Communities of Practice training supports best practices

In early March, a three-day overview of Communities of Practice training was held to introduce center leaders and teachers to the protocols and activities utilized within CoP meetings. The Institute hosts monthly CoP meetings with early childhood center leaders in Palm Beach County to facilitate the continuous quality improvement of their child care centers. Monthly meetings are also held with early childhood teachers to support their teaching practices and implementation of pilot programs in the focus areas/disciplines of STEAM and Social Emotional Learning (SEL). The training exposed the attendees to structured meeting activities that created a culture of support to promote equity of voice, shared work, productive feedback models, and dilemma analysis. After the three-day training, participants were invited to participate in the CoP group aligned with their center’s focus.   

IEECE’s instructional designer Michelle Immekus facilitates CoP training with early childhood center leaders and teachers.