Monthly Archives: June 2014

Final thoughts…at this time

This class has had it’s share of ups and downs.  Plenty to learn about and plenty of frustrations.  While there have been plenty of moments where I have learned quite a bit, there have also been moments where I have been wondering where to even begin looking for information.  This brings me to the consequences of not knowing where to look in regards to international contacts.  

The first consequence has to do with having several backup plans in place when it comes to finding people to get in contact with.  I found out that it is a good idea to utilize social media to some extent.  Another consequence that I found is that when I got my initial responses, I had to realize that there was interest but they were also busy.  I also should have sent them an email earlier in the week instead of trying to contact them halfway through the week and hope that they would respond to me.  Another consequence is that in order to really communicate with people, you have to have much more time because there is always going to be a chance that if you don’t communicate with a teacher right away, they may be more likely to talk during break because they will have more time to devote to communication.

My goal is to continue to try to make the international contacts so that I can gain more insights that I was not able to gain before.  It will also give me more of a chance to slowly develop more resources and not feel like I have to have the information yesterday.  I am hoping that as time goes on I will be able communicate with more than the three people that had initially contact with.  It seems like a big undertaking, but there will be a time when these contacts will be useful when I become an early childhood professional.

(Still not) getting to know my international contacts–pt 3

When it comes to trying to get to know international contacts it is great when you actually get a response.  I realize that they are very busy and have a lot of things to do.  I decided this time to look at UNESCO’s “Early Childhood Care and Education” website (http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/).  As I looked at this website there were a couple of areas in particular stood out to me the most.  These two areas actually covered areas that we have been discussing in class.

When I looked at the area in regards to quality, the article was explaining that parents and communities that are actively involved and play and learning materials that are relevant make sure that the early childhood needs are relevant and met.  This section also explains how these programs are supposed to focus on the child holistically, which after reading this I completely agreed with.  The child should be looked at holistically and not just in terms of trying to get a child ready to go to school.  When I was reading the Access and Equity section it was talking about how when the government was not able to provide enough resources, it was the poor children that would ultimately suffer.  When the government tries to promote equality in providing educational resources for children that are in different target groups and there is a difference in enrollment in one of those groups, then things will end up becoming unequal.

Sharing Web Resources pt. 3

The part of this class that I have really enjoyed was getting to look at other websites, particularly the NIEER website that I have had the privilege to get their e-newsletter.  This website has so much information and there are so many different areas to explore.  I have looked more on the research tab and of course there are so many different areas that can be covered, in reality, than time would really allow.  This is one of those websites that is constantly changing and no matter what articles you look at today, there will be different articles available later.  After saying this I realize that there would be no chance that I would be able to see everything that is on this website.  

Under Research, I looked under that tab that talks about teachers.  There is information that is used for training tools as well as other articles that give teachers statistics and fascinating resources.  On the newsletter that I get sent to my email, or their blog, there is an article about Immigrant Parents and Early Childhood Programs.  There was also an article about English language literacy in immigrant parents is important for Early Childhood Education.  I think those articles might have been more helpful for the discussion post than for the rest of the assignments.  I really did not see much about child care.  The newsletter also gives you information about a conference that is on the calendar about Honoring Children, Honoring Equity that is scheduled in November.   

There was so much information to learn from the website that some of the information that I looked up was so interesting it is hard to pinpoint just one or two things that I learned.  The issues and trends that are on this website, do and yet do not really follow exactly what the aim of the class is.  While there are some issues and trends that are discussed on this website, it seems like the majority of the information that is shared on this website really has to do with preschool and just how important it is for young children.  There really is not much information available on poverty or any of the other issues that we have had to focus on.

Getting to know your international contacts–pt2

Well, another week and still no word from my contacts.  I have asked my contacts questions about what we have been studying this week, and I keep being hopeful that I will finally hear from them.  I decided to read one of the optional articles in the optional resources because I figured that instead of trying to figure out what to do and try to change to the alternative at this point in the class.  It is not like I am not trying to continue to attempt to contact them.  I decided to look at the article from Harvard University on the Global children’s initiative.  The entire article was really interesting.  I really thought that the way this global initiative collaborated with professionals from different areas was really interesting.  Reading this entire article was actually very informative.  It would have been nice to be able to share more but I decided that sometimes brief is better than nothing.

Sharing Web Resources

There has been so much interesting information that I have gleaned from this website (nieer.org) that it has been hard to choose just one thing.  I would have to say that as far as my professional development is concerned I don’t know which one to really choose.  I would have to say that an article from the NIEER newsletter that really caught my particular attention was the one about Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.  I remember watching that show when I was younger and to find out that it was actually directed toward preschoolers was really interesting to me.  I always learned so much when I would watch that show.  I also think that the way he would make up little songs in order to teach creative things was really cool. 

When we were working on one of our other assignments, an article that I read on this site had caught my eye.  It is entitled “Expanding Access to Quality Pre-K is Sound Public Policy” and when I read this I felt that it really made me have to think.  As I read this particular article I realized that there were things in there that I did not really agree with, as far as either my philosophical or even political beliefs.  Granted that not everything that is read has to be taken at face value and that there should always be room for a good debate on issues.  

This article though, as well as the article on Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, do give insight on how other groups like economists and politicians view the early childhood field.  It was through the Mr. Roger’s article that I gained understanding as to why there has been a need for providing Pre-K  for all children.  The newsletter for this week really gave me several articles that addressed different areas in regards to the funding of preschool, and states that have programs that have several challenges that need to be met in order to change them.  Nevada, for example, is at the bottom of enrollment for preschools.