Exploring National Career Opportunities

At this time in my life, I have no desire to move to another state.  I am happy here in Connecticut!  However, this week I explored national career opportunities in the early childhood education field that would interest me if I were willing to relocate.

The very first place I chose to look at was the National Association for the Education of Young Children.  All of their positions are located in Washington, D.C.  The first position that interested me was a professional learning coordinator.

Professional Learning Coordinator

Major Responsibilities and Essential Functions 
● Provide logistical and administrative support for the Department.
● Provide excellent customer service and timely responses to email and phone inquiries regarding professional learning resources and activities.
● Responsible for managing the Department's general email account.
● Support and participate in the development of face-to-face and technology-based professional learning resources.
● Identify and summarize information and collect resources on diverse topics related to early childhood education for the Director and others. 
● Serve as primary liaison between the Department and other NAEYC teams.
● Coordinate advertisements, newsletter submissions, and social media campaigns with the Marketing team.
● Provide basic maintenance for the Department's web pages keeping all information up-to-date.
● Provides technical support to internal and external customers.
● Ensure NAEYC's new content matrix is kept up-to-date, relevant and ready for use by internal staff and external content partners.
● Update and maintain a master content calendar with information provided by the Director and other content leads.
● Perform other responsibilities that may be assigned or requested.

Qualifications
● Experience or degree in early childhood education, child development, elementary education, or developmental psychology as well as experience or degree in teacher training both in person and online.
● Minimum of 3 years of experience working in the education field either as a teacher, or in developing professional training, or professional development supports and materials. 
● Excellent oral and written communication skills.
● Expertise in developmentally appropriate practice for children birth through age 8, and professional development for early childhood educators.
● Knowledgeable about trends and current research in early childhood education, teacher training, adult learning principles, instructional design, and online learning.

Salary: $40-45K, with excellent benefits and work environment.

The other position with NAEYC that interested me was a professional learning specialist.

Professional Learning Specialist

Major Responsibilities and Essential Functions 
● Work independently and collaboratively to develop, plan, and deliver a robust offering of learning events.
● For the National Institute for Early Childhood Professional Development, serve as the lead content and program developer with responsibility for high quality, relevant, interesting, and engaging sessions. 
● For the NAEYC Annual Conference, assist with the development of high quality, timely, engaging presenters for four to five specific conference tracks.
● Provide content and engagement support for online communities of practice. 
● Support the roll out of NAEYC's digital badge system to include recognition for NAEYC engagement, professional learning, and mastery of competencies.
● Serve as project manager on special initiatives with internal and external collaborating partners.
● Perform other responsibilities that may be assigned or requested.

Qualifications:
● Experience or degree in early childhood education, child development, elementary education, or developmental psychology as well as experience or degree in teacher training both in person and online.
● Minimum of 3 years of experience working in the education field either as a teacher, or in developing professional training, or professional development supports and materials. 
● Excellent oral and written communication skills.
● Expertise in developmentally appropriate practice for children birth through age 8, and professional development for early childhood educators.
● Knowledgeable about trends and current research in early childhood education, teacher training, adult learning principles, instructional design, and online learning.
● High proficiency in learning and using digital software and platforms (e.g. learning management systems, webinar platforms, content authoring software, online communities, etc.) is highly desired.

Salary: $55-60K, with excellent benefits and work environment.

The U.S. Department of Education has a position available in Washington, D.C. that sounded interesting:

Associate Education Research Scientist/Analyst

DUTIES:

The incumbent serves as an Associate Education Research Scientist/Specialist in the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), U.S Department of Education. Incumbents will engage in one or more of the following: (1) develop plans for agency support of education research, evaluation, and statistics; (2) oversee research, evaluation, and statistics activities and programs carried out or funded by the agency; (3) conduct scientific reviews of research, evaluation, and statistics plans and products; (4) analyze data and synthesize information from education research and related areas; (5) prepare written products to convey research-based knowledge and information to a variety of audiences; (6) conduct evaluations of agency activities; (7) engage in dissemination and outreach activities, such as publishing scholarly work and attending scientific conferences; and (8) consult with, or advise staff. 

QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED:

ASSOCIATE EDUCATION RESEARCH SCIENTIST/ANALYST requires a master's degree or equivalent experience in an appropriate field pertinent to the needs of IES (e.g., cognitive, developmental, educational, or social psychology; economics; education; statistics). Associate Research Scientist must have experience conducting research in education-related fields or topics (e.g., reading, teacher professional development, psychology); and demonstration of research skills and knowledge.

SALARY RANGE:

$60,000.00 to $95,000.00 / Per Year

The Erikson Institute is an organization I would love to work for if I lived in Chicago, IL.  They currently have a few positions available.  One of the positions that interested me was an early math coach.

Early Mathematics Coach

Position Summary: 

Erikson Institute, a graduate school in child development located in downtown Chicago, is seeking to hire a part-time early math coach for ongoing teacher training being implemented by its Early Math Collaborative.

Primary duties:

The part-time coach position will report to the coaching supervisor, and provide school-based support to Math Teams at Chicago Public Schools and/or preschool centers throughout the Chicago area.  This includes the following activities:

Providing ongoing group and/or individual instructional coaching around mathematics teaching to teachers and teacher leaders in the preschool to second grade.

Participating in monthly individual supervision with a coach supervisor.

Participating in monthly coaching meetings at Erikson Institute with other coaches.

Participating in and help facilitate ongoing Professional Learning Community meetings.

Building and maintaining confidential relationships with teachers and teacher leaders.

Building and maintaining relationships with Administrators at the schools or centers where the coaching takes place.

Timely and accurate maintenance of records of services provided and submittal of invoices for services and travel.

Qualifications:

Native like Spanish language proficiency

MS or MA in Early Childhood Education or Elementary Education

Five years of experience teaching in pre-primary and/or primary school

Expertise in mathematics instruction

Experience facilitating adult education

Knowledge and skills to implement standards-based instruction and familiarity with the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics

High level of interpersonal, problem solving, and organizational skills

Excellent written and verbal communication skills

High level of personal maturity and ability to operate independently

Comfort in using portable devices such as iPads or Android tablets to communicate and maintain records

Salary:

Competitive

These jobs are important in the education field.  If you live in Washington, D.C. or Chicago, or if you are looking to relocate, I think these jobs would be challenging, interesting, and allow you to make a difference in the field of education.  I have enjoyed exploring these national career possibilities.

Future Career Possibilities

As I am nearing the end of my graduate studies, I have been thinking about ways in which I will put my education to work.  I am currently an education manager for an early childhood education program.  I love the work I do, but I have been exploring other options that may be available to me once I have my Master of Science in Early Childhood Studies.

One position that recently presented itself to me is actually within the agency I currently work for.  The position is the Assistant Director for the early care and education program.  After reading through the job description, I would need to have or quickly develop grant writing capabilities.  In addition, I would need to be knowledgeable in financial issues such as our state budget.  While I am a quick learner, I do not currently possess these skills.

Another position I looked into this week was teaching early childhood courses at our local community college.  The director of the program invited me to come and speak to one of her classes.  I took the opportunity and spoke to them in-depth about learning experience plans and intentional teaching.  It was very exciting!  At the end  of the class, the director talked with me about the qualifications I need.  As it turns out, once I have my MS in ECS I meet the qualifications.  Unfortunately, they currently have a hiring freeze in place, but she added my name to her list.  Yeah!

Finally, since beginning my graduate studies, I have seriously considered an online college teaching position.  I believe I could maintain my current position and obtain a part-time online teaching position.  I believe it would work out as I have been working full-time as I have completed both my BS in ECS and now my MS in ECS in accelerated online programs.  I am used to the time schedule and planning that goes into balancing both.  So, I looked into positions that may be available.  I found a few at colleges that are in my state or in the New England area.  Once I have my MS in ECS, I meet the qualifications and can apply.

I have been so focused on completing my degree that I hadn't really thought about how I would apply it to my career.  It has been great fun exploring options and discovering what career options are available.  I am looking forward to the next chapter!

What is Your Passion?

Moving Forward

In my last blog post, I talked about the adjourning stage.  We have now reached the adjourning stage of our Communication and Collaboration in the Early Childhood Field course.  As each course comes to an end, I am amazed that I am one step closer to earning my MS in ECS!

One of the greatest communication tools that we have been using since we began our graduate studies journey is our blogs.  I believe we all have a lot to share with and learn from one another.  Moving forward, I intend to continue my blog and follow my colleagues as well.

Thank you all for being a part of this journey!

Adjourning Stage

This week we have been focusing on the five stages of team development: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning.  I have been in many groups and teams throughout my life so far.  For the ones that I was in where we had reached the performing stage...well, I must admit that progressing to the adjourning stage was never easy.  It can be hard to say goodbye, but the closure is necessary in order to keep moving forward.

In thinking back, I believe the hardest group for me to leave was a dance company I had been a part of for several years.  I had danced with the same group of dancers from childhood through my first two years of college.  We had grown up together.  We were an amazing performing company that moved through choreography seemlessly.  It had been my second home.  But, adulthood was calling...finishing college, working full-time, getting engaged...it was time to say goodbye.  In my last summer with the dance company, we traveled to Tennessee for a dance convention and national dance competition.  When we returned home, I said goodbye to everyone as if I would see them all the next day at the studio.  I have such wonderful memories of my years dancing with that company.  They will live in my heart and mind forever.

I have three more graduate courses to complete in order to earn my master's degree.  I love learning and am currently considering whether or not I will continue on to earn my EdS or EdD in early childhood education.  One thing I have really appreciated through my graduate studies is the support from my colleagues as we learn together.  Our adjournment will be our graduation and what a wonderful way to say goodbye!

Working Through Conflicts

This week, I was asked to think about any disagreements or conflicts that I have experienced or am experiencing with a supervisor or colleague at work or with someone in my personal life.  I had to think about this for awhile because I am not currently in any disagreements or conflicts with any one.  So, I decided to revisit an old conflict that has not been resolved.

The "Disagreement":

A couple of years ago, I was in a tumultuous time in my life.  For reasons I'd rather not go into, my husband was unable to be at home and unable to work.  I found myself in a position of raising our two kids on just my income.  I was trying to qualify for a mortgage modification to stop foreclosure on our home.  I had very little spare time.  I was working full-time, going to school full-time, keeping busy with my children and their activities, and visiting my husband whenever I could.  An ex-friend, chose to re-enter my life and wanted to become friends again.

We met for lunch.  I felt it was awkward.  After that lunch, she texted me and messaged me over social media constantly.  She had things going on in her life and seemed to really need a friend.  So, I decided to try to do the friendship thing.

One day, I met her again for lunch.  During lunch, she said that she doesn't like that I don't make more time to go out with friends (namely her) and that it's so frustrating trying to set up time with me.  By this time she knew what was going on in my life, so I just reminded her that I had a lot going on in my life.  She said that I should visit my husband less.  I was taken aback by this and said that visiting my husband less was not an option.  She stated that I was being ridiculous.  She was raising her voice and continued to discuss how I should make more time for her by spending less time visiting my husband.

The "Strategies":

In reflecting on the outcome of the above conflict, I realized that I had used some of the strategies that come from practicing nonviolent communication.  One of the skills of nonviolent communication is:

"Connecting with the universal human needs/values in us that are being met or not met in relation to what is happening and how we are feeling (Center for Nonviolent Communication)."

Another skill of nonviolent communication is:

Requesting what we would like in a way that clearly and specifically states what we do want and that is truly a request and not a demand (Center for Nonviolent Communication)."

I realized in the moment that her attack came from her need for emotional support and a friend or companion that could spend a lot of time with her.  I also knew that I was not the person to fulfill her needs and she was not capable, at that time, to understand my feelings and needs.  I did tell her how I felt, but it did not resolve the conflict.  When she called me the next day, I told her that I just do not think I can continue to be her friend.  She screamed and yelled and told me that I will regret it.  She said that I will end up alone and lonely.  After that call, she sent me a few messages over social media and I just chose to not respond.

I feel the conflict was never really resolved, however I also have no desire to try to resolve it.

Have you ever had a conflict that you never truly resolved?

Resource
The Center for Nonviolent Communication. (n.d.). The center for nonviolent communication. Retrieved from http://www.cnvc.org/

Myself as a Communicator: My View and How Others View Me

This week I evaluated myself as a communicator using three tests:  Communication Anxiety, Verbal Aggressiveness, and Listening Styles.  Then, I had a family member and a co-worker evaluate me using the same three tests.  I was quite surprised by the results.

Communication Anxiety:

• My Personal Score - 45
• Family Member Scoring Me - 39
• Co-Worker Scoring Me - 39

Communication Anxiety Test Results:

Verbal Aggression:

• My Personal Score - 57
• Family Member Scoring Me - 60
• Co-Worker Scoring Me - 62

Verbal Aggression Test Results:

Listening Styles:

• My Personal Score - Group 1
• Family Member Scoring Me - Group 1
• Co-Worker Scoring Me - Group 1

Listening Skills Test Results:

Although the actual scoring number differed, I ended up in the same results range when comparing all of our scores.  I definitely agree with the results of the Communication Anxiety and Verbal Aggression tests.  However, when I finished the Listening Skills test, I thought I more matched the description for Group 2.

I even took the test again, but still ended up in Group 1.  I assumed that when I had the others take the test, especially my co-worker, I would result in Group 2.  But, both resulted in Group 1.  It was definitely interesting to learn that my personal view of myself as a communicator matches how others view me as a communicator!