My Own Capacity

Which issues impacting young children and their families and/or the field of early childhood fuel your passion?

The issue that fuels my passion is the retention of early learning professional due to compensation. I hate hearing the high turnover rates for preschools and the ways it effects children and families.  A big is with turnover of compensation or lack their of.


What knowledge, skills, dispositions, and/or talents do you possess that will contribute to your advocacy work?

Well, by me earning this degree I have learned so many ways to research issues and what to do to advocate for this issue. With insight into different cites and ways to get involved I can be of some assistance. While I still have a lot learn I know I am on the right track to being a strong advocate.

In what ways do you hope to grow in order to be a more effective advocate?

I hope to grow in knowledge and strength to press on in times when it may seem like what I am trying to do is impossible. Trying to push for a policy is no easy feat.

My Role as an Advocate

Honestly, my intent was not to advocate for children. I believe children have a number of people advocating for them and could definitely use more however, I have been drawn to advocate for early learning teachers. Preschool teachers seem to have a bad rep. People are constantly thinking all we do is babysit all day when that is clearly not the case. With there being a rise of high quality preschools, more school are requiring that teachers have a degree, certification or license. 

In this case it is essential that we acknowledge the issues on all levels when it comes to the education of our educators. You cannot properly teach children if you do understand what developmental stages they are at currently and you cannot properly guide them going forward if you do not understand what is expected of them in the next class. With this knowledge comes education. Which is why continued education is important. Even teachers who have been in the field 10 plus years needs a refresher , a reboot because as times change so does how children learn change. 

Even though I am discussing advocating for teachers this is still an issue concerning the well-being of children. If I were to become a community leader I would express the importance of an early learning teacher and roles that teacher plays throughout the day to care for a child, teach a child and so on. I would express the importance of early learning and how great of impact early learning has in the life a child. I would take the time as a community leader to  understand my audience. 

The communities that suffer most is lower-income communities. I could express them all day long, the importance of early learning teachers and what they deserve but some would ask at the end of my spill what would it mean in cost for them for children to attend high-quality preschools. As we know hiring teachers with degrees and so on could be added on cost in tuition fees. I would begin to seek sponsors, partners, people willing to donate annually etc. Paying teachers should not be the job of the parents. 

Being a leader in any forum takes thick skin and understanding that a no, isn't always a no and a set back doesn't mean you have to quick. As long as we have children in this world then we have a reason to advocate, to fight. As long as we have people that want to teach our little ones,love on them while mom and dads make a living then again we have a reason to advocate, fight. Leaders must press on.

Personal Advocacy Reflection

I don't have so much as a story of how I helped someone advocate for me or even someone being close to me being advocated for. However, now learning more about advocacy I wish I would have had someone advocating for me when I was younger. When I was younger I was sexually abused and I had to go through courts, custody, judges etc. I feel like people did the bare minimum even though I was removed from the situation but it was basically my choice because of lack of evidence. Now learning about the lengths advocates go to to ensure a child's safety and well being and even that justice is served, I wish I would have had an advocate. Someone who understood the severity and who wouldn't give up the fight so easily. Advocates are truly essential and working in this field I get to become the person I wanted when I was younger.

Advocacy

This quote is pretty self explanatory. If we don't care a whole lot about what we are doing then there won't be change. 

When I Reflect About My Collegial, Professional Learning Community

Being apart of this learning community has definitely been different from what I have experienced in the past courses. Having a smaller classes presents a different challenge as far as accountability. Definitely felt a little more pressure to do assignments better and be on time,which is a great thing. I have enjoyed reading posts and gaining other insights from you wonderful ladies. One goal I have is to continue to do more research and ask more questions. As time is coming near to the end of this program another goal is to take advantage of the awesome resources Walden offers!

It has been a pleasure these past eight weeks with you ladies! I wish you both the best going forward and hope to see in other courses! 

My Hypothetical Family Situation

I am married. My husband and I have opted for adoption of a toddler. The toddler is a boy and is deaf. My husband works as a fireman and I own a preschool. I guess you could say middle class would be our socioeconomic status. Neither I or my husband come from super well-off families. We had to make to decision about the kind of life we wanted and we went from their pursuing what was in our hearts. English is our primary language. Childcare will be available as I am an owner of a preschool and there will be professionals there that can work with my toddler on his sign language in the classroom as well as teach other children sign language.  Considering the comprehensive systems I would have to say that Health and Family Leadership and Support would benefit my child now and in the future.  With my toddler being deaf there will have to be serious observations done to make sure he is hitting milestones. I don’t want his impairment to limit, which I don’t believe it will but rather use it as an advantage.

The Political Will to Improve Early Childhood Systems

What I have learned this week that early learning advocate research is so beyond the surface level. Advocates go to greats lengths such as starting initiatives and/or being apart of them, getting involved in local politics, attending important meetings that concern early learning. It is definitely a lot. What has appealed to me is the different ways that we can get involved even if we aren't advocates. On a lot of the cites there are ways to see how to help or get involved and simply just connecting and sending emails. I see advocates as those reporters that report from the scene. We have such an advantage because we see first hand what the issues are and also have the access to get the issue to important people that can make a change.