Sharing Web Resources

The organization I am researching and learning more about is Head Start. I chose Head Start, because I know somethings about it, but I have never worked as a teacher in Head Start. I found it interesting, that now as I am learning about Head Start, I am beginning to meet teachers and directors who work with Head Start. I am also learning about my career and Head Start go hand-in-hand.

I am a National Trainer for an organization called Teachstone. Teachstone development a teacher-child interaction assessment tool, name CLASS that measures the quality and effectiveness of teacher-child interactions. This past week, I learned that Head Start uses our assessments to measure teacher-child interactions, and that I will be receiving a lot of trainees from the organization. So I feel like I am now meeting people who can tell me more about Head Start.

When I visit the website this week: www.nhsa.org, I realized that nothing had been updated since last Saturday. I decided to search a topic that I would like to know more information about, which is attachment. I know the basics of attachment, but I just wanted to know more information about attachment, since I will be giving my first infant training in September. I was very disappointed when I discovered that the website didn't have any resources or blogs on attachment, so I decided to see what resources they did have, and I came across an article, which is titled, Poverty's Effect on Child Development. I decided to read the article because I wanted to see if it tied in to what I have been researching all week about economist investing in high-quality child-care programs.

The article Poverty's Effect on Child Development, was about a research study to see how poverty affect the total volume of gray and white matter in children's brain (National Head Start, 2014). The results where that children who are poverty have less gray and white matter in their brains, and less likely to have supportive caregivers and will endure more stressful life events (National Head Start,2014).  After reading this information, I begin to think about everything that has to be done in the field of EC, and how to begin that process. I have taken the stance in training principals, directors and teachers on how to provide and measure quality interactions with children, but there is still so much to do.

The article did make a link about the importance of high-quality programs such as Head Start and enrolling children in them (National Head Start, 2014). This week I have been learning how economist believe they should invest in high-quality child care programs in order to see their investments come back to them. So there is an emphasis on high-quality programs from different points of views.

I will be checking next week to see what Head Start has in store for me!

Cierra



References:

National Head Start Association (2014). "Poverty's Effect on Child Development."Research Blast (n.d.): n. pag. National Head Start Association,

Communicating with my International Contacts

This week I got a chance to communicate with both of my international contacts, Pam an Atica. Pam is actually enrolled in Walden, and is in our class, but in a different group for discussion and blog assignments. Pam is from the Philippines and has been in the field of education for 24 years now. Pam currently resides in Korea, but is moving to Dhaka, Bangladesh. Pam shared with me her background, and how she came into the field of early education. Pam has a degree in Political Science, and worked as a preschool teacher, it is there when she realized that early childhood education was the career she wanted for her life. Pam shared with me the educational issues of her home country, such as rote learning and the emphasis on knowledge building instead of skills and attitudes so that the children could be life-long learners. Pam and I didn't get a chance to touch on the issue of child poverty, but that topic was asked in our last e-mail, but there hasn't been a response yet. I am sure that our next series of e-mail will talk about that topic.

My second international contact name is Atica. Atica and I are still working on establishing a communication routine. I sent an e-mail asking about poverty trends in the Dominican Republic, since that is where she lives, but she hasn't replied yet. I am hoping that maybe we can set-up a schedule where on certain days we exchange e-mails.

Since I was unable to talk to Atica about poverty tends in Dominican Republic, I decided to conduct some research on my own about poverty trends in the Dominican Republic. What I found out is that many children under the age of 18 are in poverty, especially in the rural areas (Benedetti, 2013). Many areas in rural Dominican Republic have no access to clean water, toilets, food or housing, leaving children in horrible conditions (Rural Poverty Portal, n.d.). I am looking forward to talking with Atica to find out more information, and some organizations that are trying to end poverty. As soon as she shares these details with me, I will share them with you all!

The insight that I have gained about poverty in the Dominican Republic is that is a difference in their poverty and our (American) poverty. For example, a child in poverty in our country, in most situations our children in poverty can have access to clean water and food, whereas in the Dominican Republic, they do not.

Have a great week!

Cierra


References:

Benedetti, A. M. (2013, October 08). Half Of The Children In Dominican Republic Live In Poverty According To UNICEF. Retrieved July 18, 2015, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/08/children-dominican-republ_n_3727957.html

Rural Poverty Portal. (n.d.). Rural Poverty in the Dominican Republic. Retrieved July 18, 2015, from http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/country/home/tags/dominican_republic

Sharing Web Resources

The web resources I selected was Head Start. I selected Head Start because I want to know a lot more information about the program. I have never worked at a Head Start program before, but I know that Head Start is considered to be the best.

The web link for Head Start: http://www.nhsa.org/

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Head Start is a non-profit organization that believes every child, regardless of the circumstances at birth, has the ability to succeed in life (National Head Start Association.n.d). The National Head Start Association's vision is to lead, a loud voice that will make sure that every vulnerable child is served with Head Start model of support for the whole child, the family and the community (The National Head Start Association, n.d.).

The National Head Start Association didn't have any updated news since April 16, 2016. So I decided to read blogs from their website. The blog that I was interested in was the blog titled, The Changing Picture of Poverty: Hard work is "just not enough". The blog talked about how poverty is more than just a lack of materials, it's something that strikes emotions, support systems and families (Fessler, 2014). The article's view on poverty was that it takes more than hard work to cure poverty (Fessler, 2014). Poverty effects many avenues of a person and their environment, and if the person is isolated, it can be harder for the person to get out of poverty (Fessler, 2014). 

What I learned from reading this blog is that poverty is a cycle. Often when we think about poverty, we think about a lack of materials, in reality poverty is so much more than that. I learned that you have to first educate and support the mindset before you can help the circumstances.

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References:

Fessler, P. (2014, May 07). The Changing Picture Of Poverty: Hard Work Is 'Just Not Enough' Retrieved July 11, 2015, from http://www.npr.org/2014/05/07/309734380/the-changing-picture-of-poverty-hard-work-is-just-not-enough

National Head Start Association. (n.d.). National Head Start Association. Retrieved July 11, 2015, from http://www.nhsa.org/

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

When I first read what part 1 of the blog assignment was going to be, I freaked out. I literally know 5 people who live outside the United States, and none of them are Early Childhood people. I begin to think about all my resources, yes I could call my job, and ask to speak to one our international trainers, and then maybe they could connect me to a international host of a child care program, but it is the weekend, and our office is closed. I would have asked people on Facebook, but I just deleted my Facebook account last week, so that is no longer an option.

Do you know what saved me? LinkedIn. I signed up to LinkedIn, when I was in my undergraduate program and trying to get a job. I hardly go on the website, but it is a great place to meet and network with other people who are in your field. I went to my contacts, and found two women who are both in the Early Childhood field, and live internationally. The first lady's name is Atica, and she lives and works as a teacher in the Dominican Republic. I sent her a message in LinkedIn, and was super excited when she agreed to be my pen pal for this course. The second lady's name is Rabsaris, and she lives in Puerto Rico. I am still trying to figure out her connection to early childhood, because it says that used to teach in Head Start. I sent her an e-mail and still waiting to hear back from her. My last but definitely not least contact is our very own Pam Castillo. Pam is one of my peers for EDUC  6162. I first noticed that Pam lived internationally when I read her post in the student lounge on the first day of school. Pam has agreed to be my contact, and I am super excited to learn from her, she lived in Korea for years, and now is moving to Dhaka, Bangladesh. I am excited to see what the women will teach me about early childhood around the world.

When deciding what website I want to explore more in order to expand my resources, I chose the website that I didn't know much about. The website that I chose is National Head Start Association. I have heard a lot about Head Start and visited a center who is Head Start last year, but I really don't know the in's and out's because I have never worked in a Head Start program. I know how important Head Starts are, and how they are the prime example of quality care, but I want to know more. I was excited to see that this website was offered as one of the resources.

I am excited about my connections and the website, and can't wait for this journey!