It's a Wrap!

Yay! I am so proud of us! We did it while we worked, while we cared for our families, while we lived already busy lives. We finished a degree. Here are three big take aways for me among hundreds of smaller ones......

1. Technology is amazing. I finished my first degree in 1984. At that time, I stood in line to register for each class I wanted to take (sometimes for an hour) to hand them a registration card before I ran to the next line to register for another. I spent hours and hours a week IN an actual library because that is where the information was. I carried a large book bag full of reading material. I typed on a typewriter and corrected my papers with white out. All of my friends were on campus. We would meet to have long study sessions before tests and to prepare for presentations. Technology has made it possible for me to get my fourth degree without having to leave my home. I will miss having a university library on my dining room table.

2. The ability to write well is a powerful tool. Hanging indents had me in tears in September of 2012. Mastering the mechanics of APA again has taught me patience and given my voice clarity. All my life I have relied on my face to face communication skills to interact with the world. Walden required me to rely solely on my writing ability to express myself. I am a stronger writer having been a student at Walden and have a deeper respect for writing as a communication tool.

3. I know many people who  hold a dreams in their heart but very few people who carve out the time and a plan to make those dreams come true. I know now that ANYTHING is possible and that I DO have the time to make a difference in the world. We have found 15 hours a week to complete coursework at Walden for almost two years now. What great things could we make happen if we honored this experience by continuing to carve out the time, for the rest of our lives to make the world better for children? I intend to find out.

I am grateful. I appreciate each and every one of you. I respect the work you do. I would love to meet you. Here is how you can find me....

Katy Smith   www.facebook.com/KatySmithWinona   LinkedIn   Twitter @KatyMN12        kackley@hbci.com    www.katysmithconsulting.com    GooglePlus

International Opportunities

I love the idea of being a part of an organization that creates the conditions for dialog around the world for conversations based on shared values and commonality. This is the work of UNESCO. On a very local level, and sometimes on a statewide level, I like to think I do the same kind of work in my classroom. I believe I have a skill set and a work history that would be an asset to this organization but I did not see a position that was of interest to me.

The Academy for Educational Development has made some changes to it's  organization since 2011 when Walden University added them to the Blackboard assignment. Although the URL is the same, the organization is now fhi 360. There is a job available here that piqued my interest. It is an ECE Specialist based in Washington, DC. The job supports Head Start Grantees with a focus on school readiness and family and community engagement. Even the 50% travel sounds like a good fit for me at this stage in my life. I have all the qualifications necessary in terms of schooling and experience.

The World Organization for Early Childhood Education, headquartered out of Whittier College in California has a beautiful mission to ensure the well-being, rights, and education of all children and their families here at home and around the world. I especially like the mention of family education in their mission statement. The organization has no job openings listed on their website.

As much as I love to visit other countries, I would not like to work in one. There is much to do in the field of Early Childhood Education here, in the United States. I am more than happy to put my time and energy to making life better for kids here at home.

References

fhi 360 http://www.fhi360.org/
OMEP http://www.omep-usnc.org
 UNESCO http://en.unesco.org/

Exploring National Possibilities in Early Childhood

Commonsense Media is a national non-profit organization based in San Francisco. The organization defines itself by the motto "We rate, educate, and advocate for kids, families, and schools".  I view them as a trusted source of reliable information about media and technology in the lives of young children and their families.

They are hiring! On their website, they have a lovely promotional video describing the work they do and the folks they like to recruit to join them in their mission. They boast that every day is different and passionate people looking to have a positive impact on the world are welcome to join their community. They are looking for a person to fill the position of development internship. The job requires event planning and production skills, ability to create power points and marketing materials, and research a donor base. They are seeking an individual who is multi capable (aren't we all?) and energetic. The job promises a flexible work schedule.

Although it sounds like they are looking for me, I would miss working directly with families. I love teaching.

The United States Department of Education needs all of us to elevate the voice of the early childhood teaching force in America. As it turns out, they too are hiring! They have several jobs listed on their website. The Education Program Specialist in the Office of Innovation and Improvement is one that caught my eye. The position is housed in the Parental Options and Information Office.

I am not cut out to be a federal employee. My heart aches for my colleagues who work at Head Start. They are buried under paperwork, regulations, and mandates to the point of madness. I would find myself extremely frustrated at the daily frantic pace of government work that seems to go nowhere at times. Nope, not for me.

I have been a member of the National Education Association (NEA) for as long as I have had my teaching license. I am proud to be one of the three million members of this teacher's union. The organization identifies their mission as "Great Public Schools for Every Child" and I applaud them. Great public schools are the foundation of our democracy.

I have been the Government Relations Chairwoman in my local Winona Education Association for years. My work takes me to the Capitol in Minnesota several times a year. I am comfortable in that arena and although I do not consider myself a lobbyist, I do lobby. The NEA has an opening for a lobbyist. The job is described as promoting public schools and public education through lobby efforts. It requires five years of experience, which I guess I have and asks applicants to be skillful in navigating public policy, writing, and a willingness to work evenings and weekends. Hmmm, maybe?

Exploring Local and State Roles in the ECE Community

My first pick is MinneMinds, a coalition of seventy plus organizations in Minnesota campaigning to increase public funding to provide access to quality Early Childhood care and education for three and four year olds who live in financially challenged homes. The organization has impressed me in it's ability to harness resources and lobby with laser like focus. Although I am not interested in working for them, in a way, I lobby on behalf of their efforts. To be a competent lobbyist, one needs an extensive knowledge of public policy and how it gets crafted and know how to build relationships with policy makers, legislators, and other stakeholders. I have good people skills.

www.minneminds.org

My second pick is Minnesota's network of Early Childhood Initiatives or ECI's. ECI serves greater Minnesota's efforts to provide quality early childhood experiences to children and support for providers who care for them. I chose this organization because I am familiar with the work they do. I am often invited to a community by an ECI to speak to business and community leaders in support of investing in Minnesota's youngest learners. ECI's are lead by regional directors. To be an effective regional director, one needs to understand the communities represented in the region, have the ability to collaborate with other professionals, and organize activities. I would need to be a much more organized person to competently fill the role of an ECI director.

www.smifoundation.org

My third pick is the Minnesota Association for Family and Early Education (MNAFEE). MNAFEE is a professional organization representing teachers, administrators, and providers in the field of early education and parent education. The organization supports high quality family and early childhood education for children and their parents in the state. The organization is run by one person who supports the work of several boards within the organization. The position is largely clerical. Computer skills, scheduling skills, and office management skills are all necessary to the position. Although I would be able to do the job, it does not make use of what I do best, work with people face to face.

www.mnafee.org

Wordle

Greetings Capstone Classmates!

Profile of A Volunteer

My co-worker, Anne brings bread to work about three days a week. One of those days, the bread is to share with us, her work community. On the other days, Anne drops the home baked bread off with a friend or an acquaintance that is struggling with or celebrating life. Anne ministers with bread. You can taste love in her work. I cannot begin to estimate how many loaves of bread that have left Anne's kitchen. In baking, Anne celebrates life's high points, a new baby, a college graduation, a promotion at work and life's low points, a death, a divorce, a miscarriage.

Anne's bread is symbolic of her passion for connection and community. In times when so many of us write checks to organizations or volunteer to serve on boards, Anne's act of kindness seems so intimate in comparison. Anne's bread says I care. I care enough to bake, to deliver the bread, and to show up at your doorstep for a brief (or not so brief) visit. In it's simplicity, the bread heals. Anne is our school readiness facilitator in the district. One of her major responsibilities has been to assist immigrant families in navigating the school district. She takes her time to get to know each family and astonishingly remembers their names, names that take practice to master years later. When Anne sees an alumni family at school, so many of them thank her for her gift of bread to welcome them.

I know bank presidents who give large amounts of cash to programs but  never take the time to know anyone being served there. I know CEO's who donate to the food bank but never dine with folks who live in poverty. Anne's story resonates with me in a way that leaves me inspired to make real connections with people as I volunteer. Organizations that put real people in the path of folks who need them, like Big Brothers, Big Sisters, the Miller Mentoring Program, and Ready, Set, School are all local organizations that make a real impact with people power. Kindness is powerful, kindness matters.