Issues and Trends: Economists, Neuroscientists, and Politicians as Early Childhood Advocates

             This week as I researched the international website where I have found more promising information about early childhood education overseas, http://www.acei.org, I noticed a newsletter entitled, Is it Possible to Measure Children’s Learning Globally?  I found this newsletter article’s title interesting because in our Early Head Start facility, my coworker and I have just recently completed a series of child assessments to determine each child’s abilities/development in the areas of cognitive, physical (gross and fine motor skills), and social/emotional through administering the DECA and DENVER assessment tools. As a result, I was curious to see if this article was going to state specific information about the types of assessments that were suggested on a universal level or the learning domains that were viewed as particularly important.

            From this article, I learned that the Learning Metrics Task Force (LMTF) is working towards the goal of a universal learning measurement approach by creating a global framework for measuring the learning of all children and youth worldwide. In these reports which included a set of two, it was noted how there is not enough data that provides information of progress in regards to children’s learning on a universal level. As a result, because this proposed model will have many challenges, there has yet to be an established set of universal learning domains that will be used to measure. In addition, LMTF stated that they are also aware that there would not be a “one size fits all” approach. They suggested that consideration should be given for each country’s choice of measurement tools and six identifiable areas (agreed upon universally) that would be assessed to determine a child’s progress in relation to the country’s educational goals.

While reading this article, I also learned that the LMTF supports a holistic approach to learning or “educating the whole child” which is not a new insight but just confirmation/support of information that I have gained over the years.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts-Part 1

My contact with an early childhood professional from Play English in China will be away from her office until September 22nd. After this time, she has agreed to maintain contact with me over the next 5 weeks as we talk about topics for each of the week's assignments.

However, during this week's research, I learned that there are 600 million children worldwide that live in absolute poverty. That is 1 of every 4 children (Childhood Poverty, 2013).This information
was really heart wrenching for me.

I viewed a video on World Forum that provided me with information on poverty in other countries such as Afghanistan. The speaker Sakeena Yacoobi talked about how many of the children
there live in refugee camps where there is no clean water and the children slept in tents or under a tree. She also talked about how the children slept on sticks while she visited the camps indicating no bedding even for a pallet. As a result of the poverty she witnessed,she wanted to make a difference so she talked about how she would do this through education and so she set up her different learning areas stationed under tents with the intent to educate the whole child using a holistic approach, as well as their parents who were hurting because of the casualties they have witnessed of their loved ones.
This information again  was sad, but it provided me with a glimpse of how poverty affects children in other parts of the world. However, it makes me also want to get involved as an advocator against childhood poverty because being a spectator won't help to solve the problem.


Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre. (2013). Home. Retrieved from: http://www.childhoodpoverty.org

World Forum. (2011). Provocation by Sakeena Yacoobi. [video]. Retrieved from:

http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/media-and-resources/wofo-tv/

Sharing Web Resources

The name of the organization I selected from last week's task was the HighScope Educational Research Foundation. The link to this organization is www.highscope.org . The international contact that I have currently heard back from is the High Scope Teacher Education Center: China North and there is no website available at this time. But, the HighScope website itself, has information on the efforts of its international partners.  As a result, the goals of these institutes are to maximum the "potential of all children and youth, advance learning environments through the use of High Scope practices that are conducive to growth and strengthening of open democratic societies, promote global cooperation and networking of all the members of the High Scope Internation Registry and work cooperatively to enhance the use of available staff and resources "(Highscope Educational Research Foundation, 2013). One current issue/trend that I found on the website under the seasonal magazine: Resource (Spring 2013) was an article called "The Changing Face of Early Childhood: Using HighScope to Support Cultural and Linguistic Diversity"which goes along with this week's lesson called "Changing Demographic and Diversity". In this article, research shows that best practices suggests "that educators foster the development of children's home language in the classroom noticed that ELLs (English Language Learners) learned English faster and performed better in school on a long term analysis" (Highscope.org, 2013). I thought that fact was quite interesting and supported information that I was already knew about recognizing and supporting the use of home language in the classroom environment.

High Scope Educational Research Foundation. (2013). International Institutes. Retrieved from: https://secure.highscope.org/Content.asp?ContentId=110

Highscope.org. (Spring 2013). The Changing Face of Early Childhood:Using HighScope to Support Linguistic Diversity. Resource, 5. Retrieved from: https://secure.highscope.org/file/NewsandInformation/ReSourceReprints/Spring2013/HSReSource2013spring_72.pdf

Getting Ready—Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

In this week's assignment, I contacted four international early childhood schools to make contact with an early childhood staff member, one school was China North in Beijing, China; Play English in Milan, Italy; and Morgan Rothschild Academy in China.
 
I emailed each of these schools and have yet to hear from them because this contact was made on today (Saturday). I do not plan to pursue the alternate assignment  because the contact to these schools was too recent.

The reason I chose these schools are because they utilize the High Scope Curriculum and this curriculum is one that is used at the Head Start where I am employed. I am also in the process of being certified as a teacher of this curriculum.

The organization that I plan to study is the High Scope Educational Research Foundation. Their website  is www.highscope.org.  I really have an interest in this curriculum. In addition, I have subscribed to their newsletter as well (a couple of weeks back).

I do not have any helpful tips that I would like to share because I have just made contact on today which is a weekend, so I plan to followup at the end of this upcoming week if I have not received a reply by that time.

My Supports

 

The factors in my daily environments that are supportive to me are my mom, sister, pastors, co-worker, and my children. Notice I mention environments because I am thinking about how my support differs depending on which environment I am in such as home or school. My mom, sister, pastors, and children provide support to me in my home environment. In specific, my mom offers her support through her encouraging words, prayers and by allowing me to get some time to myself as she watches her grandchildren. My sister is my "right hand man". She has been by my side to offer her support in so many ways during some very difficult times in my life through encouragement, offering her assistance around my house and with the children as needed, and just being available so I can "vent". In addition, my pastors have been my mentors providing their advice centered on biblical principles regarding issues such as finances and life circumstances. My children, although they are young offer their support because they assist around the house and provide me with encouraging words and statements usually at the time that I need them the most. Lastly, my co-worker has been a support for me within the classroom and in my life, in general. We have a good personal relationship and she supports my ideas/opinions regarding how to be a more effective educator and in the classroom as a whole. She allows me to be myself and respects my views regarding education. In addition, because we work so closely together in our classroom she knows a lot about my family life and vice versa. She has offered her support through her advice and encouragement.

Furthermore, in revisiting the issue of spirituality, it has been the glue that holds all of my relationships within my support system together. Therefore, all of my supports have very similar and equally strong beliefs regarding spirituality as I do (my children are the exception because their beliefs are being shaped by their environment and experiences). The benefits of these relationships are that each of them provides me with the motivation I need to better myself and my family. They encourage me to be the best person that I can be in every area of my life. As a result, it would be extremely difficult to exist without these supports because everybody needs somebody or something that encourages them to be better. The impact from a lack of these supports would be very detrimental to me and I don't think I would be able to successfully function.

So, in imagining my life without these supports, which I could not imagine, but for the purpose of this task I have to consider how my life would be. Without, someone who supports me in my classroom like my loving coworker who allows me to grow and develop as an educator, I would not be able to grow.  Hence, I would be in a place that is stagnant professionally. I definitely need to have a partner/co teacher who supports me in my development and vice versa. In addition, if I did not have someone to mentor me such as my pastors, it would take me longer to accomplish the goals I have for the future. I know that in order to be a leader in the field of education, I need to be organized because I will have a lot more responsibilities with my future career. So, I would need a mentor to provide assistance and guidance in helping me to get more organized in my finances and in life. If my children were not around to assist me around the house, I would hire a maid or have to complete all the housework on my own (tragic). But, I could manage that. In addition, if I did not have the encouragement and support from my support system, I would have to be my own cheerleader and during the difficult times it would be harder to overcome the challenges of life. Last, but not least, without a belief in something higher than myself when all of my other supports are non-existent, my quality of life would be very low. It is so important to have belief, faith in something bigger than you. Ultimately, without my supports, my life really would be miserable and without purpose. For example, having children motivates a good parent to strive for a better quality of life for them.  So, my perspective is that life would be a sad and lonely existence……

 

Connections to Play

The two quotes that I wanted to put in this section are:

Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning. Fred Rogers

Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a neccesity. Kay Redfield Jamison

Children's Play Magazine. (n.d). Quotes about play and learning. Retrieved from:http://www.childsplaymagazine.com/Quotes/index.htm

As a child, I viewed play as a way to create, imagine and pretend. I remember making pies out of mud and eating them. I know I got awfully dirty, but I don't remember my mom being angry or restricting my play. I chose a picture of mud for that reason because it is open ended. I had choices, I felt free to use the materials and equipment in and outside like I desired. I also remember planting watermelon seeds along our house without the direct instruction from an adult, I watered them and watched the seed bud and grow a small sized watermelon. Then, when it died I tried to rationalize why that he did not grow to its greatest potential. I felt like a little scientist.That is how children should feel as they play. But, nowadays, children are so teacher directed that they are not given the opportunity to create, explore, and discover. In addition, as a child I would play for hours. These children are not given ample time to play, run, jump, in unrestrictive environments like outdoors. They need that exercise for their developing bodies. That is why I included a picture of a slide. Another picture that I thought was representative of play is water because children love water. There are endless learning opportunities regarding water and its properties and how other objects and water interact.

Now as an adult, I play with my children and enjoy it. It still makes me feel free. Some of my favorite play activities as an adult is swinging on the swings and coloring or drawing.        


 Www.newportffa.com

 www.civileats.com

 www.rosythccc.com

Relationship Reflection

Relationships are important for me because they help to define who I am as a person by their associations. In specific, the pictures that I have uploaded show a few of the positive relationships in my life. Another partnership/relationship that is not listed is the one that I have with my co-teacher, Mrs. Ola. I absolutely love this lady and she is heaven sent. In my relationship with my children, they help me to understand the importance of being a mother. Although, they are young we participate in give and take exchanges which helps our relationship to develop. We often have “cuddle time” and I spend time with them one on one so that I can develop my relationship with them. In addition, my relationship with them has helped me to learn to be selfless they are so important to me and equally important is making sure I “pour into them,” so that they get what they need to be successful in life, overall. With my mom, she is very supportive and encouraging. She motivated me to finish my undergraduate degree and inspired me to continue to pursue my Masters degree. We spend a lot of time being together in which she gives me insights and wisdom about life experiences. In our relationship, we contribute to each other’s lives in positive ways through spending time, praying with each other, being open and through communication. We are very close. With my sister, we just seem to think alike. We finish each other’s sentences and we just know each other. We also have spent a lot of time talking and being together. Over the years, my sister and I have supported each other and walked side by side through some of the most difficult and happy times in our lives. As a result, we have become extremely close because of the many experiences we have shared and she knows so of the most intimate details of my life. With my dad, he used to be my biggest critic. But, through the years, he has shown me that he has my best interest at heart. We spend time through going on daughter and father dates. We communicate with each other often and as a result we have become close over the years. As I have mentioned my family and I are very tight knit and through the years, our individual relationships have grown closer through: a mutual understanding of each other, open communication and through spending time getting to know one another. Last, but not least, I have just met my co worker, Mrs. Ola. But, it felt like I have known her for years. I have never worked with someone that I truly considered a good partner. We are in a “school marriage”, I always joke with her saying that are partnership is a marriage. We have an open communication line. Communication is the key to any positive/healthy relationship. We work well together, she allows me to incorporate my ideas within the classroom and I also respect and incorporate her ideas as well. We have a mutual respect for each other, despite the obvious age difference. We see are partnership as effective because of this difference and recognize that we can both enhance our learning environment with our varied experiences and knowledge. She has had many years of experience in the educational field (almost 30 years) and because I am new to the field we understand that we can learn from each other and we do. In addition, our ideas regarding the goals for our classroom are on one accord as well. Additionally, this relationship is one of the partnerships that could positive affect my work as an early childhood professional. It has changed my view about working as a team prior to working with my co teacher. I had never had a partner that I enjoyed working with or worked with so well. I believe my experience with her will allow me to grow as an educator to become effective in the classroom because she allows me to be creative and just be myself in the classroom.

 

This week's child inspired quote

"If a child is to keep his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in. "

Rachael Carson

www.great-quotes.com/quotes/author/Rachel/Carson

This quote reasonates with me because it encourages children to explore and discover. I am a firm believer that children should be allowed to follow their interests with regard to learning. In addition, the adult's role is to help cultivate these interests by providing the materials and the environment to enable open-ended opportunities for exploration.

Testing for Intelligence

The holistic approach (the whole child)  is focused on developing all areas of a child which are viewed as interrelated (Smidt, 2006 p. 2). The view of this perspective is that one domain does not exist without the assistance of another. These interrelated domains include social/emotional (psychosocial), physical (biosocial) and the cognitive domains.

With the holistic approach in mind, I believe that children should be evaluated, but only minimally during the early childhood years because it can be inappropriate for this developmental stage.  When a child reaches the middle childhood years, children seem to be assessed more. I feel that the assessing at this stage can be quite excessive and strenuous for the children as well.

As a result, I would assess children during the early childhood years to determine if they are demonstrating a set of key developmental indicators during their play based experiences like with the High scope curriculum used in my Early Head Start classroom for infants through preschool aged children.

However, I would assess children within the middle childhood years through a performance based assessment which would show what they know to determine what skills they have mastered for various subjects. I believe that sometimes children are unable to express their knowledge through formalized testing methods, but when they are allowed to demonstrate their knowledge through performance, this method seems to be more effective for children. For instance, when a child can show you an AB pattern using colored blocks in Kindergarten, this would allow them to apply the knowledge they have learned. In addition, another example would be when an older student reads a book to his teacher so she can determine what reading level the child has reached. These strategies would be more effective in demonstrating what a child has learned versus the conventional testing procedures currently used.

 I was curious about how other parts of the world assess children. So, I chose the country of China because I always have viewed the children in this country as very smart. I have observed how some parents are very adamant about their children being academically successful which I feel is not totally negative. As a result, they encourage their children to become white-collar professionals, typically doctors, engineers or attorneys.  As a result, I wondered how this country would assess its school aged children. The China’s National Children Center and Professor Tori Linder has begun to implement a play based assessment in one of the Kindergarten classrooms in Beijing, China. In this assessment, teachers would observe their students in a more natural environment to learn about their development based on their interactions through play experiences very similiar to the US. Implementing this different approach to teaching in China has been met with a challenge because it is not the traditional view of teaching. However, Professor Linder is determined to change the traditional views of teaching in China to help teachers evaluate their students with more developmentally appropriate assessments.

Smidt, S. (2006). The developing child in the 21^st century: a global perspective on child development.

New York, NY: Routledge

CRIEnglish.com. (2008). Assess children through plays: A New Approach Introduced to China. Retrieved

from: http://english.cri.cn/4026/2008/05/30/167@363568.htm.

Consequences of Stress on Child Development

The stressor that I wanted to discuss in relation to child development was hunger and poverty.  Fortunately, I had not experienced any of the stressors mentioned on the list for this assignment. However, I know an adult that is near and dear to my hear that has experienced the stress of hunger and being impoverished as a child. From what I have observed, many times adults who have had traumatic childhoods don’t seem to recall many of the details from their childhood experiences. Furthermore, when I asked this adult about how they coped with the stress of hunger and poverty, they were unable to remember specific details like feelings or behaviors that they might have had. But, they could tell me that as a child they engaged in self-soothing techniques such as thumb sucking and ear stimulation. As an adolescent, selling drugs was a means of getting money for things that were wanted or needed and helped to minimize some of the effects of living a life of lack. In addition, sports, in specific, basketball was a means to cope with the stress of everyday life for this person and they were able to "lay it all out" on the court.

Nevertheless, hunger and poverty not only effect the people within the United States, but it has also had devastating effects for the entire continent of Africa. In specific, it has been estimated by the United Nation Food and Agriculture Organization that 239 million people in sub-Saharan Africa were hungry or undernourished in 2010 (Hunger Notes, 2012). In addition, the entire continent had the second largest hunger-stricken population (Hunger Notes, 2012).

The poverty level of sub-Saharan Africa is the main reason for the problem regarding hunger in this area.

In 2008, 47 percent of the population of sub-Saharan Africa lived on $1.25 a day or less. (United Nations, 2012).

Although poverty and hunger have adversely affected the entire population of people, children have been affected the most. In specific, 26% of children in Africa are malnourished compared to an astonishing more than 70% in Asia (Hunger Notes, 2012).  However, globally,  5 million deaths each year have been attributed to poor nutrition (Hunger Notes, 2012). Malnutrition has been said to magnify the effects of diseases such as measles and malaria (Hunger Notes, 2012). In addition, poor nutrition also affects expected mothers in developing countries like Africa where 1 out of every 6 infants are born with a low birth weight (Hunger Notes, 2012). As a result, this issue translates into infants born with a higher risk of blindness, learning disabilities, mental retardation, poor health, and last but least, premature death.

Hunger Notes (2012). Africa Hunger and Poverty Facts. Retrieved from:

http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/africa_hunger_facts.htm

Hunger Notes (2012). World Hunger and Poverty Facts and Statistics. Retrieved from:

http://worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/world%20hunger%20facts%202002.htm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Child Development and Public Health

The topic from the list that I decided to research and wanted to learn more about is Sudden Infant Death Sydrome (SIDS). Based on my daily interactions with infants who have been more affected by the SIDS epidemic, I am left with many questions that mostly deal with the studies involving SIDS occurrences and suggestions to minimize the risks. During these interactions, sometimes I question if sleeping on their back is the best position for them in certain instances. For example, many of the babies in my class have had cold-like symptoms this year and have been so congested, so sleeping on their backs seems to be uncomfortable for them. As a result, they do not sleep very long or appear to sleep well. Also, some of the babies will flip back over on their tummies when placed on their backs. Nevertheless, because I know that there have been more documented cases of SIDS from infants placed on their tummies, but I continue to place the babies on their backs.        

But, I am curious to know about the studies of SIDS, as well as SIDS occurences in other parts of the world. However, I needed to know the incidence of SIDS in the United States. Although, the rate of SIDS deaths are declining which is grest news! Unfotunately, there are still about 2500 deaths reported each year in the United States that are SIDS related (American SIDS Institute, 2009). In addition, there is a higher rate of SIDS for infants who are positioned to sleep on their sides and tummies. In specific, the incidence of SIDS for infants that sleep on their backs is 12.9 times more likely (American SIDS Institute, 2009).  In contrast, in Queenlands, Australia, where the highest rate of SIDS occurrences have been reported in Australia, it has been stated that 30% of infants are not placed on their backs while sleeping (Mitchell, 2011p. 34). Nevertheless, the incidence of SIDS in developing countries is a rare event. SIDS related deaths account for less than 1 in 2000 live births (ISPID, 2012).  I thought that was interesting!            

Based on the information I have learned, I will continue to place the infants in my classroom on their backs because this position is the safest for infants based on research. In addition, although we don't place anything in their cribs such as covers or pillows. I noticed that there was also references to positioning devices and how they should not be placed in cribs (American SIDS Institute, 2009). However, previously, I wondered  about how they might aid in helping a child with severe congestion and other cold like symptoms sleep better. Well, that answers my question!  

American SIDS Institute. (2009).Reducing The Risks.
Retrieved from: http://sids.org/nprevent.htm.

International Society for the Study and Prevention of Perinatal and Infant Death (ISPID). (2012). What is SIDS? Retrieved from: http://www.ispid.org/infantdeath.html.  

Mitchell, I. (2011). Sudden Infant Death: A global problem, local action. P.34               Retrieved from:http://www.sidscanada.org/professionalsresearch.html.

Child birth in your life and around the world

For this assignment, I chose to write about the birth of my second child. The reason I chose the second birth is because my labor went relatively quick. That did not mean it was even less painful. But, by the second birth I could understand more the reason for contractions and how they ease the baby down the birth canal. It is a really interesting process when I look back on it. Also, because I was not medicated so heavily like my first child due to quick labor, I was able to actively participate in the pushing process which gave me a sense of accomplishment. With the first birth, I had an epidural and my legs felt like jello and my lower half was numb for the most part, a bittersweet moment. It was good because there was little to no pain, but bad because I could not feel anything. My perspective on birth is that the child is no longer dependent on the mother's body for nourishment, however the baby is still dependent on the parents for its basic needs, but after birth the baby is becoming more self-sufficient day by day.

Birthing experiences occur all over the world even though they may be executed differently. For instance, I lay in the hospital bed holding my legs back. But, in Cuzco, Peru the women are in a vertical rather than horizontal position for birth. This is so the doctors have a better view if the head as it emerges. But, I would think you could see the head just as good with the woman laying down. This is when culture, in specific norms come into play. (Berger, 2012 p. 105).


Berger, K (2012). The developing person through childhood. (6th ed) New York, NY: Worth Publishers.