Final Blog Assignment

Three consequences of learning about the international early childhood field:

 

• I learned a different perspective to early childhood education and the rolls that this education does for a child in the future in different parts of the world.
• I learned about different ways diverse students learn the content we are teaching them.  This is a great thing for diverse students in our classrooms.
• I learned that education around the world is so different but all share a common goal, to make children successful.  The schools internationally teach a lot differently that I am use to but seeing and hearing about their lessons brought new ideas for my teaching.  Differentiation is important in the classroom and was evident internationally.

 

A goal for our field in relation to international awareness would be to continue our education through more research and talking with professionals internationally.  I never realized the impact this would have on my teaching and my classroom.  It is true we learn from others and gaining perspective from international professionals would be a great goal to continue throughout our teaching.

Getting to know your International Contacts-Part 3 (Week 7)

I have not received any communication for the podcast professionals so I went to http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood  and did some exploring on the content of this website.

 

One new insight that I gained from this website was that this website offers a wide range of information about equity in education. One interesting fact that I read about this concept what the role of the central government in making this issue less of a deal in the classroom.  The central government must ensure a equitable distribution of resources throughout all the population and especially those that live in struggling areas.

 

Another idea that I read on this website that I have known about but was reassured about was the idea of lack of resources in the classroom.  The lack of investment and funds in schools causes less resources and tools for students and in turn effects their learning greatly.  It was mentioned this is especially true for struggling regions across the world and the negative impact on children it is making.

 

The last thing I found on this website to be interesting was an article about Singapore and their policy on early childhood education.  They have partnered with non public actors to make a difference in the education in this region.  The government gave up ownership do to lack of funds and the costly aspect of education which gave the non public actor to take control.  They introduced a cost recovery option and saw immediate improvement in the overall education system.

Sharing Web Resources-Week 6

http://www.naecte.org/

 

As I explored some of the outside links they lead me to many different sites.  Many of these sites were linked to different early childhood organizations and other resources.  Some of the links were about teachers in different countries who offer insight on what they are doing with their early childhood students.   Another link was about the requirements for the fifty different states in relation to early childhood education.

 

One early of the site that I thoroughly looked through this week was the link to the online journal. This link took me to loads of information from real teachers around the world.  Anyone who teaches can add to this journal and gives positive ideas and feedbacks for other teachers.  This could be a great resource for new teachers and teachers who are struggling with teaching something or reaching a student.

 

I have no received a newsletter recently but went back and looked into older newsletters on their website.  One new insight that I learned was that this organization put together small tours to go to New Zealand to look at the astonishing teaching of early childhood.  Teachers from around the Untied States get to go to this country and bring back wonderful resources and tools for other early childhood educators.

 

I did not see anything relating to this week learning about equity and excellence in education besides the fact that many states are now requiring the same thing for early childhood as they would in older grades.  This is to assure that everyone is getting quality education and experiencing high level learning.

 

Another trend that I found through my research of the website this week was about research for the early childhood educator.  There was a section in one of the recent newsletters about the importance of this in teaching.  It goes on to show that through research current and past teachers will find much information they may have not thought was available.  This organization promotes its members to do research and provides links and resources to encourage teachers to research while teaching to make their teaching more effective and motivating.

Getting to know contacts-part 2 (week 5)

From the podcast this week I listened to the podcast featuring Barbara Jones.  She founded a school in Maine and is celebrating the 25^th anniversary of the opening.  This is a Monsey school.  She knew that this school was of something different and decided to try it out.  She was excited about the challenge but nervous about the new adventure.  After working in a few schools, she found a vacant building and decided to buy it.  She opened up a private child development program in this building.  After renovating the building and getting it prepared for children, she felt at home and ready.

 

From the Harvard website, I found there to be a lot of information available.  One new insight I found was that this program works outside of the United States and focuses on the science of child health and development to guide stronger policies and larger investments to benefit and families and children in Brazil.  Another insight that I gained was that this program has a plan in place that focuses on building the capabilities of caregivers and strengthening the communities that in turn with benefit the children learning, health, and behavior.  The last insight that I learned was that this program is dedicated to the why and what of why investment matter in early childhood education. They have a whole section outlining this with many resources available to look at.

 

 

World Forum Foundation:  World Forum Radio.   Retrieved from http://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/current-work/world-forum-radio/

 

Center on the Developing Child:  Harvard University.  Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/topics/understanding_intervention/