WE DID IT!!!!

WOW!!!! That is the only way I can describe how I am feeling at this moment. I literally just turned in our final paper, and posted to our discussion board. I can't believe that we did it, we complete our masters program and moving on to who knows where. For the last almost two years I have been on a roller coaster ride, and we are finally slowing down. I don't want to say we are stopping, because I believe that we all have a passion for what we do, and will continue to be life-long learners and advocate for this field that we have worked SO hard to be apart of. 

Throughout my time here I have had many times I will remember. But a few stick out as being very influential in my learning both professionally and personally.

By now I know that all of you are aware that I had a TBI, but being able to share my story was not something that I was able to do until I started my schooling here at Walden. I thought people might judge me or look at me differently if they knew, and never felt confident. You all have given me the opportunity to share, and reflect on pieces of myself that I have never looked at too closely before. And from the bottom of my heart THANK YOU! I can't ever say how much it has meant to me. In fact, I am actually going to go ahead with the help of my mother to tell my story to the world. I am going to be writing a book, for parents with students who have disabilities but are also gifted and talented. It is something that even to this day is still a struggle but there is hope and light at what seems like and endlessly dark tunnel! If I can inspire one parent, or child with what I have learned that makes my journey well worth every hurtle, and hiccup. So again, thank you so much for even just taking the time to listen it means more than you will ever know!

I have learned more about biases something that has stuck with me was a goal that I have set aside from another course was the idea of -isms. This was a topic that struck me hard in both my personal and professional life. I have actually been in the process of putting together an in-service training with my director and executive director to talk to the staff at my childhood center about this topic. I feel strongly that the most important part of this is to  start with yourself before you can go off and change the world. Being able to create lines of open communication with people who might fall into an “-ism category” is essential when creating relationships with the families of your children. 

 Another lesson that I took away from this journey was actually from the concentration part of teaching adults. I was able to do interview with professionals in that field, and I spoke to an amazing educator who taught me that it is OKAY to question authority. I know that sounds like a funny thing to learn, but it was an invaluable lesson to me. It helped to teach me that as long as I have a strong foundation, and am knowledgeable about my passion, when I don't agree with a decision I can use my knowledge to advocate for what I believe is right. We were talking about the future of education, and what all the new demands and standards here in NYS are giving to the profession of teaching. Then we talked about what we can do about it. She helped me to see that I don't have to just sit back and let things be what will be. I have every right to question, challenge, fight, and argue. I have a voice, I have the education, I have experience and gaining more every day. I will be heard! So thank you Dr. Shepardson for that lesson that I will hold with me forever.

 One of my long term goals is to change the face of early childhood education in the eyes of the public. I want to educate people on a massive scale that we are professionals in our field, and not just babysitters!! I heard a speaker at a NYSAEYC conference this year who said, every other profession has business cards and presents themselves as professionals. As educators we do not. We have to be professional if we want to be viewed as professional, and she had a valid point! My favorite line she said was "I'm not a "teacher" I am a Neuro Developmental Specialist." 

I wish you all the best in your future endevors, and who knows... maybe our paths will cross again, I hope they do! And if you ever comes to the finger lakes region of NY get a hold of me and we can meet up to introduce ourselves face-to-face!!
Please feel free to contact me at any time in the future :)
Facebook: Sammie Sciolino
Email: Swie2230@yahoo.com

International Orginizations

A few weeks ago I found an international organization that registered with me. This is the ACEI or the Association of Childhood Education International. They want to promote and support the optimal education, development, and well-being of children worldwide. I believe that this organization would be extremely helpful to find information on supporting quality ECE programs among other topics. If I was to take on a position in this group, I would like to be a part of the International Advisory Group. I am not at the level of those who are in this position as it seems they all have their PHd and I am not there YET! I have been contemplating whether or not I want to go back to school to go all the way. So this could be an option for me to look into once I complete my education work.
 http://www.acei.org/

The second organization that I found was the International Association for Steiner/Waldorf Early Childhood Education (IASWECE). The Waldorf early childhood educator works with the young child by creating a warm, beautiful and loving home-like environment, which is protective and secure, and where things happen in a predictable, rhythmic manner. There are many training opportunities to learn this way of education, and is offered through this group. I would like to have the option one day to possibly become a trainer to help educate others in a different approach to education. There is not a lot of information on job related position, but there is information for the US contact to get a hold of in order to obtain it.
http://www.iaswece.org/index.aspx

One website that I found really interesting was the Education International page. At first when I looked at it I wasn't quite sure what I was seeing. But as I went through several pages I realized that it is a page set up specifically for teachers around the world! Education International is the voice of teachers and other education employees across the globe. A federation of 401 associations and unions in 171 countries and territories, it represents some 30 million educators and support professionals in education institutions from early childhood to university. They list qualifications for many different professional in education throughout the world and have just have an abundance of support and information for educators. This is a site that I have saved to my favorites and will use frequently in the future.
http://www.ei-ie.org/en/

Organizations

After doing some research this week, I was able to find a few different professional organizations that I might like to be a part of.

The first one is the organization called the Council for Exceptional Children, or the CEC. The CEC is the largest international professional organization dedicated to improving the educational success of individuals with disabilities and/or gifts and talents. I chose this because as a certificated teacher in both SPED/GEN-ED here in NY State I work with many children with disabilities. We have done a lot towards "mainstreaming" them and getting them the individual help that they need to be successful. However, many times the children who are on the other end of the spectrum (gifted and talented) don't always get the individualization they need. I believe it is extremely important that we don't let these kids slip through the cracks because we are so focused on other things.
At this time there are no job opportunities available. However, they do have a leadership division that I would be interested in learning more about. At this time I have all the qualifications to do this.
http://www.cec.sped.org/

The second one I found is the ACEI or the Association of Childhood Education International. They want to promote and support the optimal education, development, and well-being of children worldwide. I believe that this organization would be extremely helpful to find information on supporting quality ECE programs among other things inside and out of this final class.
http://www.acei.org/

The third one I found was Learning Forward. This was an interesting organization because it is based on the education of young children, by educated staff. Learning through professional development and they set up a series of standards to help make sure that the expectations of quality staff and continued training is being met. There are no available positions at this time, but one that would be interesting would be to be a Leadership Consultant. They do presentations on their standards, professional development as well as offering professional development itself. I think this would be incredibly interesting as it would hold both ends of teaching that I love.
http://learningforward.org/

to promote and support
the optimal education, development, and well-being
of children worldwide. - See more at: http://www.acei.org/#sthash.NyoJVjc9.dpufpro

to promote and support
the optimal education, development, and well-being
of children worldwide. - See more at: http://www.acei.org/#sthash.NyoJVjc9.dpuf

Work Opportunities

I live in the Finger Lakes region of New York state and to be honest there is no where else I would want to be. I love it here in NY, yes... even the snow!!!

The first place I found was Happiness House. This is the cerebral palsy center of New York and they specialize in children with all different disabilities. They specialize in autism which is something every near and dear to my heart. They have multiple sites and host not just to young children's education but to the continuation of care into adult hood for those with disabilities. They have a whole department just for those who have suffered Traumatic Brain Injuries!

I would like to be a special education teacher in their autism classroom. This is not an inclusive classroom,  but one with specific designs for students on the autism spectrum. The goal for these children is to be introduced into other classroom in the school as they are ready to "mainstream".
There are no positions available at this time but I would like to one day be here. It doesn't list the salary, but I hold the requirements of a bachelors degree in special education, and also experience in the field.

The Geneva Lakefront Childcare Center is the next place that interests me. This program works to give high quality care from 6 weeks to 12 years of age. They work based on income so they can give affordable care and education to those in the community that might not be able to afford quality education. 

The position is not available at this time, but I think that I would like to be the curriculum coordinator. This person works hand in hand with the director to make sure that they are using a developmentally appropriate curriculum that spans all of the age groups they work with. They determine also how to make sure their staff is being held accountable and work with the assessments of the children to evaluate the curriculum that has been put into place. 

Hillside Family of Agencies provides comprehensive health, education, and human services for children and families whose challenges threaten their ability to realize their full potential. Hillside offers many different settings: residential treatment, in schools, in homes, or in the workplace.

They have  a position open at this time called a Program Manager.  This person  responsible for the overall leadership, management and performance of program operations including the delivery of quality direct service to client and families. The Program Manager develops and maintains systems to facilitate the integration of services; the Program Manager coaches and mentors teams in order to implement and maintain these systems. Must like the position I looked at above. But this one is community based on classroom based. Master degree and 3 years of experience working with children and families. Also a drivers license is required for this position. I assume there would be traveling in the surrounding area.

I would just like to thank each and every one of my fellow students for taking this journey with me. I was a bit nervous when I set out on the path of online learning, coming from a totally traditional educaiton backround. I didn't know what to expect. Being able to communication and get to know each and every one of you through our discussions and blogs have shown me that it really is possible to get that classroom like atmosphere and collaboration without actually being in the same place. I appreciate the responces each of you have shared, not just on my work, but on everyones. I have learned so much from just reading through the responses of others and would not have been able to do this without all of you. Thank you and good luck on the rest of your journey and I hope we will talk again soon, in class or otherwise.

Contact information:
My person email is Swie2230@yahoo.com   and this is be best way to contact me for whatever reason.

Adjourning Stage of Development

Adjourning Stage:

I believe that the hardest part about leaving a group is when you have invested much of yourself and taken in the others you have been working with. What I mean is, that if I was going to do a job with a team of people, we come in for our day, we work, hardly talking unless it has to do with our project and at the end of the day punch out, and go home. There is no vested interest in the people i am working with, only the need to get the work completed. Those connections have been made so saying goodbye at the end, whether successful or not would not be difficult for me. I believe that many of us can say the same thing.

Being able to say goodbye to those you have built those strong connections with can be extremely difficult. You are involved with them on a personal level and it can create lasting relationships even after the project is over. Having rituals is important to saying goodbye. Some places have a small party, or sign a card to give to the person leaving. Sometimes it's going out to have a drink to celebrate a job well done. Whatever the case may be, the rituals we have helps to put a finality to the ending state.

I believe that it will be easier to leave this group of colleagues that I have here over say leaving where I work for a new job. Even though we have been engaged and working with each other for over a year now, those one-on-one connections are not as strong through an internet based course. I am not saying that this is how everyone feels, but this is just my feelings. I think I have to have those in person conversations when you can look a person in the eye when talking to them to help form those bonds. We have the commonality of going through the same experiences together, and working together but not the interaction and that is a totally different thing.

Conflict

So one conflict that I have recently had was a disagreement with my husband. We don't argue often but when we do it always seems to be over the same things. This time it was over the fact that my dog sometimes has accidents in the house. She has them in a room we never really go into, so it seems to me like she is hiding the fact that she does it. My husband gets all grumpy about it, but at the same time doesn't really ever do anything to fix the problem. I try to explain that it is just like children, consistency is key, but I can't do it alone.
One thing that I learned from this week, is that I need to stay calm and try to listen to what he is saying and how he is feeling. I usually go into automatic defense mode and my hackles are raised. This does not help, as I end up usually just end up disregarding what he says because I feel attacked, instead of just listening and sifting through the information.

The other thing that I learned, is that we really need to try and form a list of solutions and pick one that works for both of us. Getting rid of the dog is NOT an option, so we need to come up with something else that we are both willing to work with. Maybe that way we can work as a team, and not as opposing forces trying to get to the same solution different ways. I have also learned that this is easier said than done, but I really feel that if we take the time to do the steps in conflict resolution consciously, it will be easier to get through each time something happens and to work through it.

I have attached a picture of my sweet baby Sophie, so you can see why it is so difficult to stay mad at her, and then go for each other throats!!! She is JUST TOO CUTE to be grumpy with... don't you think??!?