These past two weeks have been chalked full of interesting and challenging changes for the staff. Since I am employed at my site of observation I have found that keeping myself out of the role of teacher and in the role of observer is sometimes difficult because I want to jump in and help resolve issues.
I had the opportunity to observe the assistant teacher take over the lead teacher role, in my time of stepping out, and engage with the rest of the adults in the classroom while trying to maintain a continuity for the children. Not only am I in my internship but we have collaborated with two local colleges/universities that also brings in three interns into my classroom each day. A challenge that I have observed is trying to guide these interns, who have limited experience in an Early Childhood Education classroom much less with a Head Start classroom. Just getting them used to a daily routine is unique but as we were conducting the orientation process for the large group I found that even though they were asked if there were any questions they did not know what to ask. It is going to be interesting to help guide the interns through the Head Start philosophy while also understanding that their ultimate goal is not to even end up in this professional field. This does remind me though, the importance of knowing the benefits our program has to offer over a day care or child care center and especially over no social experience before entering into a school system. The one student who is interning from a different program is working on her degree in Early Childhood Education. I found that orientation to go so much more smoothly then the larger group. She had a number of questions and seemed extremely interested in what we did for the children and their families. With both groups I look forward to observing and sharing information that will definitely allow them to learn more about the Head Start program.
One task that I took on for my work is interviewing some of the families; which I tied into this blog assignment as well. Since we are beginning our recruitement process for next school year I wanted to know how the parents from this school year heard about our program, what they knew about Head Start before entering the program, what is a few things they have learned since being in our program, if we have helped connect them with any medical/dental support programs, and if there was anything else they wanted to share with our staff. I was so pleased and excited at the responses that I got; so much so that I have been asked to send out a questionaire to all of the families to get their feedback as well. Many of the families came to use with limited knowledge about our program; believing we were mainly a "free" day care type program. They have been so pleased with getting help with medical and dental appointments; our family service worker has even taken a few of the children with their families in his personal vehicle just so they could get seen. All the information that we are gathering from these questionaires is going to help us with our Public Relation efforts. To have quotes to advertise with is going to be so beneficial. It also helps the families that we have now understand that we are definitely making a difference and they are seeing the developments. That makes me feel great!
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Advocacy Topics and Interview
I found this assignment to be both interesting and informative. Since I am completing my internships this quarter at my place of employment I thought that this would be an easy interview and I would know immediatly what my topic was going to be; I was incorrect. I chose to speak with two different positions within our Head Start program; the first being D.L. who is our Family Service Worker and is primarily responsible for enrollment, all health requirements being met and kept current, and any family issues that may arise (difficulty paying bills, parenting issues, locating housing, etc). The second person is new to the Head Start program but has been in the Early Childhood Education field for over eighteen years. S.H. is the new site administrator over the county I live in and oversees the daily operations of two Head Start programs. S.H. has her Masters in Early Childhood Education Administration, her Bachelors in Early Childhood Education and has just recenlty ended a teaching/intern leader with a local community college when she took over the position with our program. I was excited to hear what her ideas and concerns were in this field.
When I met with D.L. I expected his answers to be the most needs to focus around the families. This was pretty much correct; he sees the impact that all family issues have on childrens development and ability to function day to day. He feels that some of the areas of high need in our community are lack of family support (from people in their lives), lack of parents own education or negative educational experiences, no parenting programs within our small community, parent involvement or "engagement" with the children, and adult priorities that overshadow children. I was so excited to hear that he wants to bolster and support the interactions that the parents in our program have with the classroom staff as well as in the community. He is new to his role this school year as well but was with our program for the past two years in various roles. The fact that he is not only willing but is committed to continuing the efforts as a team only shows that the families in our community are going to have more support than they have ever had.
When I met with S.H. I could see that her thinking wheels were turning and she is so excited about everything she is learning. As I stated, she has been in the Early Childhood Education field for quite some time but she is new to Head Start. I love that she has been in the instructor role for an internship program because she understands everything I am going through right now and is so supportive of whatever I need to do. Her goal is to help see that all three of us lead teachers finish our degree's; which will be accomplished with all of us graduating this June. She had so many ideas and suggestions that it was hard to keep up with her but as I sat and listened I could see one of her biggest goals for the children in our community is to advertise and support the Head Start program. Two years ago my center went from a two classroom building with full enrollment to a one full time and one half day classroom. Last year we lost the half time classroom and I have been on edge that they will cut my building completely. One thing that is keeping us running is that we are the only childhood program in the closests 3 small towns (we are a small rural community), which covers approximately a 20 mile radius. She has already began this process by meeting with the local county paper and discussing having weekly articles included with the other school listings. She wants there to be weekly examples of what we do with the children; family participation events, field trips, classroom activities, and collaborations. One of the big boosters right now is our new collaboration with the local University (Virginia Tech) and the Honors program. We will have 6-7 interns/volunteers a day come to our county and split up amongst the three classrooms in our county. They have all committed to a four year contract and they will be helping support our programs through various fund raisers and community awareness projects. This is going to be exciting!
Other needs that she has dealt with in her experience in the classroom as well as an administrator is parent involvement, meeting developmental needs of all the children enrolled (individualization), providing healthy meals/nutrition, and ways to support families through the referral, testing, results, and IEP process. She is learning that with the Head Start program there are many things in place that are addressing each of those areas and she is excited to continue to grow with her comfort as well as how to continue to support those collaborations.
After rereading my notes and thinking about what my advocacy role and paper I want to continue looking into the role and impact Head Start has. I know I feel it daily when I go into work and interact with the children but to put it out to the community that may have never heard of us or does not fully understand that we provide more than just "baby-sitting". In continuing the goal of this paper I can easily address 3 other areas that were brought up by both D.L. and S.H.; 1) parent involvement/engagement, 2)health/nutrition, and 3)developmental needs and supports.
Some questions that I have for you all are:
1) If you do not work for a Head Start program - have you ever heard of Head Start? Do you know what the vision is for Head Start?
2) Does any of your programs or internship sites utilize curriculum and if so what are they?
3) How are the families supported in your program? Is there much parent engagement/interaction other than just at drop off and pick up times.
4)Are there any specific questions you would like to find out about Head Start in general or my specific program?
When I met with D.L. I expected his answers to be the most needs to focus around the families. This was pretty much correct; he sees the impact that all family issues have on childrens development and ability to function day to day. He feels that some of the areas of high need in our community are lack of family support (from people in their lives), lack of parents own education or negative educational experiences, no parenting programs within our small community, parent involvement or "engagement" with the children, and adult priorities that overshadow children. I was so excited to hear that he wants to bolster and support the interactions that the parents in our program have with the classroom staff as well as in the community. He is new to his role this school year as well but was with our program for the past two years in various roles. The fact that he is not only willing but is committed to continuing the efforts as a team only shows that the families in our community are going to have more support than they have ever had.
When I met with S.H. I could see that her thinking wheels were turning and she is so excited about everything she is learning. As I stated, she has been in the Early Childhood Education field for quite some time but she is new to Head Start. I love that she has been in the instructor role for an internship program because she understands everything I am going through right now and is so supportive of whatever I need to do. Her goal is to help see that all three of us lead teachers finish our degree's; which will be accomplished with all of us graduating this June. She had so many ideas and suggestions that it was hard to keep up with her but as I sat and listened I could see one of her biggest goals for the children in our community is to advertise and support the Head Start program. Two years ago my center went from a two classroom building with full enrollment to a one full time and one half day classroom. Last year we lost the half time classroom and I have been on edge that they will cut my building completely. One thing that is keeping us running is that we are the only childhood program in the closests 3 small towns (we are a small rural community), which covers approximately a 20 mile radius. She has already began this process by meeting with the local county paper and discussing having weekly articles included with the other school listings. She wants there to be weekly examples of what we do with the children; family participation events, field trips, classroom activities, and collaborations. One of the big boosters right now is our new collaboration with the local University (Virginia Tech) and the Honors program. We will have 6-7 interns/volunteers a day come to our county and split up amongst the three classrooms in our county. They have all committed to a four year contract and they will be helping support our programs through various fund raisers and community awareness projects. This is going to be exciting!
Other needs that she has dealt with in her experience in the classroom as well as an administrator is parent involvement, meeting developmental needs of all the children enrolled (individualization), providing healthy meals/nutrition, and ways to support families through the referral, testing, results, and IEP process. She is learning that with the Head Start program there are many things in place that are addressing each of those areas and she is excited to continue to grow with her comfort as well as how to continue to support those collaborations.
After rereading my notes and thinking about what my advocacy role and paper I want to continue looking into the role and impact Head Start has. I know I feel it daily when I go into work and interact with the children but to put it out to the community that may have never heard of us or does not fully understand that we provide more than just "baby-sitting". In continuing the goal of this paper I can easily address 3 other areas that were brought up by both D.L. and S.H.; 1) parent involvement/engagement, 2)health/nutrition, and 3)developmental needs and supports.
Some questions that I have for you all are:
1) If you do not work for a Head Start program - have you ever heard of Head Start? Do you know what the vision is for Head Start?
2) Does any of your programs or internship sites utilize curriculum and if so what are they?
3) How are the families supported in your program? Is there much parent engagement/interaction other than just at drop off and pick up times.
4)Are there any specific questions you would like to find out about Head Start in general or my specific program?
Monday, January 9, 2012
First post!
Here I am, so close to my goal of a degree I can almost touch it! Never have blogged before in my life so I am tackling this new, and somewhat scary, task and hope to learn more about not only my peers but myself as well. Off to my new adventure!
~Mrs. Julie
~Mrs. Julie
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