Local Happenings with Early Childhood Education in Georgia

Bright From the Start is out state agency that oversees and license the childcare centers in the state of Georgia. This agency is where I research the rules and regulations of the care for the children in my center. It is also in charge of the Pre-Kindergarten program, which is a free program offered to four year olds in the state of Georgia. It also provides financial assistance to families for childcare as well as oversees the federal nutrition program. It recently launched a rating system called Quality Rated. I often visit their website for information needed for the care of children on the childcare center (About Bright from the Start, n.d.).

Georgia Association on Young Children is an organization in Georgia affiliated with NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) that supports the education of children ages birth to eight years old. Their mission is to help people to become more aware of the importance of early childcare and help improve early childhood. I chose this site because it can give me the latest news in early childhood (GAYC, n.d.).

The Georgia Child Care Association (GCCA) is an organization that advocate for children by making sure parents have quality affordable childcare. Also, they communicate with policy makers to advocate for children that effects children through law. Lastly, they educate owners, directors, and teachers about the rules and regulations of running a center and caring for children within the center. I chose this organization because it has regular scheduled webinars to allowing members to communicate back and forth about the issues of childcare (Our Mission, n.d.).

The most recent job search is a Director’s position in Kennesaw, Ga at Childtime Learning Centers. They are requiring a committed person who wants to make a difference in the lives of children and able to run a school. The director must be at least 21 years old and a degree with childcare experience, obtained a 40 hour director training course, CPR/First Aid Certified,  and has been a director for at least five years. I am qualified except for five year as a director. I had to be a director to become a director. I keep hitting that snag and I am about sick of that. I know I can run a center. I am learning everything I can as an assistant director to become a director. I just need the chance. However, it does say at the bottom of the listing “Required experience: childcare administration: 1 year. I have two years. Which requirement are they considering (Childcare Center Director, n.d.)?

 About Bright from the Start. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://decal.ga.gov/BftS/About.aspx

About GAYC. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://gayconline.org/about-gayc/

Childcare Center Director, (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Therapy-Staff---Plymouth,-MI/jobs/Child-Care-Center-Director-7abd87deb33b81f9?q=Child+Care+Director

Our Mission. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://georgiachildcare.org/

ECE Classes

Several of the groups that I participated in were continuing education classes that is required in the early childhood field. Now looking back onto the classes I can see the common task was to learn certain material that was needed to take back to our centers or classrooms. Often the adjourning phase was a game that tied everything together that we had learned in the class. It was nothing big but it reviewed what we had learned. During some of the longer classes, saying good-bye was not saying good-bye. We exchanged numbers and/or emails to help to keep in touch with each other. We could use them as resource or for networking in the field. The classes were valuable but it was not hard to leave because it usually was a long class (Abudi, 2010).

The leader or the teacher of the class made us become norm by assigning an activity that corresponds with the topic she was currently discussing. We had to work as a group and discuss answers together. It felt awkward at first but after a few discussion activities we usually begin to gel together as a team. There was one event that had several classes in one week where we stayed for a week in a hotel with no televisions. We had a core group that we got to know. We ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner together. By the end of the week it was bitter-sweet that we were leaving each other. We had a closing event that Saturday night that was fun and engaging (Abudi, 2010).

When I finish my master’s degree in this program I will feel accomplished and I will celebrate. I am not quite sure how I will celebrate but I will celebrate. I will probably will take a great vacation as a graduation present to myself. Adjourning is so important because it is celebrating a proud accomplishment. It brings joyful closure to a project that is meaningful to either one person or to several people (Abudi, 2010).

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.

Communicating with Bilinguals

When I worked as a teacher at Child Development Association I had to really pay attention to how I communicated with parents who spoke English as a second language. I had to use simple words with them so they could understand me. I slowed down my speech because I wanted to make sure that they were understanding and processing the information correctly. When they spoke I had to closely listen to what they had to say and have patience when they had to think about the right words to say to get their message across. I had a co-worker that needed help with her English writing. I had to proofread her writing to make sure she was grammatically correct. I also had to be patient with her because her Puerto Rican accent would get in the way of me understanding the English word she was trying to say. She may even ask me what something meant and I would have to find a synonym that she understood.

 I communicate differently with my son than I do with the children in my childcare center. I can keep separate how I deal with my child versus someone else’s child. When I answer the phone I sound my most professional. My voice changes and if it is a potential parent then I go into a sales mode. There are many ways I communicate with different people and different situations. Am I being just me all the time? I think I am, but in different ways.
 

Speak Like Dr. Umar Johnson

     One of today's speakers I like to listen to is Dr. Umar Johnson. Dr. Johnson is a Certified School Psychologist of Pennsylvania and speaks nationally and internationally about the predicament of African and African American people across the world. He is planning to open up a school for black children to learn the skills they need to economically compete with other races in the world (Dr. Umar Johnson, n.d.).
     I love how he speaks because he speaks with authority and urgency of his cause. He sometimes dresses casually or in a professional suit depending on his audience. He speaks intellectually and knows how to respond instantly to someone that disagrees with him. I wish I could speak like he does in front of an audience so smoothly. If I could speak like him I would have probably been more effective building my non-profit organization because I would be able to speak with authority and urgency about my community (Dr. Umar Johnson, n.d.).

Dr. Umar Johnson. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.drumarjohnson.com

Revolutionizing ECE

I desire when I work with children and families from multifarious backgrounds that I understand their differences and remove my own biases from the relationship. I hope to subsume their culture into the center and their child’s classroom. I love history but I do find it arduous to be intrigued in someone else’s ethnicity if it does not relate to me subjectively.

The mission I would like to attain in the early childhood field related to equity is building an ECE program in low income neighborhoods that has all of the assets of high income ECE centers. I have seen there is a big variation between centers who are low income versus high income. It should be a level “playing ground” when it comes to education and it is not. I think educating our children under five and continues through to high school will help to mend the social injustices.

I would like to thank the professor and my fellow classmates for their perspectives and inputs into my perspectives. I have really grown in this class and have learn about subjects that matter to people that I never really thought of.

Family from Benin Africa

I actually did have a family that is from Benin, Africa. We noticed that he may not know much English and knew his home language only. We tried to find out what language his family spoke. Mom would not tell us but Dad told us it was benin. I tried to look it up but the main language spoken there is French. Benin may be an almost lost language (Benin). I would try to get some common benin phrases such as, lunch time, sit down on the carpet, nap time, outside time, etc. I would try to research the culture of Benin and include pictures in the classroom. I would also try to talk to his pictures and have them bring in family pictures. Lastly, I would teach his classmates about Benin as well so they can learn a different culture. These suggestions will benefit me because I will understand how to teach appropriately. Also it is beneficial to the family because they feel included and important as well as the child.

Benin. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ethnologue.com/country/BJ

"Big Momma"

I remember working for an afterschool program where I cared for children ages 4 to 12 years old. There was a heavy set dark-skinned girl who was crying on the field. I asked her what was wrong. She said that a particular girl kept calling her “Big Momma”. I confronted the girl and told her how mean her statement was and how much it hurt her feelings. The girl looked at me with such confusion. It looked as if she did not know how much that statement hurt her. I hope I did not get onto her to harshly because I know how it feels to get picked on during that age. Even though the “bully” did not understand her microaggression it was very unfair to her to feel less than a person because of her weight. It was unfair to have to sit there on that field and miss out on playing with other children because her feelings were hurt. I myself was hurt and imagined myself as that child who was bullied because I was considered a “cry baby”. I now know that I was just highly sensitive. I did not stand up for myself when I was younger. When I was talking to the girl bully that was probably the little girl inside of me finally defending herself. The bully will have to change in this scenario because she has to learn how her words can affect others feelings. I as a teacher had to teach that to the bully.