional Creative Beginning Steps' books, perhaps one on science and math... and maybe one just for infant and toddler teachers.  My first two books [art and reading] have been well received, and I had the best time putting those activities together. 

WHEW!  Will I make the impossible happen?  Probably not, but dreams to come true.  Receiving my Master's Degree at this time in my life is proof.  I wish my mom was alive to see this, but in some way, I can feel her pride.  
There are no words to thank my colleagues for their support and constant communication that helped to make all of this possible.  I so appreciate every one of you.  I know that I will remain in touch with many of my colleagues who I have formed life-long friendships with; YOU know who YOU are!  Our discussions have taught me so more than our text books.  It’s been an amazing ride, and I know you will each make a huge difference in young children’s lives.  YOU CAN DO IT; YOU WILL DO IT.  I’m putting my contact information at the bottom of this post, and I look forward to keeping in touch! 

Dr. Teri, you have knowledge, patience, and humor… you are so organized.  Your numerous weekly messages kept me on track, most of the time!  Most importantly, I thank you for teaching me the meaning of the happy dance.  That meaning will remain with me forever.
I will miss this experience a lot, but I will hold tight to my learning.  Will I go on to obtain my EdD or PhD, I have not made up my mine!  I just might!  I hope to meet many of you in Orlando during the graduation in January 2014!  PLEASE KEEP IN TOUCH... we can become our own Community of Practice.

Lois Wachtel

beginningsteps@bellsouth.net                                        561-488-2231, 561-699-5841

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

 

Even with all of my years in the field of early childhood, I never searched for international information.  I do not understand why.  I meet, interact, and continue to e-mail early childhood professionals from around the world (most of whom I met at NAEYC conferences), and yet, I never thought to search information on their organizations.  This week’s search for international early childhood organizations has proved quite enlightening. 

When I typed in ‘international early childhood organizations,’ the list was never-ending.  My initial choice was a no-brainer, because their featured publication is a new early childhood book titled, Multicultural Teaching in the Early Childhood Classroom.  Obviously, this is my challenge, so the web page already had a feather in its pocket.  This web page is the Association for Childhood Education (http://www.acei.org).  I found much of the information to be similar in context to NAEYC, but, obviously, on an international level.  Since I had researched early childhood education in Asia for another course, I was interested to learn that the estimated number of children not attending school has dropped from approximately 39 million in 1990 to 13 million in 2010.  I find these numbers positive, and I will return to this web page to read more.

I found 2 job listings quite interesting.  It's something that might entice many of my colleagues also.  They had a call for manuscripts from early childhood professionals.  With our experience in research and our passion for our topics, this might be worth pursuing.  I almost feel as if I have adequate information (research) collected to write a novel; an article would be a breeze.  I e-mailed one of the ladies in charge of publication for added information.  While I do not know if a fee would be paid for our articles, the prestige alone might make this a job opportunity worth pursuing.

In addition, there was a position for summer interns.  The internship would allow individuals to gain work experience with this international organization.  They would primarily be involved in on-line resources, as well as developing various resources.  The intern must have graduated from a higher level of early childhood education.  For the few months of the internship, the candidate would have to reside in the Washington, DC area; the position is located a few blocks from the White House.  With all of our growth in research and passion for early childhood, I can see myself and various colleagues in such a position.  Of course, paying for our own room and board in the Washington area would be quite expensive.  In addition, the internship begins the end of this month, while coincides with our graduation.  More importantly, for me, my husband would not be happy if I was to move to Washington for a few months; he cannot wait for me to finish so we can have a life together.  In spite of all this, I will definitely continue to follow similar internships.  It would be a huge feather in my cap and something that I would LOVE.

 The next web organization that I discovered was Save The Children (http://www.savethechildren.org) In 2012, they  helped improve the lives for over 125 million children.  The stories and videos shared brought tears to my eyes.  I understand that even if I do not have money to donate, I can still make a difference in the lives of children.  In many ways, each of us is already making a difference.  There is specific information concerning numerous ways to advocate for children.  I found their article on understanding what advocacy is to be quite beneficial. 

While there were not specific job listings that I could locate, the web page referred to their employment of more than 14,000 people in over 120 countries.  I called their offices In Washington, D.C. to find out about current job opportunities.  They were extremely welcoming and eager for me to apply.  Currently, they have international positions for individuals to work in early childhood programs, with the biggest demand being in the field of literacy.  In addition, with the huge push for exercise, they are looking for individuals to go to various areas to teach children and their families about the importance of exercise and nutrition.  When I began to ask specifics about payment, I did not receive any concrete answers; it was obvious that this was an area where information would be supplied after I submitted an application.  However, from my own perceptions. I would believe that there would be a small stipend and food and shelter would be provided.  According to the gentleman who I spoke with (he told me his name several times, but I did not fully understand!), international jobs are the hardest to fill and as a rule, they are quite available through Save the Children.  Unfortunately, although exciting and enticing, I do not believe that my husband or son would be in favor of my moving internationally, even if it was only for a specific time period.

UPDATE: When I returned home from San Francisco, I received a phone call from Save the Children.  Upon return of the call, the gentleman (Justin) led me to where jobs were, indeed, posted on the web page.  He was wonderful!  Currently, Save the Children is searching for an Early Childhood Coordinator.  The job requirements are spot-on to support my passion for early childhood.  The individual would need a minimum of a Bachelor's Degree, so we will be ahead already.  Some of the responsibilities include running workshops that help children and families transition to kindergarten, share activities to extend children's language capabilities, and design a book exchange program (exactly what I am currently doing for the Literacy Coalition).  This is indeed an ideal position in a wonderful organization.  I am going to check back the end of June, once everything is finished with our program, and if the job is still available, I might pursue it further.  MIGHT!

The last association that I will discuss is the International Association of Early Childhood Educators (http://www.iaece.org).  Their goal and objectives are, again, similar to NAEYC.  They encourage early childhood educators to visit and study early childhood education in different countries; what an amazing class this could be in our Master’s Program!  If even we did not visit, it would be awesome to study an early childhood program (or school) within an international country.  I believe that membership has entitlements: visiting international schools, publishing papers, their journal, the ability to organize meeting and/or lectures with members from around the world. 

I found many of their lecture topics and/or panel discussions to be quite interesting, especially the one titled “What should we provide for children living in the 21 century?”  I do believe that I will research this organization further; many of their topics seem relevant.  A world perspective would certainly open-up new ideas.  I did not find any specific job opportunities, although I believe that with membership, job opportunities might be discussed from within.

For me, this blog posting has been eye-opening.  It has pointed me in directions that I never realized existed.  After reading through these web pages, I am aware of the wealth of information available internationally about young children.  In the end, children are children; this information stretches my ability to advocate the best practices for all children.