Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: National/Federal Level

     Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health

The first site I immediately went to for this week's Blog was the Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health program. I absolutely love this program and their theory of teaching children resilience in a world full of hardships and disappointments. It seems some families go through crisis after crisis yet still grow to productive and positive members of society while others do not bounce back from the trauma they endure.
     There were several job opportunities but the one which stuck my fancy was a Behavioral Coach who goes to the homes of families with high risk children and teaches various skills to help both the family and the child succeed in the home, school, and society. The job requirements are as follows:

• High School Diploma or GED required, Associate's degree or Bachelor's degree in related field highly preferred.
• Previous experience as a behavior coach highly preferred
• Must be able to type at least 30 WPM
• Experience working in the behavioral health field
• Must possess (or have the ability to obtain) a AZ Level One Fingerprint Clearance card with NO restrictions
• Must be able to pass 39-month DMV check

I would have to do some more training in many of these areas, even in typing 30 words per minute but the job still strikes my passion for the success of young children.

 Childcare Aware

I have often kicked around the idea of opening my own daycare which caters to the immigrant student and this program could help me with this opportunity. Though I have been properly trained in ECE knowledge, running my own place and knowing what agencies that could help me in this endeavor is not something I know about so this would help immensely. This program also shows me what I would need to look for in anyone I might want to hire to work with me. I found this site very helpful!

Early/ Head Start Program

I am putting this program in my Blog because it is so important in my eyes. Though I already work for this program in the classroom, a site supervisor's job has opened up which interests me. The qualifications are:

A Baccalaureate or advanced degree in early childhood education Baccalaureate or advanced degree and equivalent coursework in early childhood education with early education teaching experience is required. Also a minimum of four (4) years’ experience working in the field of early childhood education of which at least two (2) years include supervisory experience, preferably of staff in an early childhood education setting. Knowledge of New York State OCFS regulations and Head Start performance standards highly desired. Bilingual or multilingual abilities are a plus.  Possession of a valid driver license may be required.

I meet most of the requirements with a Master's in ECE (almost), 20 years in Head Start, and much research with Diversity training and education. I just have not supervised a group of teachers other than the two assistants I have in my classroom. I interview this Wednesday, so we will see. I am a bit torn, however, as I love being in the classroom as well.  

Reference
Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health (2018). Retrieved from https://jobs.devereux.org/
Opening a New Day Care (2018). Retrieved from  http://childcareaware.org/providers/opening-a-new-child-care-program/

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

My challenge is to aid immigrant families as they enter into their new culture here in the U.S. my main goal is to help them heal from the trauma of what they have endured in their home country as well as what they face coming to a new world. Children are this country's future and all deserve to grow up in a positive environment and this is the area i wish to focus on.

The first agency I looked at was The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants found at  http://refugees.org/field-office/albany/. This agency meets the areas I am looking at meet my challenge. This agency helps those who have been uprooted to rebuild their lives and become self-sufficient. This agency finds jobs, housing, ELL classes, and even has lawyers to help these families. There were a couple of jobs which interested me which was Case Worker or an ESL Teacher. Both of these jobs would require that I gain more education but I would like to encourage a newer job opportunity for the Birth to Four-year old programs.

The Refugee Services program, found at https://otda.ny.gov/programs/bria/programs.asp, seems another place which helps those entering into this country by finding jobs, homes, and other basic needs. This program educates and trains refugees for the work force so they may become self sufficient. I was very excited to find a site to click, Welcome to Our Schools, which helps ease children into the American Public school system. I did not find any information about jobs on this site but there was contact information which I can access which really interests me!

Supporting Refugees in the Capital Region, found at  https://capitalregionrefugees.weebly.com/, also helps with the needs of the immigrant families from housing to health, as well as education. This agency works through the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants for job placements.

I chose these three agencies because of the work they do with refugees and immigrants making sure they receive fair treatment and a positive new beginning. I am very disappointed that I found no agency that helps with children below Kindergarten with school readiness or any agency that offered social emotional support for the younger children. This is something I believe is needed in my area and, very likely, the rest of the country. I need to do much more research in ways to advocate for these children and have fact based information to support my position. I work with Head Start already and I do not know that I would need to find employment in one of these agencies to help my cause. I also have 20 years of experience in the struggles I witness in the classroom of the immigrant children and families and I believe this will be a benefit as well.

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

I have always believed that all students are awesome and deserve a fair education. To be honest though, some pushed my buttons while their family could "push me over the edge". Thanks to my time with this program through my Walden experience, as well as this class, I have discovered my own discomforts and biases and why I tend to think or react as I do. I have become more empathic and tolerant and I am made a better person for that. This realization has developed a passion in me so strong that I cannot ignore it even if I tried. I want desperately to develop an anti-bias classroom as a model for other classrooms in my Head Start program to imitate. Now that our program works within the school district I want the example to continue into those rooms as well. My area is very diverse and becoming more so every year and we need to be empathetic to the struggles of all children and teach them resilience to what life throws at them. That is my dream, to help children feel strong enough in who they are that they grow into tolerant and empathetic citizens of this world.

To all my classmates I would like to say thank you. Your insights and advice have helped me grow as a teacher and human being. I love hearing of ways to think outside of the box and you helped me achieve this through the last eight weeks. I cannot believe there is only one more class to go on this journey and I cannot wait to instill all we have learned into not only my classroom but my way of being in this world. Best of luck on your journey as well and God Bless.