"Children must be taught how to think, not what to think"
Margaret Mead

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Reflecting on Communication and Collaboration

In the past two courses I have had more support from my colleagues than in any others courses. In the past 8 weeks the support has been overwhelming. I started my new job just after our classes began and I have been able to utilize the support of my colleagues during this trying time. I am continuing my education so that I can further my career and I will never say that it is easy to complete course work, work full time, and raise a family. This is by far one of the harder times in my life in the way of “keeping up”. That being said I am so grateful that I am moving forward.
I have had a lot of inquiries about my new position so I think that I will take the opportunity here to explain a little bit about my new position. I was hired by my local Head Start as a Practice-Based Coach. Before I explain my perception of the position I urge you to google this position along with this website: https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/tta-system/teaching/development/coaching.html. This is not a new idea to education, however it is becoming a bigger trend, especially in our middle and high school levels. I have two goals in this position. My first goal is to support and guide the teachers to better practices and the last goal is to improve the learning outcomes of the children. I will be observing the classrooms and evaluating what teachers are implementing in the classrooms. I will be looking to see if their practices are successful or if they need guidance to try something new. I hope that I will be embraced as a valuable resource and I look forward to the work that we can accomplish together. It amazes me that at the same time I started this new position I was starting a course in communication and collaboration. What I have learned during this course is valuable to what I am doing every day. I have learned new ways to communicate, how to strengthen my weaknesses, and also how to maintain my strengths.

I hope to continue my journey with those that continue to support me. My wish is that we stay in touch and we can help one another through our educational journey. I believe each one of you holds a strong passion for the children and their education and each will bring something significant to the classroom. My email address is Samantha.testa@waldenu.edu or my work email is stesta@lccaa.net. Even after we have our degrees posted on our office walls we can continue to professionally grow by collaborating with other educational professionals. 

2 comments:

  1. Hi Samantha, I think your new position sounds very rewarding. We are a school readiness site and have a coach to help the teachers. They only get her help 3 hours a week. Do the teachers buy into your help? Samantha I commend you for hanging in there while you have to balance so much in your personal life. I can only tell you to live for today, forget yesterday because there are things that cannot be changed and start your tomorrows with a positive mindset and that will help you in your personal challenges. I believe there are so many things we are not in control of so we just need to worry about how we control ourselves and that is though effective communication and being compassionate.

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  2. As this course comes to an end and we all start a new chapter, I would like to take this time to say thank you for all the contributions you made in our discussion board and blogs. Although I was not able to participate as much as I would have liked, I was able to rely on my colleague’s efforts to help me get through. Thanks for all the encouragement, valuable feedback and positive comments. All these contributions helped strengthen my communication skills. We all have challenges that we are dealing with and some we may face in the future but as we continue on our educational journey I wish you continued success beyond your dreams. Blessings to you.

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