Learning all over the world

Hello all As we end our journey with this course it brings me to discuss all the valuable information we researched and found with the different issues and trends around the world. I investigated a variety of websites that provided so much information about the early childhood field, especially about building the professional skills of early childhood teachers overseas. I think about myself, and how at 37 I am just now finished with my BS and in the upward climb of my masters. I went back to school to become more knowledgeable in the field of early childhood and to learn how to educate adults in this field. How awesome would it be to be one of those teachers that got to go overseas and teach other adults how to work and educate young children? I had a professor during my junior year at UC and she lived by Dubai and her job as a western teacher was to help educate and demonstrate to the teachers in that country the importance of learning through play and how socializing is a vital part to learning. My husband has been to that part of the country so I knew a bit about where she was at. She was my teacher for my Student Teaching and we had to have conferences via the web (skype) to go over my videos, activity plans, and overall teaching which she was able to view from the video. She mesmerized me with her knowledge and understanding of how to communicate and talk to young children. We also discussed a lot about what her work there involved and how responsive the teachers were to western teachers educating them. I could not get ahold of this professor to be able and see how well her time overseas was, but she truly loved her job and enjoyed being there. Gas was also only 89 cents. HELLO!!!! My consequences to using international websites, resources, and podcasts are: see how other early childhood teachers handle current issues and trends, to see how the early childhood field is or isn't valued overseas, and I truly understand how we all overseas and in the United States need to build our professional skills to work with young children. We are not baby sitters; we are educators that help develop the minds and bodies of young children. I enjoyed this class and I am honored to have Dr. Johnna Darragh be the instructor for this course. Your interviews for other courses are tools that are extremely helpful in understanding the early childhood field. Melissa

3 important skills

One of the biggest parts in the early childhood field is research and finding out how children develop and what aspects of the development is important for our children and for their future. On the webpage it talks about “What three important three most important skills a child should learn?” This is a valuable concept that really made me think about the skills that are necessary for children to be a productive asset to society. On the webpage, UNESCO’s “Early Childhood Care and Education, it discussed these skills and how they show the children’s value and moral make up. The first skill was “They need to learn about culture” (Sabeer, 2013). The author states how it is like glue that keeps us all together. If children learn about their culture and heritage then they have a better understanding of who they are and where they came from. Second was children need to have “values and respect” (Sabeer, 2013). I feel is one of the most important skills a child can learn. Values and respect is first learned at home and starts with “our families are the first teachers in our lives” (Sabeer, 2013). We have to teach our children how to respect and learn to have values in order for them to adhere to them. The third skill is “we should know our past so we can improve our future” (Sabeer, 2013). Wow what a statement, this is a truly valuable tool that helps us see and understand the world we live in and our place in the world. Children find themselves lost at time and having to live up to others expectations. Helping children to understand their culture comes from home as do values and respect. Parents need to understand the importance of being their children’s first teachers and setting that critical foundation for them. We teach our children how to live and this website shows us how research has proven it. Urvashi Sahni describes one of the skills necessary for our children to have is to be thinking critically about who they are and how they relate to their world around them. She also talks about how children need to be problem solvers and focus on peace, and equity. This is an important issue and concern for early childhood educators. We know that we want the children to bring the outside world into the classroom and we provide the experiences and learning opportunities for them to learn about the outside world within the classroom. We focus on activities that help them better understand the world around them. She also talks about being problem solvers. One of the biggest challenges in a classroom is to help children learn to solve issues or problems on their own. We have to ask open ended questions and provide the opportunity for them to problem solve so they can develop that skills. Otherwise we have a lot of children who tattle tale and become overly aggressive and feel others should do for them. We have to help the children learn to be productive citizens of society by enhancing these skills so our children learn to become adults who have values show respect, know their heritage and care about other people and the world around them. Reference (http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/),

Zero To Three/President's budget Plan for Early Childcare

The website I decided to use was Zero to Three. I have used this website a lot for references and I subscribed to the newsletter at the beginning of this class. I just received my first newsletter and I was surprised that it was full of offers to buy merchandise in the form of CD’s, books, subscribe to the Zero to Three Journals, two sided slide chart, earn your CEU’s for your CDA. The website also offered current resources for the month, but you also had to buy it to read it. The website let you search the catalog, visit the bookstore, and see digital downloads; these are also for purchasing I do know that the Zero to Three Website is nonprofit and offering these resources for purchase goes to help fund and keep the website and Journals up to date. The newsletter does let you connect to the website by one click and that allows you to access all the current information and recent articles. I was really impressed in the newsletter when it showed Little Kids Big Questions section where it also offered new CEU credits to renew one’s CDA. I was just recently asked if I knew where you could get CEU’s without having to go to one of those classes on Saturday or at night. This is a good opportunity for busy teachers and staff to renew their CEU’s on their own time, but it does cost money, $40.00 per podcast and one CEU credit. The website has a new addition to it that was posted on April 10, 2013. This addition was in regards to President Obama’s budget plan for early education. “The President’s Plan for Early Education for All Americans is the roadmap for the early learning components of the budget released today. The budget includes $1.4 billion to expand the comprehensive supports offered to the most vulnerable families through Early Head Start – which for almost 20 years has proven it improves both child and parental outcomes. The plan would provide $200 million in 2014 specifically to create more high-quality child care options for babies and toddlers with working parents, using Early Head Start’s quality benchmarks, expertise, and resources. Looking ahead, the budget proposal provides for $7 billion over 10 years to ensure young children and families have access to high-quality child care” (Zero to Three, 2013). This is a great addition to this week’s issue and trends, affordability, accessibility, and availability. The plan is to make sure that babies and toddlers have accessibility to affordable childcare that is high-quality. Zero to Three website is making this available to everyone on their website and you can even download the whole press release from the website too. Equity and excellence is importance in the Early Childhood field and the website Zero to Three brought awareness to President Obama’s budget plan for early education and this is about equity and excellence. It has finally been realized that investing in all of our children in the early years is important and this budget has set aside funds for low income families to receive high quality care for children ages birth to 2. This plan includes home visiting which is a big part of being equal in regards to quality child care. “The President’s plan also extends and expands home visiting -- which has been warmly embraced by states, communities, and parents -- to reach more families where they live, with information, guidance, and encouragement. The budget proposal released today allocates $15 billion of funding over 10 years to invest in this effort. “Babies don’t come with an instruction manual, and every parent can benefit from reliable information about early learning and a helping hand,” says Melmed. “The President’s plan helps parents utilize what science and evidence-based practice has to offer in order to give babies, toddlers, and young children the best start in life” (Zero to Three, 2013). “The President’s plan builds on what we know works: start early with consistent, high-quality, evidence-based supports that match what parents need and help parents nurture the early development of their babies and toddlers” (Zero to Three, 2013). Reference Zero To Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families http://www.zerotothree.org

TJ Skalaski/Podcast and Global Children's Initiative

One of the best ways to learn something new or to gain information is by listening to someone else explain or tell a story in regards to that particular information. This can be an issue or concern; brings more meaning or a better understanding when someone else provides a statement of how they are dealing with the issue or concern. I watch the podcast this week that was from TJ Skalski, a principal from Mother Earth's Children's Charter School. Her school is in Canada and it is the only indigenous charter school in all of Canada. Ms TJ Skalski discusses how she grew up living between two worlds. TJ Skalski is from the First Nation community in Alberta, Canada, and regained her BillC31 rights back federally but not in her community. TJ discusses how she grew-up living between two worlds: First Nation community and the outside world in Canada. TJ received an education and was drawn back to her First Nation community because she believed in reinvesting in the children from the First Nation community. TJ really wants to re-instill the culture and language of the First Nation back into these children. TJ Skalaski also discusses how the children feel trapped, worthless, frightened and scared. TJ Skalaski feels she can reach the children from her own experiences and help them to understand how to believe in themselves and their First Nation Community culture and language. I did email TJ Skalaski but I have not received a response yet. I also researched the website http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/ and found it to be a full of information and resources. “The Global Children’s Initiative has begun to build a portfolio of activities in three domains: • early childhood development; • child mental health; and • Children in crisis and conflict situations” (Global Children’s Initiative). The Global Children’s Initiative has designated personnel working around the world to “facilitate continuing cross-disciplinary collaboration; design and implement new projects; and engage additional faculty, students, and collaborators” (Global Children’s Initiative). The Global Children’s Initiative focuses on issues and trends that affect each certain region of the world. It works to help the children and educate the parents and community on how to improve early childhood development, child mental health, and children in crisis and conflict situations. In Africa the “Zambian Ministry of Education, the Examination Council of Zambia, UNICEF, the University of Zambia, and the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University launched Zambian Early Childhood Development Project (ZECDP) in 2009, a collaborative effort to measure the effects of an ongoing anti-malaria initiative on children’s development in Zambia” (Global Children’s Initiative). The studies and work of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University works to help all children around the world with their particular issues and conflicts. In Un Buen Comienzo, they started the “A Good Start” which works with early childhood teachers to build their professional and educational skills. I actually had a professor from the University of Cincinnati that worked overseas in Dubi. She was part of a group of Western Teachers that were contracted with the school systems in Dubi to educate Early Childhood teachers on how to teach children through play instead of worksheets. It was more complicated than that I am sure, but she was there to help educate the ECE in how to teach the whole child not just their academic skills. I feel this is what is meant by the Global Children’s Initiative. They work to help educate and train others in the field of early childhood development and education so they are more prepared to educate young children about issues and concerns in their region of the world. It is also to bring awareness to issues and trends in other parts of the world. “The Center’s commitment to global work represents both an acknowledgement of moral responsibility to meet the needs of all children and a critical investment in the roots of economic productivity, positive health outcomes, and strong civil society in all nations, from the poorest to the most affluent. One essential, cross-cutting aspect of the Center’s approach is its commitment to work collaboratively across disciplines and institutions, drawing together the best and most creative expertise available to achieve the Initiative’s goals” (Global Children’s Initiative). References Retrieved from: Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” website (http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/) World Forum Foundation Radio. Includes links to podcasts of conversations with early childhood professionals. http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/wf/radio.php