Two staff competencies that best reflect my strength:

1. Ability to relate to and work well with diverse children and youth

Supports positive relationships between adults and program participants (Mott, 2009)
Supports positive relationships between participants (Mott 2009)
Promotes a sense of physical and emotional safety (Mott, 2009)
Promotes the meaningful engagement and leadership of the participants (Mott, 2009)
Respects and honors cultural and human diversity (Mott, 2009)

One staff competency that best reflects my strength working as a fieldwork student at an after
school program is the ability to work well with a diverse group of children. I feel that my prior
experience working with different groups of multicultural children has allowed me to effectively
work with the children in my fieldwork site at Extended Day Care Center. This afterschool p-
program cares for children from Kindergarten to the sixth grade level, which gives me ample
opportunities to work with children of different ages, backgrounds, and intelligence levels. I find
that each child bring his/her own cultural values from home to the center, and that everyone
benefits from the diversity, so it is important for each child to respect one another's cultural
values, background, language, etc. I always teach the younger children (e.g., 4-5 year olds) the
importance of respecting one another's cultural background and ethnicity whenever I see them
being disrespectful to one another or talking about other childrens skin color. I emphasize that
everybody is different and thats what makes each individual child unique, and I and all the staff
in the center make sure that each child understands the importance of different cultural customs.
I feel that my and all the staffs knowledge on multicultural and diverse cultural backgrounds
gives us the sensitivity we need to talk to, relate, and even connect to all students in the center.

2. Commitment to ones own learning, skill building and professionalism on the job.

Strives for Self-Improvement (Mott, 2009)

Demonstrates positive work and team ethic (Mott, 2009)
Communicates effectively with other staff, as well as those outside of the program
(Mott, 2009)

Another staff competency that best reflects my strength working at an afterschool program is the
Commitment to ones own learning, skill building, and professionalism on the job. I am open
to learning new things every day from all the children I work with, and am always working and
striving for self-improvement. I am flexible, cooperative, and can bring an ongoing improvement
spirit to my fieldwork site. I arrive on time and manage my time effectively by engaging in the
childrens different learning activities and outdoor play. I also communicate appropriately with
the children and staff at the center and find ways to be productive and engaged in childrens
active learning experiences. I know that by showing professionalism on my site I am also able
to show effective leadership skills to the children at the center by teaching them the importance
of being a leader to their younger peers by showing them responsibility and integrity skills.

Two staff competencies that I need support in growing:

1. Ability to Respectfully Engage the Important Adults in the Participants Lives

Adequately informs, shares information, and collaborates with important adults (Mott,
2009)
Advocates for the participants needs, providing referral information when appropriate
(Mott, 2009)

A staff competency that I feel like I still need support in growing is the ability to respectfully
engage the important adults in the participants lives. Throughout the time I have been working
on my fieldwork hours at Extended Day, I feel like I have not really taken the time to interact
with the childrens parents nor participated in any of the events they hold, such as the Family
Friday Movie Night they hold with a different theme each month for staff, parents and children
to attend. During movie nights, parents dont just watch any type of entertainment movie that
they can find in stores. They watch films that have been videotaped and created by their own
childrens dramatic play events. This not only allows parents to see their childrens creative and
imaginative ideas through the dialogue they have videotaped and captured in CDs, but it also
allows parents to meet and greet the different staff that work with their children, and this
includes student aides and fieldwork students that are there to help their children grow as well. I
believe that these nights are a great opportunity for me to get more involved with not only the
staff in the center, but the childrens parents as well. I only attend the center once a week for 4-5
hours every Friday, so during this time I just have the opportunity to interact with the children
and all the teachers and staff that is there with the children. I am however happy to say that I
have created and maintained strong relationships with both the children and the staff at the center
and am looking forward to attending a children and parents movie night to see how it feels like to
interacting with the childrens parents about the success and growth I have seen in every child
week after week.

2. Ability to facilitate participants learning of new knowledge and skills

Deliberately designs and conducts activities that are focused on program goals (Mott,
2009)
Incorporates academic content and skill development that contributes to the participants
school success (Mott, 2009)
 Conducts activities that expand the participants knowledge and understanding of their
own immediate community and the larger global community (Mott, 2009)
Incorporates activities to promote physical health (Mott, 2009)
Supports a program environment that is learner-centered (Mott, 2009)

A second staff competency that I feel like I still need support in growing is the ability to
facilitate participants learning of new knowledge and skills. Even though I have had prior
experience creating lesson plans in my previous teaching experiences, I feel that I still need
additional support in this area. I always think too hard when teachers ask me to share some ideas
or activities I feel might be effective for the childrens learning experiences. I just get a little
nervous and feel like Im overthinking the ideas I have and begin to doubt myself. For instance,
I always ask myself whether the ideas I shared with the teacher were age appropriate, or whether
they were too general or not engaging enough for the children to work on. But, the teachers
feedback to my responses and knowledge helps me learn the different activities that work and do
not work for certain children and how we can modify the lesson plan, so it can be efficient for
each child. Yet, this is all part of a learning process and I know that my experience in creating
activities will continually improve because I want to be able to successfully integrate some of my
own ideas into the childrens learning and see how effective and engaging it is to childrens
learning experiences.

Leadership Quality

Ability to successfully manage program staff

Clearly communicates verbally and in writing the job expectations for frontline staff and
how they are linked to the programs goals (Mott, 2009).
Provides staff with on-going support and direction to assist them in successfully
completing their job responsibilities (Mott, 2009).
Creates a positive environment in which the professional development of staff is
supported, staff is acknowledged for successes, and feedback is positively delivered and
received (Mott, 2009).
Regularly observes staff in action and shares feedback in a constructive and respectful
manner (Mott, 2009).
Utilizes a standardized performance review process that includes assessment of
individual staff members, shares formal performance review assessments with individual
staff members, incorporates staff members self-assessment using the same standards or
matrix, identifies areas for development and how this will be accomplished (Mott,
2009).
The leadership quality I find the most important is the ability to successfully manage program
staff. I believe that the staff play the most important role in any afterschool program. They
make sure children learn in a safe and supporting environment with caring adults that are there to
help them throughout their educational endeavors. The staff also develops positive relationships
with the children throughout the time they spent at the afterschool program. The staff in the
program creates engaging learning activities and educational games for children to participate in
and also encourage parent involvement in the program.
Reference Page

Charles Stewart Mott Foundation (2009). Core Competencies for Afterschool Educators.
http://www.afterschoolprofessional.info/images/Mott_CC_