Research around the world

For this assignment I chose the Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).  From the link I learned  that  some of the research conducted internationally are similar to what is being conducted in the states. In the United States, we hear about leadership training for those in the field and how to get parents more involved.  http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/major_reports.php, I saw several research projects with similar topics.  "Involving fathers in early childhood care and education." "Leadership Skills Training for Administration and Parent Support Training for Caregivers," and "Improving the Quality of Childcare Through Parenting Enrichment and Training of Trainers: The Eritrean Model." I was surprised by the similarities that I found. All around the world people want quality early childhood programs with well trained staff and families that are involved.
 I also found a few that I think are unique to the area that the research is done in.  There are several about utilizing indigenous stories, culture,and knowledge into early childhood programs. I think that this is important for everyone to know their heritage and be able to celebrate their culture and who they are. 


http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/major_reports.php

http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/index.php

Uplifting stories

If I could research any topic in the early childhood field, what would I research?  I have a few topics that are near and dear to my hear. One would be autism research. What causes autism, what are the best ways to raise awareness, and acceptance.  The second is my current topic, what are the best methods to teach children that have experience trauma, and how best to work with the family.  What I image the outcomes to be is a better understand of autism, and better teaching methods to work with at risk children to help them see that they don't have to live like this, they can choose to stop the cycle and have better lives.

Personal Research Journey

My chosen topic is how to teach children who have experience trauma, primarily trauma due to parents drug problems. I chose this topic because it is an issue that I deal with personal and professionally. Three of my children are adopted, their birth mom is in and out of prison for drug related charges. Before I adopted them, it was common for them to go a whole weekend without food, because their birth mother sold their food stamp card for drugs. The kids deal with high anxiety, toxic stress, and feeling abandoned. I see similar situations in my classroom as well. Over half of my class last year were living with relatives or in foster care due to parents being in prison for drug realted charges. Several of the children came to school late and hungry. I use to keep snacks to feed these children when they arrived. Besides feeding them, what else can I do to help them?

Week 8

I have enjoyed learning about the international early childhood field these past eight weeks from  the Association of Childhood Education Internation.
The three consequences of leaarning about the international early childhood field are: 1.) You can no longer live in a bubble. The world is much bigger and the need is bigger than you thought.  2.), The ways of the United States are not the ways of the world. Many countries do things different and better than what we do. The third  consequence is the feeling of wanting to do something to make a difference.  ACEI offers a variety of programs and groups that I have dissussed these past few weeks to get involved in.

Resources

http://www.acei.org/

Professional Goals, Hopes, and Dreams

I have recently made the switch from teaching for Head Start to being a kindergarten teacher for a Christian school.  Yes, this is a big change.  In Head Start, we constantly talked about quality, professional development, and how to improve our program.  So far at the Christian school, I am constantly told that I do not need to do everything that I am doing, parents only care about academics.  My room would pass a Step Up to Quality and NAEYC inspection.  I have centers, I have 10 min breaks planned in between subjects, and a long recess in the afternoon.  I think I need more social emotional activities and more unstructured time, but the other teachers look at me like I am crazy and  tells me to just stick with the workbooks.  I think I will win them over before the end of the year, (hopefully).
There is no talk about professional development or quality at this school.

Opportunities for professional development, is limited in this county.  I usually check my professional development portal (OCCRRA) to see what trainings are in Columbus or Cincinnati and go on my own.  The only training that I am required to keep for my current position is CPR/first aid.  I currently do not have any professional development requirements. When I taught for Head Start I had to have 10 hours of training minimum each year.

What are my professional goals?
We need high quality child care in this area that accepts all children, including those with disabilities. The only programs that participates in Step Up to Quality (Ohio's quality rating system) is Head Start.  I plan to open up a child care center  and show this county what high quality looks like. I eventually want to add a K-3rd grade programs and service all of early childhood years with  no worksheets, kids up, and actively involved in what they are doing. This is my goal.

Sharing Web Resources part 3

This week, I am looking into the Center for Educational Diplomacy. This is the last of the three programs that the Association for childhood Education International offers. The center's mission is to  promote the well-being of children worldwide. It has three goals. They are: lead the development of the concept of education diplomacy, provided resources for organizations and individuals working to incorporate education diplomacy into their efforts, and to create a cadre of experienced education diplomats to further global education and development goals, (educational diplomacy, n.d.). The center offers courses and certifications for professionals.  There is a ton of information on this site that tells the difference between being an educational diplomat and being an advocate. I found this to be interesting.
The main difference is that advocacy uses persuasive arguments to meet its goal.  Diplomacy uses a variety of diplomacy tools such as negotiation and mediation.  I believe someone who is an educational diplomat could use their skills and knowledge to promote equity and excellence in early care and education.  In fact, I think that is the primary goal of  Association for Childhood Education


I searched the site  for information on working with immigrate families but I was unable to find anything. I also subscribed to their newsletter at the beginning of this course and I have not received anything yet. I am hoping to become a member soon and I am looking into some of the courses offered, after I finish my masters.

Resources
http://www.acei.org/
http://www.educationdiplomacy.org/

Week 5

I have had no luck of writing to professionals from the podcast and hearing back from them.  So for this assignment I researched  the Harvard University's "Global Children's Initiative."  The initiative works with Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and has a program called Saving Brains. The title of the last one caught my attention.  "Saving Brains seeks to improve outcomes for children living in poverty through interventions that nurture and protect early brain development in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life," (Harvard University, 2010). Saving Brains uses science to to address the issue of children who do not reach their potential, (Harvard University, 2010). The program operates  in Africa, Asia, Caribbean, and Latin American.  I think this sound amazing and I want to learn more. 
In Brazil, the initiative works with law makers to strengthen leadership and policies for early childhood. They are translation research for a Brazilian audience to understand the science of early childhood. 

I found it odd that there is an initiative in Canada. When I think of global initiatives, I think of poor third world countries. The initiative in Canada works to  support research in early brain development, and  translate the research for policy makers, healthcare, and the public, (Harvard University, 2010). 

I continue to be amazed at all the information available and the efforts that so many are making to make quality early childhood education a reality for all. I like that they talked about using science to encourage lawmakers to make changes and make it so that the audience can understand it.  

I do not know if I just over looked it, but I was unable to find the link to the "Current Issues in Comparative Education." However, I did find an article on the Center for Global Education that talks about equity.  "Educators agree that understanding the world and demonstrating critical skills such as empathy, communication, collaboration and perspective-taking are foundation to an equitable education," (Center for Global Education, 2016).  The article went on to talk about how a school in London made great improvements and using it as a model for other schools. The school in London achieved success by having, "A belief that all children can succeed and a relentless focus on improving teaching and leadership capacity, using data at the school and student level, and creating effective and highly collaborative networks and partnerships, drove success," (Center for Global Education, 2016).  They  came up with four key points to make a education system high quality. They are: teacher development, consistency of policy and supports, community voice, and flexibility for local leaders and educations in responding to the needs of students in their communities," (Center for Global Education, 2016).  I bookmarked this as I think it is a great resource to use. 

Reference
 Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2010). Global children's initiative. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/about/what-we-do/global-work/

Center for Global Education. (2016). Global Competence and Equity. Retrieved from http://asiasociety.org/education/global-competence-and-equity