SHARING WEB RESOURCES E-NEWSLETTERS

The organization that I am following is the National Association for the Education of Young Children.  This organization focuses on the development and well-being of young children.  In the volume Teaching Young Children and the issue titled “Unplanned Explorations and Lively Minds” it focuses on how  as educators we should just let children learn new experiences own their own, without the guidance and planning of a teacher.  I believe that the whole issue was related to my current professional development because it gave me an insight and knowledge on how to continue to provide a learning environment for young children.  For example, if children were engaging in conversation, the teacher would not interrupt; instead she would document the development of language skills.  This issue also focused on how as early childhood professionals we should encourage, support, and create a learning environment for young children.

At the present time none of the ideas, statements, or resources made me thinks about the issue in a new way.  The information on the website only enhanced my knowledge about the issue in the Early Childhood Field.

 In the issue it discusses how children who are 5 years old need a rich and learning environment, just as the neuroscientists having been saying all of the time; and now the economists and politicians are seeing the value of early education and the significant benefits of children acquiring knowledge at such young ages.

From exploring the website, I realized that NAEYC is committed to meeting the needs of young children.

References:

National Association for the Education of Young Children http://www.naeyc.org/tyc/article/unplanned-explorations-lively-minds

Getting to Know Your International Contacts- Part 1

As of today, I still have not made any contact with my outside professional contacts.  Therefore, I am giving insights on the poverty in Mongolia. The CHIP programme emphasizes the importance of preventing poverty in the particularly vulnerable first years of life thereby reducing the chance of poverty persisting over an individual life course or through the generations (http://www.childhood poverty.org/index.php).

One of the countries that are related to the CHIP program is Mongolia. Mongolia was a strong country but transitioned into poverty because they became an open economy. This transition affected many of the Mongolian families.  There is an inequality of services provided to the rich and poor families of Mongolia.

The three insights that I gained from reading this article is:

1.       The Mongolians used to get accessible and high quality healthcare before the transition.  The quality of services is bad and those who can often turn to private health clinics for treatment, further increasing the gap between rich and poor.  In certain areas the quality of healthcare is very poor. They are also tackling the issue so that they can help defeat poverty.

2.     They have a very high increase of families beneath the poverty line. Many children who are poor live in female headed households. Poverty is higher in urban areas than rural areas.

3.     Many of the children have to find jobs which cause them to drop out of school. The children have a responsibility to bring money into the home. Poverty really has had an effect on the educational process of the Mongolian children. 

Mongolia has been increasing their knowledge on the poverty issue by comparing their social and economic growth to other areas around the world. They also are doing research on what is actually causing poverty in these areas.  The Mongolians are also reaching out to the policymakers to help reduce poverty.

Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre’s (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/)

SHARING WEB RESOURCES

The name of the website outside of the United States that I chose to review is Association for Childhood Education International.  The link is http://acei.org/  and the online resource is http://acei.org/knowledge/. The organization’s  mission is to promote and support the optimal education and development of children worldwide, and to influence the professional growth of educators and the efforts of others who are committed to the needs of children in a changing society http://acei.org/ .  I chose  this  website because it  focuses on all children  and their education well-being. I believe that all children should have the right to a fair and quality education.

The current issue that caught my attention  was the article on Supporting Quality Education: Public-Private Partnerships . The article main focus was how Latin based corporate companies donate their monies to education to provide for high quality education.  Whereas, American based companies provide money that is put into the general education sectors.  Basically the American companies do not fully thrive for high quality education, only basic education.  The Latin based corporate companies also make long term investments toward high quality education.

While reviewing the resources, I noticed that demographics and diversity all correlate with effective and quality education.  Organizations that are private or public should support quality education.  They should make an effort to support these education goals for a long term commitment.  I believe that companies should make it their obligations to donate money into the educational system, because all children deserve the right to have an education.  I believe that if more companies would support a child, then the child will have a positive educational outcome.

References:

http://acei.org/

http://www.acei.org/global-news/supporting-quality-education-public-private-partnerships.html

PROFESSIONAL CONTACTS

This week our assignment was to establish professional contacts with individuals outside of the United States.  However, I emailed many professionals from various parts of the world that were listed in the resource list, and I have not received a response from any of them at this time.  Also, many of my emails were returned because of failed notification or email address not valid. I will be thrilled when one of them emails me back so that I can learn about Early Childhood Education from their perspective.  I feel that this is an opportunity for me to expand my horizons from other people who represent other cultures and countries. When I receive a response from one of the individuals that I emailed I will update it in my blog post.

The website that I choose to explore was the National Association for the Education of the Young Child. This is an organization that focuses primarily on the well-being of the child, including, individual, cultural, diversity, and ethnicity.  It provides many resources, policies, and standards for early childhood professionals to follow as guidelines to better serve the child, family, and the community, as well as guidelines to enhance your own professional development.  The NAEYC also provides information on curriculum, assessment, and program evaluation (National Association for the Education of Young Children).   The goal of the NAEYC is to provide effective programs and practices for the child in a safe, nurturing, and learning environment.

 In NAEYC news they are headlining the Week of the Young Child which is April 22-28.  Last year my son was excited during the week of the Young Child.  Each day they had an opportunity to explore literacy, language, and role play, physical and social skills through the eyes of Dr. Seuss, community leaders, various occupations and super-heroes.  I thought the way that the center implemented different ideas into the curriculum was a way to show each child that they are unique and special.  The entire week was focused on the child, giving the parents and communities a chance to see how much their child had progressed over the past several months.

Reference:

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (n.d.). Where we stand on curriculum, assessment, and program evaluation. Retreived from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/StandCurrAss.pdf

“My Supports”

“My Supports”

Within my daily environment, my husband has to be my biggest support system.  He supports me in my career choices, my parenting skills, basically any decision in my life he gives me positive advice.  He supports me when I doubt myself, by encouraging me to always hold my head.  He supports me spiritually by being my partner in making moral and important decisions throughout the course of my life.

My children support me in a happy way.  When I become tired and stress, they support me by letting me know that they are more important than anything in my life.  They make me laugh.  My kids are the reason why I still feel like a child.  They support me with hugs and kisses, and plenty of love.

My parents are one of my biggest support systems.  They have endured many challenges with me and have supported me in whatever I have done.  I am so bless to have the support of my parents because their guidance and encouragement are one of the reasons why I am who I am.

My brothers are also a part of my support team.  They support me by giving me brotherly advice about life and relationships.

My friends are another factor in my support system.   They support me when I need me time, by motivating me that I need some alone time from my family.

My co-workers who have been my support over the years have been amazing.  Through evaluations, new parents/children/ families and reviews from the state and federal teams, there support has helped me pass thorough difficult challenges. 

My church supports me when I unsure about the struggles of life, by providing me with spiritual guidance.

Furthermore, if these supports would vanish, I feel that I would be unbalanced.  I feel that I would struggle to make certain decisions that affect my life without these people.

My challenge would be using my other senses to guide me through life.  My cousin is blind.  However, I feel with assistance and guidance that I could learn to accept this challenge.  I believe with a strong support system that my emotional, physical, social, and cognitive needs could be met with their love, support and encouragement.  I believe that their support would be my inspiration to get through any obstacle.  I feel that if I did not have their support then I would definitely be faced with many challenges, because I have learned to depend on their support throughout my life.  I believe that emotionally I would be strained if I did not have their support.

" My Connections to Play"

“My Connections to Play”

In our play we reveal what kind of people we are.

By: Ovid
Roman poet
43 BC–17 or 18 AD

Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a necessity.

By: Kay Redfield Jamison
Contemporary American professor of psychiatry

  

 

 

 My parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins supported play when I was a young child.  I can remember on Sundays we would go into the yards and play kickball the entire day. The pictures of the children playing tag, hide and seek, and patty cake were some of the play activities that I endured during my childhood. It was such a fun time in my life, because I was spending time with my family in a playful manner.  Play was a big part of my life, because we were raised to spend our afternoons and weekends on the outside.  Even, when the weather was cold, we still would go outside and play.  In the summer time we would pretend that we were Indians and we would build tepees. My family encouraged play by providing outdoor and indoor materials that gave us an opportunity to learn and share experiences. 

Today play is not the same for younger children.  We encourage, support, and create play in the classrooms, but from another observant view of play I feel that children are not really indulging in play like we use to as children.  I remember that we tried to teach the children “Simon Says” and they were totally not engaged.  Children today are not focused on play, instead they would rather be entertained by playing video games or on the computer.  However, children still love to play “Hide and Seek’ and “Lil Sally Walker”.  Furthermore children still like to run and be rough while they are playing.  Play is important because it focuses on the physical and social development of young children. If more play was incorporated in the home and school, childhood obesity will decline. I feel that play should be re-enforced because it gives children a concept of being free to explore and be creative as they share experiences with family and friends.

Play in my childhood was a wonderful experience.  Play taught me how to balance out my life and not be intense about stressful events.  Today play is still a key concept in my adulthood.  I engage in play with the children in my class, and I spend countless hours of play with my own children, family, and friends.  The role of play in my childhood has continued throughout my adulthood, and I want to continue to have play in my life as I grow older with my children and family.  I want my children to have the same experience with play the same way I did.

Relationship Reflection

The relationships and partnerships in my life are what inspires and represent the person that I am and the person that I want to become.

My husband, Travis is my rock.  The relationship that he and I have is unbreakable.  We endure good and bad times together.  We depend on our faith in God to lead and guide us through a successful marriage and making wise decisions in raising our children.  The challenges that have been handed to me through live have been bad, but it was a blessing to have the relationship and hand of my husband to hold me through my bad days, but even better on my good days. My husband is my encourager and my supporter, regardless of what path I choose to take in my life.

My mom, Betty is the reason that I am able to follow my dreams.   She encouraged and supported me through my childhood dreams, and she is still my number one supporter as pursue other goals and aspirations in my life.  The relationship that we have grows stronger as we both grow older.  I realize that the way she raised me was based on values and integrity.  Therefore, I am thankful for our relationship.

My father, Clifton, was guide through church. Our relationship was defined on the leaning and depending on God.  He taught me the most important relationship that I will ever have with anyone in life will be God. Our relationship, because of this is amazing, most of all spiritual.

Tavion, Mackenzie, and Kaleb made me learn to more compassionate, more nurturing, and more understanding.  When a child comes to school sad, I will be the first to show that child compassion and love instantly.  The relationship with my three kids is precious.  My relationship with them is warm and patient, because that is what they have taught me how to be over the past five years.

My friend Erin is my angel. Our relationship has made me such a better person.  She always gives me positive advice about my life.  She taught me to treat people how you want to be treated and never take a friend for granted.  Our relationship has helped me gain a better understanding of honesty and friend.  She is a wonderful person, who good behavior has influenced me to be a better person.

Each relationship that was mentioned above has involved a personal challenge.  However, I overcame all of those challenges and formed bonds in the relationship that will last for a lifetime.  For example, I was very disobedient as a child, but my mom and dad provided me with a guidance that my negative behavior of wanting to be grown before my time did not turn into a negative outcome.

The relationship with my kids gives me a stronger virtue of being an effective, nurturing, and caring early childhood professional. My relationship with my parents has taught me how to be respectful, therefore as an early childhood professional I know respect is major part of developing relationships with my co-workers, children, parents and the community in which I work.  My relationship that I have with my friend Erin reflects how I am an open-minded communicator, which is the foundation for working in the Early Childhood Field.

The relationship that consists of the words trust and marriage has turned my relationship with my husband into a partnership.