Service Driven Developer

Personal Importance of Work::

Helping create this program has taught me how to balance multiple tasks at once and how to bring several moving parts together to make something greater. I have also learned to better utilize my communication skills in many respects. Not only do I have to communicate with our committee and the Director of the program on a regular basis, I have to communicate with children and parents in the classroom. This experience has taught me that I love children and wish to support adverse families in my future career path. As for the impact on others, I have been able to provide a safe and healthy learning environment for the children I serve while also granting the parents a break.

Tasks Accomplished::

• Developed preschool art curriculum

- Focusing on the process of art, not the product.

• Helped lead committee meetings

- 12 committee members

• Taught classroom of 7-20 preschool aged children

- Helped develop preschool handbook

- Including health policy, program details, logistics, and expectations.

• Created incident report forms
• Completed operational pieces of preschool development
• Thinking out the layout of the classroom, developing handouts, exploring options for communication tools, etc.
• Designed classroom newsletter

- Sent to donors and parents monthly

• Wrote monthly blog posts

- Viewed by the public and frequently checked by donors

• Supported donor engagement
• Wrote thank you cards and created stewardship pieces
• Scheduled check-in meetings with preschool team

- Once a week meetings

• Worked with Director to make classroom improvements
• Critiqued our current methods and suggested other options for improvement
• Helped regulate orders of classroom supplies
• Helped coordinate social media marketing
• Frequent photography of students and classroom activities
• Created additional brand materials

- Thank you cards, newsletters, etc.

• Maintained donor recognition
• Helped advertise the organizations resources to families
• Provided families with handouts, websites, etc.

Competencies Gained::

Problem Solving

Often times, conflicts arise within the classroom and I have to use conflict resolution. Whether a child is fighting over a toy, has severe anxiety due to their condition, or a student is unhappy with the way we are doing something, I'm constantly having to problem solve. Problem solving has been a tool that I have developed over the course of this learning experience which I am thankful for as it will correlate to many life experiences moving forward. Through developing this competency I have come to understand that I am an extremely adaptable, patient, and flexible person.

Empathy

The classroom I teach is comprised of students who are patients and siblings who attend Seattle Children’s Hospital for treatment. Most of the patients are on active treatment and many of the families have left their homes and relocated to Seattle from far destinations in order to receive the proper care. Therefore, these families bring with them a lot of weight and sorrow due to the circumstances that overwhelm them on a daily basis. I have learned not to try and understand these families’ circumstances but rather just listen and empathize with them. Their situations are unimaginable so therefore I challenge myself to provide support and to show care in every way I can. This learning competency will be very helpful in my future because I plan to pursue a career where I provide care and support for families living in adverse situations.

Service

I have learned what it means to serve my community and provide a resource to families, free of charge. This program has helped me grow to understand the impact of service and why it is important. It has been humbling and exciting to come to understand the impact this service has on the families I serve. Not only do I see it through the joy in the children of my classroom, the parents also tell me on a regular basis what this preschool has provided them in the larger picture. This experience has reminded me that I continue to be passionate about service in any way, shape, and form. I am positive that the career I pursue after college will serve my community in some way because service is my most prominent passion.

Collaboration

I have learned to collaborate with my team directly which consists of one other colleague who I co-teach with and our newest member to the team, our intern. This experience has opened my eyes and ears to new perspectives and has allowed me to gain knowledge from others. I also have been able to practice collaboration through this learning experience by being a member of the preschool committee. This committee meets once a month to discuss future development of the preschool, current concerns, and celebrations of the program. This committee specifically has taught me to step out of my comfort zone and to express my ideas and opinions. This learning competency has helped me understand that I love being a part of a team and working alongside others.

Organization

This preschool program has several moving parts, several working teams, and a lot of different pieces that make it successful. Therefore, I have learned how to best organize my time, priorities, and tasks through this experience.The preschool has taught me to track everything I do and celebrate my goals once I have achieved them. I have learned that I do a successful job of keeping my team members organized as well and have been able to provide them with resources to stay organized without my assistance.

Personal Contributions

Through this experience I have been able to contribute my own ideas, strengths, knowledge, and abilities to meet the specific needs of the community we are serving. For example, since I have a background in Disability Studies I greatly understand accessibility and the importance of not allowing societal barriers to challenge children with physical difficulties. Since several of our students are receiving active chemo treatment, they face complications and their bodies often do not allow them to walk or manage certain things on their own. I have been able to play my strengths into these scenarios and remind my team that there is always a way to accommodate. I have also been able to provide insight, knowledge, and ideas during weekly team meetings. Many of these things have been incorporated and have had positive outcomes in our classroom.

Receiving Feedback

I have been grateful to receive feedback and grow from the criticism of others through this learning experience. Much of this experience has consisted of trial and error for me as I have never taught in a preschool classroom before and had little understanding of what our classroom would look like before I officially started teaching and living the experience in itself. However, my colleague was previously a preschool teacher and therefore has been able to provide me with incredible feedback and guidance throughout this experience. It means a lot to me that she cares about my growth as a professional and as a teacher to these students.

Responding to Ambiguity

Being a teacher in a brand new preschool has left me navigating a widely ambiguous space. For the first couple of weeks my co-teacher and I found the need to try different schedule routines with the kids, I have had to experiment with different art projects to understand the level of challenge the children correspond with, and in general we have had to develop a productive space completely from scratch. Shifting gears and trying new things in order to be successful has been a key part of my experience.

Lessons Learned and Future Orientation::

The insights I have gained from this experience have taught me that I wish to be in a position of service in my future. I wish to provide support and care for children living in adverse situations. I believe that I will be able to take the learning competencies from this learning experience and apply them to whatever position I am in post graduation. Another huge insight I gained from this experience is that I should not limit myself based off my current credentials. When the Director of this organization asked me to help start this program in the first place, I really did not know if I had the skills or confidence to produce a successful outcome. However, I am so happy I committed because I proved to myself what I am capable of by utilizing my strong suits and committing my full heart to a project.