Sharing Web Resources

      One of the sections that really hit home with me this week was from a blog about the effects of the recession on babies next meal.  The post went on to discuss how parents are having to water down formula just to have enough to last.  It went on to talk about the percent of families that run out of formula each month being 65% and that the majority of families chose to not feed as frequently rather than have to buy more. 

     I did not find anything to be controversial in this issue, but I was intrigued by a follow up study on the children that participated in the Abecedarian Project in the 1970's.  The study focused on a group of 111 students, some of which were placed in PreK programs and some who were not.  Out of 101 of the original students tracked, the majority who received the pre-k classes were four times more likely to have degrees and more likely to not need to depend on public assistance. 




      

Getting to Know Your International Contacts- Part 1

     I chose to do the podcast assignment because I have not been able to reconnect with the one contact that I did make and I have not yet been able to find a second contact.  I listened to episode 10 this week with Susan Lyon.  Ms. Lyon is the founder of the Innovative Teacher Project that she founded in 1994 after being inspired by the Hundred Languages of Children Exhibit.  This exhibit is a traveling exhibit began by teaching methods in Reggio Emilia and was the cornerstone of Italian pedagogy for decades.  The schools use an in-depth approach to education.  The schools that participate consist of private and public schools, all of which take part in Roundtable discussions.

     I chose to read about India on the http://www.childhoodpoverty.org website.  It is shocking to read some of the statistics of the country who has the second largest population in the world.  The fact that India has twenty percent of its children not in school and the largest number of working children in the world is upsetting to say the least.

     Three insights that I gained from reading about India are:
*Education is needed to make a difference in the lives of people throughout the world; if these people had access to quality education, there standard of living would also improve.
*Countries that import goods from India should stop because many of the goods are being made by children who are malnourished and overworked for little to nothing.
*If countries can come up with funding and resources to fight wars over territory and material goods, those same countries should be able to fund a war against hunger and preventable diseases. 



  

Web Resources

The organization that I chose to subscribe to is NIEER (National Institute for Early Education Research).  The site can be found by visiting www.nieer.org.  The organization talks about issues that impact early childhood education throughout the country. The current newsletter provides information about Race To the Top and how free play is becoming a thing of the past because adults are not comfortable with children having unstructured time while in their care. 
     One of the items in the newsletter that I found interesting was a working paper that outlines what characteristics Georgia families share that send their children through the lottery funded pre-k program.  The paper, titled "Who's In the Circle?" takes a look at cultural background, race, and SES as a means of determining who is taking advantage of the state funded program.

My Professional Contact

     Well it has taken me a little while to get a response, but I emailed the school of education at the University of Queensland in Australia and I finally got a response giving me the names of several professors who would be willing to correspond with me about the trends and various topics in early childhood education.  I emailed four of the professors on the list and I have successfully made contact with one for sure as of late last night.  I chose to find someone in Australia because in another course while at Walden University, I had researched some of the testing methods used for the students in the country and compared them to the testing methods used here in the United States.  I do not think that I will have difficulty in obtaining another professor to correspond back and forth with from the list I was given from the Dean of the school, but just in case I have not received a response by Tuesday from a second person, I have a few more options in another country that I may try.
     The website that I chose to study is http://nieer.org/; this is the website for the National Institute for Early Education Research.  I chose this website because I would like to learn more about the different methods being used to determine what is best in the classroom and what is best for the students that we teach.  The site has a newsletter and there is no cost to subscribe to the organization.
     If you are having a hard time finding someone to correspond with, my advice would be to do as I did and find a school devoted to the higher education of educators and send out some emails asking for volunteers.  I look forward to sharing what I learn from my contacts with you all in the coming weeks.