Week 2 - Personal Research Journey

            Hey everyone! So, I am now in the 2^nd week of my new course – Building Research Competencies. Everyone taking this course will be conducting a research simulation. I have never conducted a research study before, nor have I ever been a participant in one. I am nervous but excited to conduct this simulation. A lot of valuable information can be learned through research studies. In the week and a half that I have been in this course, I have learned new vocabulary and techniques involving research. However, I am glad that I will not be alone on this research journey. I am looking forward to learning from my new professor and my colleagues during this simulation and throughout this course.

            My chosen topic for the simulation is play. If you have been following my blogs throughout my journey through grad school, you should have seen a few blogs written on play. I love play! I think that everyone, no matter their age, needs to have time throughout their day just to play. Little children learn a vast amount of information and skills through play. They acquire social skills, language skills, and problem solving skills, just to name a few. After reading through our text on early childhood research, I have realized that my topic of play may be a bit too broad (Mac Naughton, Rolfe, & Siraj-Blatchford, 2010). However, I am still very interested on what can also be learned about education and play.

            The simulation process thus far has been slightly overwhelming and frustrating. Picking a topic was easy, but narrowing my topic was difficult. I tried doing research to see what has already been done and the information (or on some sites, lack of) has been overwhelming and frustrating. I also do not know how I am going to conduct a study during the summer because I do not have access to group of children. This simulation will definitely be challenging.

            If anyone has any advice, please share. If you are interested in learning about a certain subject and play, please share. As I stated earlier, I am looking forward to gleaning any information I can from my colleagues throughout this course. It is also my hope that I will be able to share information with you and provide you with assistance when possible.

Resources

 

Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing early childhood research: International perspectives on theory and practice (2^nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Final Blog - Issues & Trends in Early Childhood Education

            These past eight weeks have been very enlightening. I knew that the field of early childhood education had many issues but I never knew the severity of some of them. This course has really sparked my passion to want to help in any kind of way. I hope that I am able to make a difference in the lives of at least one child and their family.

            Unfortunately, I was not able to make a connection with an international professional in the field. However, I enjoyed listening and learning from the different podcasts of the World Forum Radio and exploring the many different websites of organizations that are making changes in the field. One consequence of listening to the podcasts is being able to learn about other professionals in the field of early childhood education. Listening to how they are making a difference in the field is inspiring.

            Another consequence is I learned how the different issues and trends are affecting the children and their families across the world. Lastly, this course has deepened my understanding of poverty, diversity, and equity in early care and education. I have discovered passions that I never knew I had.

            One professional goal that I have is to become a member to at least one early care and education organization (more than likely, I will renew my membership with NAEYC (www.naeyc.org)). I also plan to continue to follow and explore the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators (www.naecte.org) organization and Center for the Childcare Workforce site (www.ccw.org) because they both have tons of valuable information on them.

           

            Thank you to all of my colleagues! It has been wonderful learning with you and from you. I wish you all the best of luck with your future courses and careers. Be Blessed and remember to always be a Blessing!

Week 7 - International Contacts

            Well, it is week 7 and I still have not received any responses to my emails. On the bright side, I have been learning about the many wonderful things happening across the world within the early childhood field. This week, I visited the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (www.unesco.org) website. My focus was on the early care and education information that can be found on their site. UNESCO’s focus is on upstream policy work through collaboration with government officials to review and develop their national policies affecting children from the age of 0 to 8. They support early childhood policy development with the aim to build a solid foundation for a child’s lifelong learning.

            Back in 2011, the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) and UNESCO’s Regional Office in Dakar launched “Childhood Cultures”, which is an intergenerational African series of children’s books. The two main characters are Bouba and Zaza and they develop life and socialization skills outside the family context among children ages 3-8. The books tackle tough subjects that Africans face daily such as war/conflict, AIDS/HIV, etc. I think this series is awesome! So many children are faced with many different things everyday but for some reason adults are afraid to talk about them. Children should be introduced to the world around them. By doing this early, the children are able to develop their own opinions and feelings on the matters.

            This week in class we have been discussing professionalism and what quality teachers look like. UNESCO addresses the quality of early childhood programs as a whole and what they should entail. Some useful factors to analyze to see if a program is of good quality are the pedagogy materials, personnel training, service setting, and parental education and involvement. I think those qualities are great! Without the proper pedagogy materials, how will the children learn? They also mention how training and adequate work conditions are necessary in order to integrate the content and practice of early childhood care and education. Even though programs and their facilities vary from country to country, it is always good to have a standard set. I hope that they also have an evaluation process in place for the diverse group of teachers that work with children.

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            Along with visiting that website, I also listened to another World Forum Radio broadcast. Episode 3 featured Mrs. Delfena Mitchell, who is the director of the Liberty Children’s Home (http://www.libertychildrenbelize.org/) right outside of Belize City. She helps a total of 42 children who have been physically or sexually abused, abandoned, and/or neglected. She spoke of a little boy named Joe who was 9 years old. Due to some severe trauma in his life, he did not speak. Then one day while horseback riding, he started talking. After the ride, he did not talk much but he was saying a few words here and there. Finally, one day, he just opened up and talked nonstop. Now, whenever Joe speaks everyone listens. The way she spoke about Joe, you could tell that she really cared for his well-being. She did not force him to talk. She learned his likes and made him comfortable until he was ready to talk on his own.

            Her work with him confirmed why I love working with children one-on-one. By doing this, you are able to learn the child. You have a better chance of making a connection during one-on-one experiences. The child is more likely to open up and share without the added pressure of a group of his/her peers. Mrs. Mitchell took her time with him and eventually it all paid off. I believe children from such traumatic homes just need a few moments (sometimes days, months, etc.) to gather themselves. Joe came from an abusive situation. I can only imagine how hard it was for him to trust others. As educators, it is our job to help the whole child and their families. In this situation, the children are being helped. They are growing physically, socially, and emotionally in a healthy, stable environment. It is awesome!

Week 6 - Center for the Child Care Workforce

             This week I decided to explore the Center for the Child Care Workforce website again (www.ccw.org). I clicked on the Research and Resources tab to see what resources they had available for parents. I believe I hit the jackpot as a new mother! There was some information on parent outreach. The link on this page that quickly grabbed my attention was Developmental Milestones. As a new mother, I want to make sure my son is on the right track and growing at a steady pace. Nicholas is 4 months old now and according the CDC’s developmental checklist, he is doing everything he is supposed to be doing at 4 months. As a parent, that is wonderful to hear! The CDC’s website also offers FREE materials on developmental milestones and specific disorders. The materials come in English and Spanish. Of course I had to order some information!

Nicholas at his 4 month checkup (June 6, 2012)

Getting prepared for his shots (June 6, 2012)

            The next part of the website I searched thoroughly was the Take Action tab. Under this section I learned about Worthy Wages. The Worthy Wage Campaign is led by all individuals that work directly with children to improve the compensation and work environments for the early care and education workforce. They are building alliances with parents and the community, fostering respect, and promoting accessible and affordable high-quality early care and education. May 1^st is recognized as Worthy Wage Day. On this day they build community awareness and highlight the importance of quality care for children and its relationship to worthy wages for child care work. Worthy Wage Tales lists different testimonies from educators about how they celebrated Worthy Wage Day.
             This website clearly contains information related to equity and excellence in early care and education. The Worthy Wage Campaign is a clear example of an organization striving for equity in early care and education. Also, while reading through the newsletter archives, I found in the March/April 2011 newsletter information regarding the Early Learning Challenge Fund. A Pennsylvania Senator introduced the Supporting State Systems of Early Learning Act (http://www.casey.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/?id=63d1e85f-e3db-4ad5-9b4a-23afad9b6142). The point of the bill is so more low-income children, age’s birth to age 5, can have access to high-quality early learning and development opportunities that prepare them for success in school and beyond. The bill attacks many inequities within the early care and education system.

Week 5 - International Contacts

Well another week has gone by, and I have yet to hear from any of the international contacts I emailed. With only three weeks left in the class, it is difficult to stay optimistic. However, I will keep emailing and hoping for a response. Due to the lack of response, for this week I completed the alternative assignment…again.

            This week I checked out Harvard University’s Global Children’s Initiative (http://developingchild.harvard.edu/activities/global_initiative/). This global program focuses on

1.      reframing the discourse around child health and development

2.      supporting innovative, multi-disciplinary research and demonstration projects, and

3.      building leadership capacity in child development research and policy.

Using those strategies the program created activities around three domains: early childhood development; mental health; and children in crisis and conflict situations.

Within early childhood development they plan to educate leadership officials in international agencies about the health and developmental needs of children in a variety of settings. They were successful in setting up their first major effort in Brazil. Núcleo Ciência Pela Infância aims to use the science of child health and development to guide stronger policies and larger investments to benefit young children and their families in Brazil.

Basically, they are trying to do the same thing in other countries that advocates for early childhood have been trying to do in the United States for years; educating the powers-that-be on the importance of early childhood development. I think what this group is doing is wonderful! They are not able to help all countries in need but are doing their best to reach a few. I think it is also wonderful that they are not just going to help and then leave. They are educating the policy makers and leaders in that country so that they will understand the importance of early care and development.

Week 4 - Sharing Web Resources

This assignment was a little tricky at first, only because the websites I originally chose to use did not have as much information on them as I thought. The National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators (www.naecte.org) had many newsletters but the information all pertained to the organization itself. Maybe if I were a member, I would have access to more information, but unfortunately that was not part of my budget. So, I decided to look into another site. I chose to study the Center for the Childcare Workforce site (www.ccw.org). This website had tons of information on it! 

The January/February 2011 newsletter briefly discussed “The Lowly Child-care Worker,” which is a blog written by Sue Shellenbarger. In her blog she talks about the pay of a child-care director and child-care employees. The numbers look dismal. I was rather shocked. When I worked in childcare I was paid way more than the mean hourly wage. I wonder if education level has something to do with that. In any case, it was said to see the pay so low. So she asked a couple of very important questions:

“Do you think child-care workers should be paid higher wages, or would it take too much of a hit out of your pocket? Would you ever want to be a child-care worker?”  

What are your thoughts? For those that work in the school system, would you want to work in child-care? This really made me think because I have been contemplating leaving the school system and going back into child care. But I cannot afford a pay cut. It is very unfortunate.

Located in the March/April 2011 newsletter was a blurb about not shortchanging education. They provided a statement from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke. He gave a speech before the Citizens Budget Commission in New York. In the past, you would not normally see economists arguing for early childhood education but times are changing. He agreed with all of the resources that we read this week that the payoffs of early childhood education are high.

I am still unsure of the motives of these economists, neuroscientists, and politicians who are speaking out on behalf of early childhood education. Nevertheless, I believe the children and their families will benefit.

Week 3 - Internation Contacts - Part 1

For this week’s assignment, we are supposed to share the conversations we have been having with our international contacts. Unfortunately, I have yet to get a response to the emails I sent out. So, I did the alternative assignment, which was to listen to the podcasts from the World Forum Foundation.

The most recent podcast was released and placed on I-Tunes in February 2011. The guest speaker was Susan Lyon. Before listening to the podcast, I read the bio featured on the website, to get to know a little information about her. I expected to hear a great discussion on the podcast about issues in the early childhood field. Sadly, that did not happen. The podcast was only five and half minutes long, and all she did was introduce herself, how she became passionate about children, and the current projects she is involved in. Needless to say, I was slightly disappointed.

I visited her main project website, The Innovative Teacher Project (www.innovativeteacherproject.org), to learn more about it, and it was very intriguing. I have heard of Reggio Emilia, but I learned more about its history on the site. I also obtained her email address, so I emailed her. Hopefully, I will get a response and she will be my professional contact for this course. *fingers crossed*

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 Since I have not had any conversations yet, I completed the next alternative assignment. I visited the Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre (CHIP) website (www.childhoodpoverty.org) and learned more about childhood poverty in India. This information was shocking and sad to read because it was new to me. India is the home to the majority of poor people in South Asia. In 1999-2000, it was reported that 260.2 million out of an estimated 1.03 billion citizens in India were living poverty. The rural areas (just like in most countries) are hit the hardest. Poverty in these areas consists of people who are lacking assets, skills, and have low levels of health and education.

 There are about 400 million children in India between the ages of 0-18 years old. Twenty percent of the world’s children not in school live in India. A third of children less than 16 years old are working. Life is very hard for a child growing up India, but it is even more difficult for a female child. In Rajasthan, the largest state in India, they believe that boys are permanent members of the family and girls are only temporary members. This was shocking and confusing! Why do they believe this? What is a “temporary member?” Has anyone else heard of this before? When will people (all people) understand that women are capable of more than taking care of the domestic responsibilities? This is just disheartening.