Please Introduce Yourself

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Lauren Coudrain on November 28, 2008 at 9:06am

Hi Michael,

I manage the Office of Social Services at the local level here in St. Tammany Parish (which would be St. Tammany County in any other state!) We provide Community Education in many forms- information & referral via phone, outreach activities on our "Mobile Community Information Center," and general community education about energy efficiency, home hazards, etc.

Looking forward to the opportunity to share challenges and solutions with others across the country!

Thanks,
Lauren

Permalink Reply by Michael O. Johnston on November 28, 2008 at 9:25am

Lauren,

Very interesting, the internship with Iowa Community Education Association that I am completing for next semester of grad school (and have already started working for) I am up-dating the look of their website (http://www.iowacommunityeducation.org/), as you can tell it is out of date, as well as will be building membership for the nonprofit. Some things that I plan to add to the website, include:

A Message Forum-
as I feel the field requires so much time spent on the job and such weird hours that it is hard for individuals in the field to attend workshops and other events to network, so I figured this would be the perfect solution to bring professionals across the state of Iowa to a central location at any time of the day to check in and post any ideas, questions, and/or concerns they may have.

Job Opportunities Website-
Since there is not a centralized job opportunities listing for this field, I feel that there is a need for a one stop place to search for positions if individuals are looking for a profession in this field.

Any other ideas to add to this site? Please feel free to critique it as much as possible, as I feel it will only make the final results better!

Thanks,

- Michael

Permalink Reply by Allan Eustis on December 2, 2008 at 10:48am

Hi Michael-

I have worked with several community education groups in the Washington DC area. For the last five years, I have been a tutor and tester with Beacon House, a non-profit after school program for K thru Junior High School students that live in the Edgewood Terrace housing project in southeast DC. ( http://www.beaconhousedc.org/)

We work with students to improve basic reading and math skills. The program works because each student has a mentor and we track a student's progress with frequent skill tests. The students buy into the program because they form a bond with their mentor and receive praise for improving their reading/math abilities.

The kids discover the pleasure of reading books and the satisfaction of conquering multiplication, division and word problems. Most of the students are from single parent families.

Very Rewarding.

Cheers

Permalink Reply by Meredith Anderson on December 6, 2008 at 9:49pm

I work in Workforce Development providing online resources for career information and job search.

To conduct an effective job search outside one's immediate community, people need to use the Internet. At the same, those most in need of jobs and better jobs don't have the technical skills to use the Internet - and they need better basic technical skills to find a better job. One of the most needed skills is keyboarding. These people have little time or money to improve their skills so the key to improving the situation is low-cost and readily available classes in basic technology.

I believe that community education programs are the key to providing these resources to those who are most in need. And we need to tell people that the courses are available.

Permalink Reply by Michael O. Johnston on February 9, 2010 at 1:07pm

This discussion has been updated, I would like to ask for new members to take a moment and introduce themselves and let us know about all of the great things they are doing for the field of community education.

Permalink Reply by Erica A Morin on February 9, 2010 at 7:05pm

Slowly getting involved in community education through my child's elementary school. I have been an instructor, training manager, coach, mentor, pta member and overall purveyor of educational ideas that no one wants to implement. That being said, I take that as a challenge especially at the elementary level. I have no formal background in education although I do hold 2 masters and over 20+ years teaching in some form or other.

At this point in my life, I am seriously looking at implementing academic coaching for elementary school kids (my child's school is Title 1 and the principal is very protective of "her" kids). I saw this program in Atlanta and found a similar one in Newport News, VA; however, both were for middle and high school kids. When my principal told the PTA that her 5th & 6th graders "did not have dreams for their future" she hit a chord with me. I remember being totally lost in high school when it came time to picking a path beyond and I know I had no help identifying my strengths & weaknesses from an even earlier age.

I am doing considerable research on a variety of programs, ideas, and sponsors for going beyond mentors (a great idea that I totally support) to a "graduation coach" who oversees the progress of kids through their school career and helps them with those "ideas for what I want to be when I grow up" and what they will have to do to pursue those dreams. When kids only see the day to day work life of their parents and those parents are struggling with 1, 2 or even 3 jobs to make ends meet, many of these kids simply drop out of school to help the family or fall into a bad crowd where making money "is easy".

Having a dedicated person who sees them in the halls at school and is there to listen, talk, congratulate, admonishes, advise - all the while working with the teachers, administrators, and parents - is a program that in this day of "it takes a village" vs "is either me or the other guy" makes me want to get up in the morning and slay a dragon or two. With budget cuts and pork-belly projects, the simple fact that if kids cannot dream of a better future and achieve that future, then we as educators, parents, and politicians are doing a poor job for the next generation.

Ok, enough of my soapbox. I know that the people in this discussion all feel a similar passion for educating and we are doing our parts to take on a dragon or two or three.

Erica in Alexandria, VA

Permalink Reply by Michael O. Johnston on February 9, 2010 at 8:22pm

Erica,

I am glad to see the passion for education that you have burning inside of you.

It is unfortunate, but I received an email the other day stating that budget cuts are projected to be made for before and after-school care.

The most crucial hours of the day for a child to be in a structured environment are between 3- 6pm, during those hours parents are most likely to be at work and youth that are not enrolled in some sort of care are left both unsupervised and in an non-structured environment. Furthermore, juvenile crimes peaks during those hours. I agree it takes a village to raise today's youth (I hope to have a positive impact on every child I have the opportunity to work with), but it only takes one individuals to make a positive impact on a child.

Again, thank you for your input. After submitting this post I am going to make a friends request with you. I believe that every person who is a member of this group has that same passion that the two of us have, and believe that we need more individuals with the same passion as we have. I hope that with our communication we can share experiences, expertise, lsoap box topics, etc.

Michael in West Des Moines, IA

Permalink Reply by Erica A Morin on February 10, 2010 at 8:05am

Hi Michael,
Thanks for the friends request.

I agree about the pre/post school budget, Fairfax County is one of the richest in the country and also has one of the best school systems (probably because we have all those rich people;-)); however, they too are being hit by the budgeting process. What I do find annoying (if that is the right word) is that the advocates for the kids (who really only come out in times like this), are more upset about the loss of elementary-level language immersion and strings/music then they are about the pre/aft school programs, loss of jobs, etc. I know it is probably because they can afford to send their kids to alternate programs but that only helps the few and not the many. While I do appreciate language immersion and the arts (I'm a big lover of arts and I do see them as a necessary program), I wonder if the priorities are quite aligned right now. Renting equipment for music is not a luxury many parents of Title 1 kids can afford so the spectrum of students in this program is slanted. Language immersion, while nice, is not going to help my child learn to speak or write better English (his native language) - fun yes, interesting yes, necessary no. I'd rather have a language lab where all kids go to learn a language (whether English or other) using something like Rosetta Stone. At least that lab can be opened on the weekend or week for the parents too who might need the help in learning a language.

These advocates are the same parents that I do not see around the school helping out, or having lunch with their kids, or volunteering to lead an after program. I work full time (my day starts at 4am), I have a 7 year old son and a stay at home husband. I have managed to volunteer at my son's school, have lunch with him at least once a month, work every PTA event, lead an after school program every 8 weeks, and am a facilitator for an Odyssey of the Minds team (1-2nd graders this year - what a hoot). Is it easy? Heck no! Is it necessary? Heck yea! Does it make me want to take a few parents by the scruff of their necks and shake them until a "volunteer" drops out? Definitely!

The idea of "forced" volunteerism is not something I agree with as it is not the same as volunteering for the sake of the cause. Do kids need it as a way of showing them community service? Perhaps. But it seems to me to be very hypocritical of parents to go along with this requirement while they themselves do not see the need. Oh well, must be the snow talking this morning. I have a few articles to read on extreme leadership, innovation, creativity, and coaching - fun morning.
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