Sharing Web Resources

I have chosen to look into the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators (NAECTE).  In their Winter 2013 newsletter, much of the discussion was about gathering proposals for the spring conference in San Francisco in June.  The theme of the conference is "Fostering Resiliency, Agency, and Advocacy in Early Childhood Teacher Candidates".  As a hopeful future teacher educator, this theme excites me. I have spent some time imagining what role I am going to play in the education of teacher prospects and how I can do my best to foster important skills and attributes in my students.  Advocacy is one area I don't remember being a part of my undergraduate studies so I am definitely interested in ways to build this into other areas teacher candidates needs to know.  NAECTE has an advocacy committee and has recently developed an advocacy award.  As I finish my studies at Walden, I will join NAECTE and learn more about what they do to enhance advocacy.

I didn't see anything on the website or in the newsletter that made me consider another viewpoint.  The site is more informational as is the newsletter.

I could find no information on the website or in the latest newsletter concerning economists', neuroscientists', or politicians' support of the early childhood field.

 I copied the following from the Winter 2013 newsletter.  It states the focus of the organization in the coming months.

"In our meeting in November in Atlanta, NAECTE members interested in participating in ad-

vocacy activities identified four areas for our work:

Revision and distribution of the Position Statement on Early Childhood Certification

for Teachers of Children 8 Years Old and Younger in Public School Settings

This emerged as our highest priority. Updating the message, identifying target audi-

ences and exploring the most effective ways to disseminate the revised statement

were among the tasks we identified for this working group.

Conduct and/or support others in research on the impact of teachers with specialized

training and licensure in ECE on children and families

This initiative focuses on the need for high quality research to support our claims that

every young child deserves a teacher with specialized training and licensure in ECE.

Proposed tasks for this working group included seeking research funding and es-

tablishing research teams.

Establish NAECTE as source of expert knowledge on Early Childhood Teacher Education

Building on members’ connections with the National Governor’s Association and the

National Association of State Representatives, proposed tasks for this working

group included initial tasks included individual meetings with members of these

organizations, presenting sessions and/or distributing materials at their meetings

and/or producing co-authored for publication in their journals. Linking with pro-

fessional organizations for educational leaders such as those served by CAYL Insti-

tute is also being considered.

Highlighting Highly Effective Early Childhood Teacher Preparation Programs

Discussion of this initiative focused on how NAECTE might call attention exemplary ECE

teacher education programs .One possible direction considered was developing

descriptions high quality early childhood teacher education practices to accompa-

ny NAEYC Standards for Early Childhood Professional Preparation. An annual

award for an exemplary EC teacher preparation program was also considered."(NAECTE, 2013). 

International Contacts

For the alternative assignment, I listened to the World Forum Foundation Radio podcast. It featured Susan Lyons who founded the Innovative Teacher Project.  Teachers get together and present the approach their school is using to work with children.   After each teacher has presented, they have a round table to discuss ideas, comment on what was shared, and learn from each other. 

The Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre's website was very informative.  I looked at the findings of poverty in India.  The researchers attribute the poverty in this country to drought and a deteriorating environment.  Over 80% of households in India are in debt as a result.  Programs are not able to meet these families' needs because of low funding, low accountability to supervisors, and variable quality of programs (2013). 

Through this week's research, I have been made aware of the magnitude of poverty in the world.  Many organizations are working to alleviate this issue but are facing reduced funding.  I believe a severe re-organization of how money is spent in this country could help.  Policy makers need to visit areas where poverty is evident, talk to the families, and then make decisions.  It frustrates me to know that even though I make very little as an early childhood educator, I still have more than many people in this world.  There is no equality in this country.  Few people who have wealth care to spend it on those who don't. 

Sharing Web Resources

Sharing Web Resources

The organization I am learning more about is National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators.  Their web address is http://www.naecte.org.  "The goals of the NAECTE Foundation are:

• Advocacy of NAECTE goals;
• Promotion and support of research projects related to Early Childhood Teacher Education; and
• Provision of scholarships for early childhood teacher education students"  (NAECTE, 2013).

I found a book published by a member of the organization on the website.   
Adams, L., & Kirova, A. (Eds.). (2007). Global migration and education: Schools, children and families. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

"This book addresses the issues faced by immigrant children and other newly arrived children, their parents, and educators through chapters for 14 countries.  The common challenges and successes are identified in school settings that cope with these issues.  Intended for researchers, students, school professionals, and educational policy makers in the fields of multicultural education, child psychology, international education, educational foundations and policy, and cross-cultural studies, this book is highly relevant as a text for courses in these areas"  (NAECTE, 2013).

I also found an article on the site's journal tab entitled "Early Childhood Teacher Preparation:  Essential Aspects for the Achievement of Social Justice" written by Linda R. Kroll.   I think this might be a good resource for situations similar to our week's resource, "Beyond the Illusion of Diversity:   How Early Childhood Teachers Can Promote Social Justice" (Boutte, 2008)

Establishing Professional Contacts
To locate professionals outside of the United States to correspond with, I visited The Global Alliance of NAEYC website.  I chose five different countries that I have an interest in, and sent an introductory email to those educators to introduce myself, explain the nature of why I was contacting them, and ask if they would be interested in sharing information with me for the next eight weeks.  To date, I have received returned emails for 2 of the people I contacted stating the message was undeliverable and I haven't received any word from the other 3.  I will wait another 3-4 days, which will complete a week from when I sent the original emails, and if I don't hear from any of the remaining 3 professionals, I will choose option 2. 

For the second part of the blog assignment of this week, I have decided to investigate the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators.  They provide a newsletter that I am hoping will give me useful information during this class as well as after when I begin my next career as a teacher of adults.  I chose this website because I am not familiar with it and am curious what their support and information is to those who train future educators.

I don't have any useful tips to share about my process but am wondering if anyone else was successful in getting a response from professionals outside of the U.S.