Beautiful Antigua

For sale

Approximately 35 acres of flat hill top land with a small portion on the gentle slope.

This site commands a breath taking panoramic view of the ocean and the surrounding seas.

It is located within a two minute walk of two fabulous white sand beaches. Title is free and unencumbered.

Access to the area is via a main asphalt-paved road.

This desirable location is in the vicinity of five main tourist hotels that are currently in operation. 

TIME WELL SPENT

      As the journey of course EDUC 6990 comes to an end, the reflections from the very first foundation course are replaying. The wealth of knowledge obtained within the last 1 year and 10 months has been amazing. One of the most interesting facts I learn within the duration of this master’s program is cultural differences plays a major role in the classroom. On many occasions I can recall having to point out that being from the Caribbean meant that I had difference experiences, policies and ways of getting the job done. However, here I am at the end of the road and more seasoned with knowledge I can go out and educate others. The feeling now is bittersweet as when I started the end seemed very far, as each step got closer to the end, the perseverance grew and failure was not an option for me. Now I am at the end of the road it is bittersweet as I enjoyed the discussions and interactions with other educators in various parts of the world, which has left me wondering what I will do in my free time.

      Strange, I strongly believe my long term goal is already into full effect, with the completion of my capstone project, I am of the view that our children here in Antigua and Barbuda are crying out for help. Many times parents are not able to see that children act out because they feel neglected, thus I have already started looking at a way of making a change in crisis like these. This will be a project I will love to work on by interacting with parents first then branching out, of course I will need the help of other educators and most likely create a Community of Practice.

      To Dr. Teri, your numerous ways of bringing the message across in the classroom has been effective and very informative, not to mention being able to email you and getting a response as soon at the mouse clicked sent. Your words of encouragement always cleared obstacles and doubting thoughts. I would like to take this moment to congratulate you on a job well done and also to say thank you because had it not been for those extra information, these weekly assignments merging into a final capstone project would have not been completed.

      To my colleagues, I enjoyed my time with you, it doesn’t have to end as we can follow and communicate with each other thanks to the wonderful use of technology, internet and social media. However, as we are at the end of the road, congratulations to everyone, a job well done, as you continue to work with children and in the education field I wish you all the very best. Remember the lessons you have learnt and make them useful in every way possible, I know I will. 

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

       For the past few weeks I have learnt about many organizations in the ECE community locally, federally and this week as the process continues, internationally. With some of the options listed I decided to look at a few however, the three that captured my mind were:

1.      Save the Children. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6115947/k.8D6E/Official_Site.htm

2.      Academy for Educational Development. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.aed.org/en/index.htm

3.      http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6115947/k.8D6E/Official_Site.htm

      What I really liked about the three websites of the organizations I choose was their page layout. Yes, I know that should have been the last thing to perhaps come to mind however, I love the fact of seeing imagines of ethnic and diversified children and workers when I visit websites of this nature. I strongly believe sites like these should have information as to what they do to provide assistance within the ECE community, the reason why this issue stands out to me, comes from the fact that individuals become emotional when they see a child that is less fortunate and would immediately want to help, therefore many imposers have used sites like these as ways to create scams.

     As I continued to view the websites of these international organizations looking into the mission statements and visions, it is obvious they are definitely created to exposure the issues of ECE and are created to make differences in the ECE field. 

      As I also continued to explore these pages, the information of careers were also featured on the websites for anyone interested in working in the ECE field, however the organization which stood out to me in this field of career would be Save the Children, due to the fact they have both US based job opportunities and international career opportunities, thus if I am interested in working with them and not migrated I can do just that. 

Roles in the ECE Community

Roles in the ECE Community: National/Federal Level

In the World there are many organizations for children, organizations which promote development of the early childhood education field, adoption of children in search of a better life and also for adults with young children. As the course EDUC 6990 deepens the understanding of CoPs and organizations, the exploring of these child awareness organizations play a manager role. For this week’s blog there were three organizations which captured my attention.

Children Defence Funds for the past 40 years this non-profit organization has been giving quality education, moral and spiritual foundation as an ensured playing field for many children. The website gives a great feedback of the organizations, pictures and news relating to matters of the organizations as well as other facts relevant to the fund. What stood out to my with this organization are their policies and how they involved helping children from prenatal onward.  Of course if you wish to make a donation, you can do so on the website. The website for this organization is http://www.childrensdefense.org/

The World Forum Foundation is the second organization I would like to share in this blog. On enrolling in a previous master’s course, a requirement was to become a part of an early childhood organization, I chose this organization due to the fact is it a place where many other organizations come together and collaborate as one body thus creating a very strong community of practice.  What I like about this forum is the fact they bring news to you as to the latest developments to early childhood around the world to your email inboxes. The website for this forum is https://www.worldforumfoundation.org/

Thirdly, WHO, World Health Organization, I chose this organization to assist my colleagues who are looking at health issues in the early childhood field as well as the fact health is a major fact in these stages. The name of the organization speaks for itself as the page brings news from the United Nations system on all health issues on individuals at the different stages of life. The website for this organization is http://www.who.int/en/

Due to the fact many of these organizations are non-profitable, the jobs offered are volunteer work, however as mentioned in my last blog most workers at these organizations are either already working within a position with the government or a private sector, a school or a retiree that handles related issues. Thus, workers at these organizations can be highly qualified; however there are organizations such as ACCESS ECE (http://www.accessece.org/) which offers associates and other experiences for their workers. 

Before I began an educator, I have worked in Antigua at the Ministry of Social Transformations where I was the junior clerk at the department of the Board of Guardians. At that department, we the workers registered individuals who were less fortunate, elderly, disabled and without a pension with a fund every forth night or monthly, for those who could not come in we would go out into the field. Therefore, I have had a bit of experience that these organizations do. At the end of my master's I would surely like to volunteer to be a part of such an organization again.

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

This week our attention has been brought to the organizations at local and state levels which explore roles in the early childhood education community. There are 3 organizations which I would like to spread light on 1) Antigua Junior Chambers International (JCI Antigua) 2) International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and last but surely not the least out there 3) United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF). These three community of practices or organizations stands out personally because of the help they render to families through fund raisers and programmes they create annually under different platforms.

These three establishments provide voluntary work, however you will find many of the workers have positions in government or private jobs which as related to the Community of Practices mentioned above. Therefore within these Community of Practices (CoPs) volunteers are qualified and skilled individuals seeking to make a difference in their country or community, however in a country where education is a main focus it will be observed that the members of these groups have bachelor’s degree (if not one maybe multiple), masters degree and some doctorate’s degrees. Those who don’t have made history in the development of the country and may have honours from the Governor General from the Queen (Queen Elizabeth), yes Antigua and Barbuda is still under the English.

Below you will find links to the organizations made mentioned of:

http://www.jci.cc/

https://www.ifrc.org/en/what-we-do/where-we-work/americas/antigua-and-barbuda-red-cross-society/

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/antiguabarbuda.html

Collaborative Learning Community

Here I am at the end of EDUC - 6165 - 1 Communicating and Collaborating in the Early Childhood Field and I must say it was a pleasure forging collaborative learning community between myself and my colleagues of group 2. 

It was truly a honor interacting, developing and sharing thoughts with such educated colleagues from different cultures, religious beliefs and countries. As we shared our thoughts, personal experiences and teachings we were very open and not afraid to say how issues affected us. Everyone thoughts made a different towards the development of the group therefore the task of selecting two member is indeed tough, I do wish eveyone success as we are about to continue in the other phrase of our goals and complete our specializations. It is not good to count the eggs before they hatch but early congratulations are in order to eveyone because I know we are all going to be successful. 

Two members which I would like to point out are Shovonne Little and Lindsey Norman, who kept the group on their toes as weekly they were the top 3 persons to post their discussion logs. Ladies, I found you kept the goup in check and help us to formulate and develop our thoughts on a weekly base. Congats to both of you and I do wish for you nothing but success.

To everyone, thanks for the abundance support and heres to moving foward.

Adjourning stage of Team Work

Team work for me has always been an issue, however with growth, I have learn to communicate on a better level with team workers as well as to work better in groups.

Within the adjourning stage of team work, is the stage in which the members of the groups ae able to look on the accomplishments they have under their belts as well as those they haven't gained and are able to make discussions such as taking on over assigments other breaking up the group. No one wants to be a loser but to lose can also be inspiring, many times as a group member things do go wrong thus making work a bit harder for everyone.

An establishment which  I was a member of the Pathfinder Club of my church, this club was full of fun and learning, while being a member group work was always required especially when it came to camp time, leaving this group was rather sad but I had to as education was more important and I was relocating to another island which also and this group but I figured it wouldn't have been the same.

A group I never thought I would hav to leave was a group I call my support team, 5 ladies I met in university in 2002 to this present day our relationship has grown so much it is almost as though I never met them. We all have been in a couse together or hhave been in groups together at some point, however what I love about this support team the most, we transfer each other's feelings. 

Other than this Walden has opened a door for team work for me, by responding to discussions and blogs is a way of supporting goup members after all what is a discussion without responds from colleagues. Personally, I know everytime I do a blog or post I am eager to see the comments, it is a way to push knowledge and open thoughts.