Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

On UNESO's website, I chose to read, "Vox Pop: What art the tree most important skills a child should learn?" I was intrigued to read this article because the world is changing everyday and we want to equip our children with skills to survive in the future changes.

Four professional were asked their opinions.

Sikander Sabeer, National Youth Movement for UN Post-2015 Development, Sri Lanka:

1. Culture
2. Respect and value
3. History

Urvashi Sahni, Study Hall Education Foundation, India

1. Become aware of who they are and how they relate to the world, socially and politically
2. Literate and numerate
3. Problem solvers and resilient

Govind Singh, Council of Pacific Education, Fiji

1. Life skills
2. Core values
3. Opportunity to discover their true self

 Vutha Lay, NGO Education Partnership, Cambodia

1. Soft skills -- good citizen
2. Vocational skills -- employment
3. Basic Education -- knowledge

I believe that all of these are perfect skills to survive. They weren't extravagant skills, these are basic skills, I believe. This is important, because we focus a lot on curriculum, but basic life skills are very much important, as well.

Sharing Web Resources

Follow some of the outside links that you have not yet explored. Where do they lead?

The website that I've been looking at is www.nbcdi.org. I've been looking in their resource section of the website and under Policy and Advocacy is a link to a Letter to the Senate- Recommendations for Elementary and Secondary Act Reauthorization. This was a letter bout bridging the achievement gap between black and white students. The recommendations sounded a lot like the recommendations provided in last weeks reading, over inequity in quality early child care programs. This letter is dated May 2010, so there are things that we are still lagging behind.

Thoroughly search one area of the site. What do you find?
 
Another outside link I looked at is T.E.A.C.H. T.E.A.C.H (Teacher Education And Compensation Helps)


is an early childhood project that addresses the issues of under-educated, poor compensated and high turnover within the early childhood workforce.
 T.E.A.C.H. is built on four components:

Education

T.E.A.C.H. helps participants to earn a required number of college credit hours in early childhood education each year.

Scholarship

T.E.A.C.H. offers counseling and financial support to pay for college courses and fees, books, travel, and time away from work.

Compensation

T.E.A.C.H. recipients earn a compensation bonus or raise after successful completion of a year of education.

Commitment

T.E.A.C.H. recipients agree to continue their service as a child care professional in their current early care and education setting.
 
If you receive an e-newsletter, follow a link related to one of the issues you have been studying. What new information is available?

I have not received a e-newsletter yet.

Does the website or the e-newsletter contain any information that adds to your understanding of equity and excellence in early care and education?

The letter to the Senate addressed a lot of things about inequity pertaining to bridging the achievement gap between race and socio-economics.

What other new insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field did you gain this week from exploring the website and/or the e-newsletter?

I didn't know how much was offered to aspiring teachers. TEACH is getting more qualified teachers in early childhood education. 

Getting to Know Your International Contacts -- Part 2

This is my first time visiting Harvard University's "Global Children's Initiative" website and I've gained a great deal of insight. Their dedication to early childhood development, child mental health, and children in crisis and conflict situations is commendable.

The global program focuses on three strategic areas:

reframing the discourse around child health and development in the global policy arena by educating high-level decision-makers about the underlying science of learning, behavior, and health, beginning in the earliest years of life;
supporting innovative, multi-disciplinary research and demonstration projects to expand global understanding of how healthy development happens, how it can be derailed, and how to get it back on track; and
building leadership capacity in child development research and policy—focused on both individuals and institutions—in low- and middle-income countries to increase the number and influence of diverse voices and perspectives that are contributing to the growing global movement on behalf of young children.

References

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

Sharing Web Resources

The website that I refer to is www.nbcdi.org. I enjoy reading the articles they have in the resource section. I read two articles. The article that I read that was closest to my career development is, "Framework for Planning Implementing, and Evaluating PreK-3rd Grade Approaches." I hope to one day own my own daycare and reading this article can assist me with developing my program. I enjoyed reading this article, it was filled with important and vital information.

The other article I read opened my eyes to a new, yet important trend. "A Call for Change: A Preliminary Blueprint to Improve Educational Excellence and Opportunity for African American Males in Urban Public Schools." My attention was drawn to this article because I have a young black nephew that will be attending public schools soon. This is an important topic because I feel like the lives of African American males are unvalued in America. The high profile killings of young African American teen males in recent years and throughout history makes this a trending topic. I believe that it is important for African American males to excel in something other than sports. It should be expressed to them that education is important. Living in the "hood" most young men look up to drug-dealers, gang members, and other improper influences.

I didn't find anything related to this week's topic.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 1

I have not received a response from the people I've reached out to, so I am using the alternative. Also, the website, www.childpoverty.org is down, so I researched www.nccp.com. I chose one of their publications: Basic Facts About Low-income Children. Children Under 6 years, 2011. The fact sheet gives a description of demographic, socio-economic, and geographic characteristics of young children and their parents, living in the United States.

Three insights I've gained:

• The highest races that live in low-income families are American Indian 70%, African American 70%, and Hispanic 67%. However, 4.2 million white children live in low-income families, making them the largest group and Hispanics are the largest origin of children living in low-income families.
• 75% of children under 6 years old with a single parent, live in low-income families.
• 52 % of children under 6 years old in the South, live in low-income families.

These facts stood out to me because I am an African American woman and I live in the South. While, my parents are married, I have friends that grew up in a single-parent households and had struggling times. I chose the fact sheet that discussed children under 6 because that is the age group that I work with. It's a repeating factor and it's sad.

"I mean, nobody should be hitting Lotto for 36 million and we got people starving in the streets. That is not idealistic, that’s just real." -Tupac Shakur

Seeing this quote today made me question myself: What am I doing to help someone in need? It's time for me to take action in my own community, so this is what I've gained from this week's trend and topic. We have to be the change that we want to see in the world.

Sharing Web Resources

National Black Child Development Institute
www.nbcdi.org

NBCDI is an organization dedicated to the success and well-being of Black children. They work with black children, age birth through 8, and their families. Their focus on issues that are related education, care, and health of Black children and their families.

I have not received a newsletter from NBCDI, but I looked at their resource page. There were a lot of helpful links and news articles related to the black community and how to lift up the black community. The reason why I chose this website is not to shut out other cultures or not look into the international websites, but I believe that it is important for me as a black woman to research what I can build my community. Future black generations, I believe, are at a great risk and as an early childhood professional I really want to do my part in my community.

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

I am still waiting to hear back from the people that I've tried to contact. I also put UNICEF in my favorites bar just in case they don't get back with me. This was a difficult assignment, but hopefully I can start establishing relationships globally because I do want to learn more. So my fingers are crossed.

One early childhood education organization that I was interested in when I started looking is National Black Child Development Institute. This organization captured my eye because it is about the improvement of children of color early childhood experience. I'm very excited about receiving their newsletters and even bringing an organization to my community. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I am excited to learn more about their organization!