Final Blog Assignment

I must say that it has truly been a pleasure to be a student of this class of Issues and Trends of Early Childhood and I feel as a future Early Childhood developer I have gained a lot of insight from this program that will aid me in the direction I need to go. As I reach the end of my international connection I must say that it has open my eyes to alot more than what I was expecting.....

I really feel there are a few consequences but not many when it comes to my personal and professional development of early childhood development internationally. I learned that.....
1. When it comes to my personal and professional development internationally there is a lot of opportunities for the teachers on as they continue their education.
2. I am promoting  new things within my own life as a teacher.
3. I  must be dedicated to a plan of constantly developing yourself so that you will be the best teacher that you can be.
4. Being able to participate in on-going and sustained professional development classes and endeavors.

A professional international awareness goal is get more involved with organizations and professionals from around the world and continue to discuss and advocate for all children, and to be more concerned of the poverty issue and what is being done so that it's not affecting a child's education, and finally the health and awareness of our early childhood students.

Sharing Connections Pt.3

I must say that I have really enjoyed making my international connections this semester with my friends that are over in Korea. They have really influenced me to inquire about going over there to actually see if I receive the same experience as they did or better. As we were talking I did however ask them a few questions and this were their responses.......

• What issues regarding quality and early childhood professionals are being discussed where you live and work? Well the issues are really not being discussed they main thing they are focused on is the success of the of the child and bringing over the most qualified professionals that fit this purpose.
• What opportunities and/or requirements for professional development exist? Over in Koreawhat alot of people fell to realize is that there is more the enough opportunities that one can imagine that is presented. The feel the more you further your education the more doors will open for you.
• What are some of your professional goals? Some of my professional goals that I am focused on at this moment is to obtain my doctoral degree in  Education and to obtain a special education endorsement. I feel that once I return home it want be that hard for me to obtain an educational position and to work on becoming an administrator with the school board.  
• What are some of your professional hopes, dreams, and challenges? My hopes and dreams and challenges as of now is when I come home to work on becoming a childcare director and hope of opening my own childcare center . Some of my challenges is that while I am over here in Korea it is hard to get the connections I need to point me into the right direction so I am having to do a lot of internet networking rather than face to face . Another professional hope  I have is the priviledge to stay another year and teach in Korea for this has really been a good experience.

Sharing The Resources

                A link that I decided to follow was the National Association of the Education of Young we know it as the NAEYC website.  As I was exploring this particular site it lead me into many directions. Some areas that caught my attention was the public policy, the accreditation of the organizaiton, conferences,  and publications just to name a few.
             Example, I found that the NAEYC conferences bring together early childhood educators representing many roles teaching staff, program administrators, students, researchers and teacher educators to discuss the latest ideas and learn from one another. The NAEYC Annual Conference & Expo is the largest early childhood education conference in the world, where tens of thousands of educators choose from hundreds of presentations and exhibits. The 2011 NAEYC Annual Conference & Expo will be in Orlando, FL on November 2-5. With this information provided it enlighten me on what I needed to do if I wanted to participate and gather new ideals from the organization.
               Another example with the publications NAEYC offers a large selection of educational resources for early childhood professionals and others, including books, brochures, videos, posters, and periodicals. All members receive a subscription to the NAEYC print publication of their choice: Young Children or Teaching Young Children. These are just some examples on the direction these particular links lead me to.
             I found that these links did lead me to information on the understanding of equity and excellence in early care and education and the different types of programs that are offered for the assistance for the families.

Sharing Connections

          During this week I was able to talk to my international connection that was once in Japan. While he was over there he shared with me that he was over the physical education class grades Pre-k and Kindergarten as well as teaching english.. As we were talking about his students I asked him to enlighten me on the on the issues of equity and excellence.
      
                      Some of the issues he talked about was the equity and excellence that is in the program and how the district stands behind their standards and education especially early childhood. They have a strong belief of academics and attempting to close acheivement gaps.  He stated that the Japanese school district works hard to get their students academically ready and they believe more into hands on education rather than drilling the students. The is no big issue with educational values in the system ( well he hasn't experience any yet).  He began to tell me how well structure the districts are and how they have a strict curriculm ( compared to the U.S.) to excell with excellence. There schools make sure that the educator has all they need to ensure this ecxellence with the students. The parents are very active in their children education as well as active with the school especially when it comes to volunterring. 
     

              Ryan stated that he hasn't experience any money issues in the school districts and education is one of their top priorties. He also showed interest on how the students are very attentive even though he has a physical education class  and english the students were very intriged with american sports and the simple rules to the games. He shared how he realize that each moment is a teaching moment it how he gets full of joy when he here his students attempt to explain the game of kickball or t-ball which is one of their favorite games in english. He feels that the determination that the kids has when it comes to kickball they are developing good biosocial, pychosocial, and cognitive skills.


       Talking to him really made me want to inquire about teaching english over there because how he described how the teachers are valued over there and how supportive the staff and parents are. It also let me know that your are appreciated for your hard work. Now why isn't our school systems like that????

Sharing Web Resources

        As I study the Division of Early Childhood website I realize that alot of important information comes from the policy and advocacy link and the what's new link . I feel that these two link allows an individual to stay in the circle of what is going on when it comes to policy making in early childhood. Some controversional pieces I found particular about this website is the sections that link you to the recents activities of early childhood and the support out work link.
      Under the support our link it states that "our mission is to promote polices and advances evidence-based practices that support families and enhance the optimal development of young children who have or are at risk for developmental delays and disabilities" and under the recent activities link it clearly states of all the recent activites that has been going on with the division of early childhood.
        I feel the information that is shared on this site is up to date because of the recent activition section on the site. It allows you to be inform on what has been going on the past week rather than the past months like some websites. I feel with the more recent information that is given for a person to research the more a person would want to become apart of that organization.
      I feel that of other websites I have been observing this particular website is more informative.

International Connects pt2

               As you all know I have two friends that are over in Korea to teach english in the school systems. I wouldlike to introduce to you my two friends Erica Goodrich and Ryan Hurd III. I only spoke with Ryan very briefly this week because of the disaster that has happen over in Japan and the last thing he wanted to talk about was teaching anything because he was still shaken up from what he had experience and when we briefly talked he sent me a message on facebook to let me know he was okay and was in the process of trying to get back to the states. When I spoke to Erica I was able to speak with her briefly on the poverty level in China and how is it compared to being in the United States.
          
                        
                    Erica began to tell me how the area she is in she hasn't experience any poverty areas, but she did enlighten me on the poverty that is in the rural area Beijing were she is doing her teaching. As we were talking I couldn't believe half of the stuff she was telling me because she expressed to me that China's poverty is worst than the United States. She made me realize that the United State's poverty is not bad as the media make it seems. Erica also shared with me that one thing that maybe different with the United States governement and China's governement is that China's goverenment works hard to almost immediately to resolve their issues to make it better.  Once Erica and I was finished talking I researched on some of the things she shared with me and this is what I found.


             

              The 1990s saw the most radical economic restructuring in China since gradualist economic reform began in 1978. Three important reform measures may have contributed to the growth  of poverty: food price, social welfare, and enterprise reforms. Before reform, food prices in urban China were highly subsidised through a coupon ration system, whereby coupons were distributed according to the number of family members and their ages. In the late 1970s and early 1980s market orientated reforms in the agriculture sector led to significant increases in production and to the introduction of an urban two-tier food price system, in that urban households received subsidised food coupons but were also free to purchase better and more varieties of food in the market place. Gradually, however, the government increased subsidised food prices so that two-tier prices were almost equal to each other (Tang, 1998). When the government finally abolished food coupons in 1993, workers were compensated by an explicit wage subsidy at a universal rate. Households with more non-working members, however, were disadvantaged because food coupons had been distributed according to the number of household members and their ages, while the explicit wage subsidies were distributed only to household working members. In addition, financial help for transportation, rent, and many other consumption items were switched from implicit price subsidies to explicit income subsidies. All these changes would have had an adverse impact on large households with less working members ( Tang,1998).

I can't help but think how this makes the United States lok at this point.

Changing Demographics and Diversity

The organization I decided to share with you is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Science www.aspe.hhs.gov. This current issue that I decided to discuss is Childhood Obesity in African American Children even though it is an issue amongst all races and nationalities I wanted to focus more on African American. The website demostrated graphs and other statisitics that showed the difference of overweight children broken down by nutrition and eating habits, physical inactivity and sedentary behaviors, socio-economic status and race/ethnicity,genetics, advertising and marketing.
One thing about childhood obesity period it is going to be an ongoing issue until I feel they put physical education back as a high needed area. Just of that issue I will continue to try to prompt a health lifestyle for our early childhood children so that will ot fall into the traps of laziness.