Thank you!!

I have enjoyed the last 8 weeks in this class. All of my classmates have shared their thoughts and perspectives and have truly helped me to grow as an educator and a person. I look forward to

seeing some of you in other classes. I hope our paths will cross again.

Saying Good Bye

       Many of the groups that I have worked in or work with continually have members that I have worked with on other groups or in other projects before, so saying good bye doesn’t always mean good bye. It usually means until next time.  I live and work in a small town so most of the people I work with in one area of my life are a part of other areas as well. There are two groups that end every year and reconvene at a later time that actually have a formal good bye process and those are Vacation Bible School and Relay for Life.

            During Vacation Bible School at my church planning generally starts in January and the final result is a one week camp for the kids in July. Saying good bye to this team of people can be difficult because you never know who will return in January. Every night of Vacation Bible School we have a team meeting were we give what’s called “Big Ups” or special recognition for jobs done extremely well and we also talk about things that could use improvement. I believe this is important because we spend 6 months planning for one week of teaching so it is important for everyone to know that their hard work has paid off.  At the end of the week we have some kind of volunteer party where we serve desserts or just hang out to celebrate the victories of the week. At this party we commend everyone for a job well done. I have one rule, no negative speak. Things that need improvement can be discussed when we start planning our next Vacation Bible School. I think it is important to end the year on a high note and give everyone extra credit for a job well done to keep their spirits positive and wanting to return in January.

            Another group that formally ends every April is my Relay for Life team. This is the first year I was in this team and the leader didn’t really end it with anything special. We just went to the last event and that was it, it was a little anticlimactic. It left me wanting more and feeling a little underappreciated and I am contemplating whether or not I am going to be a member of that particular team again next year. I want to feel like the work I am doing matters and like I am a part of something important and I did not get that feeling from the team leader.

            Leaving this group if students will be difficult. Upon exiting this program I hope that I will maintain contact with some of the other students because they are great educators with a heart for children. It is rare, even in the field, to find teachers who share such common passion for children and want to share their passion and gained knowledge with others. I look forward to sharing information, resources and experiences with them later. 

Resolving Conflict

               Until recently I never really thought about what went into the process of communication. I spoke when I needed to and listened when it was appropriate but I never thought about the type of words being used and whether or not my speaking and listening skills were showing respect to the others involved in the communication process. I recently had a conflict or altercation with one of my staff members that resulted in unnecessary yelling by both myself and my staff member.

            One of my teachers was not happy with a decision that I made and voiced her opinion. I have always been okay with hearing what my employees have to say and this time was no different until the teacher started talking about things that she was not informed about. When she started doing this she was saying things that were not accurate and instead of calmly explaining the situation I tried to just shut her down and end the conversation. This did not go over well and she started yelling at me which caused me to become angry and yell back at her. Ultimately I shut the conversation down by saying something to the effect of, “that is my final decision regardless of anyone else’s opinion.” This was not the best way to handle the situation but I was frustrated and needed it to end before things got worse. There are a lot of things that I could have and should have done differently and after a few days both of us discussed things in a more rational matter but I realize now that the situation could have been handled very differently.

            One way that things could have been handled differently would be to respectfully listen to the teachers concerns instead of trying to shut her down. Because she was uninformed I tried to end the conversation when I should have quietly listened to her and then respectfully explained to her the ways in which she was incorrect. This would have let her know that I value her as a person and am interested in what she has to say. By doing this I would be able to build a conversation and help her to become more knowledgeable about the situation at hand.

            Another way that I could handle the situation would be to have been more smoothing and accommodating. This would have helped to diffuse the situation before it got out of hand. We could have discussed things later when we had both calmed down some and were able to talk in a more appropriate manner. This technique of conflict resolution could have helped to save those few strenuous days when my coworker and I did not speak to each other at all. It made for a very stressful work environment for both if us. Accommodating her would have made her feel more comfortable and saved us both the trouble of arguing. 

Communication Evaluations

           

This week’s assignment was eye opening and a little surprising. I learned that I am not as strong a listener as I thought I was. Through these evaluations I learned that I listen differently depending in the area of my life that I am in. When I am at work I am very time oriented and consider my time to be very precious. I do not have time for dilly dallying and playing games. I come across as wanting people to state their needs and move on while with my friends I am a little less controlling I am still unnecessarily harsh and can be insensitive to others needs. All this time I thought that I was a good, people oriented listener who took the time to consider others and their feelings but my friend and colleague did not feel the same way. In all other aspects of communication my scores were very similar to theirs and if they varied it was only by a point or two. I am fair and not aggressive when listening to others and I do not force my opinions and views on others while still being able to share them freely. These scores did show that I can be a little anxious when speaking to large groups which is something that I am aware of and work at fixing every day. Other than my listening skills all other assessment results were just as I expected they would be.

Through this week’s assignment I have learned that listening is just as important as speaking while communicating with others. If I do not hear and consider the point that someone else is making then I cannot communicate my opinion of their idea effectively. This is important because while working with children and families I have to be able to listen to how the parents want their children to be raised and how they want them to learn. If I do not pay attention to this then I will have unhappy parents and could cause for a highly stressful classroom with a lot of animosity and unhappiness. 

Communicating with others

         

           I have spent this week analyzing the ways that I communicate and how I am affected by the way different people communicate with me and I realize that I do communicate with different people differently. I noticed that while working with a woman who has less of an education than I do that I tend to speak to her differently. It isn’t that I treat her as uneducated but she doesn’t always understand terms or concepts because she lives a simpler life so I will usually simplify my thoughts so that she will easily understand them. I never realized that I did this until this week and I do not mean to behave this way but my friend does not seem to mind. I truly believe that changing the way that I speak with her would be harmful to our relationship because she is always making negative comments about people who use words that are too big for her and them trying to make her feel stupid.

            This coworker and friend is not the only person that I treat this way. When I am working with people who I know have the same or a similar education as I do I will speak with them as an equal. Throughout the week I noticed that the way I communicated with a person depended on who the person was and what the context of the communication was. I catered to the other person’s needs while having a conversation with them which would be similar to the Platinum Rule of treating others the way that they would like to be treated. While my intention is not to treat some people as unintelligent I believe that it is important to not make myself appear to be better than or smarter than them either.

            When speaking with others I think it is important o consider where they come from and how they will get the most out of your communication efforts. I also believe that it is important to make them feel like they are an equal in the conversation and have value to add to what is being discussed. And finally, I believe that no matter who the person is and what they have to say it is important to listen to what the other person has to say and validate that person’s opinion. Doing these things will allow the other person to feel like they are an important part of the communication process and help them to open up and communicate more effectively. 

Communication Skills

While viewing the children’s show Suite Life on Deck with my daughter I first watched it without sound and to me that was an interesting experience. Trying to determine who was and wasn’t friends was difficult. I found myself really trying to read lips to determine the context of relationships. After viewing the show with sound I realized that in some cases when I thought people were trying to be helpful and kind I completely misread the scenes and there was some form of mischief underway. The kids, while playing nice with each other through the scenes were really saying some sarcastic things to each other. Also noted was the way the parent spoke to the boys. In the silent video it looked like she was being loving because she was always smiling at them and hugging them but she really was saying not nice stuff to them and yelling at them a lot you just didn’t notice that by glancing at them because she did it all with a smile and a hug.

            One thing that I realized through this exercise is that while body language is important it is also important to have the ability to listen. This is important because if you do not listen then you may view something out of context and misunderstand what you are viewing. Communicators MUST be strong listeners to ensure proper communication. If we do not learn how to effectively listen to others than we will have trouble helping others get the things that they need. 

          

  One person who has demonstrated competent communication skills is the Pastor at my church. One reason why he is extremely effective at what he does is because he makes sure that he is up to date and educated in what he is talking about. If Pastor Keith is talking about something everyone knows that he is taking about the most current issues and he has the most accurate knowledge of the subject at hand. Something else that he does well is engage his listeners. Pastor Keith is very good at involving his audience in conversation regarding the subject that he speaking on and allowing them to way in and discuss their opinions and he can do all of this while never getting off topic. He is good at facilitating a two way conversation while still getting his point across. If there was anything that I would like to learn from him it would be how to be a good facilitator. I know how to research a topic and communicate what I have learned but I tend to have trouble keeping the conversation on track when I am facilitating a group conversation. It seems that I let the conversation get away from me and tend to let others take over so I would want to learn his skills for controlling an audience and still allowing them to feel like they are a part of the conversation. 

Professional Hopes and Goals

     
          In my work with children and families I have developed a hope that we all become united in our diversity. We are all diverse but we must unite so that we can learn to grow as one group of people celebrating differences as well as similarities. 

            One goal that I would like to set for the field of early childhood and those who work with children is that we accept others for who they are. As teachers we are supposed to set the example and we start by allowing children to be themselves and working to let those children shine through their individuality. 

        

           I would also like to thank everyone who has worked with me this past 8 weeks. I have enjoyed reading your blogs and your feedback to my blogs. This has been a true learning experience and I look forward to seeing some of you in the next 8 weeks. 

Families from around the world

            As EC specialists we come into contact with children of different cultures and backgrounds every day. Helping those children and their families to feel welcome is one of the most important parts of our job. When a teacher doesn’t know anything about a family or culture it important that he/she takes the time to learn about that culture, not just so they can interact with the family, but so they can incorporate things from that culture in their classroom so that the family can feel welcome and accepted.

            For the purposes of this assignment I chose to write about working in a child care center with a family from Vietnam. I have never studied Vietnam before and after some recent research I realize that our country and the country of Vietnam are extremely different. The first thing I would do to help myself get acquainted with the family is to research the country that the family came from and the culture of that country. I would then learn some key words of the language the family speaks so that I can communicate with them when I meet them. I would incorporate some pictures of the country and ask for some pictures of the family to help the child acclimate to their new surroundings while still feeling comfortable with who they are and where they come from. I would also add some books to the classroom library that represented that country. And finally I would invite the family to come in and read some of their nursery rhymes and children’s stories to the class in their native tongue and invite an interpreter to help the other children to understand the story.

            In making these preparations I hope to not only help the other family feel comfortable with their new home but to help me feel comfortable in my role as caregiver to these children. By researching their country and learning how to communicate in their native language I am showing them that I do care about them and where they come from instead of just expecting them to conform to American ways. 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice and Oppression

           Growing up in my house I unfortunately witnessed prejudice on a daily basis. My father was an extremely prejudice man and it affected my home all the time. I was not allowed to have African American friends and was forbidden to date anyone of color. I was often angered at these rules, I could not understand what made my family different than one of a different color and would argue this point with my father and grandfather. One incident that specifically stands out to me is a moment when I had a friend hanging out on the front steps with me. He was a black boy of about 13 and we were just sitting around talking when my father came home from work. He went ballistic, yelling at the boy to get away from his daughter and calling him all kinds of derogatory names. The boy was devastated and embarrassed and could not get off my steps fast enough. My father made that boy feel like he was smaller than an ant and took all of his power away from him. The boy’s confidence and self-esteem suffered a great deal from that incident and I am sure others of a similar nature. We lived in a low income area where Caucasians and African Americans argued all the time.

            Even after 25 years this incident is still burned into my brain. Before that time I had heard negative talk but had never been a first-hand witness to prejudice (especially in my own family) The hate that I saw in my father’s eyes was astonishing and is broke my heart. I was angry with my father but the young boy’s pain was obvious and it broke my heart. That moment changed my life because I knew that I would never allow my words and actions to make another human being feel that way about themselves. I do not see away for this incident to ever have been changed. Idealistically my father would learn to accept other human beings regardless of race or color but that still has not happened and at the age of 63 I do not see that happening in his life. It has taken him several years but he has finally accepted that his grandchildren are Hispanic but they are the only human beings that he will love and accept regardless of their race and he has said as much to me on more than one occasion. 

Awareness if Microaggressions

Before studying microaggressions in class I never realized just how prominent they were in everyday society. In just the past 5 days I have noticed a number if unintentional slights against myself and others that before would have been ignored as just another person’s way of thinking. Tuesday afternoon while preparing to leave for work I was talking with a few of my parents, one male and several female and the father made a comment about how all of our families must eat well having women to cook for them. This father is a single father and from interaction with his child I know that they eat out a lot. The father just assumed that because we were all women that we enjoyed cooking and could do it well. When one of the mothers laughed and claimed to hate cooking and not being very good at it either he was dumbfounded. He could not understand how a woman could not be good at or like cooking. As it turns out, I do love to cook and can hold my own in the kitchen but I am one of the few in that particular group that could. Several of the women took offense to the comment and one or two just laughed it away. I do not believe that the man meant to offend, I do not know a lot about his life or behaviors outside of his home (he keeps his home life very guarded) so he may have been raised to believe these things.

After hearing the offensive comment I was at first upset to think that someone could be so callous but then I realized that no offense was meant and I probably would have laughed the statement away had I not been in this course. I did notice however that some of the other women in the group felt a little more hurt by the comment. One of the women went so far as to blatantly correct the man which made him feel embarrassed and fool. I almost felt more embarrassed for the man after he was admonished than I did for the women when he made the comment. The one thing that stands out to me the most is that words hurt. Whether intended or not our words have the power to hurt others and we have to make a conscious effort to say the right thing all the time. That means educating ourselves on other cultures and ways of life as well as educating ourselves in the people in our communities and how their cultures may fit in or stand apart from ours. 

Perspectives on Culture and Diversity

“Culture is a person’s way of life.”

                                    -John

“Culture is tradition.”

                                    -Shannon

“Culture is people coming together to celebrate differences.”

            `                       -Ann-Marie

Working through this course I have learned that culture is the coming together of others to learn about and share their life experiences with others. The definitions and reflections that I received from others seem to share that same sentiment. Of the three definitions one includes a person’s way of life which includes the daily choices that they make. It also includes the traditions that they practices and the ones they choose not to take part in.

Each definition that I received, if evaluated separately, leaves something out but if all three of these definitions were to be combined into one they would encompass a pretty accurate definition of what culture means to me. It is more than just the choices that a person makes, or the traditions that they practice, it is how they come together to share these experiences with others and to learn about why and how others do those same things. My definition of culture would include all of these things and more. Every aspect of a person’s life is affected by their culture from the way they choose to live to the way they treat others and/or accept others into their lives.

One thing that I noticed is that most people did not discuss diversity when relating a definition about culture. I believe that diversity is an extremely important part of culture. As people we have to understand that everyone, though they have similarities, also has differences and we have to learn to accept those difference so everyone can feel like they belong. 

My Family Culture

           If I had to move myself and my family to another country and could not take my personal belongings with me I do not know how I would feel. I think I would have a hard time conveying this to my children because they are extremely attached to their belongings. This is a decision that would have to be made as a family but if I had to choose on my own I would choose my Bible, my family made cookbook and a scrapbook made of my children’s experiences.

            I would chose the Bible because it is representative of my faith and everything that I believe in. It is not only representative of my faith but it is a teaching tool that I can use to continue to share my faith with my family in this new place. Without the Bible I think my family’s faith in God and our spiritual growth would be hindered.

            My family’s homemade cook book is a great way to share stories and memories of the life left behind. My children and I have create a family cookbook with recipes that we have created and love and in the cookbook are stories of how some of the recipes were created along with pictures of myself and my children actually cooking the meals. Time spent in the kitchen with my children is one of the most precious moments of my day. We are creating memories that will last a life time and if we keep this cookbook with us then we can share that family time as generations go on.

            The third item that I would bring with me is a scrapbook of my children and our lives together. The experiences that I have shared with my children have helped to shape them and form the bonds that create our family relationships. These experiences are a part of the reason that they view the world the way they do and that is going to affect the way they grow and develop and raise their own kids. I want them to be able to remember their experiences and share them with the future generations of our family.

If I had to choose just one of these items to take and leave the rest behind I would be absolutely devastated. I would have an extremely difficult time choosing what to leave behind. I do not know that I could choose just one. I have learned through this entire process that all of my life experiences boil down to two things, my faith and my children. Without these two things I would not be the person I am today. 

Final thoughts on research simulation

            The course Building Research Competencies has been a very interesting course for me. I have never been very interested in research. In fact, research and the thought of being a part of a research study has overwhelmed me and even scared me at times. Through this course I have learned that with careful planning and organization research is not something to be afraid of, it is a very helpful tool that allows professionals to know how to work in their field. While I once thought that research was a chore that one did just because they had to I now believe that if a person is truly passionate about something they should work towards researching that subject because it will help them to truly understand the nature if the subject and where they fit into that subject.

            While taking this course I learned that research is a step by step process. A study has to be carefully planned from the research question that will be studied to the participants that will take part. How to choose your participants is a very important part of the process as well. When planning and designing a research study it is important to not take anything for granted. Ethics and how they are going to affect a study is something that has to be considered extensively because if something goes ethically wrong the entire study could have to be scrapped causing the researchers to start over.

            While working through my research simulation one challenge that I faced was narrowing down my research question. I was not sure of where to go with it but after careful research I was able to find a direction. It is important to look at past research when planning a project so you know what has been done and what still needs to be learned through the research process. Through this process I have learned that if an early childcare professional is serious about their job and committed to their profession they will study research and learn as much as they can about their given field so they can help as many children as possible.  This is not to say that they have to take part in a research study because participating in a research project is not for everyone but they should always keep their eyes on the research that is coming out and how it affects the children in their care. 

Child Care in other countries

                 While looking through the international websites I noticed one thing, and that is that all other nations are dealing with similar issues as we are in the United States. We sometimes think that other people’s problems are not our own but the truth is that we all suffer the same problems regardless of location or culture. In Zambia they are dealing with Quality Assessment programs, in Eritrea it’s the improvement if quality of care an in Nigeria it’s the inclusion of fathers in Early Childhood Care. I think that sometimes as Americans we tend to view our country and our problems as one of a kind but the truth is that these other countries have the same problems that we do and we are all struggling for answers to the same questions. We are all trying to improve the quality of care for our children. I think that if we all came together to recognize each other’s similarities and differences we might have a better chance of accomplishing our goal. 

The importance of research

There was once a time when I would not have thought about child development and research, but then I became a parent. When my daughter was born she had many allergies, asthma and would always contract pneumonia and I was always frustrated with her illnesses. Before we knew she had allergies we could not figure out why she was getting sick but through various research studies regarding asthma and other illness we learned that it was allergies causing her health problems. When my son was born and suffered most of the same illnesses we went back to the research that we retrieved when my daughter was born and learned that he had the same allergies and illnesses as her. Without the research that was done I may not have been able to determine what was wrong with either one of my children and we would have spent even more time than we already had dealing with hospital stays for pneumonia and discomfort for my children. Past research studies were a great help to my children medically and while I do not believe that studies should be harmful or dangerous to children I do believe that research is important so as long as organizations are following a standard and code of ethics research should continue. 

Simulation Project

         The topic that I chose for the simulation project deals with social emotional development. I have always been fascinated with how family dynamics affect children. I grew up in a home with a drug addict father and a very weak willed mother who let him push her around. Growing up I had my share of emotional issues but it wasn't until I was faced with a very similar situation in my adult life that I looked at why I had those emotional issues. Becoming a single mother and working my way through college has broadened my horizons in such a way that I am now able to research this topic. Another reason why I chose this topic is because my ex-step children have some social emotional problems but unlike me their parents did not stay together so he did not have a dysfunctional father in the home. He did however have a lot of contact with his father during some of his most dysfunctional times. My son, on the other hand, has had little to no contact with his father and still exhibits some of the same emotional problems that his brother has displayed over the years. It is for this reason that my narrowed topic is to try and determine if it makes a difference to the child’s social emotional development if the dysfunctional parent is in the home or out of the child’s life. From looking at these three scenarios it would seem that having a dysfunctional father in the home affected me in similar ways to my son not having a father in his life at all so I would like to research the issue and see what studies have found.
            One problem that I am having in regards to research is that I am finding very little about fathers. Most of the research that I am finding talks about intact families or single mothers. I have not seen anything about fathers and their impact on children unless it is in the context of a full family unit. 

Consequences and goals for the future

         Throughout this course I have read a lot of things that have surprised me about the field of Early Childhood Development and its problems and issues around the world. I was more surprised about the things that I have learned about the field of Early Childhood Development and our own country. The things that I have learned in this class have inspired me to do more for children, not only in my immediate area but also around the world.

Consequence #1:

            I have taken a more active interest in the needy in my area. It’s true that I live in a somewhat stable area and the community in which I live does not have a lot of impoverished and needy people but it did not take much research for me to find out that within 30 minutes of my small town there is a significant homeless and underprivileged population.  I am now researching ways to help children in the surrounding areas.

Consequence #2:

            I have learned a great deal about the state of child care around the world. The research that I have done has shown me that there are problems with the field of early childhood development around the world. While we have an inequality in standards of care here in the United States other areas of the world are having even more trouble than we are. Organizations like UNESCO have helped me with resources about ways that the field of early childhood development can be made better in my own backyard as well as around the world.

Consequence #3:

            The final thing that this course has done is inspire me. The content of this course reminded me of the reason that I entered into this field in the first place. I want to make a difference on the lives of children. Not just the ones who can afford it but the ones who can’t as well. I want to be a light for the children who see no hope and the issues read about in this course helped me to remember that and have inspired me to move forward.

            One professional goal that has come from the research in this course is that of spreading awareness of global issues. I would love to find a program to partner with that will spread awareness of the state of early childhood development in the world and work to make it better. The only way for things to change is for people to get involved and they cannot get involved of they are not informed. So my first goal is to inform people of the problems out there and see where that leads in the future. 

            After reviewing the UNESCO website it is clear that the United States is not the only place where quality and equality in early childhood is a problem. The first thing that I noticed is that this organization is working to bring quality child care programs around the world. Places like Africa, the Arab States, Latin America and the Caribbean are all a part of this organization as is North America, Europe and Asia. Some of these nations have more money to put towards early childhood development than others but all of them realize the importance of early childhood development and are trying to make it the true start of a child’s education. Something else about this organization is that they are also pushing for curricula that puts the entire child first. It is not all about academics and cognitive development. They are trying to advance the education of the holistic child which is something that a lot of people that do not work in the field do not realize. Parents always to make sure that their children are “learning” but pay little attention to their development and this organization is trying to spread the word around the world that it’s not just academics but the whole child that needs to develop. This is a great website and it was wonderful to red that so many people around the world are trying to help children receive a quality education, especially those that cannot afford a private education. 

Excellence and Quality in Australia

After a more careful review of the website Early Childhood Australia I learned that they not only have their own e-newsletter but they also have a magazine publication. When I click on that link it takes me away from the website to these actual articles from the magazine for several years back. This is a great resource tool for teachers and parent alike because a lot of these articles are researched based and can help a parent or teacher to understand child development or ways to handle a problem that they are having with a specific child.

            One thing that the Australian Government is doing to help the field of early childhood development is a project called the American Early Childhood Census. This program is trying to develop a nationwide quality rating system to ensure that all children receive the same quality of care across the nation. A program like this would be a great benefit to the United States our nation is so divided when it comes to the field of early childhood development that it is difficult to determine what is considered quality care from one state to the next. No two children in the United States receive the same standard of care and that is frustrating. As an ECE specialist it exasperates me to know that if I go to a different state I would be held to a different standard of care for the children in my center. Australia is trying to remedy this problem in their country so that all children receive the same quality of care.  

Harvard's Global Initiative Organization

I still have not heard back from the professionals through the nation that I contacted I could not access the pod casts so I reviewed the Harvard website for the Global Children’s Initiative to review what is happening around the world. I guess it is because as an American I tend to have tunnel vision but I always just focused on what was happening in my own backyard. The organization Global Children’s Initiative taking standards and quality of care for early childhood development all over the world and trying to help children everywhere have access to an education and an excellent standard of care. This organization is helping countries like Canada bring programs that will help educators to understand brain development of children in poverty. It is also bringing programs to families in countries like Brazil to help them understand the science of child development. Something else that this organization is doing is to help low income and poverty stricken countries to have quality child care programs that will benefit their children and hopefully help their economies in the future. This organization and its founding partner the Mother Child Education Foundation of Turkey believes in the science of early childhood development in the global efforts for improving child development. 

Sharing Web Resources

The website that I chose to study further is the Early Childhood Australia website and the reason that I really like this website is because it had an extensive amount of resources for those working in early childcare. It keeps teachers current with what is going on in the here and now but it also has an archive of the Australian Journal of Early Childhood which is a professional journal that has resources and research about a large variety of topics being studied in Australia regarding the field of Early Childhood Development.

This sight not only helps teachers and parents stay caught up on what is current in early childhood development, such as the issue of screen time in the classroom and how much technology should be used in the classroom but it also helps teachers know what government is planning in regards to incorporating indigenous programs into the classrooms of Australia. The politicians have to make difficult decisions in Australia the same way that they do here and they are following the research. As teachers we may see things one way but the politicians have to look at more than just the good of an individual classroom so their job is slightly more difficult.

This website is wonderful for teachers and parents alike. It also has resources for ideas about ways to incorporate best practices into the classroom and how to share those best practices in the home when the school day is over. Overall a very informative website. 

International Contacts and Poverty

While working on this blog assignment I unfortunately did not have any success reaching out to contacts from other countries. None of the contacts that I made returned my emails or phone calls and I was unable to get the podcasts to work so I had no choice but to research the UNICEF Website. On the website I found a document that has shown me some startling statistics and makes me realize that even though poverty is present in the United States it is so much more prevalent in other countries. For example, more than 658 million people is South Asia alone have no place to use the restroom or wash their hands and are forced to openly defecate which means that they find a bush or a river to defecate in causing a lack of sanitary conditions that lead to sickness and disease. Even the homeless people in the United States can find someplace to use the restroom and wash themselves. Another startling fact for me to see is that 63 million children under the age of 5 have had their growth stunted due to malnutrition in South Asia. After some careful research I could not find any statistics of the same problem in the United States. While I am certain that this a problem seen in the United States it is not nearly as serious as it is in other countries. Another statistic that was shocking to me was the fact that more than half of all deaths to children under the age of 5 years old take place in just 5 countries with the majority of those 5 countries being in South Asia (UNICEF, 2014). I realize that poverty is an important issue that affects child development and that the United States should be doing everything they can to help the children of this country to overcome this challenge so they can have proper development but as an advocate for all children I challenge you to notice the children of other countries, less industrialized countries and find out what you can do for them as well. These children deserve the same chance at a healthy development as do the children of the United States and it is a sad state that the world is in when only a few notice the problems of so many.

Resources

UNICEF. (2014). UNICEF Strategic Plan 2014-2017. Retrieved on January 22, 2015 from, http://www.unicef.org/strategicplan/files/UNICEF_Strategic_Plan__2014-2017_e-version.pdf

International Resources-Early Childhood Australia

           The organization that I chose to study further for the purposes of this course is Early Childhood Australia. This organization offers teaching tips and tools for teachers as well as opportunities for teachers to further their education. It also offers resources for parents on how to handle various developmental problems and an e-newsletter that is full of articles on current events and tips as well as news on policy making and government involvement in the early childhood field. The link to this website is: http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/.

            One issue that the newsletter from this organization that I noticed that we would relate to in America is that of offering parenting classes to young people of various cultures. In the December news article there was talk of an organization helping young Aboriginal men how to become good fathers and often times we find that young men and women in low income areas and households also need some teaching on how to be quality parents. Maybe it is their age and maybe it is their circumstance but it is a fact that parenting classes are something that should be offered to a lot of people both here and in other countries.

            One thing that I learned from this organization is that no matter what country you live in there is always room for more professional development and everyone takes the education of young children very seriously. Studying the way other countries experience their early childhood programs and the education of their teachers is helpful in leading me toward my goals of having our nation take on a bigger role in the education of our youngest children. Everyone stresses learning for kids in K-5 classrooms but what about smaller children. Other countries take serious this area of study while every state in our nation has a different set of guidelines for what their teachers have to do to teach. This organization takes the time to stress education and provides teachers with opportunities to do further their education. America should consider this as a nation and not just individual states. 

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

        In trying to make contact with ECE Specialists from around the world I contacted Mr. Eric Atmore from South Africa and a Mrs. Besilda Rios from the Philippines. Neither one of these professionals responded to my emails. Even though I sent them written letters I am going to say that I am probably going to have to go with the alternative assignment for the blog posts and listen to pod casts. If I hear back from the professionals I will go on with the assignment without modifying it.

        For part 2 of the assignment I am choosing the website Early Childhood Australia: A Voice for Young Children. I am choosing this website because I have read a lot of studies coming out of Australia over the past through years in my Journey through early childcare development and am usually fascinated by what they are doing over there. I look forward to learning more about their approaches to Early Childhood Development and how Australian professionals feel like the field can be made better.