There are many national organizations dedicated to the
well-being of young children and their families. For my blog post this week I chose 3 that
were most interesting to me. From there,
I researched different job openings within each organization. Although I am currently working in an early
childhood setting that I adore, getting information about possible openings and
opportunities for the future is beneficial.
The first organization I chose was the National Association
for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). I see them as the largest and most influential
group working for the education of young children on a national level. NAEYC was also interesting to me because I
love the articles that come from their magazine Young Children. I was interested to see if there were
openings for freelance writers to get articles into the magazine as that is
something I think I would enjoy doing in conjunction with teaching.
The openings for NAEYC currently available include proposal
reviewers for the National Institute for Early Childhood Professional
Development expo, consulting editors for Young Children magazine, and website advisory
panel members. After looking into each I
found the position of proposal reviewer to be most appealing. The position only requires experience and
expertise in the early childhood field.
It entails reading through proposals for presenters and writing reviews
of them. Then, with the help of other
reviewers, you would be responsible for choosing a certain number of presenters
to go to the expo or conference.
The second organization I chose was Zero to Three. It is a national organization that works to
aid infants, toddlers, and families. I was
interested in Zero to Three because their mission aligns with the importance of
early care. On their About Us page I
learned that they believe, “early experiences set a course for a lifelong
process of discovery about ourselves and the world around us. Simply put, early
experiences matter” (Zero to Three, n.d., para. 2). This is one of the foundational ideas that
got me interested in early childhood during my undergraduate studies and it is
still a driving force for me today.
Job openings for Zero to Three include graphic designer,
project director, community coordinator, and program director. Since these were pretty vague titles I had to
look further into the descriptions of each.
I am not overly interested in any of the positions as all would take me
to Washington, DC or Connecticut. If I
were to move for one of the positions I would be most apt to apply for the
community coordinator position. The job
involves coordinating with community services within the Safe Babies project.
Finally, I chose the organization National Association of
Early Childhood Teacher Educators (NAECTE).
This was not an organization I knew much about but I was interested to
find more. Their purpose is to promote
professional growth for educators working in the field of early childhood. My focus with my Master’s through Walden was
educating adults so this seems like a good organization to look into.
The job openings for NAECTE include faculty and assistant
professor positions at different settings.
The assistant professor in early childhood education was definitely of
interest to me, despite the location. When
I was doing my undergraduate work I was very interested in one day teaching a
course in early childhood at a local college.
The experience of looking into different positions has been
very educational. I have appreciated the
opportunity to look beyond my comfort zone.
While I am currently happy with my location and position as a
Kindergarten teacher it is great to know what else is out there. I can see myself looking into other
positions, like the ones I’ve researched, as I move further along in my career.
National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators.
(n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2015 from http://www.naecte.org/
National Association for the Education of Young Children |
NAEYC. (n.d.). Retrieved January 18, 2015, from http://www.naeyc.org/
Zero to Three (n.d.). Retrieved January 18, 2015, from
http://www.zerotothree.org/
Oh wow I really liked all of your job search results! I am obtaining my degree in ECE with an emphasis in working with diverse populations but I wanted to go for the working with adults, its just that that particular specialization was not recognized by the state I live in as part of my credential. I too am hoping that my Masters degree will help me get on as an adjunct at the local level as I have found mentoring fellow educators to be very rewarding emotionally.
ReplyDeleteHello Ashley
ReplyDeleteThose are great organizations that you have chosen. NAEYC is one of the best organizations and has been around forever it seems. NAEYC provides many different programs to assist professionals who work to educate young children. They are a leading publisher of educational resources, which include books, videos and posters that can assist in the teaching of young children. NAEYC also goes beyond publications, conferences and videos, and offers a program called “Supporting Teachers, Strengthening Families” that is designed to assist in the fight to prevent child abuse and promote healthy social and emotional development in young children.
Allison,
ReplyDeleteThe first two organizations you chose and focused on this week are the same as my choices! I love finding similarities between our passions and interests along this journey. I feel as though we have similar outlooks on ECE. If you were to pursue a career in education outside of the classroom, do you think you would choose working for one of the aforementioned organizations or stay local as you had posted before? Curious to hear your thoughts. I am torn between NAEYC and a local organization, if I had to leave the classroom. :)
Ashley Richards
I really like the first two you mention and I use them all the time as resources. I have not heard of the last one you mention, National Association of Early ChildhooTeacher Educators (NAECTE) and it looks like one that would help me out greatly. My issue for my Capstone Project is to help teachers develop professionally so this website is a big help for my cause. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYou picked some very great organizations! The NAECTE is a great organization that provides good information for the early childhood field. I also looked at this organization and think that it would also benefit me.Thanks for the post!
ReplyDelete