Sharing Web Resources

     On the web site: Institute for Children, Poverty & Homelessness; the section titled, "Uncensored: On the homefront: Tackling poverty: Excerpts from a panel discussion hosted by city limits and icph, seemed particularly relevant to my current professional development by focusing on the poor and unemployed young people in America. Professionally, my awareness of poverty among communities of color to include Latino and African American citizens who continue to be classed as underclass.
     Statements that are controversial and made me think was the statement, "People who are poor are responsible for their poverty", (ICPH, Uncensored, 2013, p. 2). People make choices in their lives and like a puzzle we continue to connect the pieces until we get the picture we desire. However, each person has their own story to tell and face life as best as they can. I do not believe poverty is ever foreseen in the future but we can fight to become productive.
     The e-newsletter adds to my understanding that politicians continue to battle over issues such as unconscious racism as it relates to employment, investing in childcare, and the fact that the United States has the highest child poverty rates in the world, "Nearly 50 million Americans are poor right now in 2013", (ICPH, Uncensored, 2013, p. 1).
     Another insight that interests me on the web site titled, Web- extras: Hope behind bars, which focuses on assisting women in prison due to hardships in life and helping them reenter society through programs such as "A New Way of Life Reentry Project where women earn their GED and hopefully gain employment and reconnect with their children and families from which they were separated due to incarceration.

References 

Brown, S. (2013). Uncensored: Web-extras: Hope behind bars. Retrieved from http://www.icphusa.org/webextras/iHomele

Uncensored: Institute for Children, Poverty, & Homelessness: Tackling poverty: Excerpts from a panel discussion hosted by city limits and icph. Retrieved from http://www.icphusa.org/

Getting to Know My International Contacts-Part 1

     My conversation partners are Katrina Oliver who works as a Training and Curriculum Specialist for a child development center in USAG Bavaria, Germany - Commercial phone number: (49) 9641-83-9479 - E-mail address: katrina.l.oliver.naf@mail.mil and Tiffney Lane who works as a Director for a child development center in Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico - Commercial phone number: (787)-707-3769 - E-mail address: tiffney.i.lane.naf@mail.mil.
     Unfortunately, neither of my contacts responded as they committed that they would to my e-mail requesting their experiences with poverty in their professional lives. I am really disappointed because I have to depend on people to keep their word; it is very frustrating! Well enough venting! Hopefully, my contacts will respond within the coming week so that I can post what they share.
     I selected an article from the website of the UNICEF page (http://www.inicef.org/socialpolicy/index_childpoverty.html); three insights that I have gained from the research article titled "Nutrition in Early Childhood: Insights from rural Ethiopia" are as follows:

1) Children physical development improve significantly when environmental
    (water, cleanliness) surroundings improve.

2) Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in Africa.

3) During the early years of childhood and being malnourished, not only has an affect on
    education success and health but it stunts the growth of young children that have      
    suffered from poverty.

 

Reference

 

Porter, C. (2013). Child Poverty Insights: Nutrition in early childhood: Insight from rural Ethiopia.

 





Sharing Web Resources

    

     The link to the organization that I selected to learn more about is: http://www.zerotothree.org.
The focus of this organization as it relates to early childhood education is that of providing insight to parents and professionals on how to care , recognize, and strategize by using techniques through research and developmental specialists to ensure young children are successful in their classroom environment and the world around them. ZERO TO THREE also provides a platform parents to discuss ideas and issues regarding young children's development and there is an excellent newsletter titled Coming Together Around Military Families (CTAMF) E-newsletter dedicated to military families.

     One current issue/trend that caught my attention is that of dual language learners. The information focuses on how young children before the age of three "simultaneous bilinguals learn two languages", (Cryer & Harms 2000). The article also focuses on learning how young children communicate by referring to their parents for guidance. The goal is for parents to be consistent when speaking and teaching their children their home language as well as the English language, (Pearson et al., 1997, as cited in Cryer & Harms, 2000).

     I reached out to another resource through UNICEF that I am interested in: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/ focusing on Romania. In Romania UNICEF is focused on promoting the rights of children, their health, quality education, and preventing exploitation. The one point that interest me is that of developing an Early Learning curriculum for young children and encouraging their parents to participate in programs provided that focus on them learning how to teach their young child.

References

Cryer, D., & Harms, T. (2000). Infants and toddlers in out-of-home care. Baltimore: Brookes.

UNICEF: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/romania.html


ZERO TO THREE: http://www.zerotothree.org


ZERO TO THREE: Practical Tips and Tools. "Dual language learners in early care and education settings", (Nov. 2008).


　   

"Getting Ready"

     My journey in locating an overseas professional in the field of early childhood was fairly easy! I have contacts all over ever since I left a training that had representatives from various parts of the world.

Part 1: "Establishing Professional Contacts"
     I located two professionals in the field of early childhood education simply by finding their information on a global e-mail roster on a military "Share Drive"and asking for their assistance via e-mail or text messages during my course study at Walden University; in which they are eager to oblige! The names of my contacts are Katrina Oliver located in Germany and Tiffany Lane located in Mexico.

Part 2: "Expanding Resources"
     I chose to select Zero To Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families as the early childhood organization from which I will gain knowledge and insight. I chose this organization because it is highly referenced in selected course article readings required in course work at Walden University and it has a newsletter.

     One helpful tip that I would like to share with my colleagues about this project is to select a web-site that captures your attention and one that you may be familiar with already.