Consequences of Learning About Early Childhood on an International Level

I believe that learning about the field of early childhood education is important for many reasons.  Some of the consequences include:

1. It makes me appreciate the education system we have here in the U.S.; while we have our areas of concern, the children here are granted the right to a "free and appropriate education".
2. It has shone a light on why there seems to be such an achievement gap compared to other countries.  
3.  I have grown curious about the standardized testing systems of other countries; we in the U.S. place such importance on them, but they differ greatly from state to state.

One goal that I have in regards to the field and international relations is for my students to find a class to buddy up with so that we may learn about another country and how things are done in their schools.  I think that this would be a great learning experience for the students to learn about respecting the differences of others.  I would like to do this at the beginning of the school year and follow the class for an entire school year.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts- Part 3

     For this week's podcast assignment I chose to listen to episode 3 with Delfena Mitchell.  Ms. Mitchell runs the Liberty Children's Home in Belize.  I was shocked to learn that there is such a high rate of child abuse in this part of the world.  The story that she told about the boy named Joseph was heartbreaking.  This unfortunate child was the youngest of seven siblings; he would have to hide under his bed and eat so that other family members would not eat his food.  He came to the home after not speaking for more than a year.  Now the child is talking and interacting with his family at the home.  I think that the difference that this Children's home is making in the lives of these children is remarkable.  Hopefully these children will come to learn that there is hope for them and that not all people will treat them as they were once treated.
     The three new ideas and insights that I gained from exploring the UNESCO's website are:

1.  The Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has developed an initiative that establishes goals for education on a global scale.  The main goals are the learn to know, learn to be, learn to live together and learn to do.
2. The Literacy Initiative For Empowerment (LIFE) is a program aimed at teaching people the skills needed to read.  Most of the people at which the initiative is aimed are females who are from rural areas.
3.  Thirty five of the world's countries have less than a 50% literacy rate.  The goal of the United Nations is to bring resources to these countries in an effort to help empower the people.  18 of these countries were in Africa.

    

Getting to Know Your International Contacts- Part 2

     I was not able to establish contact with any international contacts for the purpose of this course.  Unfortunately, the one contact that I did have said that he was able to correspond with me frequently enough for him to be of any use to me. 
     I did review Harvard University's"Global Children's Initiative" website.  I found it very interesting how the initiative is using science as a means to improve the lives of children all around the world.  Three insights that I gained from this website are:

•      International communication as to the needs of children needs to take into consideration the overall well-being of the child in order to be able to effectively education the children of the world.
•     The Center on the Developing Child has made it part of it's mission to bring together people from different disciplines in an effort to work collaboratively to achieve the goals of the Center.  This includes people who are of varying educational backgrounds as well.

• Each of the three domains has a focus that allows the researchers to concentrate their efforts on a certain portion of the world where the problem is more prevalent, although the research will apply globally. 

 I chose to listen to the podcast with Maysoun Chehab who directs the Arab Resource Collective which is responsible for teaching educators and care givers best practices for working with children.  She talked about the effects of the destruction of schools within the villages that was caused by war.  The program taught families in the war stricken area how to cope and how to help their children cope with the effects of war in their village.  I found this episode to be eye opening because often times we do not consider the repercussions of war on the children.  These children were not able to attend school because of the war; this causes many emotional issues for the children that children here in the U.S. do not have to struggle with. 

Sharing Web Resources Part 2

     The website that I have been exploring is www.nieer.org.  This is a website that is devoted to the study of early education research.  This week I explored some of the outside sources found on the site and it linked me to a United Way study that researched if there are neighborhoods where children are identified with developmental vulnerabilities.  The goal of the study was to use WIC testing sites to find families with children who were receiving services and assess the children based on the neighborhood in which they lived.  The study found that there were concentrations of low birth-weight babies as well as other factors that can contribute to a child having problems learning in a traditional classroom.
     I reviewed the publication section of the website and found that there are links to previous NIEER articles as well as videos, related publications and recommended books based on what you are researching.  Another thing that I found to be interesting under publications link was the pre-k annual reports listed by state.  Under preschool policy facts, you can find one page fact sheets containing information that pertains directly to preschool.
     In the latest newsletter, one of the articles discussed the benefits of having an effective teacher on children.  The article talked about the effect that a positive, nurturing teacher can have on a child, especially on a child with poor self-regulation skills.  The study followed first grade students that were placed in a classroom with a supportive teacher and measured the effects on the children until they were in sixth grade.  The bottom line is that a supportive teacher can be the key to a child overcoming obstacles in the classroom.
     The website has many articles that talk about equity and excellence in the early childhood education field, one of which being the article "Yet More Evidence: Time to Beef Up Math and Science in Pre-K".  This article talks about the need for equity in funding so that the pre-K programs are able to offer the content areas that children will need to develop in order to be successful. 
     This week's newsletter contained a great deal of information on the budget cuts to pre-K programs around the country and what efforts are being made on the federal level in order to make sure that states are receiving the funding that they need for education in all arenas.  Some states have drastically cut back on the amount of money that is allocated to the pre-K programs, while others have cut other areas in order to keep the funding where it needs to be.  In Georgia for example, Governor Deal has added the ten days that were cut from the pre-K school year back, but he has cut the number of slots available for students in turn cutting the number of pre-K teachers needed.