My Personal Internship Journal – Week 8

•Questions you have with which your colleagues may be able to provide help and support

When I first started working on my advocacy plan I thought that I knew what I needed to do but after looking over different plan on the internet and receiving feedback from my professor I think that I need to do some more resource.  My question to my colleagues would be if anyone else had a problem with their plan and if they have any advice on how to make it more a plan and not a paper.  That is where I am having the problem, I make everything into a paper and I feel that I have to rearrange how I am making my plan.  In addition, I would like to know if anyone has any personal experience with Early Intervention that they would like to share with me that I can share with the teachers that I would like to do in-service training with when I present my advocacy plan.

•Resources and information you are seeking

The best resources and information that I can seek is anything at this time that anyone feels like they are willing to share.  With there only being three weeks of class left and our presentations do next week I can use all of the help that I can get.  I think that my colleagues have been giving some great resource throughout the discussions and I have been trying to incorporate them into my presentation. I think that this is the best resource and information that I can seek so far.  I feel that I need to thank my colleagues for all the help even if they do not realize that I have taken it, thank you all.

•Resources and/or information you have found helpful and insightful

While I was doing my research, I was able to find a few resources that I think will help me.  The first resource was a sample of an advocacy plan that I found was on the website www.careusa.org.  This is actually a pdf file that is from a book on outlining am advocacy plan and the link that took me to this page was http://www.careusa.org/getinvolved/advocacy/tools/english_02.pdf.  I think that this page will help me make sure that I rework my advocacy plan into a workable and understandable plan.  Another, resource that I plan to use to re-work my advocacy plan is from a website that has a blank advocacy action plan that can be used as a template.  I actually thought that this was the best resource that I could find because I had such a hard time with my plan.  The website is http://www.webjunction.org/documents/webjunction/Advocacy_Action_Plan_Template.html.  If anyone else is having trouble with the plan this template is a great resource.

My Personal Advocacy Journal-Week 6

    My advocacy plan is on Early Intervention (EI) which I first learned about around 10 years ago when my nephews needed the service.  I had seen other children getting therapy but I did not know that some of them received the services through EI.  I plan to put an advocacy plan in action to introduce EI into the required in-service training hours that teachers need during the first year that the start working in childcare in Florida.

     I am inspired and excited to be doing this because as an educator I believe that it is important for all teachers to know about EI and how it can help young children and their families.  I have been teaching for over 20 years and for the first 10 years I did not know about EI and I wish that I did because looking back I can think of many children that could have used help because they had some sort of delay that could have been helped through speech, physical, or occupational therapy. 

     The biggest challenge that I feel I will have is having someone in the Department of Children and Families (DCF) willing to talk to me and listen to why I think EI should be added to the in-service training.  I also feel anxiety about having to get so many people to listen to my thoughts and me. 

     I think that I can be most effective my writing letters and emails to the supervisors at DCF in Tallahassee.  I plan on also going to different childcare centers and talking with owners and directors to get their thoughts on how important they think it would be to incorporate EI training for new teachers.  I am hoping that we can start a petition or enough owners and/or directors will write to their representatives to encourage enough people to start doing the training, even if only they start it in one county at a time.

     I think that the best way to encourage others and myself is to just show support and be willing to help others in their plan.  For example, I would be willing to not only help others with their plan but to also help them research or anything else that they may need.  I am also willing to any ideas from my colleagues and others on how to make EI more effective and available.  Not only to the teachers that do not know what it is but also parents that might want to take a training on how to detect who needs EI and how to help them get the services.