1# The work Place
I work at Busy Bees Children's Center which is located in Hayward,it is a daycare that has around 12 or 15 kids. They do anything from feeding the child, teaching, giving rides to children and getting picked up from school.
It is an up and coming business that just opened in August of this year as of right now the business is very small but it is slowly growing, and each day I see new kids.The work place I work in is basically a house and across the street is a preschool through kindergarten center. The main areas where the children pend their time are the play rooms, and the kitchen. There are only three people that work there, Mrs. Courtney, Mrs.Jen, and Mrs. Lupe not counting myself and Eden who also works there throughout the day. There isn't really a "type" that the business hires, but you do have to be patient, caring, creative, assertive, and a cheerful because a child feeds off what they see and hear. :D I'm not sure if they have any college degrees.
The strengths of my work place are it is a very kid friendly place, it is very welcoming, and it has it's own style of functioning, also it is very different from most daycare's i have been to.
It is an up and coming business that just opened in August of this year as of right now the business is very small but it is slowly growing, and each day I see new kids.The work place I work in is basically a house and across the street is a preschool through kindergarten center. The main areas where the children pend their time are the play rooms, and the kitchen. There are only three people that work there, Mrs. Courtney, Mrs.Jen, and Mrs. Lupe not counting myself and Eden who also works there throughout the day. There isn't really a "type" that the business hires, but you do have to be patient, caring, creative, assertive, and a cheerful because a child feeds off what they see and hear. :D I'm not sure if they have any college degrees.
The strengths of my work place are it is a very kid friendly place, it is very welcoming, and it has it's own style of functioning, also it is very different from most daycare's i have been to.
#2 My Mentor! :D
My mentor owns the day care I work at and it's pretty cool to have first hand information from the person who own the business, because I feel like they have all the answers of their own business. My mentors day is very full and hectic, because she is up and about before 7 am, has kids coming in at 7 am, has her own kids to take care of, has to get her kids ready for school, has me come in at 8, drives her son to school, gets back, has the children play for a little bit, then has them do book work, preps. snack, gives out snack, has the children play more, drops of her daughters later in the morning, gets back, does flash cards, picks up kids form the preschool across the street, gets back, fills out papers, preps. lunch, gives out lunch, cleans the kitchen, and this is not the half of it, her day is so full and packed she hardly sits down. She became interested with this type of business, because she loves kids and she was looking for something that made other people happy.
#3 My Role
My main responsibilities are to watch the kids during play time, I try to do anything that keeps the places in order, I sometimes do flashcard with the kids to get them familiar with the colors and letters, and I do small things to just make my mentors life easier. There are no "regular days" at Busy Bees everyday is different, because I see new kids everyday I am there, they are not boring kids they put a smile on face everyday from the things they do to the stories they say....well try to say. sometimes I have to put a child in time out or keep them form going outside because they didn't clean up after themselves, I had to put my little sister in time out because she was being out of hand and I did not know how to handle it so I put her in time out for 30 minutes. The fact that I am working at a place where my little sister also attends make sit hard on both of us because I CAN NOT show favoritism towards her and she is accustom to having me baby her because she is my little sister. It almost cost my internship: she was crying and not acting like she does for most of the week and was only acting up because I was there so my mentor said that if she kept acting up I would not be able to go back. Luckily she stopped acting up and I was able to keep my internship. :D
#4 Project Description
My project is to come make a website for the the daycare I have already started my project, the reason I am making a website for the daycare is because they just stared in August of this year and I want them to have more then just flyers to hand out and the sign outside the daycare as their only form of advertisement. I also would like them to have one because they not only need it but deserve it. They take care of a lot of kids and do not have the time to create one for themselves because of the high demands from the kids and their daily lives, so I took it upon myself to make i tone less thing they should worry about. I am actually pretty enthusiastic to start this project, because even though I do ,SOMETIMES, have problems with computers I wanted to do something something I have not done in a while and to express myself in a way that no one really has seen me do. :D
#5 WLE Project Progress
Today I did my normal routine as I always do for my WLE I took care of the kids in the morning and later I got some of things Miss Courtney wanted me to do so she would have to worry about them later. The day went as normal except that I had to go home early, because my little sister got sick and my mother could not get off work so I had to take care of her at home.Due to the fact that I had to go home really early I really didn't get a chance to talk to Miss Courtney about the progress of the website but I am researching which server is best and cheapest so it wont put an financial burden on the business or Miss Courtney. So far I have found the server and the right price, I have started to put the website together and Miss Courtney has told me that she really likes the website that I am putting together.
#6 The Leadership Skills
The leadership skills I have been using this whole time are productive collaboration, and communicating powerfully. I have to work with little kids that are all under the age of 5 or are 5,and since they are all very young and are just getting used to being social with other people, I have have to be a little more careful on how I work with them without confusing them this ties back to both of the leadership skills I have to use. I have to work with women in that are not my age so I have to change the way I talk to them so I wont confuse them about the way I talk. I get along with the staff just fine. These leadership skill help me a lot, because even though the kids are young you have to tell them not to do something without scaring them, making them cry, or making them mad. I do have sometimes tell a child not to do a certain thing a few times before I have to really tell them not do it again or else it is off to the time out corner. The leadership skill my mentor uses the most is Productive collaboration, because she owns the daycare, she has to work with her staff, she has to work with the children, and she has to work with the parents of the children on a daily basest. She does this very well because she not only can juggle her business she can also maintain a good relationship with all the kids, and her staff, and the parents.
#7 What I have learned...
I have worked with children in the past but when I worked at BBCC, I learned that I am a lot more assertive then I thought I could be with little kids. At first I thought this WLE would be the same as my last one form last year, but it turned out to be a lot more fun, because I got to become closer to the kids without being pushed around. One challenge I had to overcome was being with my sister because she attends BBCC everyday and she thought that if I was there she would get special treatment. She would cry, pout, and cling to me as if she would never see me again. It had gotten to the point where I had to put her in time out till she would stop crying and that would go on for about a good 30 minutes and Miss Courtney had said if she would not stop this behavior I would lose my WLE, so I told her to stop acting that way or I would make the choice not to go back. Eventually she stopped and everything was fine, so I am grateful that I overcame this because I would not wanted to look for another WLE because I was starting to really like it there. I have learned that even though they are little kids they are also people too and I should treat them like people not little babies. For example if I saw one of the kids doing something they were not suppose to be doing, like playing when it was clean up time, I would point it out and tell them to help out because they were playing with the other toys as well. Since I work at a daycare I have to be very creative with the kids, if it's reading books, playing with them during playtime, or just talking a walk and pointing out the colors of the flowers, I had to keep the children interested on one topic for more then two minutes. What I do at my WLE is very important, because without the simple things I do for the daycare they would have a lot more things to do and less time to spend with the children.
#8 Professionalism
When I was looking for my WLE I remember looking EVERYWHERE! I was looking up and down to find one, then I came to the realization that my little
sister goes to daycare. I asked my mentor Mrs. Courtney if I could work for her for a duration of 10 weeks and just help her with her daily routine at the daycare.
I didn't really need to have my resume with me since I did know her before I asked her to intern for her. I KNOW I did not go about getting the internship as professional as I could but I was in a hurry to find one and at the time that I asked her I was there to pick up my little sister from her day at school. If I could have done it way more professional I would have brought my resume with me along with my cover letter letting her know who and what I was really about. The most effective way to go about getting a job is having your resume on hand and be ready to show it to whoever you are trying to get a job with. Also you have to be very professional to show them that you are serious about the job and this will create trust with the person you are trying to get hired from. Because of WLE I think being a responsible adult in the workforce means that you need all the time you can get because there are tons of things you are doing at once so you need to balance the time you have in an effective way to get everything you need done.
sister goes to daycare. I asked my mentor Mrs. Courtney if I could work for her for a duration of 10 weeks and just help her with her daily routine at the daycare.
I didn't really need to have my resume with me since I did know her before I asked her to intern for her. I KNOW I did not go about getting the internship as professional as I could but I was in a hurry to find one and at the time that I asked her I was there to pick up my little sister from her day at school. If I could have done it way more professional I would have brought my resume with me along with my cover letter letting her know who and what I was really about. The most effective way to go about getting a job is having your resume on hand and be ready to show it to whoever you are trying to get a job with. Also you have to be very professional to show them that you are serious about the job and this will create trust with the person you are trying to get hired from. Because of WLE I think being a responsible adult in the workforce means that you need all the time you can get because there are tons of things you are doing at once so you need to balance the time you have in an effective way to get everything you need done.
#9 Life at my WLE
I think I improved a lot from last year because, yes, last year I got my work done but I hated my workplace because It was just so boring and dull!
This year I feel so much better because I know the process and the project process. I feel that my workplace was full of life. It did have its moments when it did get a little
dull but I enjoyed those times to because it gave me a break from the day and I got to interact with the children way better rather then just asking them what they wanted fro lunch or for snack. This year I feel like my teaching skills have improved compared to what they were last year because I was just so uncomfortable with the children and this year I was way more comfortable with them. If I was told to go over flashcards with them I felt it was easier to talk to them and ask them questions. Also my mentor
played a hug role in my improvement because I felt more welcomed with her because I could talk to her and ask her questions without feeling like it was a dumb thing to say or ask. Because of her welcoming me in I did a way better job.
This year I feel so much better because I know the process and the project process. I feel that my workplace was full of life. It did have its moments when it did get a little
dull but I enjoyed those times to because it gave me a break from the day and I got to interact with the children way better rather then just asking them what they wanted fro lunch or for snack. This year I feel like my teaching skills have improved compared to what they were last year because I was just so uncomfortable with the children and this year I was way more comfortable with them. If I was told to go over flashcards with them I felt it was easier to talk to them and ask them questions. Also my mentor
played a hug role in my improvement because I felt more welcomed with her because I could talk to her and ask her questions without feeling like it was a dumb thing to say or ask. Because of her welcoming me in I did a way better job.
#10 The End of the Road! :C
My final thought is that I LOVED it at my WLE because I loved the kids and their little jokes, the staff, and the memories I will always have!
I say Busy Bees Children Center is a very good place to work at if you like a close and comfortable place to work at! plus it is super fun! :D
I say Busy Bees Children Center is a very good place to work at if you like a close and comfortable place to work at! plus it is super fun! :D
