Advocacy Messages

The two campaigns I chose are Teach and United Way.

TEACH

“The TEACH campaign aims to recruit the next generation of teachers by redefining teaching as a top career choice for our nation’s most talented students. The campaign disrupts current perceptions of teaching and showcases the evolution and elevated stature of the teaching career.”

This campaign is very inspiring, every person can benefit from having a teacher. Teachers help children to understand the world they live in. Great teachers can make a child want to research the world and explore it for themselves.

United Way

“This campaign seeks to motivate and inspire people from all walks of life to get engaged and become a partner with the United Way in their community efforts. The diversity which is communicated, and the direct call to action, "Give. Advocate. Volunteer." allow viewers to easily envision a role for themselves in making a difference.”

I personally believe that the best way to understand and help people is to volunteer. When we give our time of service to others we are helping generations to come.  

My Own Capacity

The issue impacting my choice into advocacy work involves making sure that children living in poverty has access to quality preschool programs. I have seen children in daycare centers who are not receiving adequate care. Some child care workers are not properly trained; therefore they are not viewed as professionals. To put it simply, they are viewed as baby sitters.   I have been a special education and Preschool through 3 grade teacher for several years, therefore; I feel my professional experience can contribute to being an advocate for early childhood children and families. I personally feel that people are the best resource when trying to help others. It is always a wonderful experience when an individual with knowledge in their perspective field can share ideas that will help to improve the system of education.  Growing into a skilled professional comes with practice and patience. In order to become an effective advocate I must reach out to members in my community and learn from them.   

My Role as an Advocate

Working with children is one of the best decisions I have ever made.  The main reason I want to be an advocate for young children is because, I want children to have access to quality early childhood educational programs. It is important to acknowledge and foster advocacy form a micro level because advocates have to connect and understand families on a personal level. Understanding families from a personal perspective is the only way to truly help them. In addition, the macro level is equally important when trying to find services. For example, in many cases corporations are needed to provide services such as food, shelter, and health benefits.  In helping children and families great leaders are essential in communities. Great leaders are knowledgeable about the families and communities they are representing.  There are so many things individuals can do to advocate for families. They can attend meeting on currents issues involving children, contact local leaders in the community such as council members, mayors, and governors and ask then for their support in early childhood issues. If we want to stop inequality in early childhood education then we must advocate for changes. The best advice I can give to anyone who wants to advocate for children is to volunteer in organizations where the mission is to help children and families. When people volunteer they have a better understanding how to service others.   

Personal Advocacy Reflection

I have worked with several organizations over the years that benefits children and families.  For example, I volunteered with the Big Sister Big Brother program as a mentor. The program allowed me to have a personal relationship with students in my community. I would often take my little sister to events in and around our local community. Volunteering as a mentor changed my perspective on mentorship. I have always valued and respected individuals who mentored, but I felt I just did not have the time to do it. When I made the decision to volunteer, it was one of the best decisions I  ever made.  Working with the program and the family has helped me to better understand my role as an advocate. I was able to create a personal relationship with my mentee and her family. I understood how they wanted to be treated, and why they value the program. Every child need to feel that they are part of a community that love and care about them. A program like this place children with individuals who are vested interest in their education and quality of life.     

We are winding down our journey in receiving our degree, and I just want to say welcome back. I look forward to reading our blog posts.  I hope we will all have a great experience learning about advocacy. I am sure we will learn a wealth of information that will help us in our chosen profession as educators. Good luck to everyone this term!!!!

When I Reflect About My Collegial, Professional Learning Community

• ·         As a consequence of working with other professionals at Walden University I am further developing my own skill set.
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• ·         By being accountable to one another in the group, we are building a community. It is important to build a sense of community and unity in exchanging ideas.
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• ·         My students will get a richer learning experience due to the dynamics of established professionals in the group. Our collaboration with one another will help to improve our pedagogy. The improvement will have more powerful impact on early childhood learners children for years to come. 

• Reading everyone’s blog and discussions over the past few weeks made me appreciate the roles educators play in helping children and families. I believe all us will try our best and continue to advocate in the early childhood community. One of my goals is to advocate for parents through outreach programs. I would like to enhance advocacy with parents by creating outreach programs that will engage them to learn about their rights. I find most parents in  my community just do not know or understand that they play the biggest part as an advocate for their children.  

Brief synopsis of hypothetical Family living with a disable child

In the hypothetical family situation, I decided to be a single parent living in poverty raising a child with Hydrocephalus and Spina Bifida. A child living with Hydrocephalus has excessive fluid in the brain. Doctors in most cases place a shunt in the brain in order drain the excessive fluid. Hydrocephalus can cause problems with motor skills, uncontrolled bladder, memory loss, and double vision. Children often suffer frequent seizures which can cause brain damage. “Hydrocephalus affects about 1 out of every 500 children”. Spina bifida affects 1 in 1000 birth. It is one of the most common defects in babies.