Getting to Know Your International Contacts-Part 1

Unfortunately, I have had the worsts luck with making contact with any international professionals. I received a reply email stating that there was an enormous amount of emails from Walden students and they could not help me. Then the person emailed me back with a colleagues information and I tried contacting that individual and still have not received any feedback.

I decided to visit the childhoodpoverty.org and research the country of India. I read a story about a 17 year old boy named Banwari. Banwari is a very smart young man who had to stop attending his education due to his fathers illness and the cost of his education. Banwari reached a very high level of education but could not continue. He dropped from school and began his journey of helping to provide for his family. Banwari was born into a poor family who did not earn very much wages in a days work. He was 1 child of 6 brother and a family of 10. When Banwari dropped out of school, he decided that he wanted to take up carpet weaving. He trained for the first year and then got his first job as a carpet weaver. Banwari says that carpet weaving is a very long and tiresome job. He says that he sits on the loom for 8 hours a day with a 1 hour rest period. His daily pay rate is Rs 45-50. Banwari said that normally it takes up to 3 months to complete a carpet. With the uncomfortable sitting on the loom, 2 months is a long time and hard on his body. He says that one day he would like to seek a better job. one day Banwari wants to return to school some day so that he can earn better wages.

After reading about Banwari, it made me thin about how there are many children who give up their schooling to provide for their families. This is exactly what Banwari did. He made a sacrifice for his family. I understand that young men like Banwari is old enough to help their families but their education should not become compromised.
I viewed a couple of younger children in India to see what types of works or labor they are apart of and I was pretty awed. There was a picture of a very young girl who was selling ice cream. The child appeared to be only 4 or 5 years old. How could she know and understand the business of selling ice cream. Another were pictures of children fetching water, grazing cattle, childminding (babysitting), embroidery, and many other chores or works for young children. There was one picture of a child playing in muddy water in the middle of the road. I thought about how clean the water was that she was playing with sand then how safe was it for her to play in the middle of the road. I did not see any adults supervising her.

I have learned that poverty has its different degrees depending on the country. What I do know and understand is that poverty very much does exist and there are very loving and generous individual who are making great efforts at  curtailing poverty.   

Sharing Web Resources

The National Association for the Education of Young Children
http://www.naeyc.org/
(Review also the position statements: http://www.naeyc.org/positionstatements

 

The website that I chose to study was NAEYC. This website is a very common website to teachers and families. This organization supports early childhood care, teachers, and families with their efforts of nurturing and caring for young children. I am a member of naeyc and receive a monthly newsletter that I appreciate. This week I researched an article that shared the importance of family engagement. In many of our childcare centers, we see that families are important and are very much involved in their children’s education. I’ve noticed that programs are even requiring families to participate in the planning, organizing, and implementing a family engaged curriculum. The article I red shares the importance of family engagement.

Engaging Diverse Families:

This article shared 6 effective principles that support family engagement in preschool programs and environments.  Principle 1: Programs invite families to participate in decision making and goal setting for their child. This principle encourages families to act as advocates for their children. Parents are encouraged to participate in making individual education plans for their children. During orientation, it is the time for parents to share with the teacher about their family’s culture and beliefs. During conferences, parents have the opportunity to engage in a joint goal-setting process.

Principle 2: Teachers and programs engage families in two-way communication. Communication is very necessary between the teacher and the parent. During all forms of communications, information is exchanged. The article shares that environments have to be warm and welcoming to parents in order for a relationship to be established. Families are more likely to become involved when they feel warm and accepted at their children’s schools. The best way to communicate is always in the family’s home language. With the large scale of diversities, teachers and classroom must have staff that is able to communicate in a second language. Amongst the many ways of communicating, 2 ways stand out the most. Face to face communication, and written communication. Face to face communication takes place when the teacher meets with the family in their home during home visits. Face to face takes place during parent-teacher conferences. Personally I would prefer that face to face communication. I believe that face to face is warmer and inviting than any other type of communication. It is also a more personal style of communication. Written communication takes place during daily logs, handouts, bulletin boards and therefore. Written communications are great for infant toddler programs. Parents are able to take information home that shares their child’s day.

Principle 3: Programs and teachers engage families in ways that are truly reciprocal. This principle allows teachers to educate their children and their families. During this time, the teacher collects important information which allows them to incorporate into the curriculum and lesson planning. The article shared how the Rainbow School and Sunnyside child Care Center at Smith share their parents unique gifts with the children and families of their school. Many parents have special talents and gifts that are shared. Some of their families have the gift of music. These families are able to schedule days to come in and perform music selections for the children. Another great way to engage families is to share the life of the staff. There are centers that have photos of their staff posted by their classrooms and a small bio about the staff. It’s great to share with families the life that their children’s teachers have. Providing staff updates and successes makes programs a more family oriented which leads to bring families and staff more closely together.

Principle 4: Programs provide learning activities for the home and the community. This principle focuses on sharing community resources with families. Communicating with families about the many resources that are available for their children such as libraries, parks and recreations, book stores, children concerts are great ways to encourage parents to further support and engage in their children’s learning experiences. Offering adult education course is another great way to support families in supporting their children by receiving a higher or better education. There are many families who are divers and speak a second language. Offering ESL courses during the evenings would be a great program tool for bettering families.

Principle 5: Programs invite families to participate in program-level decisions and widen advocacy efforts. The NAEYC understands the importance that families play in their children’s lives. Family members are welcomed and invited to be a part of and sit on formal boards and become the voice of key decisions regarding program policies, tuition process, and staff decision planning. Parents are also invited to be actively engaged in social and educational planning. The article shared how one school formed a diversity committee. This committee applied for a grant to update their children’s library. The school was awarded the grant and gave their school library a diversity makeover. The committee purchased many diversity books and materials in the efforts of supporting diversity at their school.

Principal 6: Programs implement a comprehensive program level system of family engagement. The article shared how in order for programs to be strong, they must involve their families. The leader or director of programs must evaluate their program carefully and understand what’s best for the divers group of families the program serves. With diversity being at a high, leads must assure that their staff is divers as well. The diversity of staff welcomes families of diversity. Implementing anti-bias curriculums sets the stage for effective family engagements. This approach helps children and families feel secure in themselves and the culture from which they are a part of. Programs should always make sure that all families feel welcome and appreciated for their individuality.

Professional Contacts: This week again I was not able to receive any contact or feedback from any of the professionals I reached out to. I did receive an email from a young lady by the name of Tamara stating that she would not be able to help due to the overwhelming replies from Walden students.

 

Getting Ready-Establishing Professional Contact and Expanding Resources

The 2 countries that I decide to learn more about is South Africa (Africa) and North America (Canada). In my attempt to locate 2 professional I have not yet receive an email response. For South Africa, I emailed Mr. Eric Atmore. Mr. Atmore is apart of The National Early Childhood Development Alliance. The address is P.O.Box 2363 Clarinch, 7740 South Africa. Before I was able to send an email to Mr. Atmore, I had to establish a POP3 e-mail. Once the e-mail was established I was then able to introduce myself and request the honor of corresponding back and forth with him regarding the various issues and trends that the children in his country may be faced with. if I do not receive a response in the next day r so I will proceed to the alternative to part 1.
My second professionals name is Yvonne Dionne. I too have not yet received a reply regarding y interest in establishing a relationship to learn more about the country of South America. Yvonne Dionne is in association with the Canadian Child Care Federation. Hopefully I am able to receive a response this week.

The website that I chose to study and review is the National Black Child Development Institute. This organization along with others have the mission to improve and advance the quality of life for Black Children and their families through advocacy. Even though the organization is geared more to Black children and families' it's overall envision is a society that ensures a successful future for all children. The National Black Child Development Institute holds conferences and workshops for educators and parents. They offer employment opportunities within their organization. They also have a 24/7 resources line. This organization has a powerful and effective voice on issues related to the education care, and health of Black children and their families. One thing that this website did not offer was a newsletter. The organization also serve as a national resource agency providing programs, publications, advocacy and trainings related to early childhood care and education: k-12 education, health and wellness, literacy, family engagement, and child welfare. The reason why I chose this website is because I have never heard of it before. I wanted to choose a much familiar website but I decided to research something new. It seems that this organization is established and is a pillar in the community of Black children and families