When I Reflect About My Collegial, Professional Learning Community

Three consequences of my experience being a part of a caring, collaborative learning community for my professional growth and development are:

• I am more educated and versed in public policy and advocacy avenues for the children and families in my care
• I am more motivated to make a difference in the lives of young children not only at my own center but across the state
• I have found an endless supply of support and resources that will help me in my own educational journey

One goal for using this collegial experience to enhance my advocacy, policy, and/or system development work on behalf of young children, families, and the early childhood community is:

• To eventually work for a early childhood accreditation agency where I can continue to hold professionals in the field to the highest standards, help in their development professional and personally, advocate for our smallest citizens, educate families on the health and development of their children, and hold everyone, including myself, accountable for providing the highest quality care and education. 

My Hypothetical Family Situation

 

**This is not a true story**

 

My husband and I are expecting our first child, a boy.  Spina bifinda runs in my husband’s family so we made sure to get a full panel of testing done to ease our worried minds.  We had our amniocentesis test and it was determined that our child will be born with Down Syndrome.  We are nervous and do not know much about Down Syndrome, so we have begun researching daily, absorbing all of the information we can so we are as prepared as we can be to welcome our baby boy.  According to BabyCenter.com, “DS is a chromosomal anomaly that occurs in about 1 out every 700 births…an inexplicable error in cell development results in 47 chromosomes (rather than the usual 46), and the extra gene material slightly changes the orderly development of the body and brain.”

 

My husband and I both work full time, I as an early childhood Center Director, and he is an electrical engineer.  We are comfortable financially, there’s enough money to pay the bills and extra each month for our varying interests and hobbies.  We own our home in a rural area and have been fortunate to not have been affected by economic downfalls like the rest of country.  As of right now, our growing family has not been impacted by current Sociocultural or politics/policy contexts. 

 

With this news, we have some decisions to make.  We currently live several hours from our families and have not established a close connection with other people that we could entrust with our new bundle of joy.  Fortunately, our jobs would allow us to move easily to be closer to friends and family, but at this point in my pregnancy would it be a smart decision to move?  The baby could come to work with me everyday, my teachers are trained to work with children with exceptionalities, but the idea of mixing my work with my personal life leaves me uneasy.  My husband travels weekly and I have a long commute to work everyday, this is another consideration we have to keep in mind. 

 

I am lucky to have a wealth of early childhood services available at my fingertips.  My company has an Inclusion Services team, designed to help families and early childhood providers with accommodating children with special needs in the classroom setting.  There is also support groups available that we can join that would give us a sense of community, understanding, and socialization for our child.  I read a beautiful story, written by a mother whose child has Down Syndrome.  It was raw, honest, had me in tears the whole time I read it, but in the end made me so excited to start this beautiful journey.  Kelle Hampton has an amazing blog with resources to help parents with their own personal journey. 

 

I am sure wherever we go that we will make the right choices for schools to help our baby grow and learn, with caring dedicated individuals that are educated life long learners that want to do what is best for my child day in and day out. 

 

Have I given a complete picture of my family, or are there details missing that I should include in order to complete the assignment successfully? If so, what are your suggestions?

Is this situation realistic?

Are there any specific websites I should be reviewing with regard to learning about quality services and programs for my child and family in this hypothetical family situation?

Does anyone have any thoughts, based on my specific family situation, that will affect the early childhood system I am creating?

Resources

Baby Center.  (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.babycenter.com/0_amniocentesis_327.bc

Kelle Hampton (January 2010).  Enjoying the small things; Nella Cordelia: A birth story.  http://www.kellehampton.com/2010/01/nella-cordelia-birth-story.html

The Political Will to Improve Early Childhood Systems

A strategy that I have discovered as I worked on the assignments in this course, particularly this week, that is currently being used by advocates and organizations to influence the political will toward improving early childhood systems in order to foster the well-being of young children and their families, is the involvement of parents/families in paving the way for policy changes.  Bringing in personal stories and the help of families is the best way to make a lasting impression on policy makers and political figures.  Solid and feasible evidence is the most effective way to make people listen.  Making meaningful and personal connections with families and children is the most appealing aspect of the work to me.  I am an emotional person with a need to connect with others on a deeper level, making these connections with families and sharing their stories is what I live for in my line of work.  To use their experiences as proof as to why early childhood education and care are so crucial is what motivates me everyday.