Reflecting on EDUC 6162

Over the past eight weeks we have been blogging about issues in trends world wide.  By seeing some of the issues we face in the states, are some of the same issues that others are facing in other countries. Learning about issues of other countries gives one several different insights such as, a new way of thinking about the issue, examining the cause of the issue, and looking further into ways to eliminate the issue all together.  These are three consequences that come from learning about issues and trends that may be going on in other countries.

One goal for this field would be to find a common ground that would allow everyone to post and share their ideas about certain issues.  Grant it there are several sites and podcasts for one to join, but if their was local committees and groups for people to join to discuss several different issues I believe that would work as well.

Issues at My Center

Issue of quality I believe should be a concern of all centers.  At my center, our biggest focusing on being able to relate and communicate with our Hispanic students.  We have a lot of Spanish speaking students with only two  Spanish speaking teachers.  So sometimes it is hard for us to effectively communicate.  However, we know that in order for our center to be one of quality we must work on this issue.

As for as professional development, training is offered once a month through our agency.  For the teachers that have not obtain a degree, the agency will pay for their schooling.

My ultimate professional goal is to open my own learning care facility for at-risk students.  I want to be able to help my students see that they are bigger than any circumstance that they may encounter.  This is important to me, because often times at-risk students fall between the cracks and I want to ensure that all students have the same opportunity to achieve greatness.

Exploring Zero to Three

This week as I explored through the website www.zerotothree.org, I decided to click on the Parent Resource Link.  I have noticed this icon several times before, and figure this is the perfect opportunity to take a look at the resources that are made available to parents.

A lot of the articles are intended to help parents with everyday encounters such as supporting your child, aiding with literacy development, and tips for child develop assessments.  All articles are aged based from birth to 36 months.  A select few articles are targeting birth-12 months.

This would be a great resource for new parents in my opinion.  This will allow the parent to become more familiar with things their child should be able to do, and how to help their child reach these milestones.  I am a new parent, and I absolutely love reading articles on the development of my child.  I hope someone else finds this information useful!

Reference

http://www.zerotothree.org/about-us/areas-of-expertise/free-parent-brochures-and-guides/

Global Children Initiative

I chose the alternative which was reviewing the Global Children Initiative website.  I noticed that they still allowed viewing of their previous newsletters, so I decided to see what were some of the topics that were made available.

In March of this year, there was a featured newsletter on brain science and how it could be used as an outlet to poverty.  This struck my interest because the finding by Elizabeth Babcock could be used around the world.  Her main thesis is that the skill set in the brain that includes multi-tasking, self-control, and setting goals; these skills and abilities can be damaged by adverse experiences, including those associated with poverty (Babcock, 2014) .  By teaching children early how to control, and strengthen these skills as he gets older may better his chances to get out of poverty.

I also became aware that significant neglect, which is the ongoing disruption or significant absence of caregiver responsiveness, can cause more harm to a young child’s development than overt physical abuse.  This can lead to many problems for the child such as, disruption of stress responses, cognitive delays, etc.

The last thing that struck my attention was one of their key concepts, toxic stress response.  Stress at any age can be harmful to the brain and the overall body.  It is important that we ensure young children avoid as much stress as possible, but in some cases it is inevitable.  Toxic stress response can occur when a child experiences strong, frequent, and/or prolonged adversity.  It is extremely important to act quickly to try and prevent the child from having any long last effects.

This site has many other articles, videos, and newsletters that are available as well.

Here is the link to the site if anyone is interested (:
http://developingchild.harvard.edu/

Zero To Three Continued

This week as I viewed the website, I decided to focus on one topic and see what information the site had listed.  I noticed that there was a school readiness online tool available to both parents and caregivers to help aid children in their early learning.  I like this tool because it is available to the parents as well. 

This tool can be used for ages birth through 36 months.  Also, there is an opportunity for others to share their feedback on some of the items that are discussed during the online tool. This tool is funded by the MetLife Foundation, which is an a foundation that help fund and support programs.  This is a great way to see how businesses are aiding in the development of early childhood learning.