After School Professional Development

On Monday, February 21, 2011, after school programs in Long Beach were closed in observance of Washington’s birthday. The Community Development branch took this opportunity to provide sixteen of our newest staff with training in the areas of Youth Development, Child Development, and Behavior Management. The staff were introduced to the Community Network for Youth Development model and participated in exercises designed to highlight the importance of the messages we send to our youth on a daily basis. The group then broke out into teams and assessed the current culture of Youth Development at their sites, discussing how to take the site from good to great!

After a short break, the staff came back together and explored the developmental theories of Erik Erikson and Jean Piaget, identifying how the work from these two theorists is relevant to our school-age programming. Following that, the staff worked in grade-level teams identifying both developmental markers for the age groups they work with and age-appropriate enrichment activities connected to state content standards. The workshop ended with a solution-driven conversation focused on responding to challenging behaviors. By the end of the three-hour session, everyone had the opportunity to learn something new, share a strategy that has been successful for them, and network with fellow after school colleagues!

By: Mark Marano, After School Program Coordinator/CASDP Director

Making the Pieces Fit

“When I say TEAM, you say BUILDING!”

“TEAM!” - “BUILDING!"

“TEAM!” - “BUILDING!”

“TEAM!” - “BUILDING!”

After School University's Eddie Gardiner, Trang Truong and Sunny Im trained approximately 90 after school professionals throughout 3 one-half hour blocks on a sleepy Saturday January 29, 2011. By the time this training was over sleep was the last thing on their minds. The AU team showed them the importance of teambuilding with staff, students and a program as a whole.

During the OTJ (On The Job) sessions, the participants were able to see the importance of being able to facilitate solution driven discussions during staff meetings. They also had to come up with their own creative group names such as Monkeys, The Incredibles and Brainiacs. Another part of the training included “repeat after me” songs/chants as well as learning a variety of ways to get staff members to participate in a program wide assembly.

The teambuilding activity at the beginning of each session drove home the importance of working together towards a common goal. Activities like putting together jigsaw pieces, first in groups of about five individuals. They then discovered that the entire room had to work together as a team to solve the puzzle. The participants illustrated that working together and communicating are imperative in building a team.

“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” ~Henry Ford

By: Sunny Im - Associate Program Director