The first organization that I researched in Iowa is the Iowa Association for the Education of Young Children (IAEYC). I belong to this organization collaboratively with my NAEYC membership. There is actually an article on their website entitled "Careers in Early Childhood" (IAEYC, 2008). One of the jobs that appealed to me in this article was Professional Development Coordinator. The Professional Development Coordinator can work in many different settings such as colleges, high schools, and child care and resource referral agencies (IAEYC, 2008). The minimum qualifications include a Master's in Early Childhood Education (IAEYC, 2008). This job description and title appealed to me because I would like to become a leader in the field where I can help educate prospective early childhood professionals in their journey to become successful early childhood professionals.
The second organization I checked out was the Iowa Community Action Association which has local agencies located in the state of Iowa. The Community Action agencies work collaboratively with other agencies to provide resources for low income families in Iowa. One job opening that I found that interested me and connects with my Capstone challenge is a bilingual advocate for a Head Start center in Iowa. The minimum qualifications are a Bachelor's in Social Work or related field with excellent communication skills (Iowa Community Action, 2014). This person would work closely with families to ensure that they are receiving information about services they are receiving and also assist with communicating information to bilingual children and their families (Iowa Community Action, 2014).
Iowa has Area Education Agencies that cover all of the counties in Iowa. I checked my local AEA which is Great Prairie AEA but there were not any job openings at my local agency. The job position I found at the AEA 267 is in Clear Lake, Iowa searching for an Early Childhood Consultant. The consultant position requires a Master's in Early Childhood Education along with four years of successful teaching (AEA, 2014). The consultant would provide leadership and professional development to other early childhood professionals in area schools and early childhood centers (AEA, 2014).
I found it interesting to research other positions in my field. I have done this before but only looked at positions that required a Master's. Now that I am finishing my Master's and pursuing my Capstone project, I am inspired to start looking again.
References
AEA 267 Area Education
Agency. (2014). Employment Opportunities. Retrieved from
Iowa Association for the
Education of Young Children. (2008). Careers
in Early Childhood.
Iowa Community Action
Association. (2014). Jobs
- Bi-lingual Family Advocate Needed For
Denison-Area Head Start Program. Retrieved from http://www.iowacommunityaction.org/Job/308/BI-LINGUAL_FAMILY_ADVOCATE__NEEDED_FOR___DENISON-AREA__HEAD_START_PROGRAM/
Dear Nicolette,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog post. We share the same professional desire to educate early childhood teachers to help them improve their teaching approach and promote a higher quality ECE program. I was blessed with the role of an adjunct instructor to resume teaching role in fall of 2014. I am excited, yet, nervous because we did not have the opportunity to practice student teaching. I am confident that the lead faculty and the president of the college will be my greatest team member and CoP support. I wish you a continuous success in your journey. Our journey here at Walden will finish soon, but it will start with an opportunity of a lifetime to bring a positive change in the world.
Best Regards,
Marijan :)
Dear Marijan,
DeleteThank you for reading my blog and your supportive comments! I always knew that I wanted to teach other early childhood professionals but did not consider teaching at the college level until recently. One of the reasons I want to teach at our junior college is because I am noticing the lack of education that is provided for our early childhood educators just at an associate degree level. There are not a lot of classes offered at our junior college currently in early childhood education and I am hoping that when I am able to teach, I can change that.
Best wishes on your position- it sounds exciting!
Nicolette
Great Post! I agree looking at job opportunities is fun! I am super interested in one that I researched but you have to submit your Resume, cover letter and transcripts for a part-time position first and your name is put in a pool for substitute work and full time if there are any openings. The problem I see with this is having to keep a full time job where I'm at now until I get on as a college teacher. So I would be unable to be a substitute there because I would be working my full time job. Not sure how that would work. Maybe it is just to keep your resume on file for them but under the description it said to have a pool to pull from for substitutes. Anyways. I like your resources. I remember in college when we had to go to a Community Action Head Start and present a lesson there. I loved the center we went to and all the "play" opportunities they had in their center. The Area Education Agency seemed interesting, I will have to look to see if we have some of those here. Was it you that mentioned play symposiums to me? I looked that up online and couldn't find any local and wondered if that was just something they did in Iowa? Good luck in your ventures!
ReplyDeleteDear Shanda,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments! I agree that sometimes the job hunting can be fun and frustrating all at one time.
I was the one that mentioned the play symposium to you. You could check your state AEYC (Association for the Education of Young Children). We do have them frequently in Des Moines, Iowa and when I was checking on the internet, they seem to have them in bigger cities around the nation. You might also check on the NAEYC website to see if they have a state listing of play symposiums. Let me know if you would consider traveling to one in Des Moines and I would go with you- play symposiums are awesome and well worth going to more than once!
Thanks for checking out my blog:)!
Nicolette
Hi Nicolette!
ReplyDeleteI love reading about the opportunities that are out there for you! It is lovely to know that you will have your choice of options in your career moving forward from graduation his spring. It is also great to see so many amazing resources for Iowa families represented here in this quick little search.
Working with adults in the early childhood field is a rewarding experience, and one that add new complexities and challenges to one's career. Best of luck as you explore these directions!
Thank you,
Lisa
Dear Lisa,
DeleteThank you for your comments and support! Searching Iowa's resources has helped me become more aware of what is actually out there for Iowa families and their children. I have spent most of my life in Illinois and am more familiar with the programs and access to families and children in Illinois. I still keep a foot in Illinois, so to speak, because I have a lot of experience in that state but I also live literally five minutes over the river from Illinois and we have quite a few families that come from Chicago and other parts of Illinois move to Iowa.
Thank you for your encouragement and inspiration- it is very much appreciated!
Nicolette
I think that being a coordinator would be such an amazing job! Being able to work with many different people and different settings you would be able to touch so many different people and children. Providing resources for low income families would be such a rewarding opportunity. I have many low income families in my school and I know that we get so much out of helping them and being able to do it on an even bigger scale would be even more rewarding!
ReplyDeleteDear Lauren,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments! I agree that assisting low income families is a priority and continues to be a passionate area of concern for me and the families I work with each day.
Nicolette