Transcript Slide 1

Building a
Community of Practice
Locally
Prepared for the Office of Head Start by ICF International
Welcome Kathy
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Prepared for the Office of Head Start by ICF International
Married to Keith,
Mother of 4 boys
Nana to 3 girls
Worked for Head Start 20
years
• Head Start parent, became
a cook’s helper, then teacher
aide, moving on to teacher
and now Supervisor
• She was in the first group
of teachers that completed
her college education
supported by Head Start
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funding
Welcome Jenae
• Married to Aaron “The Preacher”
• She’s “Aunt Jenae” to 3 cute
boys and 1 beautiful girl and
“Nae-Nae” to 15 other wonderful
children
• She’s a graduate from Pittsburg
State University – Go Gorillas!
• She started with Early Head
Start as a Home visitor
• Became the EHS Coordinator
• Currently, Jenae is the Training
Services Coordinator for Head
Start
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Learning Outcomes
• Identify Community of Practice as a strategy
that fosters a professional and intentional
approach to teaching
• Identify barriers and lessons learned in
starting a community of practice
• Mobilize staff to become active participants
in their own professional development
• Implement a Community of Practice within a
strong professional development process and
strong agency support
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How it all began
Our light bulb
moment came when
we heard the following
statement in regard to
the CLASS assessment:
“We are assessing
people on what we do
not train them on”
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Our Vision
Our vision is to insure training content is
learned and fully integrated into staff
practice at every level
We expect to see the principles and
strategies taught in training happening in
classrooms, on home visits, and in all
services to Head Start children and their
families
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Journaling
Journaling is a strong value and is foundational
to our Community of Practice
Through Journaling staff document their
learning and perceptions and use the content
as a tool to express essential values, as well as
to record their intention to implement specific
strategies, and maintain a strong focus on
growing as a professional
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Journal Outline
• My Overall Goals for Professional Development This
Year:
• Five things I must do as soon as I get back to my
classroom:
• Three things I am going to begin within a month:
• Two things I must achieve by the last day of classes
next May:
• What will I need the most help with?
• How will I know that I have been successful?
• What benchmarks will I use?
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Cone of Learning
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Confucius says:
I see and I forget
I hear and I remember
I do and I understand
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Professional Development Journals
• Collected at specific points for review: after
Pre Service Trainings, before Christmas break,
Spring break, and Summer break
• Reviewed by Director, Supervisors, Staff
Development Coordinator, and Education
Coordinator
• As Management staff, we made a point to
respond to questions, concerns or specific
statements that stand out in each journal
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Quotes from journals
• “I have a parent that seems to have a
negative attitude about her children. I
have been greeting her on the bus and in
the classroom -giving her lots of positive
praise on her children and her parenting
skills. She is now starting to share
their success stories from home with us
with such pride!”
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Problem solving
Concerns
Solutions
• Journaling requires
additional time and
teachers are busy
• Some staff had little or no
experience in journaling
and were unsure what to
write
• Some staff simply did not
write in the journal
• Time was given after each
training for staff to write in
their journals, supervisors
appointed available times
• Quotes were also included
this year to spark thoughts
for response
• We required weekly
reflections
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Finding True Purpose
• Our focus was “Intentional Teaching”
• Journals provided the reflection for
intentionality
• Community of Practice meetings
provided the time, place, and spring
board for Intentional discussion
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The Community of Practice is born
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Getting started
• Creating our own
experience
• Strong belief that it
would work
• Anticipating the needs
of staff
• Planning for success
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Our values
• Like anything new, we wanted staff to know that we
respected their work and this new approach was a
next step not a reproach
• We wanted them to know that it would be different,
but not more
• We used the same materials we had always used and
that they were familiar with
• We assured them that we were suggesting a
conversation,…NOT a meeting.
• We modeled intentionality! there was clarity of
purpose behind every discussion… nothing random
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Nuts and bolts
How would it actually work with
• Current time frames and schedules
• Available staff
• Group size
• Balancing the role of supervisor and coach
• Fitting in with our current professional
development process
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There are always bumps in the road
• Reassuring staff that it was
safe to be open and
honest in their struggles
• Being too “nice” rather
than providing authentic
feed back
• Letting staff know that this
was an important
professional development
strategy that required
their full attention
• Getting each participant
equally involved in
conversation
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Beginning Instructions
• Keep comments concise and focused on the
question or issue
• Opinions and experiences are valid and valued
• Avoid argument or debating
• Information shared is confidential
• Come prepared to share what is working as
well as issues you would like to have help
from your colleagues in solving
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Examples of Actual Topics
• How to ask “Open Ended” questions
• Mock Parent Teacher Conferences
• What does a classroom look like when it
belongs to the children
• If we believe 85% of the spoken language in a
classroom is from the teacher… how do we
change that?
• File Investigation 101 –clues on child’s
development based on information provided
at application
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How did it all turn out?
• The project was officially
launched in the fall of 2011
and was strongly tied to our
pre-service
• We had already instituted
development of
individualized learning goals
and journaling as a strategy
for self reflection
• The Community of Practice
was the next logical step
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Thoughts from Our Director
Community of Practice discussions help Teachers in 3
important ways:
1. Helps them to tell the story of what they do with
children (when you describe your ideas to someone
else, you reinforce it within yourself)
2. Validates their self-worth as a teacher by sharing
successes and problem-solving with peers
3. Provides ongoing encouragement and support by
constantly hearing new ideas and fresh insights in a
non-threatening environment
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The Impact
“A very positive impact! It has
created a sense of belonging and
community that has enabled the
teachers to help each other. They
share their knowledge, their ideas,
suggestions, their materials, and just
good moral support for each other.
This is the attitude: We are all in
this together and here is what I
know that may help you too.”
~Becky Briggs, Area Supervisor
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Supervisor’s Reflection…
“It has certainly made us a closer
team...I see growth in every one of
my teachers but the one thing that
stands out the most is this meeting
creates a safe place for change.
We talk about why we do
things...like why do we not let the
children sit in the "teachers chair".
I feel that we always leave our COP
meeting just a little bit wiser.”
~Kathy Miller, Area Supervisor
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Next steps
• Now that staff have
embraced the process, we
plan to go deeper
• Using summaries of
current research to
encourage evidence based
practice
• Sharing with others within
the agency and with our
colleagues in Missouri
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Thank You
• Tina Bernskoetter
Executive Director
MHSA
• Staff from the Economic
Security Corporation of
the Southwest Area,
Joplin, MO
• Training and Technical
Assistance Center for
Missouri
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Contact Information
Kathy Miller – Area Supervisor
[email protected]
Jenae Polok – Training Services Coordinator
[email protected]
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