I've been working with children and families for most of my life. Throughout a variety of different jobs, I have had countless hours of "on the job" training. Not only that, I was lucky enough to experience different levels of professional development-gotta' love those school in-service days! Thinking back on it now, I wish I would've paid more attention to those oh-so-boring speakers because they provided such useful education and first-hand experiences...I have used much of it during my time in public service.
One of the reasons why I enjoyed working in Head Start so much is their organizations emphasis on continuing education for their staff and community outreach program. Some of my favorite memories are from going to the State Conference every year for early childhood, or for getting an afternoon off to complete an in-service on different sensory activities for my students. Work sure didn't feel like work! I was also fortunate in the way that I made various community connections during my time there and learned what it was like to develop professional relationships with others.
Each month, I had a speaker come into our classroom and scheduled a monthly family night. This awarded me the freedom to step out of the traditional box and bring in interesting subjects for my students and their families. Whether that was our local fire department to talk about Fire Safety or the owner of the laundromat giving us a behind-the-scenes tour of the giant washing machines, I always loved this part of class because it gave my students an opportunity for real-life experience but also a chance for me to develop a professional relationship further.
Still, one of my most favorite working relationship was with Donna Mosher. We had Donna Mosher Mondays each week, and Donna came to us from our County Extension office. Professionally this was an exciting thing for me but this was also part of her community outreach program for our county office. She would bring a different story each week, incorporate some kind of movement activity (exercise was one of the key parts of her unit) and brought a snack! My students were always so excited to see her and it gave them an outlet to get to know someone from the public. So many of my students were from low-income families and foster care, and many of them had a difficult time adjusting to new situations. This proved to be such a great experience for my classroom.
Little did I know, those connections I made so many years ago would still be something that I carry with me today. I may utilize it a little differently now but those relationships have proven to be useful many times. In such a small town, community involvement and engagement is crucial, but so are the personal connections along the way.
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