Calmanza_Advocacy Strategies Interview_031624

docx

School

Rasmussen College *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

EEC3546

Subject

Sociology

Date

Apr 3, 2024

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by GeneralFieldFinch3

1 Advocacy Strategies Interview Claire Almanza Rasmussen University EEC3546CBE Section 01CBE Supporting Professional Practices in Early Childhood Education Professor’s Name March 16, 2024

2 Advocacy Strategies Interview Questions Advocacy for children: What strategies do you use to maintain objectivity when advocating for a child?  Never attach myself or my opinions to the child.  Remove guessing and opinion statements or words out of documentation.  Observe and gather information.  Report factual information to support families and children.  Get to know the people who make decisions about the child and their education.  Keep records.  Focus on the picture, ask questions, be assertive.  Communicate effectively.  Emphasize solutions.  Provide resources for families.  Following up with families Advocacy for families: How do you handle difficult conversations with parents or guardians about their child’s needs?  Each family has different needs. It is important to know the best way to communicate and approach sensitive topics.  I am always prepared with documentation, work samples, photos, observations, or child portfolios.  When needed I provide a translator to communicate in the family’s home language  Above all else I always maintain confidentiality

3  I encourage families to volunteer in their child’s classroom or at the center to gain an understanding of our day, routine, and expectations. Advocacy for educators: How do you ensure that all staff have access to resources they need to succeed?  Our center provides coaching and mentorship to help individuals work toward personal and professional goals. While coaching aims to enhance a person’s performance, mentoring guides the person with personal and professional development. Training resources are provided to staff to help maintain training hours.  The EDU-Education department guides teachers on their journey to obtaining: On cost CDA program, Associates and Bachelors in ECE  MATU offers free training online available 24hours a day 7 days a week in a variety of subjects to support and guide teachers in the classroom as well as with families.  Professional Development Days are required annually and provide teachers an opportunity to network and train with other centers within our division.  Teachers are also allowed paid training, resource time, as well as transportation.  Administration take time to observe teacher, provide feedback, support, and training.  Monthly meetings are held to discuss policy, procedures, and gain employee feedback. Advocacy for communities: What are some ways you to help create partnerships with surrounding community organizations, businesses, or agencies?  We reach out to local organizations, gain resource information about their programs, and provide families with contact information.

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

4  We stay connected with local organizations such as Head Start, Pre-k for SA, Early Childhood Intervention and assist families with enrollment.  We assist families in contacting and enrolling their children in programs to support their needs.  We host ST, PT, & OT evaluation events with family’s consent  Director is a member of TXAEYC an organization that raises public awareness and understanding of the needs of young children and their families. Advocacy of policies and systems: Describe a situation where you had to communicate difficult news to staff regarding a policy decision. Recently our division changed naptime to rest time and included policy changes. The challenge presented with staff no longer being able to pat children to sleep. Knowing we would have questions and be met with hesitation from staff we decided to present the news at a staff meeting. The staff meeting would allow us the time needed to answer questions and guide our teachers into trusting the new policy decision. During this time, we presented with the reason why the changes were being implemented along with alternative options that could be used to help sooth a child to sleep. Over the following weeks administration took time to go into classrooms and support staff in finding methods that would work for children who were accustomed to teachers patting them to sleep.

5 Advocacy Strategies Interview Reflection For this interview I chose our center’s assistant director Mrs. Angelica Clark. Ms. Angelica is a part of the LGBTQ community and has about twenty years of working with our company Bright Horizons that helps shape the young minds of children starting at six weeks up to twelve years of age. She moved around different locations until she found her forever home at Chase! Mrs. Angelica has experience with the foster care system as she has been fostering children for the last fifteen years and has been able to give six of those babies a forever home. She has just received her associate degree and her bachelor’s degree in early childhood within the last year utilizing our teacher degree program. Angelica’s program is a contracted hybrid client owned corporate centers however, it hadn’t always been that way. What once was strictly a back-up center, quickly changed after COVID-19. The client, JP Morgan Chase was demanding for more full-time care for our children and wanted her location to become a full service and a back-up center. So, the Bright Horizons location began to make that change to better accommodate their families. Mrs. Angelica’s JP Morgan Chase Childcare Center is a NAEYC accredited center located on 3700 Wiseman Blvd. in San Antonio, Texas. At Bright Horizons, they take more of a hands-on approach which helps foster the understanding of the value of early childhood education while they enrich the lives of their children served. Their mission is to advocate for their staff and educators’ development resources such as trainings and fundings for childcare. At Bright Horizons JP Morgan Chase location, they are fortunate enough to be able to work with their client Chase to buy any kind of resources necessary. The administration and educators support their program at Bright Horizons by focusing on looking for resources depending on a specifics child’s needs, development and or diagnosis and challenges. Bright Horizons provides support for families by sharing family plans

6 such as 504 plans and IEPs to better support their families go through the educational journey with their children. They help enrich the lives of their children by supporting their parents to and advocate for their children and participating in trainings based on early childhood development are provided to better support the children become successful. Open communication is one way the program engages in practices for parents and family to ensure accessibility and responsiveness. Some open communication methods used by the Bright Horizons program are text messages, facetime calls, emails, phone calls as well as monthly newsletters to inform families on any important dates or inclusion activities for them to participate in. Whenever a new child is getting ready to start our program something called an intake is done. The location is very diverse, so the intake is offered in multiple languages. Intakes go over important information pertaining to the child but also their families such as, traditions, culture, and family dynamics. Angelica the assistant director oversees marketing and will plan programs to help build relationships with the families such as parents’ night out. A parent’s night out is when the center is open after hours beginning at seven and open until eleven providing time for the parents to go out for some time for themselves. The center provides dinner and snacks with fun games and activities to participate in and ends with a movie. Angelica also joins her director in a monthly event where the parents can come in and have a coffee with both her and the director. During these different inclusion programs there can be a variety of topic of discussions such as policy changes, the development of their children or any questions or concerns the parents may have regarding their children. Angelica is always available during drop off and pick up times and ensures her hours of work revolve around being available for the families. One of her main goals is to help all families to feel a warm welcome,

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

7 help them find solutions for any challenges they may be facing even if it’s something outside of the classroom such as needed assistance with food to feed their children at home. Some of the opportunities provided by Bright Horizons for educators and staffs professional development to help gain more current knowledge are providing paid trainings during resource time at work. There is always a meeting once a month when all staff and administration comes together in the center where they provide dinner and snack as well as an out-of-town professional development day once a year. Transportation is provided, if deciding to use your own vehicle reimbursement is also available after the training is done and you have returned home. Part of Angelica’s job description is to assign her staff trainings that must be completed by a specific date available on MATU. These trainings cover information regarding different situations and how to handle them in terms of children and families. At Bright Horizons they work in creating partnerships with community organizations, businesses, agencies, and advocates by reaching out to surrounding organizations to provide families with their information. Angelica will organize a day where different local early childhood programs such as PreK for SA and or Head Start will come out to the center to help any families with children in need as well as different local therapist companies to see if parents are interested in getting their children screened at no cost. The partnership is healthy because administration will have the children’s portfolios on hand to share with companies if needed and approved by the parents. Bright Horizons promotes and enhances policies and systems that support high-quality educational programs for young children by Angelica keeping up with the staffs’ trainings ensuring they are up to date and assigning all new trainings. Angelica will also make any changes necessary pertaining to new policies because her company is supported by an

8 educational development team who make these changed based off their understanding of specific child needs and their development. She will then ensure her staff knows how to apply the information gained by her staff by having them change their classroom every time a new batch of children enter their classroom for the year. They will provide a supply list to Angelica along with a date they need their new materials by and set up their classroom according to their children’s ages and interest. Two additional advocacy strategies for early childhood education program to improve the effectiveness of its advocacy efforts I want to recommend are one, to use social media as an influence to advocate, and two, speaking to a local government official. Using social media is a fast way to share information with thousands of people to see and hear, and it’s as easy as finding a platform you may use every day such as Facebook. Speaking to your local government official is a good strategy to get your voices heard on any thoughts or challenges you are going through. “Attend city council meetings, school board meetings, briefings, and town halls to meet them, and follow them on social media to learn their views on issues you care about (NAEYC, n.d.).

9 References NAEYC (Ed.). (n.d.). Be A Proactive Early Learning Advocate. Retrieved March 3, 2024, from https://www.naeyc.org/get-involved/advocate/be-proactive

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

Calmanza_Advocacy Strategies Interview_031624

Related Documents