Competent Communicator in my Life

I have chosen a previous pastor where I used to attend church in Jacksonville, FL.  My husband and I were there for only three years because of military obligations.  He was a competent communicator within the context of his church.  As a younger person at that time, attending that church changed my life.  His messages resonated with me throughout the week (not just on Sundays) and made me want to be a better person.  Whenever I was faced with difficult situations with people at work or while I was out and about, I would speak to them with respect even when "going off" on them would have been warranted.  I have become an honest person, good wife and mother, and someone with great character who genuinely cares about well being of everyone around me.  Of course I still have things to work through, but he is one of the people who definitely helped to shape me into the person I am today.
I would say that he is an effective communicator because his messages stay with you longer than one day.  When a person has the ability to really make you look into yourself and become constantly aware of your behaviors, I would say they are effective.  I would love to model some of my communication behaviors after him because that would make me an effective early childhood educator.  If I can have a positive impact on at least half of the children that comes into my path, I will be a happy person.  

Final Blog Assignment

I have really enjoyed learning about early childhood education in other countries.  I was disappointed at not being able establish communication with one of the contacts because I was really looking forward to that aspect of the class; however, I still learned a lot through the readings.  The consequences of learning about the international early childhood field helped me in both my professional and personal development.  On the first assignment, I learned about the situation of poverty in Africa.  Those children will continue to live in those circumstances if they are not educated and taught how to rise out of poverty.  Some places such as Kenya and Tanzania are making improvements such as making education free which has opened the door to millions of children and more schools are opening up in Tanzania.  The situation of poverty is bad regardless of where it is but the children in Africa have it far worse than those in America.  Another interesting country was Bangkok.  I liked how they place more of an emphasis on the child learning about their culture, history, and to have respect and values.  These are more important for the citizens of Bangkok than the education.  It was also great reading about Zambia and how they are beginning to realize the importance of EC education and are taking the necessary steps to test the children for malaria which affects a lot of the children there and their development.  Zambia is known for their children being the furthest behind; malaria is a primary cause of it.  I love it when people take steps to help children in particular.  I am hoping that all international countries will realize the importance of EC and take the necessary steps to ensure that their children have a chance at the best future possible for them.

My reference for the last post:

Jo-Kim, G. (2013, 25 March).Vox Pop: What are some of the three most important skills a child should learn?  UNESCO.

International Contacts-Part 3

This week I chose to research UNESCO's "Early Childhood and Care and Education" webpage.  There was an interesting article by Jo-Kim of Bangkok about his opinion the the three important things that a child should learn.  “Firstly, they need to learn about culture – culture is a kind of glue, it keeps us together. It’s like tea with sugar – it creates flavor and the color we need. Secondly, values and respect. Do we respect our parents and elders enough? Are the gaps here increasing? We need to keep in mind that education comes from home – our families are the first “teachers” in our lives. They are crucial to us so respect and values are important. Thirdly, history – we should know our past so we can improve our future" (Jo-Kim, 2013).  Most of the opinions on the educators from Bangkok were similar.  They believe that character and respect are very important to being a good human being.  Basic educational skills and communication skills for working are also needed, but the child must understand their history so that they know where they fit in in the world.  I actually agree with them.  Every person should know their culture and understand who they really are and they need to know how to cope in the world in which they live .  Education is important, but it is also important to be a good person.  All of this ties into the battle that we are currently facing with our preschools.  Some think that education is everything, and forget that the child also needs to learn how to cope in the world.  It is primarily up to the parents to teach children that aspect of life, but it helps when teacher reinforce those rules from home.

Some of my professional goals are to open a preschool and hire quality teachers to work for me.  I believe that there has to be a balance of education, play time, and teaching children how to be good people who treats everyone with respect.  I volunteer at my church in the children's ministry and although we teach them about stories in the Bible, we also teach them things like sharing, apologizing when they have hurt someone or their feelings, and placing them in time out if needed.  They are learning how to get along with others which is important during the younger years as well as how to sit and listen, raise hands to speak, and so forth.  I think about every moment as if I were in my future classroom and handle each situation accordingly.

Sharing Web Resources- Part III

This week I chose an article from my organization NAEYC.  There was an interesting article in the Young Children (YC) magazine called, Supporting Peer Relationships and Social Competence in Inclusive Preschool Programs.  This article was so amazing because it described how teachers can use situations that arise in the classrooms among peers as teaching moments.  There were a couple of situations that occurred such as this 3 1/2 year old little boy with autism run into the block station excitedly and kicks the blocks in all directions.  One kid yelled, "you're stupid."  Another child with cerebral palsy issues was using a prism to draw a rainbow and got interrupted by another student by the prism getting snatched from her so that the other girl could draw it better.  These are the types of conflicts that take place in preschool settings.  In this inclusive preschool setting, the teachers helped them to iron out the situation. Situations that involve young children with special needs serve as windows into children's social-emotional skills and needs.  They also highlight teaching opportunities.  Teachers play an essential role in showing preschoolers how to manage peer relationships successfully.  Peer conflict is typical for young children but it still requires the assessment of a teacher (NAEYC, 2013).  The goal of inclusive programs are to create an atmosphere in which positive peer relationships can flourish.  In these programs, children with special needs have full access to all aspects of the learning environment, opportunities to actively participate and adequate supports for success.  The main thing of importance are the social skills and social competence of teaching and learning.  Children learn how to navigate a complex world of friendships and adult relationships in environments of new rules, routines, and expectations for such behaviors as waiting, conversing, sharing small and large group spaces, and taking turns.  All of these are important to a child's social abilities.  Inclusive preschools are great because the teachers are involved more with the students which is exactly how it should be when children are this young.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts- Part 2

I still have not heard from my international contacts and have not had any luck with new ones.  I have chosen to focus on the Early childhood systems around the globe; particularly Zambia.  The global program focuses on three strategic areas;
- Reframing the discourse around child health and development
-Supporting innovative, multi-disciplinary research and demonstration projects, and
- Building leadership capacity in child development research and policy

The three strategic areas listed above has led to the Global Children's Initiative beginning to build a portfolio of activities in three domains;
- Early childhood development, child mental health, and children in crisis and conflict situations

Zambia has very little evidence available on early childhood development in sub-Saharan Africa.  The Zambian Early Childhood Development Project (ZECDP) was developed in 2009 as a collaborative effort to measure the effects of an ongoing anti-malaria initiative on children's development in Zambia.  A new comprehensive tool for assessing children's physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive development was created before the children began school and throughout their careers in school.  This was actually one of their first assessment tools.  In May of 2010 they came up with a test called the Zambian Child Assessment Test (ZamCAT).  This test combines their old knowledge with new knowledge to see their development of preschool aged children according to the Zambian context.  Countries overseas are beginning to realize the importance of early childhood development and the effects of poor health on development as well.

Reference:
Center on the Developing Child Harvard University Global Children's Initiative. (2013). Zambian early childhood development project. Retrieved from: http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiaive/global_initiative

Technology and Young Children- Effective Classroom Practice: Infants and Toddlers

I chose this article from my NAEYC website because my children absolutely love technology.  I was also interested in this article because with technology being so prominent, I wanted to see how technology would play a role in early childhood settings.  Just recently my 17 1/2 month old loves to watch the Mickey Mouse app on my iPad.  He doesn't really pay attention to it, but every time he sees my iPad, he says, "mouse" and begins to cry if I do not give it to him!  I know it is not good for young children to really engage in technology before the age of 2, so I try to be strict.  However, he wants to do what my four year old and 13 year old does.

According to NAEYC, during the earliest years children should interact with primarily with people.  They need to freely explore, manipulate, and test everything (NAEYC, n.d.).  If infants and toddlers use technology it should be safe, sturdy, and not easily damaged.  If used, it must be in the context of conversation and interaction with an adult.  Also an adult should act as a mediator and co-player.  Passive screen time is not good for them and should be avoided.  In the future, if more technological programs are created for schools and maybe in a variety of languages, this could help teachers incorporate creative play and incorporate culture into their programs especially when more than one language is represented in the classroom.