Part 3 Getting to Know International Contacts

As someone who did not succeed through email or podcast in establishing connection to another early childhood professional, I have again completed the alternate assignment for this week.

Although I have completed the alternate assignments, I can say that each week through exploring websites I have not previously known existed, I am learning new information and gaining in my knowledge of early childhood both here in America and abroad.

The website this week, from UNESCO's early childhood care and education page proved to be yet another site to find new information.

What I found first was the topics we have discussed during this course, 1. access and equity 2. quality 3. investment and financing 4. coordination and integration. I browsed through each of these tabs and the one thing I found was that there was a box on the right hand side with 'related inforamtion' containing articles related to each topic and involving different countries around the world. It still amazes me the number of countries that are just recently learning how valued early childhood is for the future. For example, the proposal of mandatory funding for preschool education in Brazil, was one article I found.

Secondly, I found the coordination and integration tab to be a bit confusing, maybe it was just me, but I do not fully understand what it means to split early childhood up as they were referring to. I will need to research this some more unless there is someone else who did this alternate assignment that could help better explain why? Thanks

Finally, what I did enjoy in the other two sections under the early childhood theme was that the other two areas, quality and access, stated what we have learned throughout this course. We need to insure that all of the children, even those in poor areas, have access to education and that a quality program makes the difference.

What an affirmation this week to the material we have studied, the papers written, and the collaborations we have had with each other in discussions and blogging.

More from Shared Web Resources

As I have viewed the www.nieer.org website more through the last few weeks, and received the newsletter via email, I have gained new information about not just the state of New Jersey (where the website is based out of) but other states as well. Through the access tab, I found articles related to the access of preschool to children in other states. I found an interesting link to an article published in Mississippi about how preschool is a key to economic development. How interesting that we were just discussing the role economics plays on early childhood or that early childhood plays on economics? Another link under the research in quality through nieer.org was an article on increasing the certifications of pre-K teachers in West Virginia. The links I found led to more information either by nieer.org itself or through other resources from other states. I am finding it interesting to explore the website and learn how similar and different the circumstances and curriculum in other states. This brings up the point of establishing standards for all states in regards to preschool. If one state is teaching math, and another is only teaching letters as a hypothetical example, how can we call that equity in programs? We can't, so I would support national standards for preschool so all states provide a more equitable preschool experience. There are additional articles in the newsletter I received a week ago about how preschool will affect economics and social development, thus affecting equity.

The website, www.nieer.org, I chose in the beginning is still proving to be a good choice for me as it is constantly updating (almost daily) what's new, links research to articles in other publications that are recent, and thus far I have been able to locate at least one article pertaining to our current topic at hand.

Getting to Know International Contacts - part 2

While I was hoping by now to have reached someone through a podcast or email, I have to no avail received contact back from anyone outside of my current class. However, through the alternate websites made available I am gaining in my knowledge of happenings in early childhood. When I looked at the 'Global Children's Initiative' by Harvard I was interested to find that there is a push to connect the United States with the rest of the world in the knowledge we have of early childhood. For example, the Global Children's Initiative is working in Brazil to enlighten them on child health and development in hopes to increase policies and investments for children. The initiative is working in Rwanda with the mental health of children affected by HIV/AIDS in some way. I cannot believe the amount of work we here in America are doing to work with other countries to insure that children in early childhood are valued and cared for more, not just here in the US but all over. Finally the initiative is looking into the effects of a crisis on children. For example, children in post-earthquake Haiti or children who are malnourished. I truly enjoyed this site, because while I value our own children here in the US, I understand that other countries may not have the tools or knowledge to place the same value on children and through the help of the Global Initiative, I believe we are helping to achieve a greater understanding and increase the value children have throughout the world.

Continuing to share information from Web resources

As I continue through this course, I gain new knowledge or insight each week. This week as we talked bout other fields that can have an influence on early childhood. I took another look at the www.nieer.org site and found that they conduct research in the areas we talked about this week. There is a whole tab section on economics and finance at the same time there is an additional tab on governance and accountability. It's not that I can say I never knew, but I guess I never paid much attention until this week to the other fields that play a role and have an impact on early childhood education. What I like about the NIEER site is that even though it is based here in my home state of New Jersey the information on the site is about all states. While my local state would be my primary focus, it is interesting to take a look at what other states are doing. If a state is working a plan successfully then maybe in some ways we could try it here. The site does include other information pertaining to quality, assessment, access, teachers, state programs as well as more. This site touches on all aspects and topics I believe have an impact on the early childhood field in one way or another. This week for me really tied together how other fields and early childhood work together, or should work together, for the betterment of our children and thus the betterment of our country in the future.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts

My attempts to contact someone in another country for this assignment did not work out. I received no responses back other than one to tell me the address was incorrect. So I chose the podcast option, however I seem to be having difficulties getting in contact with members from the podcasts.

 

On the other hand, I looked into the childhood poverty website as suggested since I am awaiting a response from the podcast. The information gained through this site is amazing. I chose to read about China and the poverty level there. According to the site the overall poverty rate is 4 to 8 percent of the urban population. On the other hand, what I read about the children in China was alarming. I had a misconception that China’s education for children and healthcare was greater than it is. The western and eastern sections of China differ. There are 80 percent of children in Western China, according to www.childhoodpoverty.org, while it is 15 percent higher in Eastern China and the percentage in Western China is lower than the national average by 9 percent. The reason for the differences lies in the cost of education, some can afford it while others cannot. Additionally there are families without health insurance living in China, just as there are here in America. The reason in China I feel is the same as the reason here in the United States, as I am sure is the reason everywhere, health insurance is not affordable.

 

I hope that not only on in international level, but a local and national level here in the United States that we can better educate our children and families to reduce the amount of people living in poverty.

Sharing Web Resources

The website I subscribed to the newsletter for is the National Institute for Early Education Research, www.nieer.org. This website works with state and national policy holders, as well as other organizations to work to achieve effective, high quality preschool programs. I am looking forward to receiving newsletters and browsing the website to gain more information and knowledge of what is happening in early childhood education. With a more in depth up to date knowledge of the research taking place I will become a more effective educator for my students and a more informative colleague for my fellow educators.

Expanding Knowledge and Research

For part one of this assignment, I have emailed a few different people in hopes of establishing a collaboration to learn from educators outside of the United States. However, I have not received contact back, so I may have to pursue the alternative for this course if I do not hear back from anyone.

For part two of this assignment, I subscribed to the national institute of early education research website. This website will give me information on current issues involving early education. As a preschool teacher of four year olds, this website will be insightful to give me information involving new insights into what is taking place before children get to my classroom, while they are in my classroom, and therefore what will happen upon entrance to Kindergarten and public school. Another plus to this website is it is created by Rutgers University here in New Jersey where I live.