A Journey Ends and Another Begins

When I look back at the journey we have been on for the past year it is amazing how much we have learned and shared together and how quickly the time has gone.  I feel that I have learned a lot from discussing the different early childhood topics and issues that we have all have to take a closer look at and we have learned  by sharing the many experiences that we have had in our professional careers.  It has been refreshing to talk with others who are passionate about early childhood education and it has been a learning experience to read about the views and opinions of others.  I feel that that this has all been supportive in my journey toward a Masters Degree in early childhood education.

I have tried to be supportive to my colleagues by validating their ideas and by sharing my experiences in the ECE field that I thought may give them some ideas for their situations.

I hope that each of my colleagues continue to pursue their passion of supporting children, families and future ECE teachers.  I hope that they each find the area in the early childhood field that speaks to their strengths and that they are successful.

"Be well, do good work, and keep in touch" – Garrison Keillor.

Contact information: jyamada@puc.edu

         

The Adjourning Phase of a Group

In reading about the formation for groups I did not realize that the ending or adjourning of a group and reflection on the project of the group was so important.  I believe that a group that has worked hard together and been able to respect each other through problem solving and brainstorming to finish the project by setting goals and agreeing on them would become a close group.  When you form friendships and partners in your professional field then I think this would be a hard group to leave because you have learned from each other and see the potential in each others ideas. To me this would be considered a high-performance group.

The first teaching team that I was part of was a great learning experience and we all worked well together.  We respected each other and we were able to brain storm ideas to make our environments inviting and a great learning experience for the children.  We rarely had disagreements and I enjoyed working with all the teachers.  After five years I moved because my husband got a job elsewhere.  It was hard to say good -by because I felt that we were a great team and I learned so much from my colleagues.

The closing rituals that I experienced were that the staff took me to dinner and we talked about all the fun and cray times in the classroom.  We have kept in-touch and some of us see each other regularly because we are working in the ECE field in the same region.

I imagine that I will adjourn from the group that has been formed in the Walden Masters program by saying thank you for all the information that has been shared that I was able to use or bank in my memory as an example that I can refer to later in my career.  It has been refreshing to talk and learn with others who have the same passion that I do about early childhood education.

I have come to understand that adjourning a group is important because it is a time to acknowledge the hard work that everyone has put into the project or into reaching goals.  It's a time to say thank you and relax, talk and laugh about what was accomplished.  We all need that closure of the project but to also talk with new friends and colleagues in a casual way.

    
    

Conflict Resolution Skills

I had a conflict with one of the teachers this week regarding having a few children who were going to transition to the classroom from another.  I suggested that the children come over for an hour or so to visit in the classroom so they would adjust better when they actually moved up next week.  The teacher was less than thrilled because it was a rainy day and one of the children is very active and she just did not want to do it and then she proceeded to tell me that she did not agree with other things that had changed in the program.    I reminded myself to stay calm and not to take anything personally.  I calmly listened to her and heard that she needed a day to prepare for the three new children that were going to join her group and I heard that she was not having the best day already so I told her that we could wait until Monday and that she could take today to prepare.  I reminded her of why the changes had been made in the program and that she had been part of the conversation she remembered and said that she would work with the changes.

The strategies that I tried to remember were to observe how she was coming across in her communication with her body language and tone of voice.  She was visibly frustrated so I tied to listen to what her needs were even if she was not able to express then directly.  I tried to respect her requests and she did the same for me.  I can not say that I was not frustrated myself  but it was helpful to have the strategies that I had learned about from the Non Violent Communication web site.

I talked with two colleagues regarding what they have learned about being more effective communicators to help to resolve conflict. The first person said that they have learned to go directly to the person and talk with them regarding the issue.  If they need help ask for a third party to help they find a resolution.  the second person told me that she has become more aware of when she feels that she needs to sit down and talk with the person and not just talk in passing.  She said she has also learned to be a better listener and she has learned to express what she needs to the other person.  She feels that that both people should be able to work together to met in the middle to meet each others needs. This teacher also made an interesting comment that she felt that men communicate better because they are direct and women seem to talk in circles wanting others to understand the code words and cues.

Don’t find fault. Find a remedy. – Henry Ford