1. VICTORIA SALAZAR A little about me…

2. BACKGROUND  My name is Victoria Salazar, I am 25 years old, married for 5 wonderful years to a member of the U.S. Army, and together we have a 2 year old boy along with a little girl who will be arriving at the end of January.  I am originally from Louisiana, but currently reside in New York. Being apart of the military, we have had the privilege of moving many times throughout the last 5 years, living in many different cities, and meeting a lot of amazing people along with the way

3. MY FAMILY

4. PROFESSIONAL CHOICES AND GOALS  I am currently the head teacher of a toddler classroom at a family owned day care. I love my students and enjoy the new experiences that I am faced with on a daily basis.  My career goals include becoming a certified teacher and one day teaching preschool or kindergarten. My long term goal is to become a day care director.

5. MAED HELPING ME PROGRESS  Receiving my Master’s in Early Childhood Education will help me reach my long term goal of one day becoming a day care director.

6. MOST INFLUENTIAL DESIGN  My last class has influenced me tremendously by allowing me to create a change within my classroom. Challenges that I faced included communicating with parents about issues with their children, becoming an influential leader that other teachers want to follow, and implementing the change in my classroom.  I have always been one to avoid confrontations such as dealing with issues about students and other teachers, but I had to face these challenges head on.  In recent weeks I was put in the position as head teacher so it became my responsibility to communicate with parents and distribute work throughout my classroom.

7. STRENGTHENED SKILLS  The action research encouraged me to strengthen my skills and knowledge as a head teacher as well as improve my skills of being a good leader not only for my students, but for the other teachers in the classroom.  Through research I was able to gain more knowledge about the age group I am working with.

8.  The term “learning environment” covers not only place and space (e.g., a school, a classroom, a library, an online learning community),but the relationships that create a supportive environment for every child’s development (Framwork, n.d.). Framework for 21st century learning. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/our-work/p21-framework