Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

I have not heard anything from my international contact as of yet, but we still have one more week. When i visited the website http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education, I studied what the mission of the organization is and how what I have gained from the website coincide with my goals as a professional. The mission has four points, but the points that stuck out to me were:

• provide international leadership to create learning societies with educational opportunities for all populations.
• provide expertise and foster partnerships to strengthen national educational leadership and the capacity of countries to offer quality education for all.

• work as an intellectual leader, an honest broker and clearing house for ideas, propelling both countries and the international community to accelerate progress towards these goals.

These points are basically how I feel about being an educator. I want to make sure I can do all that I can to provide education and leadership to all children, regardless of race, social economic status.
All families deserve to get access to quality education, and this organization is committed to helping reach this goal on a global level.

Another insight that grabbed my attention was the UNESCO holds an annual conference in a location around the world to bring awareness to making sure that quality education is given to all children around the world. This is such a great way to spread awareness to others in such a dramatic way. The Conference will be held in Japan this year in November.

The last insight that was important to me was the fact that they have global networks in the Caribbeans, Africa, Asia and Pacific, and Latin America. The global networks have leaders speak on topics like AIDS awareness, to green-jobs and inclusive education in Brazil.

Reference:
 http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/worldwide/

Sharing Web Resources

After exploring the National Black Child Development Institute’s website, I started to look more into the resources and articles. There has not been any newsletters sent out as of yet, but I did find articles with different headings, such as health, policy and advocacy, early care and education, family engagement and literacy.  I looked into the policy and advocacy resources, as well as early care and education. I chose these to links because I wanted to find out if they discussed the issues for the week of equity of education in regards access and availability. These resources gave me a better understanding of the need for excellence in early care and education because it advocating for the awareness of these issues of affordability and access to children and their families. When I explored the policy and advocacy, the article discusses how policies are being put into place to make sure that children and their families are getting help to afford quality education by including subsidies given for families are financially challenged. The article also goes into detail on the benefits of having quality and affordable child care is beneficial not only to the families as a whole, but on the developing child. The main insight I have gained is the global awareness that nationally accredited groups are making available to the masses to explain the need for advocacy. I love the fact that more and more individuals are trying to aid in the advocacy for children and their families to stay healthy not just physically, but mentally and educationally. The realization is that it takes a village to help nurture and educate the children of society, and we as a society have to join forces to make sure that the equity of education is available, accessible, and affordable to all children and families, regardless of socio-economic status.

Resources:

http://www.nbcdi.org/resources-page/from-nbcdi

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

I have not heard from my resources outside of the U.S. as of yet, but I am still hopeful. I did go to http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/ website to listen to some videos and conversations about educating young children. While I was researching different videos, I found a video that truly struck me as important. The name of the video was Building Adult Capabilities to Improve Child Outcomes:
A Theory of Change.  One insight that I gathered from this was that when thinking of a child and the most important years of learning, which is between birth and 5, if a child misses the proper developmental needs that should be met from parents and caregivers, the brain has the ability to develop flexibility and plasticity to learn skills to the age of 30. It is amazing that even if children do not gain the skills needed due to toxic stressors early in life that they can still learn how to cope and important analytical skills later in life up to the age of 30.  Another insight is the fact that in order to be stable and great role models for children, parents and caregivers have to be able to have the necessary skills to maintain order, how to plan, have executive functioning and self-regulation, as well as being able to work in teams are all essential skills that adults need to have in order to be stable enough to teach and mentor children. When we have those skill sets, we can run a well-regulated home and school environment. What is also so interesting is that the Harvard website understands that in order to be effective in teaching, there needs to be a certain level of commitment by the professionals who educate children. Educators and parents may need coaching, mentoring, and training to be able to execute skills that are necessary to our youth. When it comes to equity and excellence, we as educators are accountable in how we teach children in our care, and we have to make sure that we are fair and uphold the best educational practices.

Resources:

http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/

Sharing Web Resources

The website that I have been researching and exploring thus far is the National Black Child Development Institute. What seems to be relevant to my current professional development is the information on education in general, the layout of their policy on teaching black children, early childhood education issues and trends, family engagement, as well as the health and well-being of the children.

What I felt was very interesting when it pertains to families and family togetherness is the issue of absentee parents. On the NBCDI, “ the U.S. Census Buera reports that one-third of American children are growing up without their birth father. The last 50 years show that the number of children who live in a two-parent home has decreased by 22 points, and the number of babies born to unwed mothers has increased from 5% to 40%.” (NBCDI, 2014)  That is a issue all over, but especially in the black communities, and I am glad that NBCDI is making sure to bring awareness when thinking of the well-being and education for African American children.  Even though this is article is in the ‘who we are’ section on the website on the issues and policies they deal with, it is very relevant to my professional development. The newsletter has not come out thus far for the 2014 calendar year, but I am still keeping a lookout for the newsletter.

There are some great things this site has to offer. You can be a student, regular, or join the organization on behalf of another group for $40 or less. It is a great way to get involved for a small price, which is a great insight for me as an educator and advocate.

Reference:

The National Black Child Development Institute. (2014) Retrieved from http://www.nbcdi.org/ .

International Contacts

I have not had any luck getting or hearing back from the individuals I contacted during the first week of the course, and when trying to get the podcast website, the link was not allowing me to properly go to the site. I decided to go to this website to research on the poverty in Brazil/Rio De Janeiro at http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/ucs3.pdf . One of the most interesting insights I learned is that the largest populations living in poverty in Brazil are children between the ages of 0 to 17. (UNICEF, 1993 & 2000, pg. 11) Another interesting fact is that even though and since the publication has been published, there was a significant amount of children who were illiterate. This also made it harder for children to pass in primary education schools within the normal 8 years, children in Brazil would take 12 years. (UNICEF, 1993 & 2000, pg. 13) The publication is an older publication, but it is still allowing for us to see that poverty is such a real and global issue that needs more attention. Even though there has been more done in the later years since the publication, there is still a huge issue of poverty not just Brazil, but all over. Children suffer in education because there is not a way for them to afford to get into ECE programs, and may not be possible for parents to be able to send them to school because they cannot afford to get the necessities needed for their child to be in school. This issue needs more awareness and more advocates for children and their families so that children’s well-being, health, and education are met, and families are getting the help they need to make those things happen.

Resources:

  http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/96

Sharing Web Resources

The organization I chose was the National Black Child Development Institution. The link to the organization is: http://www.nbcdi.org.

This organization helps with children dealing with poverty and racial barriers have an equal opportunity at education. For over 40 years, the NBCDI has helped bring awareness of issues that effect the black community and child and tries to empower them from things like early childhood education, health, child-welfare, literacy, and family engagement.  The organization was launched by the Black Women’s Community Development Foundation, whose leadership, in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement, was deeply concerned about the unsatisfactory conditions faced by families determined to raise healthy Black children.  For 38 years, NBCDI was led by Evelyn K. Moore, who got her start as a teacher in the ground-breaking Perry Pre-school/High Scope program, which became the model for Head Start.(NBCDI, 2013)

A trend that caught my eye about this website is just the overall mission of the site which is culture and diversity of African American children. Learning and understanding how to help them rise above racial differences and to provide ways for them to progress is a very great and essential them and focus of this organization. I also like that within the mission statement, they want ALL children to be successful, not just African American children.

I think this is an amazing website, and there is so much to learn. I feel honored to have stumbled across this website as a resources, and I recommend it to everyone who is an educator and non-educator. It is for everyone who wants to learn about diversity and culture and it is a great resource available to educators to help with teaching young African American children and inclusion of their families within the curriculum.

Professional Contact and Resources

This was such a step out of the box kind of assignment. I contacted to individuals, one from Spain, and the other from Morocco. It was hard to choose, but I wanted an email of an actual individual who I felt would respond to me. I sent a brief description of who and what my purpose was, and that I was interested in their views, perspectives, aspirations, dreams, and work in the early childhood education field.  I sent that off a day or so ago, but have not received anything as of yet. I am still hopeful. I know that they are busy individuals, so I will give it another week before thinking about the alternative to this part of the blog.

When choosing the early childhood organization and website, I wasn't sure what I wanted; the selection was so grand. I chose the National Black Child Development Institute. As an African American woman, I wasn't even aware of this website, and was just drawn to it because I wanted to learn more about the organization, their goal, and purpose. One of the things that also fascinated me about the organization is that they are supporters of the T.E.A.C.H. (Teacher Education and Compensation Helps) program to try to help stop high turnover rates in early childhood programs and to motivate early childhood educators to get degrees and to be compensated for their efforts.

I was just wondering if any has heard back from who they contacted, and how long did it take to get a response. Also, are any of you nervous about the process? I am more excited, but just a hint of nervousness; just because I am not sure about how the professional will perceive me. Best of luck to all of you on this journey!