Journal 2

Hey! I'm getting the hang of this blog and am really loving it!!!

This week is all about defining communication needs of your audiences. The people I most frequently interact with are parents. I communicate with parents on a daily basis. We communicate and interact a number of different ways. We talk through text, phone calls, in person, and by flyers or other means of information. The families that I interact most with are part of a wide social circle so it is important that I am good at what I do and also make sure that my information is factual.

When it comes to effective communication in action (page 4 of our text), I like the way the biting situation is explained to the parents. I think most of the information needed to be told was included in the conversation. When I discuss an incident that occurred in my classroom such as biting, I like to include what was happening before the bite and what was going on when the bite took place (still maintaining confidentiality). This information I feel is important because parents need to know if there was a trigger that caused the bite, if it was instigated, and what can be done to prevent it from happening.

Defining Who I Am: (Page 9 in text):

I visualize my business as one that is a safe environment for children to thrive in. My business will encourage and support developmentally appropriate practice as well as include the community and families in our classroom. My center is affordable. I want to create a quality center that is affordable to the general public. I think all children should have access to quality care. Academics are important but children learn through hands on activities and play. Learning should be fun for children and that's the environment I want to maintain. It should be a place children want to be and are excited to learn. My center has new developmentally appropriate equipment, low staff to child ratios, an open door policy (parents are welcome anytime), and we create our own curriculum that is possible for each individual child as well as challenges them to grow and develop.

My center is one that includes all families in the every day care of their child. We want communication to be a strong point. The center also offers quality care. The staff is educated in the early care education field as well as completes twenty ongoing training hours per year. We also like to catch and fix an issue before it becomes a major problem.

There is always room for improvement in any center. My center can always improve upon themselves as caregivers and our communication can get better all the time. By continuing to attend trainings and workshops we can become better caregivers and people in general.

Journal 1 - Welcome to my blog!

Welcome to my blog!

My name is Kim Waterman. I am new to the whole blogging world so be patient with me. I lead a very busy and crazy life but I love every minute of it! A year ago this September I married my best friend, Jake. He is also currently in school at OCU for his Master's Degree. We just bought our first house and a few weeks ago rescued a puppy that we named Cooper.

I am taking Early Care Education courses because this field is my passion. I love watching children grow and develop. There is something magical about watching a child thrive in an environment that will help shape them into the people they will become. I love being a little stop on their journey in life. Children are our future (I know that sounds cliche but it's true). The field of early care education is constantly changing and I want to continue to learn and develop my education so I can be the best caregiver and teacher possible.

I hope to gain more knowledge through this course. I like to think I am a great communicator but I would like to know more and become a better communicator. Communication in the field of early care education is crucial. Everyone (teachers, employers, families, & children) must all be on the same page and work together to reach the final goal; whatever that may be. I hope to learn new information that will help me be the best teacher I can.

I hope everyone has a great semester and I look forward to learning lots of valuable information!