Final blog

Post at least three consequences of learning about the international early childhood field for your professional and personal development 

1.  I can use the information I have learned about the international ECE field and help with advocacy efforts.
2. I have gained new resources and references for future classes and my career
3. Lastly I can use the information I have gained to educate others

Post one goal for the field related to international awareness of issues and trends and the spirit of collegial relations

1. My one goal is to become an advocate for other nations who are trying to betters their countries educational system by fighting for high quality childcare.

UNESCO’s “Early Childhood Care and Education

I visited the UNESCO’s “Early Childhood Care and Education webpage because I have not received any response from the Early Childhood professionals. This website was very informative in regard to  international early childhood education and I have learned a lot from it. The Convention on the Rights of the Child which was analysed in this article and asked if what difference has it made to children’s right to education? Turns out states have to reflect these obligations in their Constitution and  take strides towards enhancing education policies and strategies.


I also learned about the challenges in Brazil in regard to integrating care and education. This article focusing on the issues of integrating child care and education.  Apparently in 1996 there was a policy imposed to integrate administrative responsibility for day care centers for 0-3 and preschool 4-6 into the education system.  This article focuses on why there is still a gap in this system of integrating school and care, even though there is a policy in place.
The article goes on to talk about how important it is to bring these two sectors together, but that is not something that will happen over night, and it will take some time until care and education are integrated.  This article showed me that the government in Brazil is trying to make their early childhood educational system better, it is going to take some time but they are making the effort.


http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001457/145735e.pdf




www.unesco.org

Education World

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

Some of the outside links connected to this website were social networking sites like twitter, facebook, and an RSS feed. Having links like these ones are useful in getting more individuals to view this site. These outside links can help education world gain in popularity.

• Thoroughly search one area of the site. What do you find?

The New Teacher link was extremely useful, once you click on the new teacher link it brings you to a section where you can find a lot of good resources. Many of these resources provide guidance for new teachers in the form of articles, forums, discussions, opinion articles and job search advice. I clicked on many of the resources and found them to be extremely useful and reassuring for potential teachers. Great Job Education World!

• If you receive an e-newsletter, follow a link related to one of the issues you have been studying. What new information is available?

The last newsletter I received from Education World, early childhood newsletter was about celebrating earth day. The newsletter discussed earth day, recycling and  lesson plans regarding earth day. This newsletter was not relevant to what we are discussing in class this week.

Education World

• What specific section(s) or information seemed particularly relevant to your current professional development?

One section that I can relate to professionally at this moment is Education World, Current Events section. One of the articles is entitled "The Pink Slip Club". The reason I decided to discuss this article is because this is what happens to be relevant in education in my community now. Pink slips are popping up, and budget cuts are being made. My area is in a crisis, and the Schenectady School District plans on cutting teachers, the arts and music, and also making class sizes larger. This is not helping education, this is not helping our children learn. I  do not want to see children in a classroom of 40 with an overworked teacher, not getting the attention they deserve. This would be a horrible move for my city, and I hope they work something out, and the teachers advocate for this cause!

• Which ideas/statements/resources, either on the website or in an e-newsletter, did you find controversial or made you think about an issue in new ways?

The article entitled  "Pink Slip Club", made me think about the issue differently, but did not change my views on the matter. This article put "pink slips" in a different light, and even had teachers discussion the matter in a positive way. Some of the teachers mentioned in the article viewed pink slips as a good thing, because it kind of gave teachers a warning to do better, and they would get hired back eventually but they would have to work hard and prove themselves to get their position back. I think that is a bunch of bull, these teachers did work hard, through college and work hard everyday in the classroom, I do not think teachers should view this issues in a positive way, they earned their job and shouldn't have it taken away in order to prove themselves.

• What information does the website or the e-newsletter contain that adds to your understanding of how economists, neuroscientists, or politicians support the early childhood field?

Some of the articles in the e-newsletter demonstrate ECE from differnt stand points. This news letter discusses the economy ( The Pink Slip Club),  and  also discusses politics with a piece on no child left behind.  Both of these articles helped me gain a better understanding of the economics and politics of ECE.

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

I was touched the most by the article discussing the Pink Slip Club. The article brought out a lot of emotion because my city is going through this right now and I have family that could lose their jobs. Also it shows the economics of education, and the harsh reality of it.

World Radio

World Forum Radio

Episode 9: Barbara Jones (BJ)

http://ccie-media.s3.amazonaws.com/podcasts/WFR_09_BarbaraJones.mp3

Education World

I subscribed to Education Worlds free newsletter, the specific newsletter I subscribed to is about Early Childhood Education.  I went with this newsletter because it is helpful for me as a preschool teacher. Each newsletter is filled with lesson plan ideas, professional development, education headlines, early childhood education, and also a section for administrators. I found this newsletter to be very informative and useful, I feel like it keeps me up to date on current events in the education community.

http://www.educationworld.com/maillist.shtml

Making Connections Across the World

At this moment I am in the process of trying to contact Early Childhood professionals from all over the world.  I think it would be a great learning experience for me to be able to communicate with some one who is from another country that is interested in making a difference in the ECE field!
Here I listed who I tried to contact, still waiting for a response (fingers crossed)

Ghana
Rev Charles Arko-Nunoo
P.O. Box MK 157
Mankessim
C/R Ghana
Email: 2kdotcom@ghana.com


Bulgaria
OMEP Bulgarian National Committee
Step by Step Program Foundation Bulgaria
Emil Buzov
Email: emil.step@bitex.com

The organization that I wanted to learn more about was the, Association for childhood education international. I found this website to be really insightful. I liked the fact that I could learn the important issues that are going on in ECE all over the world. What I also liked about the ACEI is that you can become a member, and become apart of this diverse community.   Also upon becoming a member you can recieve all of the lasted news, journals, and magazines. Joining this community is something that I am interested in doing in the near future. I also like that this organization has an E news letter, and also ACEI radio. These features allow individuals to stay up to date on the latest news in ECE around the world!