Time Well Spent

 What connects people is not mere ideas but deep personal commitments. Commitments involve feeling, passion, and drive. Ideas only bring heads together.

R. B. Williams, author and communications specialist

1.     We are all different but at the same time we are all the same. We as educators have to pay attention to the identities of each and every child. We have to understand them, respect them, and care for them because every child deserves equal opportunities regardless of their race, class, sex, abilities, faith or any other reason.

2.     It is important for the educator’s be strong advocates for children and families. Meanwhile guiding the families to be advocates for the success of their child’s/children’s. Most of the times adults believe that it is the teacher’s responsibility to educate the child but we as early childhood educator’s get the families involved then the parents will definitely continue that journey with their children by being helicopters.

3.     It is necessary for the educators to keep up the most current research available on behalf of the developing children. Early childhood arena is changing so fast, there are performance standards, curriculum, technology, new ideas to work on regarding the current trends and issues. But if we do not do our part the children are the ones who are going to miss out on them. Early childhood educator’s work goes beyond the kindergarten and we as educators have to be prepared for that.

4.     At the end of the day, what is more important is having the vision, mission, commitment, dedication and hearts full of love for the children. An educators journey is not a walk in the park, but we made a decision to become educators so we have to be compassionate about the choice we made and have to do our best to make a better tomorrow for the children of the world.

My goal is to put what I learned into practice in my professional and personal life. I am proud to say I learned and grew up in many different ways while receiving my education from the Walden University. I thank all the educators and staff who helped me with my journey. I am glad I made my choice to be in school again because I am a believer in life long education. Maya Angelo once said that “when you know better you do better”. My goal is to put my education into making a better tomorrow for all the children, one step at a time because I am also a work in progress.

Dear Colleagues, I believe that we are the people with commitments and that is why we took this journey together. It was not an easy journey for me. It felt like everything had timelines in my life but I am proud to say that I survived, we survived. It is hard to believe this is it. We all learned from each other, supported each other while working together. I say thank you from the bottom of my heart and wish you all the success in the next steps of your own journey. Hope that there is a place in face book site that we can still keep in touch. For me it is important to keep in touch with you because we can support each other while sharing the ups and downs of our own journey. Thank you again! Good luck and bye for now.

       Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

The more I get involved with the young children and their families, the more it brings joy and happiness to me. I consider being a positive influence in the lives of young children and their families as my calling. Some day I would like to go beyond the four walls of my classroom. I love being an educator in the United States, but I at the same time I would love to give back to my birthplace as well. That is the place in my heart I still consider as my home. So I chose these international organizations that provide services in Sri Lanka for my “future job/role” search. UNICEF, Save the Children and World Vision have their involvement in Sri Lanka. I found their sites on job opportunities and I have them posted below. One common qualification all the organizations are looking for is experience with young children and families. Then for UNICEF one important piece of information was being a graduate of an internationally recognized university. I felt extra good and proud about my qualifications and experiences that I have as an educator, because I basically met most of their requirements. My goal is to continue my carrier in the early childhood arena in the United States and then start my involvement by first being a volunteer with these organizations.

·        Save the Children

“Save the Children is the world's leading independent organization for children. Our vision is a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation. Our mission is to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives”.

·        http://www.savethechildren.lk/

·        UNICEF

UNICEF focuses on three areas of intervention for early childhood development: quality basic health, education and protection services; good care practices for children within the family and community; and early child development policies.  UNICEF works with governments and other partners to achieve the following objectives to increase the likelihood of all disadvantaged children benefitting from interventions (UNICEF, 2012).

·        http://www.unicef.org/srilanka/index.html

UNICEF employment site:

·        http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/index_qualifications.html

·        World Vision

“Our vision for every child, life in all its fullness;
Our prayer for every heart, the will to make it so”.

World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice.

·        http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/learn/emergency-updates?OpenDocument&lpos=top_drp_OurWork_DisasterResp

World Vision Employment site:

http://www.wvi.org/wvi/wviweb.nsf/maindocs/AB93B2A6ED2599DC882573710064D412?opendocument 

World Vision Sri Lanka

·        http://www.worldvision.org/our-work/international-work/sri-lanka