{"id":35050,"date":"2020-12-21T05:36:16","date_gmt":"2020-12-21T05:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/ftf\/?post_type=family-stories&p=35050"},"modified":"2025-08-08T22:29:31","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T22:29:31","slug":"professional-development-program-helps-tohono-oodham-teacher-achieve-unique-experiences-for-classroom","status":"publish","type":"family-stories","link":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/region-stories\/professional-development-program-helps-tohono-oodham-teacher-achieve-unique-experiences-for-classroom\/","title":{"rendered":"Professional development program helps Tohono O\u2019odham teacher achieve unique experiences for classroom"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Deidre Ortega prepared for her upcoming graduation from Tohono O\u2019odham Community College (TOCC)<\/a>, she reflected on the valuable skills she acquired while in the college\u2019s Early Childhood Education program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe community of practice A\u2019al Ha-Mascam [children and their learning] definitely gave me the confidence to use the tools I\u2019ve gained in a professional setting like working at the Head Start on the Nation,\u201d Ortega said. \u201cIt helped me understand how important every little part is during the first five years of a child\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ortega was a part of the Tohono O\u2019odham Community College Community of Practice, which is one of the 17 communities of practice developed by United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona\u2019s Great Expectations for Teachers, Children and Families.<\/p>\n

First Things First funds the program, which provides early childhood educators with in-depth professional development that allows them to earn college credit and work toward degrees in early childhood. It\u2019s a part of the First Things First<\/a> Tohono O\u2019odham Nation Regional Partnership Council<\/a>\u2019s work to help boost the quality of child care provided to young children in the region.<\/p>\n

The community of practice provided Ortega with opportunities she might have not been able to experience elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey took us to several classes and I was able to talk with current child care providers and hear about their experiences,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Another perk of taking her early childhood classes at the college was the opportunity to be part of the Early Childhood Education Club.<\/p>\n

Now with her associate degree under her belt, Ortega plans to continue her education at Northern Arizona University to work toward a bachelor\u2019s degree. As this year\u2019s FTF Tohono O\u2019odham Nation Regional Champion for Young Children, Ortega feels even more empowered to share awareness about early childhood education.<\/p>\n

“<\/strong>I feel that early childhood development should be important to everyone because it affects everyone,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s the basis of what type of person an individual will become.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The professional development program is designed to strengthen knowledge of developmentally appropriate practices and how young kids learn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":30234,"template":"","tags":[137,164,273],"class_list":["post-35050","family-stories","type-family-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-tribal","tag-tohono-oodham-nation","tag-professional-development","regions-tohono-oodham-nation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nProfessional development program helps Tohono O\u2019odham teacher achieve unique experiences for classroom - First Things First<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The professional development program is designed to strengthen knowledge of developmentally appropriate practices and how young kids learn.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/region-stories\/professional-development-program-helps-tohono-oodham-teacher-achieve-unique-experiences-for-classroom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Professional development program helps Tohono O\u2019odham teacher achieve unique experiences for classroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The professional development program is designed to strengthen knowledge of developmentally appropriate practices and how young kids learn.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/region-stories\/professional-development-program-helps-tohono-oodham-teacher-achieve-unique-experiences-for-classroom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"First Things First\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AZFirstThingsFirst\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-08T22:29:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/TON-2020-Deidre-Ortega.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"419\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AZFTF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Tiempo de lectura\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutos\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/region-stories\/professional-development-program-helps-tohono-oodham-teacher-achieve-unique-experiences-for-classroom\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/region-stories\/professional-development-program-helps-tohono-oodham-teacher-achieve-unique-experiences-for-classroom\/\",\"name\":\"Professional development program helps Tohono O\u2019odham teacher achieve unique experiences for classroom - First Things First\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/region-stories\/professional-development-program-helps-tohono-oodham-teacher-achieve-unique-experiences-for-classroom\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/region-stories\/professional-development-program-helps-tohono-oodham-teacher-achieve-unique-experiences-for-classroom\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/TON-2020-Deidre-Ortega.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-21T05:36:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-08T22:29:31+00:00\",\"description\":\"The professional development program is designed to strengthen knowledge of developmentally appropriate practices and how young kids learn.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/region-stories\/professional-development-program-helps-tohono-oodham-teacher-achieve-unique-experiences-for-classroom\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"es\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/region-stories\/professional-development-program-helps-tohono-oodham-teacher-achieve-unique-experiences-for-classroom\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/region-stories\/professional-development-program-helps-tohono-oodham-teacher-achieve-unique-experiences-for-classroom\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/TON-2020-Deidre-Ortega.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/TON-2020-Deidre-Ortega.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":419,\"caption\":\"Deidre Ortega\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/region-stories\/professional-development-program-helps-tohono-oodham-teacher-achieve-unique-experiences-for-classroom\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Region Stories\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/region-stories\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Professional development program helps Tohono O\u2019odham teacher achieve unique experiences for classroom\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/\",\"name\":\"First Things First\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"es\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/#organization\",\"name\":\"First Things First\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/firstthingsfirst_card_gray.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/firstthingsfirst_card_gray.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":450,\"caption\":\"First Things First\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AZFirstThingsFirst\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/AZFTF\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/azfirstthingsfirst\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/first-things-first\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/FTFArizona\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Professional development program helps Tohono O\u2019odham teacher achieve unique experiences for classroom - First Things First","description":"The professional development program is designed to strengthen knowledge of developmentally appropriate practices and how young kids learn.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/region-stories\/professional-development-program-helps-tohono-oodham-teacher-achieve-unique-experiences-for-classroom\/","og_locale":"es_ES","og_type":"article","og_title":"Professional development program helps Tohono O\u2019odham teacher achieve unique experiences for classroom","og_description":"The professional development program is designed to strengthen knowledge of developmentally appropriate practices and how young kids learn.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/region-stories\/professional-development-program-helps-tohono-oodham-teacher-achieve-unique-experiences-for-classroom\/","og_site_name":"First Things First","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AZFirstThingsFirst\/","article_modified_time":"2025-08-08T22:29:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":419,"url":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/TON-2020-Deidre-Ortega.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@AZFTF","twitter_misc":{"Tiempo de lectura":"2 minutos"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/region-stories\/professional-development-program-helps-tohono-oodham-teacher-achieve-unique-experiences-for-classroom\/","url":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/region-stories\/professional-development-program-helps-tohono-oodham-teacher-achieve-unique-experiences-for-classroom\/","name":"Professional development program helps Tohono O\u2019odham teacher achieve unique experiences for classroom - First Things First","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/region-stories\/professional-development-program-helps-tohono-oodham-teacher-achieve-unique-experiences-for-classroom\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/region-stories\/professional-development-program-helps-tohono-oodham-teacher-achieve-unique-experiences-for-classroom\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/TON-2020-Deidre-Ortega.jpg","datePublished":"2020-12-21T05:36:16+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-08T22:29:31+00:00","description":"The professional development program is designed to strengthen knowledge of developmentally appropriate practices and how young kids learn.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/region-stories\/professional-development-program-helps-tohono-oodham-teacher-achieve-unique-experiences-for-classroom\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"es","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/region-stories\/professional-development-program-helps-tohono-oodham-teacher-achieve-unique-experiences-for-classroom\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es","@id":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/region-stories\/professional-development-program-helps-tohono-oodham-teacher-achieve-unique-experiences-for-classroom\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/TON-2020-Deidre-Ortega.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/TON-2020-Deidre-Ortega.jpg","width":800,"height":419,"caption":"Deidre Ortega"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/region-stories\/professional-development-program-helps-tohono-oodham-teacher-achieve-unique-experiences-for-classroom\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Region Stories","item":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/region-stories\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Professional development program helps Tohono O\u2019odham teacher achieve unique experiences for classroom"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/","name":"First Things First","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"es"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/#organization","name":"First Things First","url":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es","@id":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/firstthingsfirst_card_gray.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/firstthingsfirst_card_gray.jpg","width":800,"height":450,"caption":"First Things First"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AZFirstThingsFirst\/","https:\/\/x.com\/AZFTF","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/azfirstthingsfirst\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/first-things-first","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/FTFArizona"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region-stories\/35050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region-stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/family-stories"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region-stories\/35050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}