Reflecting

When I was first reflecting on what three consequences would be of learning about what early childhood development is like on a global level, I immediately thought of the word consequence with a negative connotation. But when I was putting it into perspective and reflecting I realize that a consequence can be a positive thing just as much as a negative thing. The definition of 'consequence' is a result or effect of an action or condition or importance of relevance. With a more definitive meaning of the word consequence I continued my reflection. I think three different consequences of learning about international child care are a broaden perspective on working with young children, gaining new ideas and networking with colleagues. Although I was a little bit disappointed that I was not able to have consistent communication with my international contact, I so enjoyed reading my colleagues blog entries that described their contact with their international colleagues, it was a pleasure and a joy to read about the different things that are being done all around the world to advocate for the field of Early Childhood Development. In spite of the fact that I was not able to make contact with my international colleague, I was able to learn many things from the podcast that I listened to. I feel as though I have gained a lot of new resources as well as a broadened perspective for Early Childhood Development and Education. As I continue this journey working in the field, I look forward to also learning more about what is being done globally working with young children.


My goal for the field is to work hard to educate others outside of the field about issues in the field and the overall importance of Early Childhood Education. I believe that this can be accomplished through partnering with people working in other fields, making sure that publications are current and informative and also by becoming well educated workers ourselves who value and respect this field.
 
 

Getting to Know your International Contacts- Part 3

Unfortunately, I am still having difficulty making contact with my international contact. I found a website and thought I would be able to connect with other Early Childhood professionals from around the world because of the chat rooms and discussion boards that are on that website, but unfortunately, I have had trouble consistently connecting with anyone. For this reason, I listened to a podcast presented by the Cambridge Trust Company. The title of the podcast was Closing the gap between what we know and what we do. The person giving the podcast was the director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University talks about the impact of early experience on brain development and the implications of compelling new findings.

I also found the UNESCO website to be very interesting.  I think what was most interesting about it to me is the aspect that it is the United Nations website, so it is a global perspective. I do not have a substantial amount of international or global resources regarding Early Childhood, so this will be a good one to add to my list of resources. I am interested in learning more about global organizations and resources to add to my own personal resources as I continue my work in the field. I think it is valuable to have both local and global resources to cover a broad range of topics and ideas.

Sharing Web Resources

The website I chose to explore from the original resource website was http://www.zerotothree.org. I have little experience with this website, so I figured choosing one that was newer to me would be a good idea, so I can keep it as a future resource. The website is informative and had different sections regarding Early Childhood.  The one section I chose to thoroughly search was a tab that said “public policy”. I chose to look under this tab because of the things we have recently been studying in class.  One thing I liked about this website is how informative it was. There was not just information about working with young children, but it gave a broad range of materials and resources for working with young children and how the career field is changing as well.

The website I chose at the beginning of the course (www.naeyc.com) does not have an e-newsletter. Nor did the publications that it does have any information anything about understanding of equity and excellence in early care and education. The website does have a lot of resources and positive information that can be used when studying and working in early childhood.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts- Part 2

 


Podcast: Improving the Quality of Early Child Care

Link to my podcast: http://earlyed.newamerica.net/blogposts/2012/podcast_improving_the_quality_of_early_child_care-67930 

This podcast was really interesting to me. In the podcast they interviewed Grace Reef, chief of policy and evaluation at Child Care Aware of America (formerly the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies). She gave a snapshot of the diversity of quality in child care within and among states across the country; explained her organization’s efforts to reauthorize the Child Care and Development Block Grant; and detailed how Congress, states and the White House can make changes that will enhance the safety and quality of early child care settings.