Research on Children and Families

Technology has grown so much within the past few years. Many schools require that children use the Internet to complete assignments and projects. While some students are using the Internet to browse social networks there are many that use it for educational purposes. There are online database and educational games available. My 9 year old sister loves to use the computer but hates doing homework. In order to get her focused with school, I decided to make homework fun for her. She uses many math game cd-roms to help her learn the required material for class. My mom and I noticed that her grades have improved with allowing her to use the computer and play educational games.
I believe this was a great technique for us to try and it has helped my family a lot.

EXPLORING RESEARCH

I know that this course for me will personally be a challenge. I have never liked to do intense research. Research can be difficult, especially the deeper you dig. It's sort of like a giant puzzle waiting to be solved. When looking for a topic, I tried to find something that I knew included tons of information and would be interesting and not boring.

The topic that I have chosen is How to foster healthy positive factors in children that have been neglected or abused. The reason I have chosen this as my topic is because I love children and I have seen many of them get abused by family members and never report it because they are afraid. I've had a close friend to get rapped by a family member and no one found out until years later.
When children are abused they mostly grow with violent tempers or exclude others from their life because they can't trust anyone.

In choosing this topic I want to identify signs of abuse, how to handle scenarios where a child has been abused/neglected and ways to gain their trust. This should be an informative topic to explore and I'm expecting to learn a lot from it.

To my colleagues reading this blog, I ask that you all please leave me any pointers on this topic if you have any. Also if you have any suggestions or resources I can use please feel free to comment and let me know. I would appreciate it so much.

 

International Consequences

Three consequences of international early childhood studies:

Learning about the wide variety of organizations that are available and how you can help to donate money or become a member to majority of these websites such as NAEYC and UNICEF.

To discover that the United States is trending behind in education compared to some countries.

I learned there are ways to communicate with other educators international but it may be hard to come in contact with someone.

My goal is to continue reading articles and newsletters from some of the websites I learned about from class.   

International Contacts

After reviewing the website www.unesco.com I learned about the Leuchtpol project. This is a project that teaches small children ages 3 – 6 about how they can help conserve energy in their environment. Many children are curious about their nature and want to know more. This program will allow them to explore more and gain knowledge about nature. There are many ways children can explore nature by playing with the blowing wind outdoors, learning to turn off lights in the home, learn different types of leaves and so forth.

This site also mentioned quality in the early childhood classrooms. The ECCE (Early Childhood Care and Education) focuses on the holistic development of children. This program helps to assist children that are transitioning from preschool to formal schooling. School is a diverse place with children and teachers of all backgrounds. The educators are well trained training to maintain a good reputation for that school. Having a great quality promotes confidence, school readiness and motivation. It informs the parents that the school is high quality and well prepared to teach their children. There are some schools that require their educators to attend workshops, conferences and online training so they will updated with the daily changes in early childhood. “Learning materials should be quantitatively, culturally and developmentally adequate and focus on child-centered interaction” (UNESCO).

I found the investment and financing information to be informative. I learned that most countries are unable to expand or improve the quality of their early childhood care. The governments rarely deal with the issues ever. If the government does issue any funds they are very small. The governments use complementary financing measures to ensure the equity of access for the poor and disadvantaged children of their country.  

Reference:

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/. Retrieved August 11, 2012.

Web Resources

The site I have been following was NAECTE which linked me to a site ACEI Association for Childhood Education International. On this site I found a Love Me Teach Me Program. This program wanted to promote the needs and rights of children all around the world. The program is built upon four cornerstones that contribute to the well-being of children.

 The first cornerstone was See Me: The Child’s Right to Identity. This section makes sure that children are registered at birth having a name and nationality.  The second cornerstone was Hear Me: The Child’s Right to Participation. This section explained how “participation is how children not only learn about the world around them, but also experience their environment” (ACEI). The third cornerstone was Love Me: The Child’s Right to Security, Stability, and Protection. A parent’s job is to take care of their child. “To provide them with a nurturing family environment where they are treated with dignity and respect and are free from abuse and neglect.” The fourth Teach Me: The Child’s Right to Education. A child should have access to educational resources.  Efforts must be made by parents, caregivers, and community members to ensure that education continues to promote the development of the child from birth throughout adolescence.

This program explained the needs and concern of our children. Each cornerstone explained how to help promote the needs of children all around the world.

http://www.acei.org/programs-events/love-me-teach-me.html

International Research

I finally heard back from my international contacts. They were both unable to assist me because they did not have the time to write me week to week. However I reviewed the Harvard University website and gained insight to some things. As we all know children are quite active at young ages and able to do about anything. At a young age, children begin to learn things quickly having a great memory, vocabulary and imagination. The older they become the more their bodies develop more information. This allows the child to become more engaged into activities. Children are our future and we must protect them and look out for their best interest. While reading I discovered that  Harvard’s President Drew Faust wanted to” promote a supportive climate for student inquiry, create exciting activities and programs that will prepare young leaders to succeed, both in and outside the classroom” Ideas such as these enhances the growth amongst our small children that will follow them throughout life.  

Educators play a huge role for children and their families. The Education and Leadership Development center strives to prepare children and their families for today’s society by creating policies, constructive dialogue and various activities. I also learned that the ELD activities are “designed to introduce undergraduates, graduate students, and professionals to new paradigms of thought and to enhance their work”.

I also looked into Global Initiative learning and discovered that in 2009 Harvard University launched the Zambian Early Childhood Development Project. The project was an attempt to measure the effects of an ongoing anti-malaria initiative on the children’s development within Zambia. They used an instrument that assessed the child’s physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive development before and throughout their schooling careers (Harvard University). The assessments would help the children individually providing them with an opportunity to identify key interventions towards the improved outcomes in this constant changing world.

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http://developingchild.harvard.edu/activities/students_eld/

Sharing Web Resources

When looking at the website for this week I noticed the doctoral scholarship the NAECTE were offering to doctoral students. The scholarship will go towards candidates who show growth and leadership in the early childhood field. This scholarship will help a teacher whose pursing goals of helping children. Scholarships are great to have and can be beneficial towards tuition costs or books.

In region 10 the governor along with the state commission, policy makers and more forged an alliance bringing Reggio children exhibit to Portland. The exhibit focuses on efforts to improve the quality of early education in the Pacific Northwest Region. The exhibit is called the Wonder of Learning with different events such as images, children’s work, symposia and more. This exhibit gives people an idea of the work of young children by the reflection of their work.

Members of the NAECTE and early childhood advocates in the state of Connecticut have been trying to create an Early Childhood Teacher Credential. The state has changed some laws in regards to teacher qualifications for centers that are state funded. There are seven institutions of higher education along with other institutions interested in joining. In New Hampshire is in the process of building a comprehensive early childhood system known as Spark NH. The program vision is to see that all New Hampshire children and their families will be healthy, learning, and thriving now and in the future. The program will be supported by federal funding. Its target will focus on children prenatal to 3rd grade and their families, with the mission of developing a comprehensive and coordinated sustainable early childhood system with positive outcomes for the many children and their families.

http://www.naecte.org/