Dynamics of Early Childhood Policies & Systems: MD7 Blog2 - Communication Skills

Communication is vital to every relationship and interaction.  In order to effectively communicate our ideas, disseminate information, and to gain support for our ideas we must be able to effectively communicate, verbally and in writing.

In evaluating my own skills through the Communication Assessment in this Module I scored as "situational" which I would agree with.  While I enjoy meeting new people, and one on one interactions I am not a fan of speaking publicly.  If I am in a small group I am a little more open to speaking but in large groups I am become an avid listener.  In trying to gain support for a policy issue this could pose to be a problem.

Two skills that I believe are essential and which I can work on are managing stress and listening.  In order to reduce my anxiety before a public speaking engagement I can take the tips given in the Effective Communication article on Helpguide.org which include deep breathing and visualizing a calming situation.  I need to remind myself that I am prepared, take deep breaths, and calm myself before speaking.  By recognizing the signs of my anxiety I can initiate these strategies and hopefully become a better public speaker.

I also believe that listening is crucial in communicating effectively.  Too often I believe while we may think we are listening we are actually jumping ahead in our minds already creating a response without really actively listening to another person.  We get so focused on wanting to respond that we can tend to forget that the other person is still speaking.

Both of these skills are essential in effectively communicating your ideas when leading policy change. You must be able to speak publicly and to engage your audience.  When leading policy for change you must also listen to feedback that is received and even reevaluate your policy if need be.  Feedback is important to ensure that all challenges or issues are addressed.

Communication skills are skills that individuals can always improve and work on throughout their lives.

References:

Helpguide.org. (n.d.). Effective Communication. Retrieved from www.helpguide.org

Dynamics of Early Childhood Policies & Systems: MD7 Blog Post 1 - Social Media

Two social mediums that I feel I could utilize for addressing my policy issue of multicultural and linguistic diversity would be Twitter and LinkedIn.

Twitter could be beneficial in that it is instantaneous, has a broad audience base, it is interactive and can generate feedback from the public.  The downside is that it is so broad it may be difficult to keep up with feedback provided but I still feel it would get the message regarding this issue out to individuals and groups who may not realize it is an issue.  It would also allow for instant updates on the progress of the policy issue.

The second social medium I would utilize would be LinkedIn because it allows an individual to reach professional groups as well as individuals.  On LinkedIn you can post articles regarding the policy issue, post blogs, and generate discussions regarding the issue.  An individual can also post videos or PowerPoint presentations for individuals and groups.  This social medium is also a great way to network with other professionals who may be working on the same issue in their local areas.

Social media can provide a fast, efficient, and low-cost method to disseminating information and educating others on important issues locally, nationally, and globally.  As the article Social media's impact on policy making stated "social medias are the pamphlets of the 21st Century".  Social medias allow for stronger connectivity and interaction between individuals and groups.  The article also identified that "on average any two random Twitter users have only 4 degrees of separation between them" (June,P., Hong, C., & Sung-Min, P., 2011, p.1).  This statement alone shows how the massive size of the audience that you can have when you want to get information out.

While the benefits of social media are numerous it can also have it draw backs.  Such a broad audience base can allow the original message to become distorted, and even side tracked into other issues.  It can also lead to hasty decision making and rushing policies through the legislative process too quickly sometimes.

It is important to maintain a balance and to stay involved when using social media to disseminate information.  When you can connect the public to an issue you will have greater success at achieving your goals.  There truly is power in numbers.

References

June, P., Hong, C. & Sung-Min, P. (2011). Social media's impact on policy making. SERI Quarterly. 4(4), p. 125-129 Retrieved from Walden University Library

Dynamics of Early Childhood Policies & Systems

Course Goals

In reading the course description for Dynamics of Early Childhood Policies and Systems I found myself agreeing with the generalization that "early childhood professionals see the policy-making arena as an alien world, one in which they feel ill at ease and unequipped to participate" (The Finance Project,2013).  This statement describes my exact feelings in regards to the policy-making arena of early childhood.  

Therefore, my first goal for this course is to become a better "policy-oriented communicator" so that I will not feel "ill at ease" or "unequipped" to join in creating policies for the early childhood field which will provide families and young children with more comprehensive high quality services.

My second goal is learn how I can advocate locally more.  While I am a member of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and I participate in their contact your State Legislator and other projects I have yet to determine how I can make more of a positive impact locally.  I have recently joined the Southern Kentucky Association for the Education of Young Children (SKYAEYC) I am still trying to determine how to advocate more locally.  I believe it is important to advocate both at the National level as well as at the local level.  In the past 10 years I have seen the views regarding Early Childhood change dramatically with more governmental support and with more Colleges and Universities offering Early Childhood Degrees.  I hope to be a part of the continuing positive change in the Early Childhood Field. 

The third goal I have for this course is to learn more about Quality Rating Improvement Systems (QRIS).  While I am familiar with them somewhat as our local Head Start / Early Head Start program of course was participating in this program I would like to learn about how it works and how it impacts early childhood programs.  

The last goal I have is to be able to put everything that I learn in this course into action in my professional career as an Early Childhood Professional so that I can have a positive impact on the early childhood services needed for young children and families.  

Influences of Family, Culture, and Society in Early Childhood: Final Thoughts

In researching articles for my challenge:  Multilingual Families: Home/School Language Divide I found myself learning new strategies for working with immigrant families whose first language is not English. I also learned what it means to be culturally competent, the importance of continued self-reflection, examining my own cultural identity, and the important role that language plays in families perceptions and expectations of education. 

The most surprising thing I learned was the important role that Early Childhood Education plays in the integration of immigrant families with their communities.  We have all learned and can recite the benefits of Early Childhood Education but I never imagined that our Early Childhood Programs played such an important role for immigrant families and how they become integrated within their communities. 

I hope to further investigate the challenges that rural communities face as compared to urban communities when it comes to addressing the needs of immigrant families.  Many of us have a tendency to believe that immigration is only an urban issue but more and more rural communities are beginning to face challenges with meeting the needs of an ever increasing diverse society.

The thought that by continuing research in this area that we can create strategies to help rural and urban communities to meet the needs of immigrant families and in the end assist them in integrating into their communities is a huge motivation for me.  By helping families integrate and become involved within their communities we can promote family engagement in education, student success, and reduce family stress for immigrant families.

 

Influences of Family, Culture, and Society: Interview Process

For my challenge of multilingual families and the home / school language divide I chose to interview two colleagues who have experience with working with multilingual families. Ms. Roberta is a home visitor who goes into families homes once a week.  I thought her perspective on building relationships with multilingual families and bridging the communication barriers she faces would give a nice perspective.  Ms. Britnye is a classroom teacher who is also a parent whose children are being raised bilingual.  Her husband is from Honduras and Ms. Britnye is learning Spanish as well.  I thought her perspective as a classroom teacher as well as a parent would contribute greatly to my challenge.

While both of my interviewees are bilingual I have struggled with the thought that their perspective may be different than an educator who is not bilingual.  Is this challenge different for a monolingual educator?  While Ms. Britnye is still learning Spanish and she herself does not feel she is bilingual, I have seen her hold basic conversations with families and believe her to be fluent in Spanish more than she may believe.

In the area that my interviewees work there has been an increase of Burmese families, so this may address my above concern since neither is familiar with Burmese.

So far the interview process has been relaxed and I find myself very comfortable with choosing questions and expanding on them to clarify points.  Both of the educators that I contacted above were excited that I was working on this project and have asked that I share any insights I have gained as it may help them with working with families from diverse cultures.

In my conversations with both educators I have found that they both believe that while they have built wonderful relationships with their families and believe that their program is also doing a wonderful job they still feel that their is a major home/school language divide.  Does this home / school language divide impact the quality of services that these families receive compared to the quality of services that the English speaking families receive?

There are several questions still to answer and I look forward to completing this project.

The greatest enemy of clear language is insincerity ~ George Orwell

Project: Multiple Language Learners: Home / School Language Divide

The project that I will be researching for the course Influences of Family, Culture, and Society in Early Childhood will be multiple language learners with a subtopic of home / school language divide. 

I chose this challenge because I have always been fascinated with learning new languages and in the past have worked with immigrant families.  In my work as a Home Visitor for Early Head Start I felt like the families who were not bilingual were not getting the same quality services as our English speaking families.  The biggest reason for this I believed was a language barrier.  I would like to discover how programs and educators can over come some of these challenges to support young children's language development in both home and school languages. 

Some of the questions I have include:

1. How can early childhood programs and public schools support a child's home language?
2. How can early childhood programs and public schools communicate better with families who may not speak English or are Dual Language Learners?
3. How can dual language families support their child in learning English?
4. Should assessments be done in a child's home language or in both the home language and English?
5. Should or can educators assess children's home language development?
6. How can educators build relationships with immigrant families who may not speak English?

The answers to these questions can assist educators in improving family / school relationships and assist dual language learners in their language development.

Nelson Mandela once said: "If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head.  If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart."  I believe this quote exemplifies exactly what families of dual language learners need from educators.

Inspiring Resources, Images, and Quotes

There are several resources, quotes, and images that I find inspiring as my work as an Early Childhood Advocate. 

One resource that I continually go back to is the Zero to Three website, www.zerotothree.org, because of its expansive research, publications, podcasts, and information available not only for professionals but for parents as well.

Another resource I utilize often is the National Association for the Education for Young Children website, www.naeyc.org, this site also offers valuable resources for professionals in the Early Childhood field.

I also find Ghandi's quote "To reach real peace in the world, we will have to begin with the children" inspiring.

I also find inspiration in my teaching style from the quote "Children must be taught how to think, not what to think" by Margaret Mead.  When we teach children how to think we are giving them the gift of being able to form their own opinions, beliefs, and to be self sufficient.

As for images that inspire me, I find the pictures and work of the children that I work with to be inspiring.  After recently leaving my current position one of my coworkers made me a collage photo of all the children and families I have worked with, I find this to be my most inspiring image. It reminds me of how far each of these families and children have come and the part that I played in their lives as well as the part they played in my life.  I will treasure it always.