EXPLORING ROLES IN THE ECE COMMUNITY: LOCAL AND STATE LEVELS The Children's Aid Society is an organization that helps children in poverty to succeed and thrive. The organization is 160 years old. The Children's Aid Society serves New York's neediest children and their families at more than 40 locations in the 5 boroughs. The caring starts with prenatal counseling and ends with college and job preparatory training programs. All of the child's life from health care to academics is addressed. Their mission is to help children in poverty to succeed and thrive. One job I saw was for Lead Teacher. Qualifications include having a Masters in ECE, having a valid teaching certificate issued by New York State of Education, and two years teaching experience. Another Job offering was Family Advocate. Duties included parent workshops, advocate, coordinator, supporter and recruiter. NYC Charter School Centers Charter schools are independent of the Department of Education. Each school is held accountable for advancing student achievement. One job was Elementary Teacher. Qualifications include, committment to working in under-served communities, NYS teaching certificate, 2 years of teaching experience, Masters Degree in education. Another job was Associate Learning Coach which had the qualifications of NYS Teaching certificate and experience achieving results withing high needs urban population. The last job that piqued my interest was Operations Manager. Duties including maintaining students information on a data base, managing immunizations, conducting bi-yearly inventory of student files, and assisting the Director. New York City Department of Education has 135,000 full time employees working in the New York City's public school system. For any job you need at least 10 different certificates. For teaching you need the teaching certificate plus certificates in child abuse, violence, etc. To be a School District Leader which is a supervisory position the school district, you must possess a SDA which is a school district administrator certificate. These organizations appealed to me because they all deal with children and the betterment of children. I will definitely have to figure out how to get some experience under my belt before changing careers. There are also numerous certificates that I will have to achieve before I even can start to use any other skills that I have obtained in my past or in my studies. References www.childrensaidsociety.org www.nyccharterschools.org schools.nyc.gov

5 STAGES OF TEAM DEVELOPMENT

I have belonged to many groups of people working together. I have been a PTA member where the goals were to identify and eradicate any obstacles in the way of our children having a quality education. I have been part of study groups in nursing school. We bonded because we all had the goals of passing our exams and gaining our licenses. I am presently in a neighborhood beautification group. We gather every Saturday morning that we are available to clean up and plant flowers on a dead end block around the corner from me. My undergrad experience with groups here at Walden University had me in classes with some of the same people. We had the goal of getting our Baccalaureate degree. I did meet a few classmates at graduation, but sadly many did not even show up for graduation. The groups usually have a closing celebration after a task is completed. I usually remember the members with fond memories but we usually don't exchange personal information after reaching our goals unless we have something else personal in common. The group of classmates I have met during my Graduate classes has been similar. Some of us have had all our classes together so far. Soon we will split to our concentrated courses. Hopefully I will get to meet some of the students at graduation next year. The adjourning phase is important because this is when the group can celebrate their success of the project. If there was not success, this is where brainstorming could be done to discover why the project was not a success. Adjournment brings closure. If the group was a high performing group there will be sadness about the conclusion of the project. If the group was low performing without success it will be easier to leave the team. I do hope my Walden University closure will provide the opportunity to keep in touch with some of the other students

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CONFLICT RESOLUTION

I don't usually have conflicts. Maybe once a year on my job. I work for NYPD. There are so many bosses..sergeants, lieutenants, captains, commanders etc. Then there are civilians like myself. We work as a team at my job. Everyone knows how to do every aspect of the job...whether it is drug testing, writing review slips, giving instructions to candidates etc. Another civilian had disrespected me by slamming a door after saying a derogatory remark to me. At first I was going to avoid the situation but avoidance is not the way to go. If you avoid someone disrespecting you, it will happen again and again. I confronted this person coming from a place of being disrespected and not liking it. Her voice was raised and so was mine. We were in an enclosed room but I was so mad at myself for letting her take me to that place. I just said what I had to do not so nicely and that was the end of it. I walked away to continue doing my job. Now this person is someone who I am very close to usually but when she is pressed for time working she can sometimes get anxious and nervous. It bothered me all that evening after I had left the workplace. The next day I said "Good Morning" to her and she answered begrudgingly. Later that day I went in her office and touched her shoulder and said "you know I hate when we argue". That was the end of that episode. We continue to work together but in the back of my mind, I know she can loose it at any time so I am alert to any change in behavior. The way that we handled that situation was a lose-lose situation. We both were yelling, not listening to the other and were acting very unprofessional for about 30 seconds. We should have made that a win-win situation by discussing what set her off and dealing with that issue. Instead I chose to ignore her in the beginning which probably is the reason that her temper escalated. By discussing the situation and arriving at a solution that satisfied both of us, we both would have remained calm and professional in the workplace.

COMMUNICATION SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES OF SELF TEST RESULTS

This weeks assignment allowed us to take self-tests on our communication styles, techniques and listening skills. Secondly, we were to ask two friends/acquaintances/relatives that are close to us to take the same tests also. After tallying the results, we were to compare the results for any differences or similarities. I was most surprised that my anxiety level was visible to others prior to speaking in front of others. I researched our textbook to find that in some cases rather than anxiety, I have communication apprehension. Communication apprehension is described as "when an individual feels uncomfortable participating in a group conversation" (O'Hair & Wiemann). I do feel comfortable if I am sitting in a group talking but if I have to step to a podium in front of a crowd of people then anxiety sets in. One insight that I gained insight to is communication processing. This is one aspect of communication where I am sure there is a glitch in some people's minds. On my job, instructions have to be given daily to adults. Many understand but many need the information to be repeated more than once. These instructions are simple. I believe some people may have problems with their communication processing by being distracted by the thought of having to be undressed in front of others which blocks their processing. Another insight was the interaction appearance theory. I have learned that you can't judge a book by it's cover. Appearances have nothing to do with the job a person might have. It is not until you begin to interact with someone that you learn all about them.

CULTURAL COMMUNICATION

I communicate with many people of my many walks of life. With my nurse friends we have our own jargon others would not understand. With close friends, I tend to use low language with slang words which we both can understand. Examples are "word", which means the truth and "school" which means to teach a lesson to someone. I am able to be informal with them. I have friends that are Filipino, Asian, Hispanic, Italian, East Indian etc. Close friends and occupational friends are the closest people to me and we understand each other because of our similarities communication is understood fully. Perhaps being more of an active listener will benefit me sometimes because I tend to speak more than listen. This would make me a better communicator with them. Supervisors at work who are sergeants, lieutenants, and captains. I use standard English with proper grammar with them. I can call it politically correct language. I have a tendency to speak low. One strategy is to speak louder, capture my audience and interact fully with them. I sometimes have to speak to Non Native English speakers. I use simpler words, which are easier to understand. I also use accommodation by changing my style of communication to adapt to them. For example when I worked in the Pediatrics ER, I would say "amarillo libro" which means yellow book for immunization book. Eventually I would say "tarjeta vacuna" which means yellow card and the parent would understand fully. One strategy I can use for Non Native English is to look out for non verbal cues if there is an interruption in communication. It helps to be aware of non verbal cues as well as verbal cues.

VERBAL AND NON VERBAL COMMUNICATION

I decided to watch an episode of L.A. Hair. This show revolves around a hair salon for celebrities in Los Angeles. There are 8 main characters who all work for the salon. There are different ethnicities and genders. Everyday a different group of clients come in to get services. The communication I observed was smiles, eyebrows raised, touching, rolling of the eyes, grimacing and direct eye contact. I could see which personnel got along with the other personnel.

I could tell from facial expressions if the conversation was pleasant or not. One client was verbally insulted and the look of anger on her face was clearly understood. When I heard the conversation, I could clearly understand why she was grimacing. The hairdresser spoke negatively about her dandruff. I believe my assumptions would have been correct if I were a regular viewer of this show. I find that even in relationships that actions speak louder than words. By just observing you can see that a person is happy, sad, angry, tired, grouchy etc. I am very intuitive when it comes to observation I think in part to learning nursing assessment, so I see and notice everything that others don't see. It annoys some people, but to me I think it is a perk........Reference www.wetv.com/shows/la-hair/episodes/season-3 Season 3 Episode 1: Chair Battle Royale

COMPETENT COMMUNICATOR

Upon reading about the blog assignment this week. The first person who cam to mind was Mrs. Michelle Obama, the wife of the President of the United States. She speaks with such ease to crowds each time I hear her speak. Whenever Mrs. Obama speaks, she has my full attention. She has the ability to engage her audience completely. I googled her speech techniques and ran across an article "Michelle Obama's Speech: Poise, Passion, Presence". Those are all the features that I witness. She is poised, has clarity, no signs of anxiety, has passion in her eyes and in her tone of voice. She is also very present. She is concentrating on the audience she is trying to reach. All these factors make her communication style admirable to me. The warm smile and eye contact express her interest in the audience. Ye I would want to model my own communication behaviors after her. I tend to get nervous when speaking in front of large crowds. My voice starts cracking and then it gets low to a whisper. At least that was the experience 20 years ago in an Oral Communication course. I wish I showed some of the same poise that she does............. DiResta, Diane. (2012,Sep5). Michelle Obama's Speech: poise, passion, presence. Knockout Blog. DiResta Communications, Inc. Retrieved from www.diresta.com/michelle-obamas-poise-passion-presence/