My name is Patti Shields.

Dear new and returning UCP families,

My name is Patti Shields and I am the afternoon head teacher and new assistant director. I am fortunate to have been involved with UCP for many years and therefore know many of you, your children and staff. I am very excited to be a part of this vibrant community of learners. I believe in the concept of the cooperative approach to children’s care and learning. It was this philosophy as well as the opportunity to work in this particular program that brought me here full time.

I love being a part of the learning process of young children and their families.  My education includes a minor in Child Development, over 30 graduate units in human/child development, and numerous workshops on all kinds of topics related to this field. I plan to finish my Masters degree at Pacific Oaks College during the next year.

In the past two years, my emphasis has been to increase my knowledge of the Reggio Emilia approach, which involves a basis of constructivism with a strong focus on the arts, and co-created curriculum, and strong parent involvement. Part of this philosophy includes documentation-using photos and written descriptions to make the children’s learning visible to the children themselves, to parents and other staff, as well as to allow teachers to reflect on the work of children’s play. This reflection and subsequent analysis allows teachers to provide additional tools, materials, time and other support to further develop children’s own themes of study.  It is an exciting philosophy and fits well into the play-based, parent cooperative theme here. Please look for documentation on the Afternoon Program bulletin board.

I have worked in this field for over 25 years in various capacities. I have taught parent/child participation classes, been a Head Start director, taught children from ages eighteen months to school age, and wrote and taught parent education classes. One class I developed and taught is Outdoor Experiences which cemented in me the incredible value of children having direct experiences of nature.

By far my most important role has been as a mother to my two sons, Kai age 23 and Dylan, 17. They are my pride and joy and as different from one another as night and day. As a family we have always enjoyed camping and just hanging out together. Kai is married and lives in Los Angeles where he is in law school at USC. Dylan is a senior in high school at SD/SCPA.

I look forward to this upcoming year with you and your children and the staff here at UCP.

Warm regards

Patti Shields