"Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God's handwriting - a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Fruits

Stroll Down for Week 8 Blog Post <:(((>

Link to my blog:
http://www.nmcclain-nmcclain.blogspot.com/
 

Final Blog Assignment ~ Week 8

Three consequences of learning about the international early childhood field

Children in Belize

     
Poverty in Early Childhood ~Belize~

The Liberty Children’s Home near the city of Belize opened in 2005 and can host 40 children from ages 0 to 5 years. All the children have been abandoned, neglected, abused or orphaned and many have special needs or HIV positive. 

www.libertyfoundation.org.uk

I would visit this school if given the opportunity to go to Central America. I would develop programs for the young children to learn English and read. I would teach the children American songs. 

 Language Diversity ~ Chile~

The children of Chile are involved in a project named “Un Buen Comienzo ~“A Good Start” similar to America’s Head Start. This projects goal is to improve early childhood education through teacher professional development. The focus age is four to six years.

Professionally, I would travel to Chile, and learn their native language so that I could teach them English. I would teach the children and their parents about famous Artist in Central American history like Diego Rivera. 

Child in Chile

  Advocacy in Early Childhood ~ Australia~

The government in Australia will soon develop new policies to advocate for children in early childhood. The implementation of a national Quality Framework (NQF) sets standards for children’s care, including staffing, safety and environments. 

I am professionally very passionate about classroom environments for children. The World Forum Foundation Global Collaborative OnDesign for Children is pleased to announce the first International Working Forum that will challenge views on model building design for children…read on http://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/initiatives/ondesign/ondesignworkingforum2012/

If I were fortunate enough to one day visit my Australian contact, I would go to their classroom and create a design for ages zero to five. I would have many colors in the classroom and pastel colors in the infant/toddler room. I believe in colors and tons of creativity in the classroom environment. I really fell passionate about classroom design for children in early childhood. 

~One Goal for International Awareness~

Children in India

Poverty:

I wish that one day globally, childhood poverty would end. Poverty involves homelessness, hunger, mental health, nutrition, social isolation and many other factors. The worst poverty that I studied in this course was in India. Almost half of all children (about 62 million) under the age of five are malnourished and 34 percent of the new-borns are underweight. India has the largest numbers of working children in the world.

The statistics for India’s poor is very sad.  Gender bias, class and caste keep the female disparities in place in India. I met a woman from India a year ago and she was ousted from her family because she did not want to become a doctor and lose weight. Her sister was the prize of the family because she was thin and in medical school.

Birds

~CD 6162 Colleagues~

Farewell to my Colleagues! I almost forgot to greet you success in all you do and may you excel and accomplish all your dreams and goals! We had a few bumps and bruises from the new Walden format, we made it~ You are the Best!

~Wk. 7 ECD- 6162-2  Blog Assignment~

~My Professional goals, hopes and dreams~
I would like to teach in early childhood special education, which is working with children with developmentally delays and their families. My second passion is to design play areas and spaces for incarcerated women and their children, military bases and day care centers in improvised areas. I love setting up play spaces and seeing the children enjoy their activities in an age appropriate environment.

Lady with Flower

~International Professional Contact~ Australia
“I have worked in the field of early childhood and now work in an adult training facility teaching adults to care for children, the cert III & Diploma in Children Services. For me having been involved in the children's services industry for the last 20 years, I am excited by the change and the focus on quality at a national level rather than state by state” (Conversation via email with Yvonne Young, 2012- Australia ). 


What issues regarding quality and early childhood professionals are being discussed where you live and work?

Professional development is offered via organizations like the Early Childhood Association (ECA), growth training, TAFESA the organization I work for and the education department here. A lot of training offered at the moment is around the implementation and use of the new standards and framework. 

What opportunities and/or requirements for professional development exist?

Tomorrow I am off to a round table discussion with educators & industry people to build relationships between educators, workers, within the early childhood sector. 

What are some of your professional goals?

Professional goals are to provide quality and current training to students working in the early childhood field to assist them in working effectively with children; offering quality care. 

 What are some of your professional hopes, dreams, and challenges?

Dreams and hopes, is that all children have access to quality care assisting them to reach their full potential, wish the students I assist in training reach their goals and become quality educators- working in partnerships with families to ensure holistic care of children. 

Pink Roses

 

Conversation with Yvonne Young,via Walden University Email (June 12, 2012) Early Child Development Training Instructor in Australia.

~Blog Assignment: Sharing Web Resources~

My Blog Link:    http://www.nmcclain-nmcclain.blogspot.com/

Conference 2012

Follow some of the outside links that you have not yet explored. Where do they lead?

Ø  National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI)
http://nbcdi.org/  This link is the direct link to the Institute’s web site.

Ø  Newsletter: http://nbcdi.org/support/sign-up-for-nbcdi-newsletters/  This link is the direct link to the newsletter. It will ask you to sign-up to receive the newsletter.

Ø  http://nbcdi.org/conferences/2012-2/

This link is to updated conferences. Sponsored by NBCDI.

Ø  http://nbcdi.org/affiliates/

The affiliate chapters assist to provide direct services at the community level. The affiliate networks are dedicated volunteers in urban and rural areas and on college campuses across the country. The affiliates are parents, professionals, proletarians, and others who share a commitment to making a difference in the lives of young people.

My nearest affiliate would be: Los Angeles

Seven year old girls in Africa

BCDI Los Angeles California
Ms. Valeria Norwood
P: (323) 295-2601 ext. 136
E: calorie81@aol.com

http://nbcdi.org/initiatives/

This is the most important link to support childhood initiatives for Black children and their families.

Thoroughly search one area of the site. What do you find?

In 1990, Child Care Services Association created the Teacher Education and Compensation Helps (T.E.A.C.H.) Early Childhood Project to address the issues of under-education, poor compensation and high turnover within the early childhood workforce.   T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Project gives scholarships to child care workers to complete course work in early childhood education and to increase their compensation.  CCSA is a nationally recognized nonprofit working to ensure affordable, accessible, high quality child care for all families through research, services and advocacy. We are more than just an agency working to improve child care; we are also an association of groups, individuals and volunteers committed to supporting the right of young children and their families to have the best possible life.

If you receive an e-newsletter, follow a link related to one of the issues you have been studying. What new information is available?

http://nbcdi.org/blog/2010/08/21/love-to-read/

Love to Read is a research based national early literacy program designed to help reverse the achievement gap and to improve the academic success of African American children.  Love to Read is targeted towards parents and caregivers of children ages 0 through 6.  To date, NBCDI has published the Love to Read Early Literacy Report targeted towards policy makers and practitioners with contributions by leading researchers. In partnership with the National Association for the education of Young Children (NAEYC), NBCDI has distributed well over 30,000 copies of the report.

Does the website or the e-newsletter contain any information that adds to your understanding of equity and excellence in early care and education?

Equity and excellence is seen by this sites initiatives that advocate for Black, Hispanic and Native American children.

• Initiatives supported by NBCDI (Newsletter)

T.E.A.C.H.

My grandson & Friend

http://teach.nbcdi.org/about/

Child Welfare – site presently under construction

Early Childhood Education –

http://nbcdi.org/blog/category/early-childhood-education/

Several articles about education, Head Start conference and T.E.A.C.H. and advocating for parents; Parent Empowerment Project (PEP) PEP is a program that educates, motivates and inspires parents. The National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI) introduces a curriculum for parent education. 

http://nbcdi.org/blog/category/education/

Head Start’s research conference, prekindergarten and entering the college zone, informing Black teens on how to apply for college.

NBCDI, with support from the Foundation for Child Development, is leading a campaign to improve children’s chances for school success through a PreK-3rd policy initiative that includes a range of activities focused in the District of Columbia.

Health and Nutrition

http://nbcdi.org/blog/category/health-nutrition/

Child Health Talk, positive nutrition practices and reducing childhood obesity. Child Health Talk is a quarterly publication, funded by State Farm Insurance, which provides a range of information for families with young children on topics related to their health and well-being.

Literacy

http://nbcdi.org/blog/category/literacy/

Love to Read is the National Black Child Development Institute’s (NBCDI) national early literacy public education initiative to help parents improve African American children’s academic performance from ages 0 through 6.

NBCDI has partnered with Reading is Fundamental (RIF) offering an early literacy training program to educators to build and enhance early literacy skills of African American children.

Archives

http://nbcdi.org/initiatives/archives/

Dated articles of interest for professional early child development teachers and historical events.

New Insights: Child Care Services Association

What other new insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field did you gain this week from exploring the website and/or the e-newsletter?

NBCDI Newsletter:

                http://www.childcareservices.org/

Child Care Services Association (CCSA) provides coordinated services that address the tri-dilemma of child care: the three challenges are:  inadequate availability, quality, and affordability of child care.

I don’t know if less is more or more is less, but this appears from the beginning to be a site that has little to offer, yet when you start going into all the links, it connects back to many issues and trends in early child development.

~ Sharing International Contact: ~Australia~

I recently was contacted by a woman from Australia named Yvonne. She mentioned that she has worked in the field of early childhood and now works in an adult training facility teaching adults to care for children, the cert III & Diploma in Children Services.

" In Australia there is currently massive change in the early childhood sector. 2012 sees the implementation of an updated Accreditation or quality control system National Quality Standards (NQS) that encompasses, long day care, child care facilities (LDC), family day care (FDC), outside school hours care (OSHC) and pre-schools.  Australia was the first country to introduce a quality control system linked to funding of serivces, basically if services were not up to standard they were no longer eligible to receive payment through a parent subsidy scheme for putting children in care,Child Care Benefits (CCB)

basically the only organizations that deals with early childhood & middle childhood not under the banner of the of NQS".(Walden email correspondence on June 2, 2012, Yvonne Young)

Also implemented is a National Quality Framework NQF the regulatory body that sets standard requirements for children in care, including staffing, safety, environments.

This link is for a site that has information about both the NQS & the new regulations. 

  http://acecqa.gov.au/

"With the new regulations there are new child/staff ratios this has caused much debate in Australia, as some sectors are saying the increase in staffing is too expensive for parents where others say the changes do not go far enough. The changes are staggered with the 1st change implemented this year. Under 2 years old the ratio of 1 adult to 4 children, the next change is due for implementation in 2016. The ratio will be 2-3 years age group taking it from up to 1 staff to 8 children to 1 - 5".

Another major change is to the training requirements of staff in services, all staff as of 2013 will need to have a minimum cert III in Children's Services or be working towards it. Presently, staff in pre-schools working at an assistant level or those in LDC/OSHC at the assistant level did not require a qualification. 

There has also been the introduction of a national framework (curriculum) for children in care Early Years Learning Framework for 0-5 and then My Time Our Place Framework  for those in OSHC. The frameworks are heavily focused on relationships and the emotional well-being of children.

Yvonne mentioned that she has been involved in the children's services industry for the last 20 years and that she is excited by the change and the focus on quality at a national level rather than state by state level. 

She offered another link: 

Here is a link to a report on the state of child care in Australia 

http://www.deewr.gov.au/Earlychildhood/Resources/Documents/StateChildCareAus.pdf

Week 5 Assignment 2

~Getting to Know Your International Contacts- Part 2~

CHILE:

Un Buen Comienzo (UBC), “A Good Start,” is a collaborative project in Santiago, Chile, to improve early childhood education through teacher professional development. This project wants to improve the quality of education for four to six year olds in the area of language development. Parent engagement is also a part of this project.
Un Buen Comienzo began in 2007 with four demonstration sites, and has expanded to sixty schools. National and international actors from both the public and private sectors are participating in the effort to expand the project. The actor’s commitment is about two years.
A cluster-randomized experiment in all 60 schools will contain several comprehensive evaluations. This type of longitudinal evaluation in early education has not been carried out in any other country in Latin America and will place Chile at the forefront of demonstrating the impact of a high-quality early education. 

BRAZIL:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbUwiMILdRY&feature=player_detailpage

This video is a collective project of the Global Children’s Initiative. In collaboration with local experts, this project aims to use the science of child health and development to enforce stronger policies to benefit young children and families in Brazil.

Reinforcing the latest research in the biological, behavioral, and social sciences as well as institutional and leadership development strategies, the initiative provided attendees with the knowledge and tools to design and implement  public policies and social programs for young children in Brazil. The program ends with participants developing science-based action plans to strengthen early childhood policies in Brazil and within their local areas.

Reference:

Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2010). Global Children’s Initiative. Retrieved from: http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/