After researching local and state organizations, I found the following that I would like to share information about:
Rotary Club
"Rotary provides an opportunity to connect with others in your community—and worldwide—who share common values: united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and working to help build goodwill and peace in the world" (Roseburg Rotary Club, 2013). The Roseburg Rotary Club does annual fundraisers to benefit local children, and is very organized. By becoming involved in a rotary club it opens up a large network of people and resources. I have some friends that choose to participate in a program that rotary organizes that connects them with other members around the world. Currently they are spending a month in Sweden in the homes of Swedish Rotary members. The opportunity to learn and share knowledge with people from all over the world appeals to me.
Douglas County Early Childhood Planning Coalition (DCECPC)
The DCECPC "provides many different opportunities and resources for our parents in our community" (Metzler Media, 2012). One of the main opportunities they provide for the community is free parenting education courses. They work to teach parents about child development and provide support on some of the challenges of parenting (Metzler Media, 2012). This organization interests me because I believe that all parents want the best for their children, but sometimes they need help knowing how to handle situations and knowing what children really need.
The Oregon Community Foundation
The Oregon Community Foundation has the vision "of making sure that all Oregon children arrive at school ready to learn"(Oregon Community Foundation, 2015). Within the foundation they have multiple programs and goals they work towards focusing on quality child care, helping pay for education of early childhood professionals, and research for the early childhood field (Oregon Community Foundation, 2015). The foundation and the programs involved interest me because the topic I chose for my capstone project is school readiness, and I strongly believe that if we can help children be more prepared for school we can help them be more successful and overcome poverty in their futures.
Currently, I feel that I have my dream job. I am passionate about what I do and feel that I am very lucky to be teaching high school students about child development. I teach ECE courses to high school students, and I am the director of the on-campus child development center. I am the teen parent coordinator at the high school also. What I do is important and my students appreciate me! It is wonderful. If I were to ever think about changing jobs, I may be interested in teaching at the college level, being a home visitor or family worker, or being a parent educator. In order to be successful at any of these careers it would require a broad knowledge base of child development and education along with certain characteristics that I am listing below:
-positive communication skills
-organization skills
-collaboration skills
-leadership skills
-dependability
-cooperative
-motivational and
-personable.
References:
Metzler Media. (2012). Douglas County early childhood planning coalition. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9Ou0hMeFOc
Oregon Community Foundation. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.oregoncf.org/grants-scholarships/grants/ready-to-learn
Roseburg Rotary Club. (2013). Retrieved from: http://www.roseburgrotaryclub.org/
Mary
ReplyDeleteThe three organizations you chose also appeal to me. Parenting education and school readiness were the two issues I was also thinking about for my Capstone project and finally like you, I have opted to address school readiness for disadvantaged children. There are also a Rotary Club in Mauritius and I did not know that they also raise funds to help poor children. I believe in each country, they would have different priorities depending on the members' interests and field of expertise. I don't think that the Rotary Club of Mauritius would have many early childhood professionals as members. I am also very interested in your second organization as parenting education is also an issue that few organizations are addressing. I believe they are very valuable in your community and an early childhood professional like you would certainly have her place in this organization. However, we cannot be everywhere either and I understand that you are very happy in your current position and maybe if you are to go ahead with your project, it seems that the Oregon Community Foundation would best suit you. Good luck in your endeavor. Thanks for sharing. Caroline
Dear Mary,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading about your different local and state organizations. I was greatly interested in the Douglas County Early Childhood Planning Coalition (DCECPC) because of its focus on resources for parents in the community. My Capstone project is going to be on getting parents involved in their children's early childhood education. It is great to see this type of an organization in your community. I too am also very content with my current job. Your job sounds very interesting and I think in your position you could really have a big impact on our future families, teachers and community members!
Mary,
ReplyDeleteI believe one of the best ways to help our students is not only educating them, but to educate their parents as well. I agree with you in that I also believe parents want the best for their children, but they do not always know exactly how to accomplish this. I think even as a parent myself when my children were young, I was learning more and more about child development. I had a passion for this in my own career so I read and attended many trainings. Many parents are working other jobs and do not have the time to focus on learning more about child development, therefore, the more quick education tips and support services the community can provide the better our children will be. The job you currently have is a great way to reach so many different groups of people.
Hi Mary,
ReplyDeleteI am so grateful for the reminder of the Rotary Club as a wonderful community resource with international ties. I found this exercise of identifying communities of practice in our own individual state and local levels highly informative and inspiring to "think outside the box" of our own classrooms to other entities that can benefit from our participation, benefit the children and families we serve, and benefit ourselves in pursuit of our passions. Great post, and I'm happy to have you in my group for our last class!