A note to Thank You

It is amazing how quick these eight weeks have gone by, I want to say Thank You for all your replies of support, feedback, encouragement throughout our discussions and blogs. Most of all, thank you for letting us learn from each others experiences in the field. I have no doubt that each one of us will provide to their highest potential within the field of Early Childhood field. As we come to an end, I wish everyone a wonderful and relaxing winter break and hope the best to each one of you. I hope to see some of you in my future classes...until then

Adjourning Phase

Thinking back, one of the times where I had the hardest to say goodbye was working as the teacher with two other girls (t.a's) which we made the best team in the center when working with the kids and together. Each one of us had our own strengths and weaknesses but we were there to support one another, read our body language and know what each other needed. The funny thing was that we were the only team out of four others that did not have any issues with each other and was not sitting in the directors office every other day. We worked together for a whole year until the director decided to split us up. We were all in shock and did not know how to react or say. I told the director why had she decided to break up the best team and all she said was to strengthened the others so I got two totally new T.A.'s the next year. I wish sometimes that things could have been handle differently.

When I started this journey of getting my Master's, and especially on line, I did not know what to expect. Now as I reflect, I have learned so much from every one I had some sort of communication and dialogue. I think it will be different for me leaving a group whom I have learned and seen other perspectives from. It has been an amazing ride.

For me adjourning is essential because is where as a team can look back and celebrate what has been accomplished and move on to a new phase. No matter what paths each one takes team members will be connected one way or another.
                                

Disagreements or Conflicts

Throughout my professional life, I have been part of several disagreements with co-workers and also conflicts. Each one of them has helped enhance my problem solving and conflict resolution skills and take them to a new level. I have come to understand that in a work area not everybody practices the same work ethics as yourselves; therefore there will be co-workers who will challenge you at some point. Nevertheless, as I learned this topic this week, I am experiencing some conflicts with a co-workers in this case my teacher assistant. The conflict is about home visits. I had explain her a month ago how I would like conference week to go, for example: giving the parents the options to do them in their homes or the center, however,  if they are at their homes I would like for her to be at the center since I am taking our family service rep with me that way we get both parts in one visit. I also explained to her that I will have a to do list for us to do during this time and the conferences who are at the center, she was welcome to sit on them and if there is any input related to the children to please tell me. She agreed and we left it at that with no problems. Little did I know, she had turned around my words and had gone to a supervisors regarding the matter. The supervisor called me to discuss the matter. She started asking me about the program and how every teacher do have their own ways of doing conferences, she asked why I took my family service support instead, honestly I felt as if I was being interrogated. So I remember about the 3 R's strategies and how important they are in this cases no matter if they are absolutely don't make sense since the supervisors is for the early learning programs Head Start and ECEAP. I listened to her very well, let her finished and with respect and professionalism I stated all my answers to her questions with logical sense and with the program expectations of the teacher and their assistant. Our conflict ended by her understanding what my position as a teacher  is and how I think the best way to deal with a conflict is letting me know before hand of her problem regarding home visits. I sat down with my T.A. and acknowledge her feelings and also mu point of view.

When dealing with problems like these ones, I reflected on how I talked to her and realize that I was very respectful and professional about it. I wanted to make sure, I had not done any wrong doing but I realize that her perceptions were way off and needed some assurance.
                                                 

Who Am I as a Communicator?

Just need to say, I love this course is probably one of my favorites so far. I have learned so much and has reinforce my knowledge even more. Taking this survey, what it was surprising to me was how well the two people who answered the survey knew me and how the score were similar. As I took the surveys, it made me analyze my skills and reflect on them a little bit better. It made me see what are the things I need to work on and keep maintaining  the things I feel confident about. I feel, I have come a long ways since I started my journey as a professional and a student. I used to be so shy and quite and doubtful of myself. As time has come, I have grown in every aspect, I feel more confident and determined on who I want people to perceive as.
                                                    This is so true!

Effective Communication Strategies

I have learned that communication styles vary within cultures and among people. What I have found interesting as well is that even within my own Latino culture, communication varies from country to country. So for example, I have a good friend from Puerto Rico and although we speak the same language, our vocabulary and expressions mean different at times. We have had to really sit down and talk about different words and their meanings as well as hand gestures, just to be amazed how different meaning each one had.
I guess because we have a good friendship it was easy to ask and talk about differences and similarities about our culture with no worries of offending each other.
I have also learned about the Muslim community since I have many friends and worked with families from this specific community.
I think in order to practice Effective Communication among each other we have to:
Be respectful
Be open minded
Ask questions when something is not clear to you
Treat each other as you want to be treated
Have empathy for others
Reflect on your bias and don't let that block for seeing the whole picture
                                        

Communication

For this assignment, I decided to observe a show called "Love it or List it" in the HGTV channel because is one of many favorite ones to watch, besides it makes me dream about the home of my dreams. The part I saw on mute and then with volume was toward the beginning of the show. This is what I observed:
I can see the man and the lady going to a house, getting in and looking around, the guy as he moves his arms when communicating, his facial expressions are very clear to read. the lady is talking to him but he does not have any eye contact with her. Sometimes the lady is left talking alone as I can tell her lips are moving. He always has a smile on her face. As they enter the bathroom, their look on their faces seems of surprised and there is head nodding. The scene goes to where they are talking to another couple they each are talking one at a times and listening carefully as well.
As I watched the same part with the volume on, the are both talking about the house and what types of work she had to do in it to make it more efficient for the people living there. She kept telling him that she will make it to where they don't have to sell their home. He in the other hand kept criticizing her time and they amount of remodeling needed which she might not get done therefore he is certain they will list it for sale. In the scene as they enter the bathroom, they were surprised although as they nod their head was because he had told her how much money it was going to cost. The lady  was wondering how much money she would had to get it done. When they are talking to the other couple, in fact they were the owners of the house and they were discussing the money for remodeling their home as well as what they wanted in their home. Everyone as they talk are quite and listen carefully to each other. For me, it is very interesting how much we can assume a conversation by it's facial expressions, body posture,and  hand movements and some times be wrong about them.
                                                          These are the cast members

An Admired Communicator

A person who I admire for their effective communication and listening skills has been a former mentor who I got to work with many years ago as I started my professional career in early childhood. She was always willing to listen my accomplishments or failures. Her communication skills were very clear and practical. As I got to know her better, she became very persuasive in her conversations with me regarding college. I am glad, I listened to her. It is so important to have someone who you can talk and express yourself knowing that they are actually listening to you. I have learned so much about my communications and listening skills, which I have gotten better every time. I used to be very shy and not comfortable talking in public, nevertheless, standing in front of people, but as I started working for the Head Start program many years ago, my mentor would do parent activities and have me do the parent workshops. For me it was a learning experience, I have gotten better at but still get nervous in the start. Something I learned from her was how she transcribed the message to other people through her words, body language and how others listened. As I work with families and children, is very important for me to be the best communicator for them, effective, respect and humble.
                                                      

Professional Hopes and Goals

                                             


There is so much information learned from this course and being able to practice it, is a must. Each of us have the potential and influences to make a better environment and experiences for our children and families, is just a matter of getting into action.
One of my goal working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is to keep working on showing respect and appreciation for who they are and what they can bring into the classroom. Make sure that children feel a sense of belonging in their learning environment as well as representing the families culture within the class and learn from their surface culture as well. Another important goal is also to keep building partnerships with the families and learn from each other.
One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field is for us who either work directly or indirectly with parents and children to take at look at ourselves and reflect on who we really are, what we really want for the children and families and what we want our outcomes to look like. Another goal would be is to learn from our experiences and serve as each others resource outlet.
I want to take the chance to thank everyone that took the time to read my blog and answer with your feed backs, it is very much taken into consideration and appreciated. I hope I see some of you in other future courses.
                                                        

Welcoming Families Around the world

For this assignment, I decided to choose the country of the Philippines.
                                               

As teachers, we have to be mindful that our first meeting or conference with our families is necessary and important because we will find out not only where they are from and all about the surface culture from their place of origin but also build a start of partnership so it will help us explore and learn about their deep culture as well. If I had to come up with five things on how to get ready well I would start by

• Getting to know the family and child 
• As they meet me for the first time, I want to make them feel comfortable being able to talk to me and assure them how all this benefits their child.
• Get to know about their family itself, in order words their surface culture.
• As for the child with very English language, is very important to have pictures and labels in the classroom. Picture cues and classroom schedule is helpful for them to tell you what they need and just gave a sense about their class.
• It is also helpful to learn couple of familiar words which can be helpful when communicating
• Place a world map and talk about the different places children from your class come from, including the teachers 
• Invite the parents to share something they practice in their family.
• Have children bring pictures of their family and make an activity of it. 

There are many ways to make a child and family feel comfortable and welcomed in our centers. The most important one is to show respect and acceptance for who they are. Having a trustworthy conversation with them is valuable. Is all about our personality, is all about our approach, is all about how we come across others, therefore we have to be mindful and revisit who we are and what we want as teachers.