Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

The most pertinent issues that have emerged in my area related to the early childhood professional involve how to enhance parent partnerships and how to access more funding for early childhood educational services. In my local area, it is evident that in order to work in the field a person is required to obtain certain level of education/certifications. Likewise in order to remain in the field a professional must complete continued trainings and/or obtain an associates, bachelors or master degree; especially if one is interested in obtaining higher professional employment opportunities in field.

About 6 months ago I was a licensed Family Child Care Provider. I provided quality in-home child care services to a maximum of 8 children inside my licensed home. During my first month attending Walden University I aspired to own a Child Care Center of my own. I am presently a Child Care Center Director for a private Christian based center. I believed that the position I hold now has afforded me the opportunity to grow professionally in the field in general. My center has the capacity to serve 55 children and their families. I have also gained experience in supervising staff and working with a Board of Directors. The memberships that I hold in my local early childhood community, has allowed me to network with other professionals in the field. Although I do not actually own the child care center I work at, I strongly believe that I am heading in the right direction in terms of gathering the proper skills and tools. A major professional goal that I have is to obtain my master Degree with honors. To see the proud look on my mother’s face would bring me great joy. I believe that once I obtain my master’s degree in early childhood education with a specialization in leadership, administration and management, I will be better equipped to expand my professional growth in the field, which includes owning my own child care center.

One of my professional hopes not only for myself, but for other professionals in the field is to one day be appreciated at the level warranted by policymakers and other important stakeholders. Moreover, I dream of a day that would reveal children no matter their abilities, socieconomical status, ethnicity or religious belief all having the same access to high quality education and educational opportunities.

Sharing Web Resources

One of the outside links that I elected to explore this week was The Division for Early Childhood Education. The sites mission attracted my interest as it involves promoting policies and advancing evidence-based practices that support families and enhance the optimal development of young children who have or are at risk for developmental delays and disabilities. I discovered that the DEC publishes the Young Exceptional Children (YEC) which is a peer-reviewed publication produced by DEC.  Consequently the journal is a practical resource designed for teachers, administrators, therapists, family members and others who work with young children with special needs.

The Healthy Beginnings website has searchable parent activities certain promote a senses of equity and excellence in early childhood education by offering parents the opportunity to do hand on educational exercises with the child at the following locations: at home, at the playground, in the kitchen or dining room and on the go. It is evident that early childhood education doesn’t only occur in the classroom, but in the home and in a child’s environment/community.

References:
 
The Division for Early Childhood
http://www.dec-sped.org/

Healthy Beginnings
www.marylandhealthybeginnings.org/‎ 

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

After reviewing the podcast with Barbra Jones, I now have a deeper understanding of how monastery schools system operates and how she founded the monastery school Pine Grove School in Falmouth, Maine. Ms. Barbara mentioned that her student teaching experience a public school teacher did not speak to her and how she then made efforts to gain employment in the monastery private sector of education. Similarly, Ms. Barbra shared her traveling experience abroad in order to obtain the necessary level of education and certifications to be a monastery educator with credentials. Ms. Barbara believed that obtaining her degree in monastery education would provide evidence to those she desired to work with that she was serious about working in that particular division of education. I find Ms. Barbara’s desire to open her own school very insightful. As a Child Care Center Director for a private based child care center, I can relate to Ms. Barbara professional development experience. I find this Ms. Barbara’s experience is a trend among many educational professional with regards to reaching a level of ownership in the field. I find that my desire to own my own Child Care Center is very similar to Ms. Barbara’s story, which is one of the reasons why I am pursuing my master’s degree in Early Childhood Education, (World Forum Foundation, 2013).

After reviewing the Harvard, Center of Developing Child website, I found the following items most intriguing. The Center’s commitment to global work, which represents both an acknowledgement of moral responsibility to meet the needs of all children and a critical investment in the roots of economic productivity, positive health outcomes, and strong civil society in all nations, from the poorest to the most affluent. Furthermore, the three strategies that the center focuses on such as: (1) reframing the discourse around child health and development in the global policy arena by educating high-level decision-makers about the underlying science of learning, behavior, and health, beginning in the earliest years of life; (2) developing supporting innovative, multi-disciplinary research and demonstration projects to expand global understanding of how healthy development happens, how it can be derailed, and how to get it back on track; and (3) building leadership capacity in child development research and policy—focused on both individuals and institutions—in low- and middle-income countries to increase the number and influence of diverse voices and perspectives that are contributing to the growing global movement on behalf of young children,(The President and Fellows of Harvard College, 2013). Lastly, I believe that the Director Jack Shonkoff’s article, Pediatrics reveals that new knowledge in the biological and social sciences, which offers a unifying framework that can inform innovative strategies to improve both child survival and early development as well as adult outcomes in health, learning, and behavior, (The President and Fellows of Harvard College, 2013).

After reviewing the Pre-K Now website and the video Pre-K Now: Marking a Decade of Pre-K Milestones. I feel so inspire and have a greater appreciation for how scientists, economists and politicians work together in order to enhance the quality of Pre-K service nationwide. I am completely concur with the message unveiled in the video with regards to ensuring that parents and their children have the opportunity to access quality Pre-k programs. I am very certain that quality Pre-K program will only help better prepare students for higher setting of education and support their overall development. The video also mentioned how an increase of interest and funding has generated from policymakers, which is certainly an success story for the field. I do believe that Pre-K is important and research supports how important it is for children between the ages of birth and 5 to be giving the opportunity to learn in adequate and structured atmosphere, (Pre-K Now: Marking a Decade of Pre-K Milestones, 2012).

References:

Pre[K]Now: A Campaign of the Pew Center on the States. ( 2012). Pre-K Now: Marking a Decade of Pre-K Milestones. http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/initiatives_detail.aspx?initiativeID=31672 (Newsletter: http://www.preknow.org/signupform.cfm ).

The President and Fellows of Harvard College. (2013). Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” website (http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/)

World Form Foundation. (2013). Barbara Jones. Podcast retrieved from, http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/world-forum-radio/  

  

   

Sharing Web Resources

 The Healthy Beginnings website is a tool for Child Care Director, parents, caregivers and educators, as it provides the pertinent information on how to teach children from birth to 3 years old in the following developmental areas: social and personal skills, language, cognitive and physical skills. As Child Care Center Director, I find that the website is a great resource to reference when I am evaluating my staff members’ lesson plans and classroom activities.  “Healthy Beginnings may not be that long-missing instruction manual for child care, but it is a tool that can help you give the very best you can to the infants and toddlers in your life,” (Maryland State Department of Education, 2013).

                Consequentially the Health Beginning website offer a developmental chart that outlines the key milestone/ developmental skills that each age group should acquire. As a Child Care Center Director and I parent, I have first had experience in know that each child is unique and progress at their own paste in the areas of language, cognation, social and personal skills and physical movement. However, the chart allows those who work with children the opportunity to fully understand how to measure a child’s growth and what areas of development the child has achieved. The website was created by the Maryland Department of Education in as effort to  ensure that the early child care educations where being given a creditable resource to carry out the Maryland State Department of Education's Division of Early Childhood Development in partnership with Johns Hopkins University/Center for Technology in Education, mission which involved establishing guidelines for families and those who live or work with children from birth through three years of age, (Maryland State Department of Education, 2003).

"Children are born with tremendous potential and capacity for learning. Our youngest children need positive early learning experiences that will lay the foundation for success," said Dr. Nancy S. Grasmick, State Superintendent of Schools. "Healthy Beginnings will help those living or working with young children to recognize appropriate behaviors and set realistic expectations for infant, toddler and preschooler growth, development, and learning." The Healthy Beginnings guidelines are compatible with the Maryland State Curriculum and the Maryland Model for School Readiness, making them an important part of a Birth to Grade 12 learning continuum. Federal funding from the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Child Care and Development Fund support the production and dissemination of Healthy Beginnings,( Maryland State Department of Education, 2003).

References:

Maryland Department of Education, (2003). Health Beginnings: Supporting Development and Learning from Birth through Three Year of Age.  Retrieved from http://www.marylandpublicschools.org/MSDE/pressrelease_details/2011_03_25.htm

Maryland Department of Education, (2013) Healthy Beginnings. Retrieved from http://www.marylandhealthybeginnings.org/