Researching Classroom Reduction

As a parent and an educator, I understand the importance of reducing the number of children allowed to be taught in one classroom with one teacher. Resently, I found out that some of the early classroom environments were without teacher assistants. This situation bothered me because the classroom size was about twenty-five children to one adult. I've found that classroom management is a problem, and therefore, learning is a problem for some children. Some of our children need one-on-one interventions to help insure their ability to master the curriculum.

If I were given the opportunity and could make a difference in placing assistants back into the classroom environments to help offset the limited amount of learning that takes place, I would show how children in smaller classroom sections learn at a greater rate, than children who are tossed into large classroom sizes and are forced to deal with bulling, lack of attention, motivation, and a numberof things that our children face in today's classrooms.

I choose classroom reduction because our children are receiving a disservice as far as having a right to receive the best education possible. We are all familiar with the statement: All children can learn", but those that have difficulities in learning can't receive extra help because their is no assistant in the classroom.  Early Childhood ranges from birth through age eight, and these are the impressionable years, and the critical years for development, including cognitive functioning.

I would want my research to compel parents and policy makers to take a closer look at the decision to remove teacher assistants from the classrooms. Many parents embrace No Child Left Behind (NCLB),
without fully understanding that the child will be left behind if he/she does not meet the standardized test standards, and if they are not reading at the appropriate grade level. Our children must come first, and parents can and should have a voice that will be heard by politician, policy makers, and school officials. Let's help our children to succeed in school and life.

Personal Research Journey

During my research journey, I decided to research cognitive development in children birth through age eight. I'm specifically interested in six through eight year old children. Because these are the beginning years of formal school and I want to know how they learn, recall, and retain information. I eight grand children, and two of them are in the same grade. One of them is having problems in school with learning. Their are a lot of factors that may contribrite to the situation, but I'm interested in how he comprehends and learns.

During our resources this past two weeks, I've been somewhat confused. But I kept reading the information until it made some sense to me. The information is very informative actually. Expecially, how the resources break down evaluating research. Once I began to reconstruct the research chart using key terms, it helped me to understand part of the research process. It seems to be coming along, a bit slow but coming along.  One resource that seemed interesting to me Ebsco host, which is a search engine that Walden uses for its students. The NAEYC website is also interesting when research children and guidelines for policies. Is their any websites that you feel may be helpful for my research, or maybe you would like to share some information about the sites that you've chosen.

Good Luck! I look forward to collaborating with you in the future.

Personal and Professional Growth

Over the past seven week’s we have been studying about the early childhood field from a global and international perspective. My fellow practitioners and I have been collaborating with each other as we explored various avenues of early childhood including poverty, equity, and quality, and characteristics of being professional.  While these are just a few of the issues that we have discussed, I believe the information has broadened my understanding and appreciation for the early childhood field. To my colleagues, I have truly enjoyed collaborating with all of you, and I wish you all the best in our pursue of excellence in the early childhood field.

Three consequences:

a.  I began by trying to contact UNICEF Internationally. Later I looked into the Children Defense Fund.  I was not able to make physical contact but I was able to explore various websites that were very informative about the early childhood profession and children. The websites were user friendly, and very informative.

b. The issue of poverty hit close to home. Poverty is an issue that has devastating and lasting effects on children and families. I particularly liked what Mahatma Gandhi, an Indian Philosopher said about poverty, “Poverty is the worst form of violence” (Mahatma Gandhi). Identifying poverty in my own area made me aware of the lack of facilities to help and support poverty right at my own back door. Children are going to school, without proper food, clothing and shelter, it the mist of trying to learn. We must advocate for our children both at home and abroad.

c. The importance of Early childhood education both nationally and internationally. Studying and identifying international situations that affect how children grow and learn has helped me to understand and affirm that color has no face when we seek to educate our children. All children have a right to an education, and we must begin by focusing on those critical years of development. The same issues that we face at home are found internationally in the early childhood field.

GOAL:

 My personal goal is to help expand awareness and global efforts about nutrition, health, education, and the importance of our youth at becoming productive citizens with a bright future. I will continue to learn and support UNICEF in its efforts in the field of early childhood education. I’m also interested in advocating for children with the Children’s Defense Fund.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts -Part 3

I still have not have any reply from my global contacts, so I viewed UNESCO.org/news at http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening:education-systems/early-childhood/


Upon viewing this website I found tha UNESCO recognized the need for early chidcare and education. This aligns with my goals of education young minds in hopes of becoming productive citizens in the future.  The first new letter that I viewed advocated for early care and education but that their educational resources were limited and state support went toward the priviledged. The poor would only receive scant government attention. I believe that every child has a right to an education, and that education should start in the early impressionable years of development.

The second was the EFA Crowdsourcing challeng that promoted literacy development.The challengeaims to find ways to effectively usemobile communication to help achieve literacy, and develop universal primary education, and enhance quality of education and equality in education. Literacy development is part of th No Child Left Behind Act, and wants to ensure every child  the benefit of learning to read before the third grade. As an advocate for children, I understand the importance of learning to read, and how important those first years are at developing a foundation from which to build future success.

The Third was to Global action plan called Moscow Framework for action and cooperation: Hanessing the Wealth of Nations. Through this global campaign for education the coalition of NGO's and teachers unions aim to raise awareness of education for all. targeting the most vulnerable. Thehave set up a week of festivities  to run from April 22-28, 2012, to help raise awareness. This is a good initiative to help raise awareness, due to the lack of funding and lack of government support for the poor under priviledged children  who suffer because of the economical status in some areas.

All three align with my educational goals because I believe all children have a right to be educated regardless of their economical status. I also belive that literacy development in the cornerstone of a bright future. Without learning to read our children can not hope to achieve success. Also as an advocate of child and the early childhood field, I'm in favor of any efforts used to promote awareness and support for early childhood. I was also interested in the mobile communication idea of promoting literacy.

Sharing Web Resources: Equity and excellence in early care and education

Some of the links that I have explored on UNICEF include: Press Centre, Where we work, Focus area, What we Do and other topics listed on the website.

One the Press Centre tab, I identified current UNICEF efforts such as:

·         UNICEF ending child under nutrition critical to achieving vitually all MDGs by 2015

·         UNICEF steps up its response to children affected by the crisis in Syria

·         UNICEF break the cycle of disasters for the children of the Sahel and act now, says UNICEF

·         UNICEF on World Water Day poor rural people missing out

·         UNICEF denounces killing of children, women in Syrian city V Homs

·         Disaster is stalking children in the Sahel

·         UNICEF applauds landmark ruling on war crimes against children

These are just a few of the issues that are linked to equity, excellence in early care and education.

UNICEF: ON World Water Day, poor rural people missing out

On World Water Day, poor rural people missing out

As the world commemorates World Water Day, UNICEF asked governments to pay particular attention to those being left behind in their countries’ progress, especially with regard to access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.

UNICEF gives a report on the progress on drinking water and sanitation 2012. They also reported that 783 million people still without improved sources of drinking water in 2010.  Women and girls are the one that bear the burdens of collecting water for the families.

UNICEF works in 190 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. For more information about UNICEF and its work visit: www.unicef.org

Two weeks ago a UNICEF and World Health Organization report showed conclusively that poor people in rural areas are overwhelmingly those without these most basic necessities for life. In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs food, water and shelter is the most important necessity that one requires for survival.

Surveys conducted in 25 countries in sub-Saharan Africa found that in 71 per cent of all households without water on the premises women or girls are mainly responsible for water collection. In a nearby community where I live, the water smells of sewage, and most people by water for drinking. But all who pay the water bill has access to water.

Insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field that I have gained this week:

KAMPALA, announced on APRIL 2, 2012 that UNICEF appealed for the inclusion of nutrition security as an essential element in every national development plan – as critical as clean water and indispensable as education as one of their goals by 2015. It was recorded that 20 million children under the age of five, around the world suffer from severe acute malnutrition. In the report UNICEF identified some of the effects of malnutrition beginning with pregnancy and stunting growth and development. Since children are our future, we must advocate for them, because they are not able to speak for themselves.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts, Part 2

Harvard University’s Global Children’s Initiative” (http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/)

Harvard University has put together an initiative that focuses on three domains: early childhood development, mental health, and children in crisis and conflict situations. This initiative is guided by a group of people that will collaborate, design and implement new projects geared toward advancing the initiative for children.

The three strategic objectives are:

• To reframe public discourse, about the early childhood period by educating high- level decision makers about learning, behavior, and health
• To support innovative, multidisciplinary research and demonstration projects in selected regions to expand global understanding about how healthy development happens, and how it can be derailed, and how to get back on track
• To build leadership capacity in child development research and policy among individuals and institutions in low and middle income countries that will increase and influence perspectives for young children

With this in mind, I was particularly interested in their focus on the situation of children in Haiti and Chile, who were affected by the devastation of the earthquake. I’m also interested in the strategies that will be implemented for addressing acute malnutrition. I would also like to add the effects of poverty on children who are already oppressed. The article discussed concerns about mental health in children and the implications for broader health and development of children.

It wasn’t until I began to study child development that I understood that children face stress in their everyday lives, and how important it is to address these issues in order to facility a healthy community of young children who are able to deal with stressors without setbacks in their daily routines in life. Stress is a part of life, and we must teach our children how to deal effectively with stressful situations. We know that the situation in Haiti was devastating and that the families and children are still feeling the effects.  

Sharing Web Resources

As you know, I originally contacted UNICEF, and to this day I haven't received a reply. I continue to log on various websites in search of information that may help me in my quest for knowledge about the issues and trends in the early childhood field.

UNICEF newsletter on "the situation of children", January 2011., under the health section discussed publich health and expeditures being at its lowest point in a ten year period in 2010. The investment budget for 2011 prescribed by the Finance Law, has prioritized certain activities over others in an effort to meet basic health centres that serve the majority of health seeking population. This section is relevant to my current profession of early childhood because health issues affect the development of the growning child. Poor health also affects cognitive development.

This week I read an article on UNICEF that dealth with food insecurity. There was a shift from moderate to severe insecurity. This is important because Maslow dwescribes one ofour basic and essential needs as being foo. In the article supporting neuroscientist, Copple and Bredkamp studied issues on developmentally appropriate practice and the NAEYC explore components of creating an active, stimulating learning environment which is belied to strengthen neurological networks. The article concluded with "mirror neurons", which affect the young child's moods, emotions, and empathy.

Yesterday, my oldest daughter came home upset, because she found out that one of her high school students was homeless. She was looking for the child because of state mandated test issues. Poverty, health, nutrition, and shelter are issues that our children deal with on a daily basis in some cases, but the problems are rarely brought to the surface. This young lady would also be a product of food insecurity and homelessness, right in our own school district and community.