Week 7 Blog

I explored the website UNESCO which means The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural organization. This organization helps to build societies that value education, it has worked worldwide to improve education because education is the key to success. Upon exploration of the website I gained some insight on access and equity, learning begins at birth and a framework was set up and all countries that participated made a commitment to improve education and care especially the education and care of disadvantaged children. The government was encouraged to expand care to those children who otherwise would not have access to education. Another insight is that the EFA stated that countries should view early education as an important factor and all though funding was small other steps like going to non-profits would be effective when asking for funds, there's more then one way to get things done. The last insight is quality, quality of the program and teachers. The ECCE has no set criteria on how to assess quality, but it is said that having the right materials, training for the teachers, and parent education and involvement is essential.

My last insight brings me to realize that one of my professional goals directly relates and that is quality. One of my professional goals is to become a new teacher coach or instructional coach. I would coach or mentor all the new teachers that enter into the program giving them insights on how to do their job effectively. The ECCE talks about an adequate trainings and working conditions is key to the success of children and it also aids in the smooth transition to formal schooling.

Reference:
(http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/),

Week 6 Blog

The website that I have been exploring is zero to three, this website has a lot of very good information that any parent would benefit from reading. The outside link that I explored on the page was ralley4babies. The link talked about how education needed to be improved and that congress should fund programs that will improve early education programs. The link has a lot of interesting people that are for early childhood programs and their funding. The section that I chose to explore was the behavior and development section. I found that this section talks about many good things from brain development to challenging behavior in children. The most interesting section to me was promoting social development. This section has tips and tools that highlight the development of social emotional skills for birth to three. The section also has downloadable resources that parents of caregivers can read. There is also a question and answer section where individuals can ask questions about infants and toddlers and then receive feedback on their question. This website has proven to be a very useful resource for me I have learned a lot from the readings on the site. This section I think promotes excellence in early childhood because social-emotional skills are so important to the development of children.

Week 5 Blog/ The Center on the Developing Child

I had to do the alternative assignment which was to browse around on the website for The Center on the Developing Child. One insight that I learned on the site was the Global Child Development initiative. The center works with policy makers, civil leaders, and scholars on ways for them to adapt their model for putting in place effective policies and programs that will ultimately benefit the community as a whole. The center also launched a network in 2008 that addressed the gap between what is known about mental health and what is done about mental health. The goal of the network was to generate, integrate, communicate, and then apply the science to inform and make advances in mental health. The last insight from the website was the many opportunities students at Harvard have to learn all about early childhood and the development of the young child. The center set up the Education and Leadership program so that students and faculty can tap into the different aspects of the field and see how science links to the policies that are made and the action that is taken.

The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard university has many interesting topics to read up on and I can see how it will and can help the students who are interested in Early childhood.

Reference:
Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative." Retrieved from: website (http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/

Week 4 Blog

The website that I have been exploring is Zero to Three. The section that caught my attention was the Behavior and Development section . I read information on Early Childhood mental health, this is current in my development as a professional because it has only deepened my understanding of  the importance for children to have social emotional skills. This section talked about how important it is for children to build relationships with others, communicate, play, and learn how to express their feelings. I really didn't find anything that was controversial, but I did read information that helped me think about an issue in a new way, assessments of children.

The website explains what an assessment is and what it is supposed to do and that is to deepen their understanding of a child's developmental capacities. The website actually publishes a guide for parents to read that will help them understand what is going on and also encourages them to collaborate. I think these assessments are how neuroscientist support Early Childhood because it gives educators better ammunition to help children succeed. The website and newsletter has an abundance of helpful information for parents and educators that will educate them on how to help their children.

Poverty World-Wide

I am still waiting  hopefully to hear from any of the international contacts, in the mean time I had to chose to do the alternative assignment. The website that I explored is called Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Cent re or CHIP for short retrieved from HTTP://www.childhoodpoverty.org

The website stated that there are  over 600 million children that live in poverty world-wide and in underdeveloped countries it can be much higher. It is said that poverty can effect a child's development especially when it comes to nutrition and health. One insight that I have learned from the website is that CHIP tries to fill in the gaps about poverty, many may not know the way poverty effects individuals internationally. CHIP fills in the gap by doing country specific research, they raise awareness to poverty issues, and they do policy analysis which means they examine the policies the other countries have on poverty.

Another insight that I have gained from the website is that all of the research done is for policy-makers, practitioners, and activists who are concerned with the issues of poverty. Some of the main goals CHIP is trying to achieve is positive change in policy areas, policy implementation, and effectively using the research findings. The third insight that I gained from the website is that CHIP has many reports, publications, articles, and briefings that can be read online that share more information and research that CHIP has done.

References:
http://www.childhoodpoverty.org

ZERO TO THREE

The organization that I chose is called Zero To Three, http://zerotothree.org.
This organization is a national organization that is geared toward helping parents, professionals, and policymakers the knowledge and know how to nurture early development. The mission of the organization is to ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life.
The organization plays a critical leadership role in promoting understanding around key issues affecting young children and their families, including child care, infant mental health, early language and literacy development, early intervention and the impact of culture on early childhood development.(Zero to Three 2010).


The issue from the website that caught my attention was the maltreatment tab, because this sometimes is an issue in a child's life. In this tab it talked about child abuse and neglect, impact of trauma on children, and building strong families and healthy communities. This tab shared alot of useful information that can be very helpful to a caregiver or a parent.


Reference: http://www.zerotothree.org

Establishing Professional Contcts

I have sent out three emails, and I am still awaiting responses from those I have emailed. I have sent emails to Morocco, Germany, and South Africa. Hopefully I will hear from them soon because I am really interested in their early childhood program. If contact is not established then I will do the alternative assignment.



The website that I have chosen to explore is Zero to Three, because I have a three year old and I teach three year old. Zero to Three has a lot of interesting articles with a lot of useful information.