Final Blog Assignment

Note of Thanks:
I cannot believe that we are at the end of this semester already. I lhave learned so much from all of you. I have had the opportunity to interact with most of you, my colleagues in courses this far, and I have really enjoyed it. I cannot thank you enough for the support, knowledge, and sharing of resources that have and will continue to take me a step farther to pursue my dreams, as well as your dreams. I hope to hear from you in next semester's class.

Three consequences of learning about the international early childhood field for my personal and professional development:

1. I had the opportunity to work together and network  with an outside source to help in promoting positive development and change for young children and their families.

2. I learned about different job opportunities in different fields of education that were available in their countries as well as in the United States.

3.I had the opportunity to learn about the issues that children and families face globally, and how others can make an impact in helping.

Learning about international organizations and networking with my international partners was a grat experience as well as an eye opener. I learned so much, it was wonderful to learn about all the opportunities available to us in the early childhood field.

One goal for the field related to international awareness of issues and trends and the spirit of collegial relations:
International organizations are great resources and networking systems to have as an early childhood professional; staying in touch and becoming more involve with them will definitely be beneficial for future sucess in working and helping our young children and their families in keeping up with changes in the rest of the world.

                                 " The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their
                                    dreams"....... Eleanor Roosevelt.

 So to all of my future professional colleagues, Let's Continue to Dream Big!         

Blog Assignment: Getting to know Your International Contacts-Part3

  This is my international contact Jesse Loughman's responses to the following questions.  
What issues regarding  quality and early childhood professionals  are being discussed where you live and work?
  What opportunities and or requirements for professional development exist?
  What are some of your professional goals?
  What are some of your professional hopes, dreams, and challenges?

   Well there are many issues involving education every where. In the United States we have a lot of issues with funding and testing. Here in China there is much the same. The biggest issue across the board I believe is simply communication. 90% of the communication is from top-down ( meaning that it starts with the officials, then to the managers ( or principals) then to the teachers and finally the students. But there is no communication from the bottom-up. Every day teachers struggle with the children but their concerns hardly ever leave the classroom, and if so it hardly leaves the school or makes the school any better. Also, more and more pressure from parents on teachers ( aka Helicopter parents) is increasingly limiting the creativity of the classroom. I do believe that early childhood and all education professionals need to be held accountable, but is it too much?

My personal goal is I plan to graduate from graduate school and get a higher degree in Comparative Religious Studies and teach at a University. ( Jesse Loughman).
  
I have really enjoyed talking to Jesse. I have not heard from this point from my other 2 international contacts. I will post comments later when I hear from them. 

     

Week 6 Blog: Sharing Web Resources

The outside resource that I decided to follow for this week's assignment is CHIP ( Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre at http://www.childhoodpoverty.org

CHIP main goal is to fill some of the gaps in knowledge about childhood poverty internationally and in partner countries, and to work with others to gain commitments to action. The web page explains some of the general gaps in knowledge about childhood poverty, and the rationale for CHIP programme.

Here are some facts about CHIP:

Knowledge varies substantially between countries, Research focuses on specific aspects of childhood and is rarely well linked together. Impacts of key development policies on children are poorly understood or documented. Little is known about how children can be trapped in poverty cycles and what canhelp them escape. The broader policy environments that best promote child wellbeing are poorly understood.

CHIP supports reserach in countries such as China,India,Kyrgyzstan, and Mongolia. I went to the section on China. Here are some of the pictures I took from the websites of the children they serve.

                   

                                            

 Some of the key findings of CHIP reserach on poverty in different countries are: The relationship between poverty , population trends and childhood poverty is very context- and culture specific. The poorer the country and the higher the fertility level, the more beneifical the effects of decreasing fertility rates for the children's well-being. Children and young people's views have had substantially more influence in local decision- making that at higher levels.  Despite strong claims by many donors and advocates about poverty- reduction potential of early childhood development (ECD) programmes, the evidence is weak. More resources are needed if ECD is to make a greater contribution to the well-being and development of poor children (childhoodpoverty.org).

The  other web link I have been following is Zero to three. http://www.zerotothree.org/
The information I found on this weeks discussion is Early care and Education. It talks about what all babies and toddlers need for early learning experiences to foster their intellectual, social and emotional development and lay the foundation for later school success. The section on this topic discusses child care,family, friend & neighbor care, and school readiness. There are many various tools which are useful to parents and care givers to get their children ready for school. This is under the school readiness section.

The two websites, as well as my international partners from China, and Japan have given me more insight and knowlege as to their stands on equity and excellence for children's education. I think from all of my readings that we are all on the same page, wanting the best education for our young children. Other insights and trends I learned from exploring the website on CHIP was how each country provides specific research on how they deal with childhood poverty. 
I have not recieved an newsletter from the zero to three website, I am looking forward to reading one. But I am enjoying visiting this site to learn more about the developmental levels of children. This is both from a professional and a personal stand. I have a grandaughter who is 3, and the information helps me greatly.

Getting To Know Your International Contacts-Part 2

Here is what Jesse Loughman from China shared with me about equity and excellence in education:

• Absolutely. English teaching in China and other parts of the world are usually filled with inexperienced fresh out of college or just don't know what they want to do in life people. Whereas I believe you must have some passion for teaching (especially early childhood) to become a teacher in a public school in the United States. When it comes to TESL in other countries, most look at money and lifestyle first and then teaching as an after though. This is why you find very high turn-over rates in these types of jobs. Most people only do one year contracts (and many of them do not stick to the contract and leave the country). Of course you can find many, many examples of great teacher who love to teach and are very passionate about what they do, but for the most part this is what I find to be true. And of course this greatly affects the child's learning process. Not being able to keep a consistent teacher can be quite a challenge when learning a subject.

As far as defining excellence, I believe that any teacher or program that is willing to get to know there students on a personal level and find each students strengths and weaknesses rather than assuming that all students learn the same is best. Also, a teacher who can admit to mistakes in the classroom and co-create a lesson with their students is (to me) an excellent teacher. There is an awful habit in China of the teacher standing up front and the students have to sit there and pretend to listen. That to me is not teaching. Teaching to me is using the personalities of each student and co-creating a lesson based off strengths and weaknesses.

My international contact fro Japan is Kitara Jordan who teaches American children on the military base. This is what she shared with me about equity and excellence in education:

She said she does not agree with a lot of the components of the No Child Left behind law. Her district  is not under this policy. Program quality is a hot topic because of the population it serves. She said that we need to look at our districts in which we work, and then find programs that best meet the needs of our children.

I agree with the information shared by both of my international partners. They both have good ides as far as equity and excellence is concerned. But as we have found out from our readings, it depends on the state in which we teach as to the programs as well as the qualifications for teaching. We also know that some teachers are more academically inclined and the children needs are not always met. As my contact Kitara stated, the programs should be based on what is good for the population we serve. But that is not always the case.