Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

There are many wonderful organizations that work to help children and families.  Following is a little bit about the organizations I have been involved with or had experiences that made an immense impact on me.

Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning – I think this program was the first formal introduction I had to the importance of social emotional learning for young children.  They were introducing the Pyramid Model in Colorado and our school was one of the first to have teachers trained.  Much of what we were learning I had been implementing in my preschool class already.  I was excited that there was now a program that was teaching teachers about social emotional development and showing them how to implement these practices in their classrooms.  CSEFEL has a great website for teachers and families.  Everything on the website is available for downloading.  This program helped me to explain to parents what I was teaching and I was able to back it up with information from the website that they could use at home.  I have used so many of the ideas they offer, Stop & Goes, Solutions Cards, but I think Tucker the Turtle has been the most popular with the children.  I got a turtle puppet, printed the Tucker story and started reading the story at morning group.  It worked wonders helping the children to understand and learn how to calm themselves when they were upset about something.  Tucker lives in a basket in our quiet area and the children get him out and tell the story to each other often. I cannot say enough wonderful things about this program.  I also use Tucker as a parent activity to teach families how they can use the technique at home.

 http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/resources/training_preschool.html

Aspen Pointe is a local agency in Colorado Springs.  One of their many programs is called Dinosaur School.  Dinosaur School is a program through the Incredible Years organization.  Dina comes to our class 2 days a week and teaches the children social emotional skills.  It has been a great addition to what I was already teaching in my class.  Dina has friends, Wally and Molly that also come and visit.  Aspen Pointe also offers The Incredible Years Parenting Groups.  Because Dinosaur School has been so popular not only with the children but our families our school is working on implementing the Parenting Groups for or families on sight at our school.                

http://www.aspenpointe.org/Innovation/Prevention+Programs-73.html

Parenting Matters of El Paso County is another local organization that focuses on parent education through family and community involvement.  I copied their mission and belief statements here:

MISSION:

We will create and sustain a comprehensive and integrated system of parenting education built on family involvement and community collaboration.

BELIEFS:

• Healthy families are the foundation of a strong community.
• All children and youth deserve the opportunity for optimal emotional, social, physical and cognitive development.
• The family is the primary influence in the child’s life.
• The home environment establishes the foundation for well-being.
• All families benefit from community support that is respectful and culturally sensitive.
• Supportive relationships impact individual growth.
• We recognize and value the importance of partnering with families and collaborative relationships.
• Mutual respect, integration and open communication between organizations foster resources and sustainability.
• Children and community are strengthened by this collaboration. 

http://www.parentingmatters-epc.com/about-us

These statements say it all for me.  I truly believe in each statement.  I think an organization like parenting matters is an organization I could be involved with because it encompasses everything I want to do for children and families. 

I could not find any employment opportunities directly with these organizations.  They do however use professional volunteers in different areas to help sustain the programs.  Some programs are funded through grants and others through state and government. 

I am sure these organizations would expect prospective employees to have at least a master degree and some experience working with children and families.  I think my 20+ years of experience working with children and families, the past 10 years I have been working at a lab school on a college campus, and now obtaining my master’s degree in Early Childhood Studies with my emphasis in teaching adults would make me a great candidate for a position with any of these organizations.