What I learned Internationally about the Childhood Field.

As we have come to the end of our course, I have gained so much information and resources about the EC field over all. Most importantly, I was challenged to step out of my comfort zone of learning specifically about EC in my county, to expand my learning internationally. Three things I have learned about Child development internationally are:

• The importance of maintaining and preserving ones’ home language, when entering another country.
• The United States recognizes the importance of early education, while many other countries are still in the development process.
• How health and nutrition can have a huge impact on a child’s development, and ability to learn.

Through this course I have also learned how to be a leader, and an advocate for all children, and resources on how to design my classroom environment to facilitate the unique differences that each child and family member may bring.

“The idea of belonging and membership, being part of a community, is a basic human need. It’s one of the principles of our democratic society. We all have the same needs, we want to be loved, we want to have friends, we want to feel that we are making a contribution in our families, in our communities…we learn about understanding what someone’s interests and point of view are by interacting with them. To include everyone is to open up those possibilities for learning and appreciating our humanity.”

Dr. Joseph Petner, Educator

Getting To Know Your International Contacts Part 3

This week as an alternative assignment, we were asked to view a website through UNESCO’S Early Childhood Education. The importance of this website is to look closely into the professional field of Early Educators, as well as defining the role of quality care for children.

Research shows the most critical period for children’s brain development occurs between the birth to eight years of age http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/.

In order for children to receive quality care, and a curriculum that will help facilitate all of their developmental needs, professionals need to have access to effective trainings, funding to support or continue their education, and workshops that will continue to keep professionals current on licensing regulations, and best practice policies.

In this week’s reading resource it states that “The ECCE workforce is often made up of a diverse group of pre-school teachers, care workers, informal careers and other professionals. Adequate training and work conditions are essential so they can integrate the content and practice of early childhood care and education and address the transition to formal schooling” http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/quality/.

To ensure we are meeting the needs of all children, there needs to be a partnership between home, school, and community, that also emphasis’s the importance of play and hands on experiences, in preparation to primary education.

Research shows that, “  Active involvement from parents and communities and relevant play and learning materials ensure that early childhood services remain relevant to the needs of the children and all other stakeholders and increases sustainability” http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/quality/.

Further into the reading article, another interesting fact was the issue of funding, and providing quality care for children coming from lower income homes, and continuing to provide a holistic approach to learning, that will meet all sectors of diverse communities. Preserving natural environments, and providing professionals with the proper tools to help children become successful, is a huge key to children staying abroad their social, and cognitive development, and help to reduce the large gap of low academic achievement across the board.

Reference:

 Early Childhood care and Education. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/access-and-equity/.

Sharing Web Resources.

This week we discussed children from low SES, ESL, and other differences that may create a barrier for children to enter quality care programs, which will aid in success academically later in life. I noticed a few barriers in the professional contact website I have been following:

While continuing my journey through the; National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP). I came across a link that followed a few Articles in the New York Times.

The first article talked about the reasons other countries teach better, “The American work force has some of the weakest mathematical and problem-solving skills in the developed world, adults in the United States scored far below average and better than only two of 12 other developed comparison countries, Italy and Spain. Worse still, the United States is losing ground in worker training to countries in Europe and Asia whose schools are not just superior to ours but getting steadily better” http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/18/opinion/why-students-do-better-overseas.html?smid=pl-share&_r=0.

America’s stature as an economic power is being threatened by societies above us and below us on the achievement scale. Wealthy nations with high-performing schools are consolidating their advantages and working hard to improve. At the same time, less-wealthy countries like Chile, Brazil, Indonesia and Peru, have made what the O.E.C.D. describes as “impressive gains catching up from very low levels of performance.” In other words, if things remain as they are, countries that lag behind us will one day overtake us http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/18/opinion/why-students-do-better-overseas.html?smid=pl-share&_r=0.

Another important article linked to the success of children and adults in countries beyond the U.S, discussed how there were too few girls and minorities attending math and science studies.

“Women make up nearly half the work force but have just 26 percent of science, technology, engineering or math jobs, Blacks make up 11 percent of the workforce but just 6 percent of such jobs and Hispanics make up nearly 15 percent of the work force but hold 7 percent of those positions. There is no question that women and minorities have made progress in science and math in the last several decades, but their gains have been slow and halting. And in the fast-growing field of computer science, women’s representation has actually declined in the last 20 years, while minorities have made relatively small gains” http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/11/opinion/too-few-girls-and-minorities-study-tech-subjects.html.

References:

Why Other Countries Teach Better: Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/18/opinion/why-students-do-better-overseas.html.

Missing From Science Class : Too Few Girls and Minorities Study Tech Subjects. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/11/opinion/too-few-girls-and-minorities-study-tech-subjects.html.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts Part 2.

 This week I chose to learn about the; Global Children’s Initiative organization which is on the; Harvard University website. This organization serves children and families form very poor living conditions to more affluent conditions. The purpose and mission of Global Children’s Initiative, is to improve children’s health and development.

Global Children’s Initiative are focusing on three strategic areas; the firs us educating decision-makers on the importance of behavior and health in a child’s early years, next, researching on how health begins, when healthy living declined, and how to get back on the right path of healthy development, and the last part of the plan is to help build and strengthen communities through leadership, by focusing on individuals from low income and middle income countries, by increasing the number of diverse individuals that will aid in the movement of advocating for young children http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/.

While looking closely on the website, I noticed an article published in March-April, 2009 entitled; The Developing Child. What I found interesting about this article was that in Chile, and Latin America children are not taught to read or recognize alphabets until the first grade.  In both countries, educators believe that children should be able to play as long as they can, and worry about “education” by the first grade; however by doing so children are thrown in the classrooms with high expectations to stay on level, without the basic fundamentals they would need to prepare http://harvardmagazine.com/2009/03/the-developing-child.

This website offers articles on; Scientific research of the developing child, Early childhood policy programs, and Student Leadership Development.

Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community.

Anthony J. D'Angelo

References:

 Global Children’s Initiative: Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/

The Developing Child: 2009. Retrieved from http://harvardmagazine.com/2009/03/the-developing-child

Sharing Web Resource..

While viewing the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP), I noticed an article; Investing in Young Children. The article talked about how quality programs are so beneficial to the growth and development in young children. “The children that are in risk of educational failure, are those experiencing poverty, or circumstances that may limit early experiences, and the benefits of attending an early learning center that promotes  rich educational programs” http://www.nccp.org/publications/pdf/text_1085.pdf. In my profession, it is very important for me to provide a nurturing, caring, safe, and purposeful learning environment for the children and families I serve. 

Under the section; Housing Subsidies and Child Development Publications; there was a discussion about the percentage of individuals living in low income housing, and how overcrowded units may be due to the physical conditions of the building and other related issues. I do think this is accurate in most cases, however I also feel as though individuals living in subsidy housing units face the issue of spending majority of their wages on rent, that in some cases may ban forces with other family members to live together, and make ends meet.

NCCP foundation works closely with the government and state to provide programs such as; Health and Nutrition, Early care and education, Parenting and economic support, which involves earned income and tax relief for families, child support, and TANF which provides temporary monetary assistance to families.

By exploring this website, I found resource articles on Adolescent Health& Youth Development, strategies that help children with social emotional skills, language skills, and academic skills that need to succeed in their early school years.

Reference:

Housing subsidies and Child Development Publications. Retrieved from http://www.nccp.org/projects/housing_pubs.html.

Adolescent Health & Youth Development. Retrieved from http://www.nccp.org/topics/adhealth&youthdev.html

Early Care and Learning. Retrieved from http://www.nccp.org/topics/earlycareandlearning.html

Investing in Young Children, 2013. Retrieved from http://www.nccp.org/publications/pdf/text_1085.pdf

Getting to Know Your International Contacts.

Welcome back fellow colleagues!! So last week’s Blog discussed an article of choice form a website or professional contact. Rather than continue to wait for responses from those contacts in which I reached out to, I realized there are so many websites and resources that offer important information on child poverty, education, and advocacy.

Last week’s Blog featured the website, http://www.nbcdi.org/ ( National Black Child Development Institute). This week, I decided to add the website; http://www.nccp.org/topics/childpoverty.html (National Center for Children in Poverty).

The reason I chose NCCP was because this week’s class discussion focused a lot on poverty, and I was fortunate enough to find articles and information on how this foundation advocates for children and families.

NCCP has a vision that focuses on economic stability for children and families, helping children and families build and maintain healthy nurturing relationships, and overall healthy child development. On my journey through the website I ran across the media room and found a section, “For poor kids, recommendation to read aloud is even more critical”.  The article discussed how Pediatricians are encouraging families to read to their children as much as possible, this is imperative to children coming from disadvantage homes.

Research shows that “encouraging families to read aloud to the 16  million children below the poverty line form an early age, can improve the achievement gap between affluent children, and those that are disadvantaged” http://www.nccp.org/topics/childpoverty.html.

There were so many projects that have been successfully achieved by NCCP such as; Improving the odds for adolescents, which focused on improving children’s health, Project thrive, focusing on improving child development, and providing funds for quality care through the Maternal and Child health Bureau. Social Inclusion and Respect for Diversity, which promotes diversity and inclusion in child development centers in the U.S. Strategies for early learning, providing children the proper education foundation to ensure success as they enter school. Youth, homelessness, and education, focuses on children 12-17 that have either run away from home, or have been homeless, by rebuilding their stability and initiative to become successful individuals and to continue their education paths.

This website is very informative of current issues and trends that extend even further than poverty, there are resources on housing programs, as well as how to help families regain their financial stability.

 Poverty is everyone's problem. It cuts across any line you can name: age, race, social, geographic or religious. Whether you are black or white; rich, middle-class or poor, we are ALL touched by poverty.
-- Kathleen Blanco

Resource:

 National Center for Children in Poverty. Retrieved from http://www.nccp.org/projects/show.php?id=41

Sharing Web Resources

The website I chose to explore is the; (NBCDI) National Black Child Development Institute http://www.nbcdi.org/

The NBCDI focuses on helping black children gain success academically, by providing programs for advocacy, EC educator trainings, family involvement seminars, trainings on health and wellness, literacy programs, and child welfare.

While viewing one of the news letters through NBCDI, I came across an article on; The Lasting Impact on Mentoring Black Males. I found this article interesting because it talked about how young boys around the 3^rd or 4^th grade began to loose their motivation and passion for learning, primarily in black males that have been “misdiagnosed or over disciplined” (http://www.nbcdicht.org/nbcdicht/spring_2014#pg40).

Rather than focus on the negatives with black males who seem to struggle in school, or within their community, finding an alternative such as a mentor program, can be the foundation for motivating and encouraging children to be success in school throughout their lives.

Another interesting section of the newsletter that caught my attention was a section on; Being Black is not a Risk Factor. What I gained from this section was that it was a researched based project designed to focus on black children and families strengths in relation to enhancing education, strengthening the black communities, helping families rise above poverty levels, and providing safe and affordable housing.

References:

 Lasting Impact on Mentoring Black Males (2014). Retrieved from

http://www.nbcdicht.org/nbcdicht/spring_2014#pg4