Final Blog of Making Connections

I was never able to make a connection with any colleagues from other countries, but I learned a lot from the podcast and websites that I reviewed. I feel that if I would have been able to connect it would have helped me in finding and creating a more in-depth way in which I incorporate diversity and inclusion in the classroom. Sometimes that is difficult to do because materials can be limited especially when you have to divide available material between eight classrooms.

As colleagues we can learn from each other. Everyone has a special gift or talent that they bring into the early childhood profession. It doesn’t matter what part of the world that we live in we all deal with the same behaviors and much of the same issues and situations that children are faced with. Together we can share stories and the strategies that we use to redirect the behaviors so that the child can have a positive outcome.

I learned that people from other countries visit our programs in the United States to learn our techniques. They take the knowledge that they attain and take it back to their countries. They use these strategies, policies and approaches to learning and incorporate them into their programs. This makes me proud. For one reason, we must be doing something right Secondly, we are serving as role models or mentors in our profession. What a feeling to know that we are also making a difference in the lives of children all over the world.

It is my goal and intention to continue to research and investigate early childhood programs in other parts of the world after this course has ended. We can never know too much in this challenging field. I say challenging because we never know what issues that we are going to be faced with. All we can do is prepare ourselves for whatever comes our way. In the end our main goal is to have a successful year for all the children in our care.

This journey with my colleagues has truly been rewarding. I am thankful for the connections that I made with my colleagues. We have shared stories, knowledge and advice with each other. I hope that our paths will cross again on our educational journey. Congratulation to all on completing this course. Until we meet again.

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR INTERNATIONAL CONTACTS-PART 3

As an early childhood professional I have many goals that I have set for myself. Each year that I teach the goals are tweaked to fit the children that I have in class. I have the same expectations for all my children, but the approach sometimes has to change. As I visited the UNESCO site, I read articles that relate to what I bring into the early childhood field. 

Nature and science are areas that are always low when they are assessed. Today’s children are not interested in playing outside. Technology has a strong influence on our children. It seems as if they are born with navigation skills. Teaching children about the world around them is important. Children learn through play. If they are having fun as they learn, it builds a foundation for them. They are born explorers. As parents and educators we need to allow them to explore all areas of their lives. Teaching children about energy and their environment is something that we do unknowingly. I teach my children to keep the door closed to keep the room cool. I also teach them to cut off the lights when we leave the classroom and only turn the lights on when we enter in. 

Women had to fight for their rights a long time ago. Today in some countries women and girls are being educated. With this education comes common sense. Fewer babies are being born because they are protecting themselves or practicing abstinence. Women are wanting to leave home and provide for themselves. If you check the statistics their are fewer men in the early childhood field than women. The agency that I work for has about 10 teachers who are men compared to over 200 who are women. Educating the children in my care and letting them know that they can be anything that they want to be if they study hard and make good choices. 

Every child has a right to an education. I am an advocate for young children. If I am shopping and see a parent with a young child, I ask them if they are in a child care facility. If the answer is no, I give them the necessary information and a brief description about the program. The early childhood years are the most important years of a child’s life. Their brains are developing rapidly. They need the intervention of a high quality facility and staff to channel the energy and the teach the skills needed throughout their life. I will continue to advocate for children because they are our future. Their well-being is important to our existence. 

UNESCO. Early Childhood Care and Education. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-child/

 

Sharing Web Resources

I received an e-newsletter this week from Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. Although it didn’t have any information that related to the issues that were being talked about this week in my class, it had some very interesting topics. One of the topics was entitled: Talking to Very Young Children About Divorce. It gave several subtopics that I found helpful just for the simple fact that I have a child in my class that is going through a separations. Even though my children are young, they still want to know why their routine has changed, why dad/mom is not here anymore, and when are they coming back. I plan to take these strategies and suggestions and incorporate them into the child’s individual lesson plan.

The National Head Start Association’s website related to the issue of awareness and affordability. It had several topics  about grants that had been issued to a number of Head Start programs. The grants that were issued allowed some of the head start programs/classes to stay in their location. Sometimes preschool programs are in churches where they rent classrooms. They use grant money to pay the rent for the year.

The e-newsletter  was the most helpful because now I have a strategy for what dealing with the issue in the classroom. I have used the website zero to three to find activities in the class. It is a good website when working with young children.

Getting to know Your International Contacts-Part 2

As of today there has been no contact between me and the international contact person that I emailed. I visited the Harvard Website. It was full of information that I had never heard of so it was hard to narrow my insights down to the minimum. I was really surprised to read that the information they learn from their studies in the United States is basically the foundation that they build their programs on.

The first piece of knowledge that I encountered was the Early Childhood Innovation Partnership (ECIP). Their mission is to bring change in state and early childhood policies based on scientific knowledge and other factors. That is something that we d0 in the United States. We have a new breed of children in today’s time. They are different from when we were children. Our policies need to fit the needs and issues and trends of them.

The Frontiers of Innovation (FOI) focuses on the early childhood program and how interventions can improve across all areas in the program. They also have different groups within them that work as partners to help develop the new interventions. This reminded of our policy council that consists of administrative staff and parents. They come together and help develop new policies that they feel will be more effective and beneficial in the next school.

What I found the most interesting was the four disorders that are the main reasons why children are clinical referred:

1. Anxiety

2. Depression

3. ADHD

4. Conduct

I have seen that more and more children are coming into early childhood programs with Autism. A lot of our teachers do not have the proper training to deal with a child that has this disorder. Our facility will assign a coach and at least one or two training for the staff. The rest of the learning is either information that is received from the parent, IEP or IFSP, and research that the staff does for themselves. There are support teams available, but they are limited because of their demand at other centers. That is when the staff comes together to help each other.  We want to give these children the opportunity to be included and receive the best care. Teamwork is how we get it done.

Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2010). Global children’s initiative. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiatives/