National Organizations

My first national organization that I am a member of is the National Accreditation for Family Child Care, NAFCC. This organization unites all 50 states that have nationally accredited in-home care into one group. Each state offers in-home care opportunities for child care educators and this organization is a National accreditation that in-home providers can become members of and earn their accreditation through. I had an in-home child development home for 12 years and earned my national accreditation through this program. It offers workshop trainings, valuable resources to buy and or download, and a new highlight is NAFCC radio. The president of NAFCC hosts a radio show that answers questions and offers best practice suggestions to problems and issues that in-home child care teachers come across. I would like to be an in-home accreditation evaluator for this association. An evaluator goes into the home with the completed workbook that the in-home teacher has compiled and answered. The evaluator spends up to 8 hours in the home watching and observing the teacher with the children in her care. The evaluator then spends the last few hours asking questions and reviewing the standards with the in-home teacher that she may not have seen throughout the day. This is a very rewarding job that does not pay. I would like to have the opportunity to use my knowledge and skills to help in-home providers reach their dreams and accreditation. In-home providers work very hard to meet the standards and requirements set forth by NAFCC. This would be a wonderful addition to my resume and I would gladly partake in the adventure of helping in-home providers with their NAFCC accreditation. The second organization that I am a member of is the Council for Professional Recognition which is the organization that helps you attain your Child Development Associate Credential, CDA. This organization helps anyone interested in attaining their CDA by offering the courses and training needed to meet this credential. The Council for Professional Recognition works with other early childhood organizations to help educate their members, families, and teachers on how the field of early childhood is changing. This organization wants to help educate and train others in the field of early childhood through their CDA credential. This council also works with other programs in the field of early childhood: NAEYC, Number and Characteristics of Early Care and Education (ECE), Teachers and Caregivers: Initial findings form the National Survey of Early Care and education (NSECE) and had in-put on Strong Start for America’s Children Act. The Council for Professional Recognition offers the CDA course which is based off of “specific set of time-tested, research-based tools to determine early childhood teacher competency, based on multiple sources of evidence” (Council for Professional Recognition, 2009). This organization works with NAEYC especially at their annual conference by offering trainings in the expo. I would truly enjoy being a CDA Professional Development Specialist. I actually have the paperwork and I am currently filing it out and getting the required materials for the application. This is a great opportunity to mentor candidates and work with individuals who have the same drive and passion that I do. I will soon have a Masters in Early Childhood Studies with a specialization in adult learning. Putting my knowledge and experience to work as a CDA Professional Development Specialist is definitely in my future. I would not quit my current job I would just add this to my duties. The third organization that I feel is important is Kids in Training, KIT. Which is offered by National Training Center for Inclusion, NTCI. I use to work at the Child Development Center on the Seabee Base. KIT serves all four military branches to educate and train their early childhood staff. We were able to partake in self-paced trainings through KIT that were offered online. I have taken a few trainings through KIT and received CEU’s for those trainings. Some of the trainings are offered online and from bi-monthly webinars. These are eLearning opportunities: virtual conferences, core module courses, specialized module courses, instructional videos and webinars (National Training Center for Inclusion). I took training courses over Autism and how to help children in my room who struggle with socialization, language, and being overwhelmed. KIT’s National Training Center on Inclusion offers individuals free community trainings at various locations across the nation and eLearning self–paced modules for individual professional development (National Training Center on Inclusion, 2013). NTCI offers free community trainings in specific locations and you can also join KIT’s online learning for $99.00 which gives you “12 months of access to all online content and free inclusion resources including instructional videos, booklets, tips sheets and more” (National Training Center for Inclusion, 2013). This is a wonderful organization that helps educate and train individuals on inclusion. I think the most important component that I valued was that they were self-paced learning. I learned after reviewing this website that this organization offers a program that trains individuals on being a KIT affiliate. I would love to become an affiliate for KIT. If you work for an organization with more than 10 employees then you can register to become a KIT affiliate. After researching this more I learned that you go through a specific process that trains and educates you on KIT’s policies and procedures. KIT combines live training which includes access to KIT’s phone support center, their library which is full of resources, bi-monthly webinars and of course their eLearning courses. Once I complete this training I will have a comprehensive staff training program that will help me to educate my staff and train them on best practices in an inclusive learning environment. References Council for Professional Recognition. (2013, November). CounciLink. Retrieved from http://www.cdacouncil.org Kids Included Together. (2010-2013). Retrieved from http://www.kitonline.org/html/training.html

Local and State Organizations

First Steps is a state organization that is ran by Mississippi State University. It is funded by a grant from the federal government. First Steps is for parents and children from the ages of birth to 2. I have worked with the speech pathologists and the early interventionists with this organization as they have serviced children in my classrooms and center. The organization provides evaluations and assessments on children who might be developmentally delayed and or have physical or mental disabilities. Early Intervention is a local organization that is ran by the school district. Each school district has their own set of early intervention specialists and speech pathologists. These specialists evaluate, assess and provide cognitive and or speech/language services to children who show signs of delay for their age. Since the program is run by the school district they only start evaluating children from the ages of 3-5. These specialists are great references on how to help and expand children’s language skills and cognitive development. I use books from DLTK.com, a website that has a great amount of resources free of charge. These books use repetition and pictures to help the young children remember letter sounds, the letters and the meaning of words. The specialists actually use those same books when working with the children that receive services. Collaborating and working with specialists only enhances your classroom and its practices. 5 Star is a state organization that is funded and ran by Mississippi State University. The program is divided into districts and they have specific representatives for each district. 5 Star is a program that helps centers and homes to use best practices. They use the ITERS and ECERS rating scales to evaluate and monitor centers and homes. 5 Star rating is the best of the best in the state of Mississippi. You can be a one star, two star, three star or four star in this program. 5 Star is the best you can rate. This organization works with teachers and center administration on understanding the importance of routine, schedules, learning through play, centers, and choices. 5 Star is a great resource that helps build centers into the best learning environments possible. I am very interested in the Assistant Director’s position that is currently available at a local child development center in my area. I have applied and I am qualified for the position. This job requires at minimum a CDA and experience within the early childhood field. I am working and have almost completed my Maters in Early Childhood and I will have a specialization in adult learning. This is also part of the job requirements to teach and educate new teachers. I have great communication skills and I practice constructive listening. I promote parent/teacher relationships and feel parents should discuss any and all concerns with the teacher first. Assistant directors are not in the classroom and do not understand any and all problems or issues that may arise. I work well with other staff and I am an experienced classroom teacher that has built my knowledge and understanding for the field of early childhood by continuing my education. I also am interested in the Program Manager position at my current job, at the University of Southern Mississippi’s lab school. The program manager is responsible for maintaining and adhering to health department regulations, promoting NAEYC standards and 5 Star qualifications. The program manager overseas ten staff and the student teachers. The program manager must be a great communicator and mentor for her staff. The program manager provides a work schedule and creates time sheets for all staff that are not salary. This job does require a master’s degree in education or early childhood education. I will have this requirement in 6 weeks. I feel my most positive attribute is my communication and listening skills. I am a constructive listener and I feel that parents are our best references. Building a center starts with building relationships with staff, parents and children. I have all of those skills. I am very knowledgeable in 5 Star and NAEYC qualifications for a center, this is a big necessity. The program manager is on her own since the main office is over an hour away. I currently teach a course a semester at the University of Southern Mississippi and I like this part of my job a great deal. I would like to be an instructor full-time, especially at a junior college. We have two local community colleges that provide an associate’s degree in early childhood. Currently this degree does not transfer to the university I work at because the instructors are not accredited. I will be an accredited instructor and feel that I would be a strong asset to any community college that offers a degreed program on early childhood.

Hello Everyone

Hello everyone, I am excited about this class but I am also very nervous. I tried to put in my wordle but was not able to post the picture. Good luck to everyone on your last course for your masters!!!