education in Africa

This week I looked at the website and looked at the information under the world wide tab. I chose to take a closer look at Africa. I did not know that Africa is a priority for UNESCO and education is key to the region’s development. I strongly believe that we need to follow Africa’s example and work to keep education high on the agenda of governments and development partners. While browsing under the tab I also learn about the Major push for adult and youth literacy in Nigeria. The aim is to educate 4 to 5 million illiterate adults and 2 million out-of school children over the next three years. I think it is great that they can come together and push for the improvement of education in not only children but adults too. I was actually shocked to know that almost 40 million adults are illiterate and the overall literacy rate is close to 57 % because most of the time I find that people of African or Asia descent read very well.

Resources:

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/dakar/about-this-office/single view/news/major_push_for_adult_and_youth_literacy_in_nigeria/

NAEYC

I chose to take a closer look at NAEYC. One article in particular talks about developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs. The article points out the shortage of good care for children in the highly vulnerable infant and toddler years have become critical. This difficulty is especially acute in the under-funded early childhood arena, especially the child care sector, which is losing well prepared teaching staff and administrators at an alarming rate.

Resources:NAEYC. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/dap

Education in Brazil

I still have not heard from my international contact. I chose to look at Applying the science of early childhood in Brazil because I think it is cool to see other countries take on early childhood. I was excited to see that the Center is making history because it is launching Núcleo Ciência Pela Infância, which will be the first major programmatic effort outside the United States. I also noticed that they collaborate with a lot of people which in my option is always great because two heads are better than one.  I believe that they are headed in the right direction, I like how they plan to strengthen leadership around early childhood development through an executive leadership course for policymakers. I believe we should all do this for policymakers in our area that would like to get involved in the early childhood field.

Resources

http://developingchild.harvard.edu/activities/global_initiative/applying_the_science_of_early_childhood_in_brazi/

professional development

I signed up for childcare education institute because I have to do workshop hours every month. I have learned a lot of new things such as types of abuse and neglect as well as signs of them. They also talk about making the curriculum child centered and creative.  Everything that has been presented has been helpful in my professional development because they are all topics that relate to the early childhood field.  Through the support of Association of Childhood Education International and Procare software has been great in supporting early childhood.

Resources

http://www.cceionline.com

The effects of poverty on the early childhood community

This week I did email my contact unfortunately she has not emailed me back yet. The website CHIP was also helpful to me. The Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre is a collaborative research and  policy programmer which involves Save the Children, the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC) and partners in China, India, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia. The website said something very key, “Today’s poor children are all too often tomorrow's poor parents. Poverty can be passed on from generation to generation affecting the long-term health, wellbeing and productivity of families and of society as a whole.” I have seen this unfold before my eyes, well in high school I seen several girls who were living in poverty get pregnant and now they are parents in poverty.
I found this interview with Dr. Grace to be very informative. There were times in the interview where she would say something that would in a sense sting because I used to relate to what she was saying. She said when living in poverty it sucks the life out of you. That statement was not only a sting but a light bulb also went off in my head because it brought back memories of my mother always being tired and not waiting to do anything after working. I seen this and tried to help out around the house as much as I could. I didn’t realize until now she was always drained because poverty was literally sucking the life out of her. Now when I see her after work she is no longer like that. I did not it shocking to see that we are seeing the highest level of poverty within 20 years. I figured the recession played a role in this percentage.  Dr. Grace kind of confirmed it when she began to talk about middle class families not having money to buy food due to the recession.  She also confirmed the poverty has a bigger effect on those who are in poverty between birth to eight years of age. This is a very critical time for children. It is not only important that they get a solid foundation in education but health as well.
Resources
“The Effects of Poverty on the Early Childhood Community”
 http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/

Language diversity

I chose to look at Learn NC. This site caught my eye because it offers so many resources for educators. One of the purposes of the website is to raise awareness about bridging Spanish language barriers in southern. The website also offers growth in the classroom through lesson plans for k-12 as well as sharing the curriculum standards for NC. One of the best things about this site is, it offers articles dealing with a variety of topics and the NC professional teaching standards, which allow growth in your professional life.

One of the articles that is available is “Bridging language barriers”. The article highlights important facts such as the United States has the largest number of Spanish speakers in the world next to Mexico. I found that information to be very interesting because we are struggling as a whole to accommodate those that have Spanish as a native tongue.  The article pointed out a lot of great information dealing with the debate on the use of language other than English in public schools. It brings up the fact that the Brown V. Board of Education was passed to guarantee equal participation in public schools without affirming the right of minority groups to their own culture and the bilingual Education Act (1968) is suppose to provide supplemental funding for schools to teach those whose native tongue is not English; after reading this I have to ask why are we not offering an equal opportunity for those falling in this category.  I feel that students who learn better in their native tongue should be offered classes where the teacher speaks their language.

Resources:

http://www.learnnc.org/

international contact

This has been an exciting assignment for me! I am always interested to know what is going on in other countries. I started out by first contacting my grandmother to see if she could connect me with someone in Ghana because she is currently studying over there. I am waiting to her back from them. I also email another person in Africa but the email did not go through. The only email that went through for me was to Blesilda Rios in the Phillppines. I am hoping to hear back soon. I started my email off by introducing myself and sharing my beliefs about education. I went on to tell why I was writing and asks several questions. Some of my questions included what is your philosophy of education, and what drove you to the education field?