Saturday, March 16, 2013

Communities of Practice


The first community of practice that I would like to join would be the Shasta County Local Child Care Planning Council.  This group meets monthly to discuss the issues that are facing our local preschools and childcare programs (Shasta County Local Child Care Planning Council,2013).  I was a member of the Trinity County Local Child Care Planning Council before I moved.  In order to be part of this community, I would need to be nominated for an available space by someone from my agency.  The skills necessary are an interest in children’s issues in the county.

The second community of practice I would like to be a part of is the Berkley Media Studies group.  This group works together to bring issues that affect children in poverty to the fore front of media attention(.  That attempt to influence policies and work to promote public health through issues such as violence prevention, health equity, and children’s issues (Berkeley Media Studies Group, 2013). The people in this group are paid employees, with the exception of the intern positions.  This could be an area that I might consider employment after I complete my degree.

Another Community of Practice group that I currently belong to is the online Mind in the Making group.  We use this group to discuss issues that face educators when helping children reach their full potential (Galinsky, 2012).. The group is based on the book by Ellen Galinsky.  Currently, as with the most early childhood programs, the focus is on how high quality preschool benefits children and how we are going to ensure that all children have access to it .

A job in early childhood that I would be interested in, is the early childhood specialist for Region  IX, Head Start.  Although this job is located in San Francisco, it involves travel throughout Northern California.  This position provides support and training assistance to Head Start in Northern California.

Another job I would be interested in (if it were available) would be the assistant director of Shasta Head Start.  I feel that with my 20 plus years of experience, I have a lot to offer the agency.  Add to that the knowledge of systems and management techniques I have learned at Walden, and I feel I could help see our agency into the next challenges that face us.

I would also be interested in the Shasta County Office of Education Early Childhood Services director.  This position oversees all of the State P-Ks in Shasta County.  This is another position I feel my experience and education have prepared me for.
References

Berkeley Media Studies Group. (2013). About us.

Galinsky, E. (2012). Mind in the making. Retrieved from http://mindinthemaking.org/

Shasta County Local Child Care Planning Council. (2013). Local child care planning council. Retrieved from http://www.shastacoe.org/page.cfm?p=3147&pback=2642

5 comments:

DeWana said...

Stacie,
I like the CoP that you are interested in regarding facing issues that children have while in school. I think that as adults we tune out what is happening to our children and what our children might need. I think that it is important for us to remember the challenges that our children face and that they need support.

Christine said...

Stacie,

The position with head start sounds amazing! I would love to find something like that when my children are grown. Imagine how many children's lives you could influence in that position. Good luck to you. I hope you find your dream job!

April Pettis said...

After 17 years of working in a classroom it took some adjusting when I was promoted to assistant director. It is a different way of contributing to their education but I still found a way to go into the classrooms and visit and interact with the children. Right now I am the director at the center where I work and I have no assistant so it makes it difficult for me to get into the classrooms as often as I would like. I will say that all those days I wished to be in the office when it was a little stressful...well there are now days I wish I was back in the classroom.

DrTeri said...

Of the CoPs you discuss, do you think you might be able to utilize someone's expertise for your own CoP?

Unknown said...

I'm so happy with your blog site, it contains all the matter with regards to preschool Good luck to you and your well performed job. Thanks for keeping us updated with the latest information for preschool education.
Preschool Education