Friday, March 19, 2010

Well, this is an update for Sharon, since I think you're the only one who reads it! :)

Things have been going very well lately. T-Minus 7 weeks and counting until graduation (May 15th to be exact). I can't believe how insanely fast this semester has gone by. I went to Neenah on Wednesday to visit my cousin, and to see her preschool, which I will be working at come August. Seeing it made me even more excited to begin working, it was so cute! Cory & I also went to look at apartments, and I found the most wonderful little loft apartment. Or well, it isn't so little, it's so bright and open! I am so excited to move. I will be moving in May, and hopefully finding a job to tide me over until I start working at the preschool. Then, we took a little side trip, as Cory has never been to Green Bay. So, I treated him to a good time at Lambeau Field, and he was like a kid in a candy store, it was great! :D

1 comment:

Gareth Wall said...

Hi all,

I have started a new website www.residentialchildcare.ning.com that is dedicated to networking with fellow professionals in Residential Child Care. Imagine a professional version of facebook where there is a space provided to discuss the nuances of Residential Care any time of the day and night. It's free and there are no conference costs or travel arrangements to make.

Some of the members so far are Andrew Hosie (Fice Scotland), Vic Citarella (FICE England), Leon Fulcher, Thom Garfat (both cyc-net.org), Jennifer Daidson SIRCC, Jonathan Stanley NCERCC UK are already members along with various academics from the Uk and Canada ,as well as your own Norma Powell.There are now over a 160 members within the world of Residential Child and Youth Care.

I'm a Registered Manager in England and I've worked in residential care for 12 years. I've been looking for a space on the Internet to listen, reflect and chat about shared experiences, best practice and I've not been able to find anything. I then found the means to create my own and there is now a place where i can share my passion with others and they understand what I'm on about.

Residential Child Care is about nurturing young people and allowing them to grow and fulfill their potential. I believe that this is the same for us as professionals and this website will allow us and others to give confidence and support those that we work with and those that are members of the network.

There are areas on the website devoted to sharing information including, Children's Home Managers, Social Pedagogy, Best Practice, Reflective Practice, Restorative Justice, Help and Advice,Training and Events. Jonathan Stanley from NCERCC in England is already a member and is participating in discussions on the site along with Jennifer Davison the Director from SIRCC.

Jennifer has agreed to promote the site through the next SIRCCULAR newsletter, e-update and on the website (http://www.sircc.org.uk/node/1280) . I have also been in contact with Dr Belinda Hopkins from Transforming Conflict and she has agreed to put a link on the site and asked that I write a little about the website for her newsletter.

The purpose of the site is that of a community to share ideas and problems and provide a place that professionals can network. Hopefully with a growing membership we will be able to help solve some of the problems and find new and innovative ways of working.


If you like the idea of the site then please join and I look forward to your comments and ideas. I would appreciate it if you could pass on this email to any of your contacts that you feel would be appropriate, so that they can take a look for themselves.

I believe the potential of the website is enormous and if the key people within Residential Child Care are able to meet in one place, it will give us endless possibilities. I believe that a site like this would be useful to promote within your organisation as your staff would use it as a tool to be in charge of their own learning and make use of this fantastic resource.


Thanks very much for your time.

--
Gareth Wall



www.residentialchildcare.ning.com