The End of One Journey

The end of one journey brings one to the choice of a new path.  Now that we are concluding our program and moving on to our concentrations we are beginning to narrow the path that we will take.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of my classmates, and our professors, for the wonderful discussions that we have had and all of the support that you all have offered.  As I proceed towards the completion of this program I am looking forward to working with each and every classmate in the future as professional in the Early Childhood field.  As we begin our new profession we are fortunate to have made friends with one another so that we have a support system to assist us if we should need it in the future.

I wish each of you the best of luck on your journeys, and I sincerely hope that you would feel free to contact me if I can ever be assistance to you.  I know that I will definately be in contact with you all from time to time to see how you all are doing.

Thank you again.
Jennifer Jones

So Hard to Say Good Bye

It has been my experience that groups in which are high-performing and have the clearest established norms are the ones that are the hardest to leave.  When I am ambitious and passionate about a goal I am enthusiastic to reach the goal.  The desire or enthusiasm pushes me to keep going and I enjoy working with people that are as passionate as I am about a subject.  These groups offer me a purpose, a sense of belonging and the feeling that I am making a difference.  In my past experiences, groups that are disorganized and lack passion for the purpose are easy to leave because they have nothing to offer me.  I do not build relationships in these settings, therefore I can leave easily.  The bonds formed in a well focused and organized group are those that will continue.

I really had not thought of the closing of a group as adjourning or considered the rituals of departing. But I suppose that the last meeting creates a need to ensure that we have future contact with those people we created bonds with. 

I believe that working within our cohorts has allowed us to form friendships and professional relationships that will endure into the future.  I am new to this group, so there is no bond to any particular persons as I had formed with my last group. But I am sure that in time I will find people that I have similar interests and experiences with and we will continue to be friends and conversate beyond this class.  I imagine that we will feel the sense of loss, or lack of direction immediately after completing our coursework and we will probably find ourselves talking regularly.  However, as we proceed with our professional lives, we will find other groups or interest to fill the time that we once spent discussing coursework.

Adjourning is important to teamwork because once we have invested time and energy into achieving a goal, we are invested emotionally.  With any aspect of our lives that we have emotion invested in, there has to be a way to conclude that portion of our experiences so that we can proceed on our journey in life.  When one door closes, another one opens and we must continue on our own path in life.

Conflict with Co-worker

In my work we are all under a lot of pressure to maintain classroom management and to get the students to perform at grade level.  Daily we are challenged emotionally and physically to maintain our professionalism and to motivate our children, although they are not interested in participating in their own learning.  This, of course, is only a small portion of our student population. But day after day of behavior problems and administration continually added more tasks to your day can wear on your patience and increase your stress level.

There is a co-worker that is constantly offended by me, regardless if I have intended to insult her or not I am told that I am “mean” to her.  Through this week’s lesson I have learned that I need to consider the mood that she is in when we engage in conversation.  I also need to be more aware of my body and facial movements and gestures so that I do not express any gestures that may be interpreted as negative.  I think that in the future I will refrain from reacting to her when she appears frustrated.  I now see that perhaps she just needs to vent and hear her complaints out loud, then later we can discuss what she is upset about when she is less emotional. 

I want to be the peacemaker and to help others, not be the reason that others are stressed out.  I really try to do unto others, but this particular co-worker seems especially more touchy than any person I have ever encountered.  I hope that what I have learned this week will help me to resolve our conflicts before they even arise.

Who I Am as a Communicator

When I evaluated myself as a communicator it was at times difficult to decide which answer choice described me because I know what I want everyone to perceive me as, but is that who I am?   I think that for others it was difficult to know what emotions I feel as I communicate.  For example, one of the persons that completed the survey asked me afterwards how was she to know how I felt inside when I was in different situations.  I thought this was a good question, she cannot.  But at the same time they had to answer based on my body gestures and facial expressions at those moments to determine if I appeared anxious on the outside.  This feedback allowed us to see how we are perceived by our peers and friends as communicators.  I was most shocked on how high my score was for verbal aggression from my friend. I hope that I can become more aware of the tone and nature with which I respond to situations in order to be less aggressive with others.  Although my score showed that I was concerned for others and do not attack them personally, that one score was very close to the next level of aggression.

Communication between cultures

Do you find yourself communicating differently with people from different groups and cultures? If yes, in what ways do you communicate differently?

Yes, I do believe that I communicate differently with people from different groups and cultures.  From my own cultural perspective I have been raised to understand that it is acceptable to speak within our own cultural circle in a relaxed language form.  It is not necessary to be “proper” and we are not required to use the correct verbs and word forms when communicating.  However, I was also taught that when I am around the dominant culture, Caucasian population, that I must use proper language in order to gain a place amongst them.  So as I share with my children, you have to know when and how to speak so that you are not viewed as uneducated.  So when I am around members of the white population I have to switch to my proper mode, when I am around Native Americans I feel that I can communicate in my normal/home language, when I am around the Hispanic population I notice that I speak slower and perhaps use easier to understand terms, and when I am around the African American population I feel that I communicate using a mixture of my home language mixed with some proper depending on the situation in which I greet the culture.  I think another issue that determines the way in which I communicate is the environment or situation.  If I am in professional mode I usually maintain my “proper” language and persona.  This may be more or less true depending on the behavior of the audience. 

Three strategies that I could use to be a more effective communicator with other cultures or groups is to continue to seek knowledge about other cultures or groups in order to better grasps the social cues and rituals that would allow me to be better understood in our communication.  I should ask questions about things I do not understand about a culture, their rituals or expectations and listen to their answer, in order to improve communication between myself and these groups.  According to our reading, I should also be prepared to answer the questions about myself and my culture in order to show that I have a vested interest in clearing the way for better communication in the future.  Finally, when dealing with a culture that I am unsure of the expectations, language, or gestures that are acceptable I could create was in known as a “third culture” which is an environment that is created between people of different cultural backgrounds together to provide an environment with predetermined social communication rules for communication.  I feel that when we are professionals this creates a “third culture” in which all educators are free to communicate effectively within because we understand the expectations for effective communication for educators.

Beebe, S. A., Beebe, S. J., & Redmond, M. V. (2011). Interpersonal communication: Relating to others (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.   Chapter 4, "Interpersonal Communication and Diversity: Adapting to Others" (pp. 85–114)

Silent Television

“Last Man Standing”

Season 1 Episode 5 ABC

     This assignment has been one of my favorite in any class so far.  At first I dreaded the experience.  I have wanted to watch this show, however had not had an opportunity.  So thanks to this assignment I was “forced” to find a show to watch.  Also because I do not have the appropriate technology at my house to record a television program I went online to search out free t.v. episodes.  Thank you “Hulu” for supplying the world with the ability to view free television shows.   This assignment would not have been possible without you.

     It was very easy to see from the silent show that the immediate characters that I meet are a family.  The setting was in their living room and their behavior was that of a family coming together in the evening after the day’s events.  The characters were a mother, father and three daughters.  As the show progressed their behavior toward one another such as making faces, rolling eyes, and other actions demonstrated that the siblings have the usual sibling rivalry and characteristics of the older and younger children. 

     The feeling that I observed from watching the episode silently was that upon the father and youngest daughter entering the room was that there was some conflict that had occurred during or after the girl’s game.  She was dressed in a uniform and had a game bag in her hand which indicated she had just been participating in a sport game.  The father was apparently defending his position to his daughter because of the serious look on his face and his hand motions inferred this.  The daughter appeared frustrated by her facial expression and her huffing and body movements as she stormed up the stairs.  Another conflict seemed to be occurring at the table at breakfast with the middle daughter who was sitting at the table with a computer and paper spread out.  I figured she had an assignment that was due and was not focused on the assignment and her parents were fussing at her about completing it.  I gathered this from the actions and reactions that were taking place in the room and the body movements of the individuals.  At one point the parents broke out in a song, which I determined must have been to mock the child because she rolled her eyes.  The younger daughter walked into the room and made a statement and the parents stopped singing and turned their attention to the younger daughter.   At the father’s work he appeared to be making a sales pitch.  There was a table with men seated looking towards a sales board and others were standing around.  He was holding a bow and talking to the group that smiled and shook their heads as if in agreeance with the comments.  Then a man appeared from a doorway and made a comment that made everyone’s face appear more concerned.  The father walked over and to have a conversation with the man. His expressions and body movement showed that he was concerned by the man’s statement.  A younger man spoke up as if to offer another solution to the problem.  Some of the men nodded in agreement but the majority was making facial expressions that indicated displeasure with his statement.  The father of the show appeared against the younger guy and the older guy appeared to be in the middle.  The next scene showed that there was a vote taking place and all the on lookers were concerned.  The father was in a side office watching a website ad he had done as if to boost his own confidence.  He joined the others in time to learn that the other side had one.  I gathered this by the joyous expression on the young guys face and his actions versus the serious look on the father’s face.  The other men got up and left the room.   I could not determine what the vote was about from the actions. I figured it was about the sales pitch.  The father goes home and his older daughters are at the table working on the assignment. He comments and the girls give him a confused look. He continues to the living room and has a brief discussion with his wife.  He appears to be sharing his concern about what is going on in the kitchen with the girls because his wife goes and peeks at them through a doorway and makes a statement.  They then share words, and his expression and physical actions lead me to believe he is sharing what had taken place at work.  His wife makes a comment and he exits the room.  The next we see is the father relaxing on the couch watching a game and his wife enters the room and starts talking.  She seems to be trying to be supportive as her face is caring.  He sits up and starts talking and then calls for his young daughter.  He has apparently had an idea and the young daughter agrees.  The mother seems unsure as she is shaking her head and then covers her face.  The man takes the daughter to work and they are all dressed in baseball uniforms.  At this point I determine they must have been discussing allowing his daughter to play on the team.  The show ends with the father and daughter returning home with happy looks on their face and hugging between daughter and father and then father and mother.  They move to the kitchen where the middle child walks threw and makes a comment that encourages the parents to go to the computer and read it.  The mother’s face becomes overwhelmed with emotions, the father puts his arm around her and then she rubs his arm.  In the background the middle daughter is looking on as if content. I assumed the daughter had written about her parents.

     When I watched the show with the volume turned on I realized that you can gather a lot from the expressions and reactions of people you are observing because you interpret watch you observe using similar situations that you have experienced.  However, you cannot fully understand what is going on without listening to the conversations that are taking place.  I could gather from the opening scene that there was a conflict with the young daughter that had occurred at her game.  When the volume was on I found out the she was not content with the position she was playing and had failed to communicate this with her coach.  The father asked her had she spoken with him, to which she replied I crossed my arms and then demonstrated the noise she had made.  The father asked, “Was he supposed to know that meant yes?”  I thought this was appropriate for this class, because of our topic of nonverbal communication.  All of the girls in the show told their dad the coach should’ve understood that to mean she wanted to play the position; I would have interpreted to mean she was not content with the decision.  The conflict going on with the middle child was not an assignment, but she was trying to write her essay for her college applications and was finding it difficult to complete.  The older sister was trying to encourage and assist her.  The parents were singing their different college songs to encourage the middle child to choose their schools when the youngest daughter walked in and stated “remember when you told me to speak up for myself? Well I want you both to stop.”  The father was not making a sales pitch, but instead was introducing the item they were going to push for the month.  He then began talking about the baseball tournament that was coming up.  The older guy entered and shared that the ball field had made a decision to only allow co-ed teams to use the field which meant they would have to become co-ed or not play in the tournament. The young guy was excited about the co-ed team and the older guys were not.  I mis-interpreted this part because the conversation was need to know exactly what was occurring here.  In the end the father had also voted to become co-ed which is what the conversation between his wife and youngest daughter was about.  He brought his daughter to be their female player.  In the end, the middle daughter chose to write about how her older sisters courage to stay on track with her life after becoming a teenage mother was the person she looked up to.  Again, the conversation was needed to fully understand this portion of the show completely.

This lesson taught me that although we can gather a lot from watching people’s expressions and body language, it is often important to hear the conversation in order to gain a true understanding of what is occurring.  Equally, we have to be aware of our facial and body gestures when we are conversating so that our message is not misinterpreted.

Competent Communicator

A person that I think demonstrates competent communication is my sister, Victoria.  This year I have had the pleasure of watching her in the professional role.  She is so very calm and well spoken.  Her appearance is calm and reserved.  She is very polite, states her position clearly and effectively, and even in the face of adversity she has a poker face.  These are qualities of a competent communicator, communicates without becoming overly reactive or defensive. 
I hope that one day I will also be able to communicate the same way.  I have already begun to model myself after her; however I think that I need to learn to refrain from reacting or having reactions in conversations.

The International Early Childhood Community Experience

Over the last seven weeks we have had the opportunity to explore various links to early childhood websites around the world and to learn more about the concerns of different nations.  Three consequences of this experience for me are that I now understand that early childhood education has been uniformly accepted around the world as the one area that can improve the standard of living in communities.  I have also learned that there is a national organization that meets and addresses issues in the early childhood field. This organization has set goals that the world hopes to accomplish by 2013.  There was a conference in Moscow this past fall to address what needs to be done to meet all the goals set before that date.  Finally, I have learned that in the early childhood profession we have the opportunity to work with professionals in our field in other nations to help advocate for young children and their developmental needs.  We should not limit ourselves to other professionals in our community, counties, or states, but we should strive to create professional bonds around the world to ensure that we ourselves are continually striving to define and implement “high quality” early childhood programs.

     In my opinion one goal that the international community should have is to reach out to other professionals and share our concerns, accomplishments and expectations so that we continue to improve the early childhood experience for every child around the world.

High Quality Early Childhood Programs Defined Around the World

High Quality Defined Globally

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/

New insights or ideas I gained from this website are

UNESCO advocates for ECC and Education programs that attend to the health, nutrition, security, and learning which provide for children’s holistic development.  This is an ideal that I have read about on the Harlem’s Children’s Zone website.  In order to impact the community, children have to be given services that they may not have had contact with at home.  In high quality early childhood development centers here in the United States, we may not offer assistance with social service problems. 

Quality ECE for the UNESCO means that there is an emphasis on the child’s holistic development and extend beyond assisting the child’s transition to formal schooling.  High quality childcare, should promote motivation, confidence, good cognitive and linguistic development and school readiness.  Although there is no agreed upon criteria for what a quality ECCE looks like, the UNESCO believes that useful factors include pedagogy materials, personnel training, service setting, and parental education and involvement. There should be a curriculum and there should be plenty of learning material that is culturally and developmentally adequate.  The focus of the center should be child-centered.  It is also essential that workers have adequate training and work conditions are essential so they can integrate the content and practice and addresses the transition to formal school. 

Harlem’s Children Zone

     At the beginning of this class I chose to follow the website of Harlem’s Children’s Zone.  A few years back I had watched a segment on the national news about this program in Harlem that parents were literally fighting to get their children into.  During the segment parents and children were brought to tears as the school officials pulled numbers of waiting families in the school’s enrollment lottery.  I was surprised to learn that some of the children were still newborns.  The waiting list for the school is so long that parents enroll their children at birth. What a magnificent program this must be I thought.  As I scrolled through the websites for us to choose from there, to my amazement, was the name of this program.  I have followed the website throughout this course because they are making a tremendous impact on their community.

     The topic of discussion this week has been equity and excellence in early care and education.  The Harlem Children’s Zone is centered on creating equity for all children in the community by improving and assisting the family, community and the education system.  Their mission includes to the statement “it is difficult, often impossible, to raise healthy children in a disintegrated community”.  Therefore local institutions bring families and young people together around interests and activities that they have in common such as religion, social and recreational organizations, effective schools, safe and well used public spaces”.  The Harlem Children’s Center’s founders realize that with so much poverty and dysfunction within their communities and families, even a family that has the best child-rearing skills, is likely to fail.  However, they also acknowledge that when members of a community organize around a common interest, even the most devastating conditions can be reversed.  In order to reverse the conditions the founders realize there are two main initiatives that will make the largest impact.  First, children from communities facing disadvantaged situations are more likely to grow to be healthy, satisfying adults that help build a better community, if they are around adults that understand effective parenting, and are engaged in education, social and religious activities with their children.  Secondly, the earlier a child is exposed to sound health care, intellectual and social stimulation and consistent guidance from loving, attentive adults, the more likely that child will be to grow into a responsible and fulfilled member of the community.

The Harlem Children’s Zone Project has created a program, in my opinion, that is structured to fight for equity for its young children in education and society.  The program begins in with early childhood care and continues until the child’s twelfth year.  By providing the children with an appropriate developmental environment and providing the families with social and economic services, the opportunity for these children to become successful and productive members of society are greatly improving.

The Harlem Children’s Zone Project site does not offer any links that go outside of the website.  There is a wealth of information provided; however it is all directly related to the project itself.  You can find statistical information of Harlem, the business plan for the project, and article and interviews that relate to the program itself.  As I stated many times over the last few weeks, I am interested in learning about the project so the wealth of information provided is beneficial to me.  I did find it interesting that there are no links to other organizations or websites.

The Harlem Children’s Zone Project.  http://www.hcz.org/home

Global Gathering in Moscow Put Spotlight on Early Childhood Issues

On September 27-29, 2010 the first ever “World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education: Building the Wealth of Nations”, was held in Moscow.  The conference brought together neuroscientists, high level government leaders, policy makers, and professionals from other science and education fields to attempt to put early childhood education and education in the spotlight as an imperative human development policy.

In 2000, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), developed the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).  The goals that were agreed upon were; to end extreme poverty and hunger, ensure that every child worldwide completes at least a primary education, and to reduce child mortality by two-thirds.  The goals were to be reached by 2015. As the deadline is quickly approaching the government leaders acknowledge that early childhood care and education is key to meeting several of the Millennium Development Goals.

Dr. Jack Shonkoff, director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, was a keynote speaker at the conference.  Dr. Shonkoff shared with the attendees that current research on brain science human genome and behavioral and social sciences is “demonstrating how healthy development in the earliest years of life builds the foundations of successful adaptation and effective learning that lead to better outcomes in academic achievement, responsible citizenship, lifelong health, and economic and human development”.(Center, 2010)

Opportunities for nations to discuss policy and practice were also allotted at this year’s conference.  Topics of discussion were country cases, policy challenges, innovative strategies and best practices, and integration and coordination across sectors.  UNICEF reported in 2006 that 30 governments worldwide had established national early childhood development policies nationwide.  However, more than half of the world’s governments remain without “formal policy or coordination mechanisms in place related to early childhood development”(Center, 2010). 

The article closed with a statement from Dr. Mmantsetsa Marope, the director of the Division of Basic Education at UNESCO.  She stated that “Early Childhood Care and Education is an unshakable foundation for the development of the human capital required for higher value-added productivity, sustainable growth, competiveness…and ultimately more equitable and politically stable societies”(Center, 2010).  What a great statement to close an article or a conference on.  Indeed giving children the best foundation with which to develop means that they receive a high quality of care in the early years of development.  Success begins with the foundation.

Three new insights that I gained from reading the article this week are that around the world the desire to create an education system that provides children with the best opportunities for success is linked directly to the early childhood care and education.  As I read the article, I found myself wondering in third world nations where the conditions are so bad that is amazing that the government is concerned with early childhood development.  I definitely agree that in order for the circumstances to change in economically challenged areas, there has to be improvements to the education and development of the younger generation.  The second topic that interested me was the discussion by Dr. Shonkoff about the research from other fields.  This is what we learned about last week in class.  It seems that other professions are supporting the efforts of the early childhood field with valuable research on development and statistics over time.  With all the research and support that has been give to Early Childhood Education; I do not understand why we are fighting for funding.  The research shows that the hope of the world is in the early years of child development.  The third item that I wanted to share with others is that there is an organization for Early Childhood Education through the United Nations and that they have set goals in the field of early childhood care and development globally.  I had not heard of this organization, and to be honest I have not even considered that all nations are interested in early childhood education.  I guess I just assumed that with the economic troubles and wars around the world that people were not interested in education.  I enjoyed reading the goals or Millennium Development goals, and hope that everyone takes a moment to learn more about this initiative.

Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2010). Global children’s initiative. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/ 

Moscow Conference Article

http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/topics/global_child_development/moscow-conference/

Education As an Investment

This week I chose to review the website and newsletter of the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER).  There are many articles of interests to me this week as we are discussing early childhood education being referred to as an “investment opportunity”.  Some of the headlines displayed on the home page are “Head Start parents urge lawmakers to preserve funding”, “Editorial: Smarter—Boosters need plan to save preschool programs” and “Editorial: Early childhood education gets boost form business leaders”.   The overall message is clear, early education programs are in danger of more budget cuts, just as business leaders and politicians are receiving information that investing in early childhood education would show major payoffs in years to come. 

     “Head Start parents urge lawmakers to preserve funding” an editorial in the “Billings Gazette” shares with reader s the fear of budget cuts to the Head Start program nationwide.  According to the article the 2011 Appropriations Bill that has passed the House and is awaiting approval from the Senate recommends cuts to the program that would close 16,000 Head Start classrooms, and would affect 218,000 low-income children. (Kemmick, 2011)  Ron Haskins, co-director of the Center on Children and Families at the Brookings Institution stated that the Department of Health and Human Services completed a study last year of the Head Start program and concluded that a large number of the programs were so ineffective that “they do little or nothing to boost child development and learning”.(Kemmick, 2011)  According to Haskins, President Obama has ordered a review of all Head Start programs over the next three years, those under performing programs would have to compete for funding with other early childhood programs.

     This article is in direct conflict with what we have been reviewing in class this week.  Research shows that quality early childhood programs are improving the success rates of children in school.  Although there are budget cuts to programs instead of the funding being invested into the early childhood programs, I can appreciate that the government is researching which programs are effective prior to enforcing the budget cuts.  I believe that programs that are not being providing children with quality programs to benefit their development should have their funding cut, or have to compete for the funding.  Of course, I would be interested in how the researchers are determining the “success” of the programs. 

In the article “Early childhood education gets boost from the business leaders”, business leaders in Oklahoma have created a coalition to promote initiatives in early childhood programs.  Blake Wade, the president of the coalition Oklahoma Business Roundtable, stated that “by focusing more dollars in the early years, we stand to save millions in future tax dollars”. (World’s Editorial Writers, 2011)  The business leaders agree that from an economic standpoint, early childhood education is not an instant payback.  Wade states however that, “there is a huge undeniable reward; Oklahoma needs a highly skilled workforce, and that will only happen if children are prepared to learn.”

     This article supports our lesson this week.  Business leaders are becoming active in the education system because they are aware that the workforce has become less adequate over the years.  It is in their best interest to become active in education to help educators reform the system.  This discussion has led me to believe that the “all children need to feel successful” attitude that educators are forced to cater to the children today, is only hurting the students when they arrive in the workforce.  This is going to be an interesting issue to see resolved.  I feel “old school” education will be revived to undo the damage that “learning has to be fun” teaching we are seeing today.

The National  Institute For Early Education Research. 

http://nieer.org/

Kemmick, Ed.  Head Start Parents Urge Lawmakers to Preserve Funding. The Billings Gazette| March 25, 2011. Retrieved March 26, 2011.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/article_39630055-2795-508c-a25f-3ffd4f9974f8.html

World’s Editorial Writers. Early childhood education gets boost from business leaders. http://www.tulsaworld.com/opinion/article.aspx?subjectid=61&articleid=20110323_61_A14_Onethi547468

Chilhood Poverty Research

The World Bank: Poverty in Latin America & the Carribbean:  Opportunities for the Children of Colombia

     I visited the website of the Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre’s page and learned about the opportunities for the children in impoverished areas of Colombia.  The three areas of the article that most interested me were; which circumstances allowed the children to access opportunities, access to goods and services for children, and the Urban-Rural Gap.

     In the article, “Measuring Inequality in Opportunity in Latin America and the Caribbean”, Barros shares that there are five opportunities for children to access key services and goods between 1997 and 2003.  Two of the services were directly related to education, while the other 3 were connected to housing.   The Colombian Human Opportunity Index measures the availability of services that are necessary for children to progress in life, such as having running water.  The Index takes into consideration both the unfair distribution of services and the fact that in the last two decades income inequality has remained the same.

Access to Opportunities

     There were several factors that demonstrated that some growth had been made during the years 1997-2003 toward the access of opportunities that children in Colombia have experienced.  Colombia experienced an increased regional access of opportunities by approximately 9%.  This was attributed to the conclusion of 5^th grade on time, primary education, and school attendance for 9-15 year olds, access to clean water, sanitation and electricity between the ages of 0-17.  The HOI assessed that there had been a 17% increase based on the conclusion of 9^th and 11^th grade on time, school attendance to preschool, children 0-5 in un-crowded dwellings, children 0-5 with health insurance, safe environments 0-17 and access to telephones for ages 0-17.  The HOI concluded that there was more growth in the access to opportunities for children in the first three stages of life which could be attributed to the vulnerability of children during infancy.  The growth demonstrated translates from a 26 to a 56 percentage point.  Therefore the adverse circumstances that children face have been decreased by opening the doors of opportunity just slightly. 

     Despite HOI’s advances, the 2008 opportunity gaps between those children in favorable and unfavorable circumstances remain large.  The largest gaps remain in the areas of education, food security, access to water, sewerage, and the internet.

Access to Services and Goods

     In the last decade the largest gains have been made towards providing access to services and goods to the children of Colombia.  Health insurance, preschool attendance, completion of middle and high school on time, sewer, electrical and telephones has been the contributing factors that have slightly improved the conditions for children.  Access to water remained nearly the same over the last decade and the index showed that “security-perception plus victimization” also remained the same.

Rural vs. Urban

     Children in urban areas continued to have better access to opportunities and access to goods and services that are important to success in life, than those in rural areas.  Over the last decade, the gap did shrink by 9 percentage points; however the main disadvantages for rural children continued to be education and Housing.  Education improved in the younger grades; however completion of 9^th grade on time and completion of secondary education continue to fall behind.  In Housing, access to water and sanitation remained low.  Despite the lag in rural areas, they did improve in their completion of primary -8^th grade on time, and there were improvements in access to telephone service, electricity and some sanitation.

     Reviewing this research on poverty in another country allowed me to see that here in the United States the majority of our population has access to all of the goods and services that they mentioned. I feel that reviewing this allowed me to see that although we have put a lot of resources in the reach of our population, many people continue to struggle to maintain the basic needs.  Because resources are available to people, does not mean that they can afford to have them.  Personally speaking, I am one of those middle class families that Dr. Cathy Grace discussed in our media resource this week.  I live in a nice home in a comfortable neighborhood drive a new car, but have to be concerned about if we can afford groceries every month.  There have been times when I have to play what I call the “bill lottery”, to determine what I will pay this month and let go for the next money that comes into the house.  Telephones are not a necessity when money is tight.  One little occurrence, such as a car needing repair or a bill going up, can cause our whole budget to go out of sync.  What I realize is although we are more fortunate than people in other countries. We are only one or two extra bills away from living in poverty ourselves. 

     Professionally, this has given me the opportunity to reflect on how I approach my students.  I feel that I understand the circumstances that they are coming from; however I know that sometimes I do not truly consider how hard their families may be having it right now.  Especially when it comes to purchasing materials for class assignments and projects, we are lucky to have paper and pencil for all students daily.

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTLACREGTOPPOVANA/Resources/840442-1291127079993/IOH_Colombia_2010.pdf

“The Effects of Poverty on the Early Childhood Community” (approximate length: 13 minutes). Conversation with Dr. Cathy Grace (Director of Early Childhood Development, Children’s Defense Fund). Retrieved from Walden University Course Page.

Harlem's Children Zone

Harlem’s Children Zone

http://www.hcz.org/home

The beginning of the Children's Zone^®

In the early 1990s, HCZ ran a pilot project that brought a range of support services to a single block. The idea was to address all the problems that poor families were facing: from crumbling apartments to failing schools, from violent crime to chronic health problems.
HCZ created a 10-year business plan, then to ensure its best-practice programs were operating as planned, HCZ was in the vanguard of nonprofits that began carefully evaluating and tracking the results of their work. Those evaluation results enabled staff to see if programs were achieving their objectives and to take corrective actions if they were not.
In 1997, the agency began a network of programs for a 24-block area: the Harlem Children's Zone Project. In 2007, the Zone Project grew to almost 100 blocks. Today the Children's Zone^® serves more than 8,000 children and 6,000 adults. Overall, the organization serves more than 10,000 children and more than 7,400 adults.  The FY 2010 budget for the agency overall is over $75 million.

A history of innovation
Over the years, the agency introduced several ground-breaking efforts: in 2000, The Baby College^® parenting workshops; in 2001, the Harlem Gems^® pre-school program; also in 2001, the HCZ Asthma Initiative, which teaches families to better manage the disease; in 2004, the Promise Academy, a high-quality public charter school; and in 2006, an obesity program to help children stay healthy.
Under the visionary leadership of its President and CEO, Geoffrey Canada, HCZ continues to offer innovative, efficiently run programs that are aimed at doing nothing less than breaking the cycle of generational poverty for the thousands of children and families it serves.

My perception…..

In many communities today we are witnessing a decline in the support children have for their educational and developmental journeys.  Over my adult life I have discovered that the ultimate solution to our current educational state is to provide children with the best foundation they can receive from birth to age 5.  The Harlem Children’s Zone is the perfect example of how one organization can start out on a small level and over the years impact the whole community.  I am interested in this program because I see how it has made a difference in a community that society had given up on.  Today, parents are battling to get their children into this program from the moment they are born.  This is a huge compliment to the program.  What would the world be like if all parents were doing all they could to get their children the best education possible?  Parents are dedicated to the success of their children and abide by the guidelines to insure that their students are excelling.  I am excited by this ideal and hope to learn how I can create such an opportunity within my own community.

Issues and Trends: Establishing Professional Contacts

Establishing Professional Contacts and Resources in the Early Childhood Field

This week our assignment was to make contact with two people in other countries that work or are interested in early childhood education.  Over the course of our class we are to discuss trends and issues that are affecting early childhood education with our two new contacts in order to gain a new perspective of issues as they relate to people around the world.  I am excited to establish my contacts.

To begin making contact with persons from around the world I went to the Global Alliance of NAEYC website provided in our weekly resources list.  I actually chose five email addresses and sent out a brief message explaining our assignment and my desire to establish contact with professionals in other parts of the world.  I have not received a message back from anyone yet, but I am hopeful that I will receive a response soon.

The website that I have chosen to follow for this course is the Harlem Children's Zone.  When I saw this listed as one of the choices I was curious to follow the link.  Last year I saw a documentary on 60 minutes about a school that was started in Harlem where students were accepted through a lottery because so many people wanted their children to enroll in the school.  Parents of newborn were already registering their babies.  This is the type of program that I am interested in starting. I want to develop a high quality program that will make a huge positive impact in our community that everyone will want our children to be accepted.  I am excited to be able to learn more about the Harlem Children's Zone and to share it with my classmates as we proceed through the next 8 weeks.

Harlem Children’s Zonehttp://www.hcz.org/ 


The Global Alliance of NAEYC has e-mail addresses for early childhood professionals worldwide:http://www.naeyc.org/resources/partnership/globalalliance