Hope's Blog: April 2012

Issues and Trends: Change, Contexts, Consequences, and Constraints Revisited

I understand more in depth about the field of early childhood education after learning more about it internationally. I learned information that was deeper than I imagined and I realized the importance of being aware of what’s going on in the field all around the world not just locally. I believe that because I learned more about the international early childhood field I will be able realign my goals and further my career professionally and realign my thinking and goals personally as well. I learned to not take so much for granted, I learned what I can do to advocate for early childhood education around the world and I learned about some valuable resources that will help me to continue develop and grow. It is my goal that I continue to use what I have learned to help others to grow and develop as well.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts- Part 3

Since I still haven’t received word from my contacts, I decided to so the alternative assignment of reviewing the UNESCO’s “Early Childhood Care and Education” website.
(http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/). After taking some time to thoroughly explore this site, I have gained some new insights.

First of all I learned that UNESCO is dedicated to the child as a whole and the holistic approach to early childhood development.

Secondly, I learned that global action week is coming up on April 22. Global action week provides awareness about the need of early childhood education

I also learned that UNESCO had a group of experts conduct reviews of indicators related to early childhood development such as health and nutrition, social protection, and policy and planning. Then reviews are now published and provide recommendation for the content of the Holistic Early Childhood Development Index.

I read lot s of interesting information on this website. I read about empowering girls in Ethiopia and the push for literacy in Nigeria. I also read about the Nokia challenge for mobile communication ideas that help expand and improve comprehensive early childhood care and education.

Overall, I learned a lot about this organization and they are doing around the world to advocate for children and early childhood care and education. I believe in advocating for our children and support all the efforts that are being made by organizations like this one.

Sharing Web Resources

I began searching for some of the outside links that I have not yet explored on the sites that I began looking at the beginning of the course and I was unable to find very many links to other websites. There was one link to a childcare center in Northern California which I look into before and posted about. And then there were links to ICRI in other countries so I decided to look at the link to Kenya. http://www.icriafrica.org/ . Their mission in Kenya is to fight poverty and assure health and safety for children and families. As I read more about their mission in Africa I was impressed to read that they are training early childhood providers on appropriate care and education. I think that is definitely an important step in the right direction and something we need to focus on more over here as well. I also noticed a lot of emphasis on proper hygiene and empowering women and children. I think that the biggest insight or trend that really stands out to me in many of these countries is that it seems as though many organizations group early childhood care and hygiene and empowering women and children all together and they work to help each area as a whole. I understand that it is important to teach proper hygiene at an early age so it doesn’t become a continual problem as they get older and I also understand the importance of building self-esteem and empowering others at a young age as well so I suppose it only makes sense that they would group those areas in with early childhood education, however it isn’t something I would have thought about originally.

Getting to Know International Contacts-Part 2

I visited Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” website (http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/), and had fun exploring the site. I learned about the collaborative project in Chile, “A Good Start.”. This project is focusing on professional development of the teachers in order to provide higher quality programs in language and socioemotional development for children 4 to 6 years of age. Another focus is on improving the attendance as well. In order to achieve this, the project is focusing on deepening family involvement.

I also read about Núcleo Ciência Pela Infância, collaboration between Global Children’s Initiative and local experts in Brazil who are all working to use the science of health and development to gain stronger policies and larger investments to benefit children and families.

Overall I learned that locally and globally we all have the same goal, to work together to provide more effective programs that foster a more successful society.

Personal Childhood Web

Five people who nurtured and cared about me as a child:

1. My Mother & Father-
My parents always made me feel special and still do. I admire this because my parents have 5 children and were able to make each one of us feel important and loved. My mother made me feel special by baking and doing crafts with me and my dad made me feel special by teaching me to play baseball and encouraging me to p lay sports. These little moments meant a lot to me because they involved time spent with just my parents and doing activities that my other sibilings did not. I remember my parents discussing these moments with their friends and family and I felt so proud. My parents have been married for 42 years and have raised 5 children. I have seen them go through many challenges, but they have stuck together and worked through them together and that inspires me.

2. My Siblings-
I honestly can say that my sibilings are my best friends. I have 2 older sisters and 1 older brother and 1 younger brother. There is a 15 year age difference from my younger brother to my older sister, so growing up my older sibilings helped nuture and influnce me to be who I am today. Growing up I could count on my sibilings to help care and nuture me, to support me when needed, to listen to me, to stick up for me and to be honest with me even if I didnt want to hear what they had to say. We continue to provide all this for each other even now.

3. Mrs. Hewko-
In fourth grade I transferred from a small private school to a public school and was quickly overwhelmed and lost. However, I was lucky enough to have Mrs. Hewko for a teacher. I was 1 of 25 kids, but she made me feel like I was the only one in the room. Mrs. Hewko made sure to get to know me and really make a connection with me. This influnenced me to do the same with my children.

4. Ms. Czarnecki-
She was my middle school math teacher, which was definitely a difficult task. Math is not my strongest subject and until 7th grade I managed to squeak through each math class without really understanding what I was doing. Ms. Czarnecki however, was different then my other teachers. She took time to really know her students and reallized I was struggling. Mrs. Czarnecki made sure she called on me to answer questions in class and when I didnt know the answer she worked through it with me instead of moving on. She made me stay after class and assigned me more work. She walked by my desk and made sure I was on task. Although I was not too fond with her at first, I realized she really cared for me and was helping me. I was very lucky to have her again in 8th grade. Then when I went to highschool and tried out for softball, she became my coach. She was there for me during a really difficult time and worked to continue to build a reationship with me and make sure I was doing okay in and out of school. She even gave me shoes to wear and a new glove to use. I realized that sometimes the ones who really care for you are the hardest on you because they know your potential.

5. Mr. Price-
Mr. Price or better known as Phil, was my high school math teacher and is also my brother-in-law. He spent lots of time and effort teaching me math as well. We spent long nights working on assignments and he was always willing to help. He was also a big part of my life during a really difficult time, he listened and supported me. Phil and my sister were like my second parents. When I was struggling to get along with my parents during my teen years, they allowed me to stay with them and took me on trips with them.

Baby Heart

This is a picture of me with my older brother. I love this picture because it brings back so many great memories of time I cherished with my brother and how much I wish he was still here today. My mother shared a story with me that really portrays what an amazing older brother I had. When I was about 2 years old, my brother was 4, we werer at the grocery store and someone came up to my mother to tell her how cute she thought I was and my brother said, "step away from my baby heart please." My mother said he was very protective of me.