Thank you

Three deeply felt learnings from this program:

I take from this program the willingness to make a change. The positivism of what a smile and a hug offer from a child. I take from this course that diversity is what makes us unique and opens up our humane side of coexist and understand one another. I take from this course that following my dreams with passion will conduct me to places I can make come true. I have learned that collaboration and communication are key in every professional life and that I am not alone in this road, there is always somebody that waits for me.

Long-term goal

My long term goal would be to be maximal leading authority of the early childhood field in my community, and who knows where my passion can take me.

A farewell message to instructor and colleagues

To doctor Dartt and my classmates thanks for your support and your input throughout this course. Dr. Dartt thanks for your constructive feedback and your time. I am not going to lie, but there were times that I felt I couldn’t do it anymore. I was so overwhelmed and frustrated because I couldn’t spend the amount of time I wanted with my daughters. But now I see everything better and that hard work pays off. Thanks to our collaboration and constructive criticism I leave this course aware that I need to make something for the early childhood field and for this world. Now, I have taken it personal and cannot stay with arms crossed, somehow I will ascent in my career.  

Job Opportunnitites

Looking at the job opportunities I found out that experience ranges from 5 to 9 years in general. I purposely looked for jobs that I see achievable right now and jobs that I would like to have in the future as experience shows up gradually. Some of the jobs that I can have right now are as a pre-school teacher it the parent child centers of my sate. They actually have a center manager opening in my town but I need to have at least 3 years of experience. I would also like to work for the Zero to Three Organization but they didn’t have “normal” small jobs, they only wanted seniors to fulfill the positions as: senior program associate, financial analyst, and writer trainer specialist. But the headstart program in my sate, have many good ones such as   pre-school teacher. I had a hard time searching for jobs that best identified my preferences and often had to be transferred to different departments, which was so annoying. But the one that encourages me the most are the postings that are in my state, as my daughters grow. 

Exploring roles

I had previously applied for a job as a center manager in a local head start program but a minimum of 2 two years of experience with preschool children was needed.  I wanted to work in this center because when I went to do my observations I witnessed how they focus on the natural aspect of early childhood education. Parents were interacting with their children and teachers were being understandable with children. I also liked how they empower parents and take them to local and state meetings.

My other choice is as a pre-school teacher in a town 45 min away from mine, the pay is good but the feeling being 45 min away from my daughters just doesn’t feel  right for me. The third choice is to work in a pre-school center where I see a potential job there since it will be only for district employees. Where I live is a small town, there’s not much centers or organizations I could take a look at.  I am currently a first grade teacher and barely exploring my territory. I feel happy, but I’m definitely looking forward to move up in the scale and I know that what I need most is experience, only time will give me that. 

To my Dear Colleagues:

As we move on to our different paths, I would like to acknowledge your support as well as your wise teachings. I've learned from every single one of you and you've enriched my perspectives through different lenses. I will certainly like to keep in touch with you all through this blog of mine and be sure that I will get back to you whenever I'm honored to offer my help. Thanks once again and best wishes in everything you do .
Elisa

The Adjourning Process

I had a very authentic and fun group in my cohort back in university. We understood each other, supported each other, and we worked cooperatively. We even spent time together just to hang out and have some fun. It was hard to adjourn from them because we trusted each other and was a sense of responsibility was established among us.  I still talk to them and occasionally get together.

The Walden experience has been very enriching for me, not only because of the issues and comments from my instructors, but for the genuine intentions from my colleagues. I think the adjourning process from my colleagues would be a little bit sad because through their experience I’ve also grown as a practitioner. Thanks to their feedback and personal stories, is not so hard to study online. The complexity of the program relaxes thanks to their insightful thinking. Without a doubt they’ve made this journey so much easier and actually fun. 

Avoiding Conflict

Two weeks ago I went to an early learning certification program. In one of the activities I had to play the role of the instructor and the rest of my colleagues had to act like children. The thing was that they over reacted to the scenario and were very rude in their behavior. At the end to the role play, they themselves noticed it and apologized to me. I said to them that it was ok just to demonstrate that their offenses couldn’t hurt me because I was stronger than them. At the end of the class my instructor asked me if I was ok and my tears rolled down. Then my instructor talked with the other girls in the class when I was present and said to them that such behavior was not acceptable. Then I talked to the group about how I felt and after that I felt so much better.

Now that I think of it, when the girls apologized to me and I said to them I was fine, I didn’t want them to think that they had made me collapse, I wanted to look strong, but I also was avoiding conflict because I feared that the great chemistry we had would be lost. But at the same time I wasn’t willing to accept their apologies because my feelings were hurt. When I openly talked about my feelings in front of the group it made me feel so much better and it was then when I could forgive them. This reminds me of the 3S, conflict is not a bad thing, “it is a healthy process, necessary for making progress and dealing with injustice”.   

The Third Side. (n.d.). The third side. Retrieved from http://www.thirdside.org/

Who am I as a communicator?

Doing this test was very fun because it was a different way to reflect on what I say and how others perceive me as a communicator. In the communication anxiety I got a 44 and my sister gave me a 36. In the listening test I scored in group 1 and my sister also placed me in group 1. In the verbal aggressiveness I got a moderate score and the same from my sister. I don’t consider myself an aggressive person; I always try to politically disagree when I don’t agree with an idea. I was very happy that the test actually reflected my efforts in doing that. It was funny to know that my sister actually thinks that I’m a confident communicator but the truth is that I get nervous when talking in public, but once I get the hang of it, confidence kicks in.  Overall I think I hold a balance as a communicator, I do get nervous when I have to speak in public, but if I have to I’ll surely do it.