Sharing Web Resources

This week while exploring through the website of the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) I spent more time on the publications section.  In  particular the different journals and articles related to infants, toddlers and preschoolers.  I also explored through the Global Gateway section.  This section has much information about Education Around the World, International Comparisons and Scenarios, Research and Statistics, Professional Development, Early Childhood Development, International Exchange and General Links and Resources.

I did not come across anything in particular that I found to be controversial.  There is so much information on this website it is impossible to review all the articles, resources and links within a few days.  I believe this website will be one that I will utilize throughout my career as it pertains to national and global issues and trends and has new information posted on a regular basis.   For example in reviewing through the various sections I came across an article titled  Every Child's Potential:  Integrating Nutrition and Early Childhood Development Interventions.   I found this to be of interest as I am a strong believer of comprehensive services in the early years.  The area of nutrition is so important in promoting healthy growth and development of children.  With so many children living in poverty in our nation and around the world this is a global concern. 

Through exploring the website and various resources and their links to further information I was led to information in regards to investing in early childhood education and programs.  The brief by the Center of the Developing Child at Harvard University was a resource from a previous course however I did review a section again titled Early Childhood Program Effectiveness which discusses program policies and practices that are needed in order to have effective early childhood programs.  This included early intervention, building of relationships, environment and supports needed to provide a positive stimulating environment.  The end of the brief discusses the benefits to society of having effective, quality early childhood education and programs.
                   

"Effective early childhood programs generate benefits to society that far exceed program costs.  Responsible investments focus on effective programs that are staffed appropriately, implemented well, and improved continuously. Extensive analysis by economists has shown that education and development investments in the earliest years of life produce the greatest returns. Most of those returns, which can range from $4 to $9 per dollar invested, benefit the community through reduced crime, welfare, and educational remediation, as well as increased tax revenues on higher incomes for the participants of early childhood programs when they reach adulthood."  (Center of the Developing Child at Harvard University, 2011).   

 

Another insight I gained from this website is the publications that focus on infants and toddlers.  I work with preschool children and through my learning with this Master's Degree program I have been "brought back" to the stages of infants and toddlers as well as prenatal care.  After all this is where the beginning of each developmental domain begins.  This is where either positive or negative experiences will start to design the brain, give each person their identity, and begin to define who they are.  It is important to remember this as working with any age group of children.  This is the child's blue print and gives us as educators some insight on the "why" to what is child is doing or not doing.  For example I found an article titled Emerging Reading Behaviors:  What Parents and Caregivers See and Hear Toddlers Do.  This article gave insights on what behaviors you will see as toddlers engage in reading and how adults can be responsive and can promote the development of literacy and language. 

References

 

Association for Childhood Education International. (2014).  www.acei.org

Center of the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2011).  Inbrief Series:  Early Childhood Program Effectiveness.  Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/resources/briefs/inbrief_series/





 



     

Getting to Know Your International Contacts Part 1

I listened to the World Forum Foundation Radio.  The speaker was Susan Leon.  She discussed how she was taken with the Reggio Emilia approach for learning.  She was so inspired by the work that she brought the exhibit 100 Languages of Children to the bay area of California.  It was used for professional development and advocacy.  She also began a project called the Innovative Teacher Project.  The project encompasses a network of schools and they meet frequently.  They present their schools, have round table discussions, and professional development.  It has had a huge impact on the area for both public and private school settings. 

I was unable to pull up the website www.childhoodpoverty.org however I viewed a video from the World Forum Foundation's Wofo TV.  The video was of a speaker at a World Forum event.  Her name is Sakena Yacoobi and she is from Afghanistan.  She discussed the issue of children and poverty.  She began her talk about how her country has been ravaged by war for many, many years.  She states "Where I am from life does not look beautiful but we are hopeful".  She spoke of the refugee camps and the conditions in which children and families are living.  Though they may be safe from the dangers of war, these people are traumatized from their experiences and are living in horrible, unsafe conditions.  The area is unsafe, has no water, and the ground has snakes and scorpions about.  Sakena goes on to explain how she has helped these people.  She has started education programs both for early childhood and for parents as well.  She takes the holistic approach in educating the entire family.  Though there are no buildings for schools, or no books or toys, they educate the children with safe, loving and caring interactions, and the teaching of vocabulary with the focus of teaching about peace, love and caring.   Parents, mainly women are educated on health, life skills, as well as reading and writing skills.  Her belief is that the family must learn and that makes the children feel safe.  Through education the women gain confidence and begin to stand up for themselves and are able to say no to those that want to do them harm.  Sakena also spoke of how the country has changed over the past ten years.  There is a government but things still are not great.  However she explained that when the Taliban was in control schools were underground and now 6 million children are now being educated in schools.  Children are being taught critical thinking skills instead of by rote memorization.  She explains that as the children are educated and grow into adults they will be able to make their own choices of what to believe instead of being told.  Sakena discussed that 95% of the people in Afghanistan are living in poverty. However she talks about the training and education that is being provided so people can learn a trade and not have to rely on the street market to make money.  Women especially are becoming more empowered by training and learning and are wanting become active in medicine and in the government.  She shared the story of how poor many people are.  The story she shared told of how a man sold one of  his 6 children for some bags of wheat.  The wheat would feed the rest of the family through the three remaining months of winter.  She shared how the siblings came to school in tears and told what happened.  As a result they were able to get the boy back.  Sakena also talked about how early childhood education is making a difference for her country.  The children in preschool are being taught 3 languages.  She states that through education is how change will occur. 

Watching this video was a real eye opening experience for me.  To hear what really goes on in places around the world is very insightful.  To know how people live is both very alarming, however to see the results of people taking action and through advocacy change does occur and there is hope for a better future. 

Reference:

World Forum Foundation. (2014). Children and poverty. [Video presentation].  Retrieved from
http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/media-and-resources/wofo-tv/

Sharing Web Resources

Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI)

 



Website Link:  http://www.acei.org/

Mission:  Our mission is to promote and support the optimal education, development, and well-being of children worldwide. We have consultative status with the United Nations.

Vision:  Every child in every nation will have access to a quality education. This education will prepare children to become responsible and engaged citizens and ready them for life in a changing world.


In reviewing the Association for Childhood Education International I explored the news and publications section.  Within this section there are links for various news sources and publications.  Links include news for the ACEI, Global News, ACEI Publications, ACEI Bookstore, ACEI Radio and e-news.  I spent most of my time this week reviewing the publications section and reviewing the ACEI Radio section and scrolled through the archived broadcast list.  For the publications, most of them can be viewed online.  However for certain publications and to view more of the archived publications, membership is required.  There were some recently new publications that have been produced.  Childhood Explorer and Early Years Bulletin are very recent publications.  Publications also include bulletins which have various areas of focus, books and research publications.  Within the Focus Quarterlies publications there are bulletins that focus on the areas of Infant/Toddler, Pre-K and Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle School, Teacher Education, and Inclusive Education.   In reviewing the various publications and articles I found an article of interest.  It was in the recently developed publication titled Early Years Bulletin.  The article titled Culturally Responsive Teaching:  Exploring Children's Names and Cultural Identities discussed how when a young man was a child and when he became a U.S. citizen at the age of seven, his named changed from his  birth and cultural name of  Alejandro/Ale to Alexander/ Alex.  He discusses that part of the reason for the name change was his was starting school and his parents wanted him to fit in with the American culture.  At school he went by Alexander or Alex and at home he used the name of Alejandro or Ale.  He lived within two cultures with two names.  He discussed as he enter the adult world and work force he wanted to reconnect to his cultural identity and to his birth and cultural name of Alejandro or Ale and he is only referred to as such.  The article discussed the importance of educators accepting the cultural differences among students and children being able to identify with their cultural as it is part of their own identity. The article discussed how educators can use various cultures as learning opportunities.  The article then went on to discuss the importance of identity and names in the early years.  It is important for children to keep their identity and cultural ties.  The article discussed the importance of name recognition and pre-literacy development.  "Name recognition and name writing have been shown to be significant predictors of children's literacy achievement during school years" (ACEI, 2013).  The article also provided a recommended list of children's multicultural literature. I found this article to be very interesting as I do not recall through all my years as an educator of a child have had his name changed from one cultural name to another.  I find it noble of his parents of wanting him to fit in however I wish the parents could have been educated on the importance of the child and the family embracing and staying connected their culture. 

I find this website to have a wealth of wonderful resources and information.  The publications, bulletins, broadcasts, and articles focus on a variety of age groups, topics, trends and issues from around the world. 

Reference:

Association for Childhood Education International.  (2013). Culturally responsive teaching: exploring children's names and cultural identities.  Retrieved from http://issuu.com/acei/docs/eybautumn13?e=1693993/6073455

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Establishing Professional Contacts:

When reviewing the resource list for this assignment through The Global Alliance of NAEYC I have to honestly say I was very overwhelmed.  The list of resources was numerous with many having  hyperlinks to websites or contact information and many did not so making contact was difficult depending on your interest of the area you wanted to study.   I was initially interested in the making contact with someone from Australia.  That is a place I have also had interest in and is on the "if I win the lottery list of places to go" or perhaps on the " bucket list of places to go".  As I was scrolling through the list of resources, I see the resource listed for Australia did not have a hyperlink for a website or contact information.  I began to search on my own for the contact information and was finding myself becoming frustrating in not being able to find it.  As such I wanted to explore the World Forum website.  As I was exploring this website I began to feel more at ease with moving forward with this assignment.  I felt more comfortable with the World Forum website as I had access to various topics with more than one country.  I searched the website to find the link to the World Forum Radio and was not able to do so.  However through searching the website I ran across another radio sight called BAM.  This stands for body and mind and has numerous radio sights for early childhood education.  I find this to be useful in my current work and play on using it.  As I continued to explore the World Forum website I did find the links for WoFo  T.V.,  videos and presentations.   I feel I should be successful in completing the future blog assignments by accessing the World Forum website. 


Expanding Resources:

As I explored through another overwhelming list of website resources I once again became more at ease once I looked through the Association for Childhood Education International website.  I felt the layout of the website was easy to navigate and through my review of the website so far I find it has an abundance of good information that is easy to access in a user friendly way.  That is important to me as I use online resources; being able to navigate easily and to find what I am looking for fairly quickly and simply.  Otherwise it is easy to get frustrated and that is not helpful when you are in need of finding information.