Assignment Task:
Respond to my classmate's posts by looking at their chosen career goal and provide feedback based on their areas of opportunity. Advise your peer and try to bring in new resources or knowledge that might help as she plans for the future. Your responses to your classmates should be at least 200 words in length.
DISCUSSION 1 (Jessica)
My Chosen Trend: Increased stress in the lives of children
As Bredekamp explains, "Among the most problematic issues confronting early childhood education today are increased and almost unrelenting stress in the lives of children, the opioid crisis, threats to children's play, and the ubiquitous presence and impact of social media and technology" (2022). This only touches the surface of some of the stressors that are in the lives of children. These eat away at their ability to function in a healthy way, and their performance, attendance, and benefit from school are no exception. The world we live in today is not as simple as it once was. On one hand, the "times" have changed for the better in the education field for those who need more support and special services. We live in a world that is gaining momentum in diversity and acceptance. However, in those simpler days mentioned, children did not have to worry about some of the modern-day stressors like social media, technology, and the "divisive political climate," (Bredekamp, 2022). Teachers and centers/school feel this trend in their classroom trying to manage and contend to the stress that children face at school and at home. From my experience as a teacher who has regular meetings, collaboration, and professional development, the consensus indicates that this increased stress is happening everywhere for children.
Behaviors and the need for services and interventions, is growing by the year. This connects it to the families. Families too must face increased stress and the ripple effect is continual.
Policy: Common Core State Standards (CCSS)
Common Core State Standards "arose from a simple idea: that creating one set of challenging academic expectations for all students would improve achievement and college readiness" (Gewertz, 2015). The framework was in the works for some time before it became a policy. However, there is some debate and confusion around the benefits of CCSS. For example, teachers are given a curriculum, outline, and test to give their student, this is their requirement. These materials and the CCSS that are developed are not one size fits all. There are advantages, like specifically curated curriculum instruction that says if the child meets this standard, they are at the level they need to be. This is a benefit because it allows teachers and schools to get an idea of where students may have an area of need and subsequently, might need additional support to get them where they should be. Early intervention is key! This is a benefit for families also because they have assurance that their child's school has guidelines for their state standard in place to ensure their child is receiving a meaningful education. Schools also benefit from implementing their curriculum, procedures, and practices from CCSS because it reflects in the scores their students produce.
As an early childhood leader, I would maximize professional development required by my staff to be tailored to what our data reflects. As a school district, if our students were struggling in math for instance, I would curate goals and ideas around how we could get more meaningful math into the classrooms and building. Within this professional development I would go further into exploring what kinds of activities and instruction we could create for our students to thrive and excel. Within this, I would maximize the benefit by extending this learning and vision to families through things like game nights, or math downs. Holding events like this, that are free and fun for families, has so many wonderful benefits not only for the students, but for the staff and community as well. This could be a wonderful way to alleviate some of those stressors and improve the overall morale and academic compass for the community. Accountability is a top area of focus for an educational leader because they are who the school, teachers, students, and family rely on for guidance. A strong leader must accept this as part of the huge responsibility that lies on their shoulders because they have been put in that position for a reason.
Respond to my classmate's posts by looking at their chosen career goal and provide feedback based on their areas of opportunity. Advise your peer and try to bring in new resources or knowledge that might help as they plan for the future. Your responses to your classmates should be at least 200 words in length.
DISCUSSION 2 (Jessica)
My career goal: Area Manager at Head Start.
Link to available position for this
Professional Expectations: The Head Start Area Manager is responsible for providing operational management, in a designated service area, for Head Start and other pre-school programs funded through NEMCSA. Position provides direct supervision and training support to assigned staff. The Head Start manager is responsible for full implementation of the Head Start program in compliance with HS Program Performance Standards and State and Federal mandates.
Discuss how your personality or self-assessment results correlate with your career goal: My personality correlates with the requirements for the job because part of it is to Oversee the development and implementation of family partnership plans designed to meet the individual needs of families; Develop strategies for parent engagement that promotes parents as decision makers in governing and advisory bodies such as Policy Council, parent officers, health advisory and other community early childhood committees. These are dear to my heart, and I already fulfill these in some capacity in my current position.
Summarize how the Program Learning Outcomes and your professional experience will prepare you for your chosen career goal: They will help me develop a better understanding of how to take what I am presently able to do in supporting families and improve it through learning to gain strong leadership skills that will help those families and students' event more powerfully.
Identify two areas of opportunities that would make you better prepared for achieving your goals and share how you will address those areas of opportunities: Two areas of opportunity are family engagement and staff relationships. It is important to keep families informed, and interested as best as I can in their child's education. I have said it before, it is hard for families to relate to a teacher so I would do this in a way that avoids any condescending connotations. I think building and fostering positive staff relationships benefits the entire school because it builds a sense of community.