Early Learning Portland
Discussing strategies in the early years of child development.
| Early Learning Portland, Introduction: Part One (coming soon) Early Learning Portland, Literacy: Part Two (coming soon) Early Learning Portland, Healthy Development: Part Three (coming soon) Early Learning Portland, Everyday Moments: Part Four (coming soon) |
Early Learning Portland, Introduction: Part One David W. Willis, M.D. is the Medical Director of Northwest Early Childhood Institute. He is Developmental-Behavioral pediatrician with a special emphasis on infants and young children’s emotional, behavioral and developmental difficulties. Dr. Willis is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at OHSU, Vice-President of the Oregon Pediatric Society and an Allocation Committee member of Portland’s Children’s Initiative Fund. Nationally, he is a Harris Mid-Career Fellow with ZERO TO THREE, of Washington DC for which he brings recognition to our NWECI’s innovative early childhood screening and monitoring tool, the Behavioral Health Screen. |
Early Learning Portland, Literacy: Part Two Jane Corry: I have been a librarian for 10 years, all of it as a Youth Librarian for Multnomah County. My interest in early literacy began with my mother, who read us poetry every night. It was fostered by my six years teaching in a Montessori school in Santa Barbara, my 15 years working in various bookstores, and watching my daughter learn to read. Of all my duties as a librarian, doing story times is my favorite. I love sharing the joy of a good book with families and sharing what I've learned about literacy with the parents and teachers. I have done literacy training for parents, Multnomah County Library staff, and the Oregon Library Association. I have a BA in Sociology from UC- Santa Barbara and an MLS from Emporia State University in Kansas. Chi Ferguson is a parent of a 2 1/2 year old daugther named Sierra and has attended Read & Play for over a year. Nell Coburn: Nell Colburn is one of two coordinators of Multnomah County Library's Raising A Reader, a national early literacy program that promotes reading aloud in the home. Nell has worked in children’s services in public libraries for over 25 years, on both the east and west coasts. She co-writes a column on early literacy for School Library Journal. She is active in the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, and will serve as chair of the Caldecott Award Selection Committee during 2008. Joan Smith: I have been a youth librarian for almost 30 years. Most of those years have been at Multnomah County. All of them have involved sharing books, especially with children. Before becoming a librarian, I was an elementary and preschool teacher. Over the yearsas we have learned more about brain development and early literacy, I have been excited to witness and participate in the expansion of story times and programming from events for preschoolers and schoolage children, to events for the whole family, including and especially infants and toddlers and their parents. I have a BA in English, an elementary teaching credential, a masters in Library Science and a job that I love. (coming soon) |
Early Learning Portland, Healthy Development: Part Three Anne is an administrator with over twenty years experience in program development, evaluation, management and strategic planning in a wide array of human services working with children and families across the age spectrum. She holds Masters Degrees in Communication Disorders and Public Administration She was a founding Board member of Oregon’s statewide child advocacy organization 16 years ago as she saw a crying need for a non partisan voice to speak on behalf of children in our state. She began as a volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) in Seattle where the program was born and has worked for a myriad of public and non-profit child and family organizations since. Currently she is the Director of Organizational Advancement for the Hearing & Speech Institute/ Northwest Early Childhood Institute which is an 80 year old non profit that works to find kids struggling with social/emotional/developmental challenges early, and provide them effective early intervention and support that wraps the family within a coordinated care team they call a Developmental Home for as long as they need, to help their children thrive. Anne and her husband are raising three incredible teens/young adults who are each finding their way in the world…which has been the toughest job she has had in her twenty years in the kid business. |
Early Learning Portland, Everyday Moments: Part Four Steven VanDyke is currently Lead Teacher at WSU Vancouver Child Development Program (10 years) Masters in Education (WSU Vancouver; ’05) Workshop Leader/Presenter (“The Peaceable Classroom,” “Documenting Children’s Learning,” “Using Technology in the Classroom,” “Assessing Children’s Social and Emotional Growth”). 30 years in the Early Learning field: WSUV-CDP (almost) 10 years, Fruit & Flower Child Care Center, Portland, OR (14 years), U of Oregon Child Care Center; Eugene, OR (4 Years), New York State Migrant Farm worker services (2 years) Corina McEntire has been working with children and families for over 13 years. As a young single mom, Corina completed her Bachelor's Degree in Psychology while raising her daughter Emma. Since then, she has worked with young children and parents at the YWCA and Early Head Start in Clark County and is currently a Family Service Specialist at ESD 112. She is now working on her Master's Degree in Public Affairs and still juggles family life, work, and school. For Corina, "Everyday Moments" means taking advantage of the small moments and making them meaningful - like brushing our teeth together while singing along to Raffi (coming soon) |