Sharing Web Resources

The link that I explored was http://www.qualitycareforchildren.org/ quality care for children in the state of Georgia. The links lead me to resources for families and professionals to provide a quality education, early learning experience and nurturing. The link also demonstrates the inconsistency in quality among more than 400,000 children in Georgia. The link believes in putting the children first and making sure they reach their goals. The site is to help guide children to a successful and healthy future. The link provides other links and resources to public assistance programs, so that educators can provide them to families. The area that I focused on was Georgia Alliance for Quality Child Care. I found that this area of focus will help with save time and money on supplies, marketing and administration so that educators can focus more on the needs of the children. I also found that you can become a member to stay connected with other education professionals, parent handbooks, evaluations, have resources during difficult financial times. The site that I selected at the beginning of this course was http://www.naecte.org. The site offered information on the many issues that is discussed this week. This current website gave detailed information on other links to being a better professional, adding quality and a healthier lifestyle for many children and families. I gained the knowledge of learning about how many states are dealing with inequality and funding for low income families. I also learned that it is a ongoing process to pull the community, families, state, local and government officials together to make this a better environment for the children.

Reference

Quality Care for Children.org. (2010). Quality Care for Children 2010 Annual Report. Retrieved from http://www.qualitycareforchildren.org/

Getting to Know Your International Contacts-Part 2

The new ideas and insights that I gained about early childhood systems around the globe from Harvard University's "Global Children's Initiative is that the main focus is on the overall health, development and survival of all children. The Global Children's Initiative is devoted to the responsibility of the children needs and the positive outcomes when it comes to economic productivity, health and the society as a whole. The other insight I gained from the site is that the Global Children's Initiative is building, researching, reframing, implementing and educating policy makes, educators and other professionals on how the learning process and behavior pattern start in a child's early stages of life. The site provided me the knowledge of how experience influences the brain and genes. I learned that a healthy environment and lifestyle leads to a healthy development (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 2012).
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The site educated me on how stress can affect development and the preventive measures to take to avoid and cope with the challenges of stress. there is positive stress that contributes to healthy development, such as increased heart rate, and hormonal levels being elevated. Another stress response is tolerable stress that can be harmful due to the length of the stress on the body's alert system. Then there is toxic stress that can be a lifelong disaster due to physical or emotional abuse, neglect, substance abuse, mental illness, or experience or exposure to violence. This type of stress can affect the brain development, body organs, other diseases and cognitive impairment. The site is to help invest and improve the lives of children and benefit the society down the road. I have learned that early intervention and successful prevention programs can be a positive outcome and impact on the younger aged children (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 2012).

The additional information that I gained about issues of equity and excellence is that it takes a village to get the goal of putting the needs of all children first. Children from all around the world are faced with challenges of inequality and in order for the education field to be a success, respected and equal to all is to implement the same standards, care and attention to all children regardless of their background, socioeconomic status, race, parental education, or location.

Reference

Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2012). Global Children's Initiative. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/

Sharing Web Resources

The section on the website link at http://www.naeyc.org from the Global Alliance for the Education of Young Children that I found relevant to my professional development was the resources and links. The reason that these links are relevant is because they provide assistance and further training tools for early childhood education professional development, policy makers, advocates in the field, and program administrators. The links also provide initiatives in the areas of state standards, position statements on development appropriate practice, learning to read and write, early childhood mathematics, and unacceptable trends in kindergarten entry and placement. The most relevant information to me was the code of ethical conduct resources that gives and outline on appropriate behaviors for professionals, being responsible as a professional, resolving dilemmas, values, morality, respect, being trustworthy, honest and fair (National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2012).

The resources that I found controversial was the unacceptable trends in kindergarten because many children are still being denied a fair quality education due to their economics status, demographics, culture or certain language barriers. The information on the website adds understanding to my knowledge of how economists, neuroscientists and politicians support the early childhood field by providing the facts, resources and feedback on how children from different parts of the world are living, how and what type of resources are available for children and families in certain parts of the world and how different cultures are developing and adapting in the early childhood field. The new insight that I gained is that there is assistance programs and resources available for educators, parents, children and stakeholders that all play a key role in the early childhood field to provide a quality education and environment for children around the world.

Resources                                                                                                                                           

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2012). Early Childhood Professionals. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/ecp

Getting to Know Your International Contacts-Part 1

I chose the country Mongolia from the alternative blog assignment because I have not had any feedback from my international contacts. The insights that I gained from the sight is that Mongolia transitioned in 1990 to a majority of democrats and is now joined with the World Trade Organization. The sudden change caused the economy in Mongolia to go downhill. Families were put out of work and could not afford the necessities to take care of their family. The services and resources for needy families and children were limited due to the job cuts. There was a economic turnaround in 1995 but not enough to regain the financial support for families and children. Since the overturn of the economy and positive regain, families are still without quality healthcare or education or jobs. There are more than 35% of the population below the poverty level and children ranging from newborn to age 16 that are living in poverty with single mothers. These children are taking on responsibilities as adults at home, which are causing many of the issues in the education field. The children are not able to attend school due to their responsibilities of trying to survive at any means necessary. The children are forced into the streets at an early age (Children Poverty Research and Policy Centre, 2012).

The main thing that I learned is that the economy and financial stability all play a key role in a child’s life, family structure and poverty level. I cannot imagine that if my husband and I lose our jobs and the state did not have many jobs to offer, what we would do to stay afloat for our children. It is something to really think about because no one really knows what is ahead and we have to think about our children’s future. This is why I believe that a quality education along with experience, contacts and other resources will help to rebound from a transforming economy.

Reference

Children Poverty Research and Policy Centre. (2012). Mongolia. Transition and Poverty. Retrieved on January 21, 2012 from http://www.childhoodpoverty.org

Sharing Web Resources

The newsletter link that I subscribed to is http://www.naeyc.org/resources/partnership/globalalliance. The name of the site is Global Alliance for The Education of Young Children. The organizations focus is share the excellence and quality of education outside of the United States. This organization share and communicate educational resources throughout the world with different associations that provide services and programs for members that participate. This site caught my attention because the organization work with different organizations of the education sector to assist in providing everything that educator’s will need to continue to provide the quality healthcare, education and resources to every child’s development from young childhood education to graduation. The trends that the website discussed that also caught my attention were that there are fewer children today in the United States that are living without both parents in the home. The site points out that children living with both parents in the home have better overall health, more resources, and less behavioral and psychological issues. I want to share that I learned that no matter where a child lives around the world that all can fall short of the care, nurturing and love that is needed for them to develop.

Getting Ready—Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

The first step that I took to locate and contact 2 professionals, was to click on the link http://www.naeyc.org/resources/partnership/globalalliance and then scrolled down to the center of the page to see other links and contacts to different professional’s worldwide. The contacts that I selected were in Egypt Dr. Laila KARAM EL DIN. I clicked on this link and then went to communications and information. The second link was in Asia Georgia center for Educational initiatives Eteri Gvineria at email address eteri@osgf.ge. I have not had any response from either connection, but I did email my interest and to introduce myself. The process I took in selecting the early childhood organization was to carefully look at what I would really want to learn more about from the list of blog resources and made my selection. The website that I decided to study was National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators at  http://www.naecte.org/. The reason that I chose this website to study is because I believe if I want to be a successful educator, I need to have all of the knowledge, connections and resources to achieve my goal from different sectors around the world.  

"My Supports"

Support to me means to be there for someone emotional, physically and mentally. Support can also be encouragement or inspirational. The type of support that I need on a daily basis is encouragement, physical and mental support to keep pushing myself to get to where I need to be. The reason that I need this type of support because daily life events such as work, traffic, family life can be stressful. I also need physical support such as team work around the house because after a long day at work, attending to dinner, homework and household chores, it can be exhausting and can take a toll on you mentally.

The challenge that I can see that I currently do not have is being alone to support my household. I will need financial, mental and emotional support to keep me from falling apart. My family keeps me going, because they are always there to lift me up and give me the words of encouragement to keep me from giving up. I am mentally strong, but we all can be put in situations in which we feel that we can no longer do what we do. Life can be challenging all by itself, but with the support of family, friends and the community can make a big difference in your life.