Communication Competencies in Early Childhood Environments

"Communication competency" is a well-known and fundamental term in the field and study of Organizational Communication, and refers to the skills necessary to communicate effectively within an organization across a variety of spectrums. 

Among the most complex organizations in terms of communication competency are educational environments, and the early childhood environment is no exception.  Communication in the early childhood environment includes parent-to-teacher, parent-to-parent, teacher-to-parent, teacher-to-administration, administration-to-teacher, parent-to-administration, and administration=to=parent, not to mention the special communication skills involved in reaching very young children.

Two communication competency components that are particularly crucial to the early childhood environment are "knowledge competency" and "sensitivity competency".  Knowledge competency refers to the ability to understand the issues, concerns, and information involved in the organization (in this case early childhood education) and to communicate this knowledge effectively. This requires us to have as full a grasp as possible on the most pressing issues in our educational environment and then to make sure those issues are related to all the parties involved. It works hand-in-hand with "sensitivity competency", the ability to sense the most appropriate and effective ways to communicate information to individuals and groups with different agendas and goals.  Knowing how to effectively reach out to that bilingual family to find out what their needs are, and then knowing how to communicate that to a teacher or administrator who may not have much understanding of those needs is a good example of how important sensitivity competency is in an early childhood environment.  These are the skills that will particularly be needed going forward in my Multicultural Media Lab project in order to involve the various important parties including parents, teachers, and administrators in its creation.

Social Media in Early Childhood Education: Web 2.0 Tools

The flexibility and ubiquitous reach that Web 2.0 tools offer educators  have revolutionized the field at all levels, from the classroom to administration and the level of policy making.  While those in the early childhood field often seem to be more reluctant to use these tools than those in higher levels, access to social media and other highly interactive online approaches can be quite impactful not only in reaching young students but also parents, colleagues, administrators and policy makers.

In my issue of creating a Multicultural Media Lab for my school, two tools that I feel would be very effective would be a wiki (such as can be found at wikispaces.com) and video sharing platforms (in particular YouTube and Vimeo).

A wiki would allow me to post news, information, tips, and other types of media including audio and video pertinent to the needs of bilingual students and multicultural learners.  It would also allow interactivity in the form of comments, follow up posts from other members of my wikis community, and the ability to add to or edit previous posts.

The creation of a You Tube page and a Vimeo Page would allow me to feature and call for submissions of videos from bilingual students and educators about particular topics of interest.

As all great Web 2.0 tools do, the wiki and be linked with the You Tube and Vimeo pages to create a total experience and presence within the online world.

Understanding Early Childhood Systems

Sorting through the vast array of early childhood education platforms,whether public or private, home based or center based, academic-centered or focused on child development is complex to say the least. In my goal to create an arts-based preschool curriculum using movement, music, scaffolded dramatic play techniques and storytelling that can successfully meet the needs and goals of all these types of environments, there are several areas of which it would help me to have a better understanding.

Early Learning Standards in Curriculum, Assessment and Program Evaluation

States have varying standards for early childhood programs, however NAEYC has a nice system that encompasses most of the important goals and milestones that programs attempt to reach. They also have a database of early childhood systems state-by-state. I intend to get more involved with NAEYC in this area, particularly regarding programs for dual language learners. I want to make sure that my curriculum includes approaches that will benefit this population.

Public Policy

I am in touch with my state legislators here in Virginia who send me updates on bills and proposals that have to do with education, particularly early childhood education but I would like to know how to better approach advocacy on these issues. Again, NAEYC has resources and training in the area of effective advocacy both at the state and federal level. It's my goal to advocate strongly for Universal Preschool for all.

Funding

I need to know more about funding opportunities through grants and other sources at the local, state and federal level. I also want to learn how to use crowd-funding platforms more effectively in order to support program development in early childhood education.