Sharing Web Resources

Sharing Web Resources I requested a newsletter from the National Black Child Development Institute during week one but I have yet to receive any information. While reviewing the website, there was a link to Alliance for early Success and under its umbrella was a link to Birth to Five Policy Alliance. This link supports and hopes to strengthen black children and families in Jackson MS, Detroit, MI, and Milwaukee, WI. I also signed up to receive NBCDI’s policy alerts. While observing some of their policy/trend issues there were a couple that caught my eye. The article, “Growing Number Ask for Higher Spending in Early Childhood Education” included both politicians, and neuroscientist collaborating thoughts and ideas wanting to assist children of Nebraska to better themselves as well as the economy. During the meeting Senator John Harms and other politicians discussed his bill: “Sen. John Harms of Scottsbluff and others who supported his bill (LB190) are asking the committee to set aside $20 million in the next two-year budget -- $10 million a year -- to help more at-risk Nebraska kids and their parents through the Early Childhood Education Endowment Cash Fund. The first three years of children's lives affects their education, employment and interaction with the community and society, Harms said. In those years, they need three critical tools: a solid relationship with adults they can constantly count on, activities that promote healthy brain development and a good and safe place to live, learn, play and create."We're short of that in over 30,000 children," he said. "I don't know how you feel, but it makes my heart really heavy."(2013 P.1) Dr. Laura Jana, an Omaha pediatrician who studied in cellular and molecular biology explained to the committee the poverty was a neurotoxin, right to the level of neurons in the brain responsible for learning. She also stated, “seven hundred neurons per second are developed, pruned, made more efficient and connected in the very early years of life. Social-emotional learning happens in preschool play.” Dr. Jana also explained, “I don’t want anybody to ever listen to the world ‘play’ again and not start thinking executive function skills, the ability to work in the workforce, to organize thoughts, to change your course based on new information. That is what pre-school is.”(2013, p.1) I think this quote summarizes it all. This is an issue I can highly related, not only do I have a 3 year old daughter, but I also am a childcare provider wanting all children to have an opportunity to receive great and high quality learning experiences. I rather for politicians to spend more funding in the beginning than when it is too late during intervention. Let’s not waste wonderful innocent minds, instead let’s help to engage, and encourage young children and get them ready for school. In the article “Pre-k, paying off experts says” was a topic in a forum focused on Georgia’s lottery Pre-K program after 20 years and provided positive feedback from parents and educators on how the program has aided 4-year olds with school readiness. The program started in 1992; about 1.2 million students have received services which cost $4.5 billion. This year 84,000 students attend 3,800 public and private pre-k classes across Georgia, but they were trying to decided what they were going to do during the budget cut for the next school year. This seems to be an issue in many early childhood programs and schools. They are being challenged to do extreme cuts due to the decline in the economy. I also thought it was interesting that investors such as Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, George Kaiser Family Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation were a few that invest in early childhood education/studies. Through research they also take a look at the whole child and his/her well being. Unknown. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Pre-K Paying off Experts Say. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved from http://birthtofivepolicy.org/ Young, JoANNE.(2013)Growing number ask for higher spending in early childhood education. Lincoln Journal Star. p.1 Retrieved from http://birthtofivepolicy.org/ National Black Child Development Institute http://nbcdi.org/ (Newsletter: http://nbcdi.org/support/sign-up-for-nbcdi-newsletters/ ) Birth to five policy alliance http://birthtofivepolicy.org/

Getting to Know Your International Contacts-Part 1

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 1 I have been trying to contact the Mrs. Michelle Campbell who is the contact/communication person of Early Childhood Education in Jamaica. So I completed the alternative of this assignment. I read three of the case studies and found that all of them had something very informational to offer. Nan Nan: life in a poor migrant family is tough This case study is about a 14 year old little girl who used to live and go to school in the rural are of China, but her parents wanted to move off the farm in order to better the lives for their children. Nan Nan’s mother told them that the schools there would be better and they would receive more than at the rural schools. Nan Nan expresses that she does not like it because her classmates mock her because of her accent and she was two years older than the children in her class. Nan Nan had a difficult transition for a while she stayed with her grandparents. They would let her play with her friends as long as she wanted, and didn’t ask about her grades. She stated when her parents would come to visit her during Chinese New Year they would give her money and have to hurry back to their jobs. At the new home the mom gets up at 6 and usually doesn’t return until 8 from work, which is too late to help Nan Nan with her homework. She made the statement, “I Sometimes wonder why we came” Poverty and ill health pushed Banwari out of school and into work. In India Banwari is a 17 year old who lives in a poor village with his 6 brothers. The family of 10 depends on agriculture to meet their needs. Banwari did not get a chance to finish school because he was forced to drop out due to lack of funding. Banwari followed his brother’s footsteps and began to weaving to help the family with money. He is forced to work long and tiresome hours with little pay. Banwari wished he could have finished school and received a better job, but his parents are happy that they are capable of making ends meet. Eventhough he sometimes think of migrating for better opportunities, he says he would rather stay there to help his family. Zarina:migrant child worker dreams of becoming a teacher In Krygystan, Zarian is a 13 year old who, which in the 7th grade was forced to move by her parents to the suburbs to better their lives and live with their relatives. She helps to take care of the 8 month old baby. In the new suburbs there is no school, so children have to take a shuttle to schools in the city. She is not able to play with the surrounding children nor go to school because she has to take care of the baby, cook 3 meals and wash clothes while here uncle and aunt works the market. This is something she dreads because she likes school, used to make good grades and read a lot of books. Zarina hopes that she will be able to go back home and continue school, even though she would be 1 year behind her peers, she wants to finish school and enroll in a teacher’s college. She wants to teach history because he admires her history teacher and loves to learn history. Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre’s page (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/), Con

Sharing Web Resources

National Black Child Development Institute http://nbcdi.org/ (Newsletter: http://nbcdi.org/support/sign-up-for-nbcdi-newsletters/ ) The National Black Child Development Institute (NBCD) website does offer a newsletter but it is not electronic, the website stated that it would be sent through the mail. I am not for sure how often they are mailed. I also checked the box to subscribe for the Child Health Talk, which is a quarterly publication, generously funded by State Farm Insurance. It provides a wide range of information for families with young children on topics related to health and well being. “Each issue typically includes the following issues, indentified by parents and caregivers as important to helping them with the overall growth and development of their children: Child development and education, healthy home environment, nutrition, and health and fitness”(National Black Child Development Institute). I have learned that the NBCD provides opportunities to improve the lives of children/parents and communities of color. Some of their major focuses are the health/ well-being, the early years and parenting (making parents aware of the importance of early reading to children, and making sure that kids and ready to enter into school, and the schools are ready for them), The Middle Years (assuring middle schoolers the readiness for college), and the Community Mobilization (ensures that information resources to all of those who work directly with children). UNICEF http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html Jamiaca http://www.unicef.org/jamaica/index.html I also choose to research the country Jamaica as a link under the UNICEF website. This site did not have a place to subscribe for a newsletter. This site also focused on health/ well being, education and community as its main topics. The website did not have a specific issue or trend that caught my eye, but I was amazed at one program under the umbrella was the “Bashy Bus”, which is a colorful bus that would stop at adolescent hangouts to counselor and discussion sexual behavior and the danger of sharing partners through music and drama. This issue caught me off guard because in this group sometimes counselors have to communicate with young children and try to prevent teenage pregnancy. Most children born to teenage mothers are usually born under weight/preterm and do not receive adequate health care. Demographics played a major role because most of the communities that UNICEF are assisting are low-income/poor areas of the country and some of the people who are providing assistance are those in a higher social or economic class.

Getting Ready-Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Getting Ready—Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources Before getting started with this assignment, I reviewed the various websites and countries I was given the opportunity to choose from. Next I typed a general letter, explaining who I was and I would like to learn about early childhood in their country. I asked if we could communicate over the next 8 weeks on trends and issues concerning early childhood education in their country. There were a lot of countries that interest me; it was hard to only choose two. I chose professionals from 6/7 countries; Germany, Dominican Republic, New Zealand, Eastern Caribbean, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago. Then I emailed the letter to each individual country, and address it personally to the communication contact. I have yet to hear from any of the countries. I am looking forward to hearing from them all. I am eager to become aware, compare and contrast early childhood education from the U.S. to each of the 6 countries. For selecting a childhood education website I was stuck on two of them that I need to narrow my research. Those 2 websites were National Black Child Development Institute and The National Association for the Education of Young Children. In researching them both I have became aware of a lot of helpful and insightful information. I will probably go with the National Black Child Development since I was able to subscribe for a free electronic news letter. I am not an expert but I am always willing to assist each of you in any way possible. Don’t hesitate, feel free to ask and if I don’t know then I will do my best to research and find out for you. I wish you all good luck with discovering about other countries outside of the U.S.