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??!?

Me as a communicator

         When it came to my personal results from the exams that I took, I was not really in the least surprised. I like to think that I am a very self aware person and know both my strengths as well as my shortcoming that could use some work. Being that I am constantly cognizant of these traits I believe that this leads me to have a better idea at what my results would yield, and I was correct.
    
       I did find that my husband thought that I had more anxiety with public speaking than I honestly really do. I am not sure why he felt this way, but it was only marginally higher than my score, but it did bump me from the lowest score (mine was 21) to a 34. It was significant enough difference to change what category I was in. When I asked him about it, he said he had a difficult time answering questions that had to do with the physical effect that one can get when speaking in public or in groups. This could have skewed the results to show to him I have a higher anxiety than I truly believe that I do. My co-worker who took the test was exactly online with my answers, except we were just a number or two off on the verbal aggression. She actually had me as less than I had myself.
 

Communication

The one person that I would like to emulate as a model for positive communication skills is my mother. I say this because she is a person who can go into any situation and feel confident that she can convey her thoughts aloud to anyone be it a group or one-on-one. She is a secretary for the state, and she communicates with everyone from students, to custodial staff, interns and resident/researching doctors. She has this amazing ability that makes everyone instantly comfortable and willing to talk with her no matter their station. She also has an eloquence about her that allows her to not just be able to speak with but actually carry out intellectual conversations with people with far more "education and status" that she has in the world. However, she can also talk to the "peons" of the world and not make them feel insufficient or uneducated compared to how she speaks! It truly is amazing.
She is also someone who when she asks questions (personal or not) she actually cares and wants to her the answers to what they have to say. She isn't one to just make polite conversation because it is the right thing to do in our society. She actually takes a genuine interest in what is being told to her, even if she doesn't fully understand the context (like some of the research the doctors are doing) but she listens and asks more questions to try to clarify.
My mom also has this ability to speak to people who are angry or unreasonable and help them to see they are being unruly. She speaks to them in a way that she actually drops her voice to a lower octave and speaks slower in a calm soothing manor. She works a personal mediator between my father and I who don't always see eye to eye and can come out in a yelling match. When I was younger and living at home this was a serious problem, but my mom was always able to handle the situation, I have NO idea how she did it. When I am upset or mad I call her and she is somehow able to look at situations from different angles and show me different perspective or talk me through different situations because of this ability. 

YES!! She is someone that I try  to model in my everyday life, and remember how she would feel if I communicated something in a negative way. If she is unhappy with the way I might handle something (communication wise) I would rethink my response or actions.