Final Blog Assignment

Final Blog Assignment

This course, my fellow colleagues, researching international/and other early childcare websites has provided me with a great deal of knowledge and information that I would take into consideration and use when discussing early childcare education with my fellow colleagues and co-workers.  I have learned that in many countries they have similar views as the US regarding the Early Childcare arena.  They too think that their government or others should focus more and provide more funding to researching and assisting younger children beginning at birth.  There are also some countries where community organizations are providing parents/guardians with helpful insight and information with how to better their lives and the lives of their children.  Even though I did not get a chance to communicate with any international early childcare professional, I still think I have gain a lot of knowledge from reading some of my peers’ blog sites.  I plan to continue to research and stay inform with international websites, in order to gain assistance and provide assistance to see if I can aid younger children/families in any way possible.  International awareness is very important and I think more people need to get and stay involved, as well as assist with early childhood/diversity and see how it relates to their own community and the surrounding communities.  

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

Eventually, I still have not heard nor received a news letter from the National Black Child Development Institute, so I completed the alternative assignment.  While reviewing the “Early Childhood Care and Education” webpage I thought the article, “What are the three most important skills a child should learn?” to be interesting.  I became knowledgeable of one of the greatest challenges for education systems today is keeping pace with a changing world of work and equipping youth with the skills they will need in an increasingly knowledge-based economy.  Many researchers’ thinks that children need to be/have creative mind set, inventive thinking, critically and how the world relates around them, culture, values, respect, and life skills. Out of all of these aspects different scholars view various ones to be of importance to them.   I thought it was appealing to see that different people  living in various parts of the world have unusual qualities in which they think children should learn.

               The next article “Quality” informs the audience of the importance of a high quality early childhood program.  It states that it promotes motivation, self-confidence, good cognitive and linguistic skills and school readiness for children from disadvantage backgrounds.  It also provides learning activities that are developmentally, and culturally age appropriate, and child –center interaction.  With the assistance of parents, the community and stakeholders they can continue to advocate and work to keep early childhood of the main focus for school readiness, and preparing children for kindergarten. 

               The last article, “Access and Equity” shows how other countries also need to focus heavily on early childcare education  especially for disadvantage children/families and how important it is to begin with studying children at birth and working their way up. “Central governments must ensure an equitable distribution of resources among different populations and especially those who live in the most disadvantaged regions. “  I agree with the article and think it is sad that poor/disadvantage children always are lacking in early childhood skills due to the government and policymakers.  Hopefully this will change so that all children get a chance to a great early childcare learn experience and an excellent preparation for kindergarten. 

(http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/

Sharing Web Resources

National Black Child Development Institute http://nbcdi.org/ The National Black Child Development Institute is an organization that provides assistance, education, training, and programs promoting/advocating the well being of children/families of color throughout various states of the United States. There are many links that are connected to the website. One of the websites that caught my eye was the Black Child Development of Greensboro, Inc, is one of the organizations affiliated with NBCD, BCD is located in Greensboro, a placed I used to live in for the past 15 years, and worked in Childcare for 10 years. I have never heard of the organization until now. This association is funded through Ameri Corps, State Farm, privately and public donations to enhance the lives of younger children. Some of the programs the BCD offers are Back-to-School-Extravaganza, Black History Quiz Bowl (share the rich history, and culture of African Americans with youth and families), and Freedom School (a summer program that engages children of color with the love or literacy and reading, parent involvement, nutrition and well being). This organization also provides training to new/young mothers and fathers assisting with raising their children. The NBCD also is liked to what we do Family Engagement with the help of WK Kellogg Foundation that engages, educates and empowers parents of color to become and stay involved with their child’s life. “ NBCDI believes in prioritizing conversations about race, culture, class and gender in the context of family engagement; not to say that these things must, or should, be at the forefront of all of our conversations, but rather to say that those of us who provide services and solutions should learn as much as we can about the context of race and culture bias in which our children and families are embedded.” As a mother of 2 children I think it is important for all families to stay engaged, involved, and spend time with their children. Staying involved with a child’s education, community involvement really means a lot to children. Eventhough the economy is not in a great shape there are always little things you can do with your children like get a movie from Red box, enjoy and pop a bag of microwave popcorn. We sometimes play a board game and order pizza for the night, or do a cooking project. It is always the little things that matter to kids. The NBCD is aware and is trying to improve early childcare programs by making them more effective and high quality. They want to provide educators with the correct training and courses needed in order to design a curriculum that would best meet each child’s individual needs. There focus is to make sure that every child is “kindergarten readiness” and prepared for school. “In both the early education and K-12 systems, we know that effective teaching and high-quality instruction is a central component of children’s achievement, and, further, that consistent access to effective teachers and leaders can narrow the achievement gap and provide particularly strong benefits for children from low-income communities.” The Black Child Development of Greensboro, Inc. http://www.blackchilddevelopment.org/ What we do family engagement http://www.nbcdi.org/what-we-do/family-engagement

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

I have yet to receive any information from my international contact person or from the national contact person so again I had to complete the alternative assignment. The ultimate mission of The National Scientific Council on the Developing Child Council is to close the gap between what we know and what we do to promote successful learning, adaptive behavior, and sound physical and mental health for all young children. Central to this concept is the ongoing generation, analysis, and integration of knowledge and the critical task of educating policymakers, civic leaders, and the general public about the rapidly growing science of early childhood development and its underlying neurobiology. The four goals and strategies include: Bringing credible and accurate knowledge to bear on public decision-making that affects children’s learning, behavior, and health. Rethinking the challenge of knowledge translation in order to strengthen its impact on the lives of children. Building broad-based and informed leadership to represent the interests of young children in the public and private sectors. Promoting a new national dialogue focused on rethinking the meaning of both shared responsibility for children and strategic investment in their future. I thought it was interesting when I viewed the article, “Early Childhood Program Evaluations: A Decision Makers Guide”, because it correlated with this week’s resources with what and how we can improve the early childhood education arena for both parents and policymakers. Similar to Kagan’s article this piece also made aware of the measurements the accountability of the programs and way in which all states could obtain a common core standard for early childhood programs throughout the US. The first article also explains how to use this tool if you wanted to conduct a study of families in the early childhood program, and how to access an overall program. This website also provided the research of the brain and how it works in younger children. It also shows how the brain works during hearing, vision, talking of early language skills as well as cognitive skills. I also thought it was interesting in another article where it expresses how young children are affected by stress and other traumatic situations during the first years of life. “From pregnancy through early childhood, all of the environments in which children live and learn, and the quality of their relationships with adults and caregivers, have a significant impact on their cognitive, emotional, and social development. A wide range of policies, including those directed toward early care and education, child protective services, adult mental health, family economic supports, and many other areas, can promote the safe, supportive environments and stable, caring relationships that children need.”(2013, p. 1) “Early Childhood Programs Evaluations a Decision Markers Guide” http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/resources/multimedia/interactive_features/decision-guide-interactive/ Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” website (http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/),