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.

My Supports
To me the word support means assisting someone who needs help in whatever way that may be.  In my daily life, my supports include my mom, children, and colleagues.  My mom and children are always available by phone anytime to talk to and get an objective opinion about something.  We share information about what is happening in our lives because we all live in different cities and don't see each other very often.  Working with my colleagues, daily interaction gives us opportunities to problem-solve together, share issues, both personal and professional, and during our weekly teacher meeting, we have a chance to get together as a group and talk about issues we have accomplished and issues we will work on as a team.  Having these supports provides a feeling of being part of a group, knowing I don't have to face problems alone and that I have others to share good news with.  (My cat doesn't seem to care!)  If I didn't have these supports, life would be very lonely.  Even though I appreciate living alone, having no one to share with would be depressing.  I believe everyone needs at least one true relationship in their lives to keep them sane.  As I've written before, I don't have a lot of friends but the ones I do have are there when I need them.

The challenge I imagine is moving into a house.  I currently live in a second floor apartment but would like to own a home sometime soon. The supports I have now that would help me in this endeavor would be my children.  I have two grown sons so they could lift furniture.  My daughter and I would be able to pack and lift the lighter things (and give directions).  She and I would take care of cleaning the apartment after everything was moved out and paint and prepare the house for moving into.  Having my children help me would save me money by not having to hire a moving company and would make the job go a lot faster.  It would definitely provide memories for future discussions!  If I didn't have grown children to help me, I would have to pack and unpack on my own, hire someone to load and unload the truck, and experience moving into a home of my own by myself.  It would definitely take some of the joy away.  It's not bad to be single, except in cases like this. 

My Connections to Play

Quotes about the importance of  play
“Play keeps us vital and alive. It gives us an enthusiasm for life that is irreplaceable. Without it, life just doesn’t taste good” Lucia Capocchione

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” George Bernard Shaw

Both quotes retrieved from http://planningwithkids.com/2009/04/14/10-quotes-on-the-importance-of-play/

Things from my childhood

My sisters and me (I'm on the right)

                         
                                       

           
My Support
I grew up on a farm so the great outdoors was my playground.  My mother and father encouraged us to find things to do and didn't allow hours of mindless TV viewing.  In the evenings, our "play" was usually working in the garden with my mom or helping dad feed animals or pick up hay.  I enjoyed our school's playground and remember spending lots of time on the teeter-totter.  I also remember doing a lot of coloring in coloring books.
Play Today
I feel that free play is seldom experienced by young children today.  Most are involved in more than one activity during after school hours and when they aren't at a practice, they are at a game.  The use of technology has overtaken any down time children have.  My generation, and generations before me, made up their games and they were usually meant to be played outside.  The safety of the world, now, is different than it used to be.  Parents have more reason to accompany their children to a park or be outside when they are playing in the yard.  It would be nice to have a place where children could be free to explore and feel safe doing so.  I am a big proponent of getting out in nature, but some families' lives are too busy for this type of experience on a regular basis. 
The Role of Play
I have been guilty of not playing enough.  As a working mother of three with a husband that traveled often for work, I let play fall off the priority list.  I did begin bicycling a few years ago, did it every day for about three years, but then I lost interest.  As the quote above by George Bernard Shaw says, we need to keep playing to stay young.  I have tried to remember this and build times for "play" into my weeks recently.  It's not the same as the play of children, but the activities I choose to do are enjoyable to me and help me relax.  I had a friend teach me how to kayak and I believe it is something I could do on a regular basis.  It combines my love of the outside and nature with the quietness of water.  I believe everyone should find something that they enjoy and make it a priority.  Whether the activity is done with someone else or alone, the time is valuable.

Relationship Reflection

The relationships I value most are those with my children.  They have grown into caring, responsible adults and our relationships have grown into mature, reciprocal friendships.  My daughter, who lives closest to me, has become a friend.  My two sons are don't call all that often, but my oldest son explained to me that guys just don't call that often.  Still, when we do talk it is genuine and enjoyable.  As their mom, I still worry about them but have taken the viewpoint that their father and I tried to set good examples for them as they were growing up and established boundaries for them and I have to trust that they are taking those lessons with them through life. 

As far as friendships, I have few.  I have had many toxic friendships in my life, where I gave more to the relationship then got  in return in the way of support, and I have found that the few I do have are all I need.  It wasn't until I was about 45 that I realized bad friendships, and an unfulfilling marriage, were having a draining effect on me and I needed to do something about it.  I cut ties with those people and have had many times when I say a prayer of thanks for the strength to do so.  The personality characteristics that make me a caring, giving educator were the same characteristics I applied to my friendships, and marriage, but at the end of the day, I felt empty.  Living alone, having my mom, children, colleagues, and cat to interact with gives me a feeling of happiness and self-reliance I didn't feel with any of my previous friendships.  For me, less is more.

My cat Marianna

My children and mom

My grand-dog Pebbles