My experience with research

My introduction to research was sort of horrific as a young child. My mom and aunt worked for a hospital that did research on animals, dogs in particular once they were successful on smaller lab animals (like rats). I remember how upset I was when I would see the care takers bringing the dogs outside and they would have issues walking or couldn't use the bathroom properly. I would ask my mom what was wrong with them, and my mom would tell me that they made the dogs sick so that they could practice making them better. If they were able to make them better then we would help little boys and girls get better too. At the time all my mind was capable of thinking about was, those poor puppies, and how I wanted their testing to STOP so they could go home and play with their toys and eat their bones. I carried this feeling with me of animal testing until I was about 23 years old when a very close friend's child was diagnosed with cancer. All I could think about was, why did this poor little girl have to get sick, and how much I hoped that she would beat this horrible disease. After 2 very long years of fighting Kaitlyn was cancer free, and it was all due in part to the research that was going on at my mom's old work. They had developed the treatment that helped to kick her cancers butt, and I was never more grateful for those dogs than I was when I got the news. I have since learned that sometimes the risks really are worth the benefits that can come from research! I have attached a picture of my best friend and her cousin who kicked cancer's butt, she is my inspiration and my reminder that without research she wouldn't be here today. (ps she just graduated collage this past weekend!!!)

Simulation Reflection

For my simulation I decided to take a look at how children use play to learn. I wanted to learn about not just why we play with our students and have them play in order to learn but also how it effects all areas of their development. I have found that the most helpful things so far have been the charts in helping me to organize the information that I am looking for, but also to organize my thoughts and keep me on track. It can be so easy to get side tracked reading different articles, even if it has nothing to do with my topic. I seem to get sucked in. So keeping my research goals in front of me it really seems to help. I also find that it takes me a LONG time to read through any articles that I am looking at. I think that much like everything else; practice makes perfect, and I will get better at getting through the information the more I do it. However, it still can seem to be a tedious process for me at this point.

Final Blog for EDUC 6162

Three consequences of learning about the international early childhood field for your professional and personal development:

1. Undertanding that some countries are able to see the importance of EC education, and support their programs.

2. Using this understanding as a model for how we might be able to improve our education system and funding.

3. I found how much the US is behind on what we can be doing for our EC programs. I didn't realize how far off the mark we really were until talking with other professionals in the field from around the world.

4. Allows me to collaborate with other EC professionals on an international level.

One goal that I have for myself as far as my international relations and education, it I would like to be able to travel and study some of the way other countries EC programs run. I absolutely want to go to Reggio Amelia. I hope to keep in contact with Annegrethe and also be able to visit her classroom, and programs in Denmark!  

International Connections III

This week I was unable to get a response back from my contact, as she is on vacation to Florida. So I decided to ask my cousin Tara if she could talk to me about schools over in Ghana. She was there as a teacher for over 2 years and I figured she might be able to give me a little insight this week for our assignment. She said that the programs that she taught were math and science. She had one class that had both girls and boys, although there were much fewer girls in the class, and she had another class of boys. The classrooms varied in age range, as they only taught on class each a day so the kids just came to school when they could. Not all of her students came every day, and she said that that was very frustrating to her because some could fall very behind just because they couldn't get to class that day. Many children had to travel in order to get to the school, and there was no reliable transportation like the buses we use.


When she first got there she was required to go through a 4 week training course to go over the material that she would be teaching. Then at the beginning of the second year, she had a 2 week training course just to go back over the curriculum, and expectations. There wasn't much as far as professional development besides these trainings that were offered as far as teaching went. However, throughout the year they would receive different cultural development trainings and classes. They would also take language classes so that they could communicate in their native language instead of always in English. Tara said that this is the hardest part of her two years there because it was so different than English.


One of Tara's professional goals was to connect with her students on a level that would make them feel engaged, excited, and comfortable in the classroom with her. She strived to make their learning experience one that would make them see the value in education, and want to pursue it. Most children don't finish their education where she was working, so she wanted to try and instill the importance of it. She also tried to talk to parents as much as she could, and help them understand why education is important for their children, not just going out to work.


She hopes that she made a difference in at least one of their lives, for them to have the desire and drive to want to complete their schooling as she was only there for 2 years. Also she hopes that she helped their families understand the benefits of education. The major challenge was not always having the children come to school and the unreliable modes of transportation. It was either walking, some had bikes, or they tried to take the local van to travel close enough to walk the rest of the way. But sometimes those vans took all day just to get the kids there, and by then school would be over. She said it was extremely frustrating but there was nothing that she could do about it.

Profesional Development

Professional Development on the NAEYC page is a very important section. They have a separate tab with many different links, articles and conferences listed. The NAEYC understand the importance of teachers being life long learners right along with the children we teach. EC teachers should be ready to constantly refresh their knowledge and gain new insights through conferences and other trainings within the field. NAEYC offers online classes and learning sessions. They sell training DVD's and offer NAEYC’s Annual Conference and Institute for workshops, networking among other things. 

One thing that I took interest in was their national conference as well as the regional conference. I went to their two day conference in central NY last year and I was learned so much information that I was able to incorporate into my classroom and home visits! I would really love to be able to attend again this year if it is close enough. This year the annual conference is going to be in Washington D.C. at the end of November, I think that it is total possibility for me to attend!

There is a section on the website that is specifically for Early Childhood Research, but you have to sign up for the journal in order to read it. That was a little bit disappointing as I would like to read a sample or two before I went ahead and ordered it, as it was over $50.00 for the year. There is also another section that has updates and alerts in federal developments with a list of them by date recent to oldest. The most recent one was 3/25/14 Child Care & Development Block Grant Moving Through Congress.

I really like this website and am seriously considering becoming a member. I hope you all enjoy taking a peek or at least getting some information about this site from my blog.

Poverty In Denmark

First I would like to apologize for the late post this week. I have had some family issues that have kept met away from my computer and I was unable to check my email for the correspondence with my contact in Denmark. I did not get her email until this evening when I came home.The following is Annegrethe response to my questions, I hope you enjoy as I have learning about a new country's policies.

"I live in a country that takes very good care of all people and poverty can be hard to find. Here in Denmark the state will give you Money if you Loose your job or cant find any.....You will reseve Money as long as you do what they ask of you....that Means you sometimes have to take a not so good job, but if you dont you will not get payd.

 

Hospitals and doctors are free because we pay very high taxes but that Means everybody can get help.

When you are a student here in denmark you get Money from the state while you study, it is not much but enough to get by you can also get at very cheap studentloan. 

 

In my Work with children ofcourse some of the parents have more Money than others and you can see that in the clothes the children were. Sometimes children are mean and tease if you dont weare the rigth clothes, but that happens more often in school and not in the kindergarden where i Work.

We do have people WHO live in the streets, but they are often alcoholics or drug addicts

I personally pay to a child in Benin every month so he can go to school and his Family can get help to, i feel it is important to give when i have more eventhoug i dont get very much Money as a single mom, though the state helps me pay for my childs place in kindergarten"

Website

I chose to look at The Association for Childhood Education International. I chose this website because, of their mission statement:

"Our mission is to promote and support the
optimal education, development, and well-being
of children worldwide. We have consultative status
with the United Nations."

They are a group of educators and advocates worldwide who come together with the knowledge and passion for the education of children. I think that this would be a great group to follow, and gain knowledge from. I am already a member of NAEYC (national association for the education of young children.) So I thought that the next step would be to take a look at a group on a global scale. This might also be important reference for future assignments when communicating with our professional contacts from other countries. 

Here is the website in case anyone would like to take a closer look.
https://acei.org/about-us/about-us.html