Final Blog Assignment

It has been a very interesting 8 weeks.  I have grown in my knowledge about the field of Early Childhood and have a handle on some major issues in this field.  I have learned from my classmates and their blogs and discussions and have received different perspectives on subject matter.  I would like to thank everyone in the class.

The three consequences of learning about the international early childhood field professional and personal development has been a new enlightenment regarding subject matters that directly affect me and those that don’t affect me.  I have gained a perspective that early childhood education is not just in my classroom.  There are issues that other countries are dealing with that requires a solution and I might be the person to resolve that issue.  I think gaining international contacts helps each person grow in the field as well as personally.  I did not receive a response from my international contacts, but participating in the podcasts and exploring international websites has helped be become sensitive to some of the issues being felt around the world, such as gender gaps, poverty, and illiteracy.  I have also gained a clearer vision in terms of advocacy.  I set a goal when I began my course work to involve myself in advocacy.  I saw the benefits of it professionally and personally.  I now know what area I would like to advocate.  I would like to advocate regarding the war on poverty.  I did not know how devastating the statistics were regarding children of poverty.  I would like to begin my work once I have completed my Master’s coursework.

One goal for the field related to international awareness of issues would be to continue to read and research international sites.  In order to stay abreast of pressing issues and or solutions that other countries are developing.  Many other countries are dealing with some of the same problems we are here in the United States and it is very interesting to find out how they are dealing with the same problems. 

Alternative

I explored the UNESCO’s Early Childhood Care and Education webpage.  I read several articles, one article that I read was entitled Two out of three children in Africa are left out of secondary school.  This article speaks about the government struggle to meet the rising demand for secondary education, especially in sub-Saharan Africa where there is just enough schools for just 36% of children of age to enroll.  Girls face the greatest barriers as the gender gap widens across the region.  Girls’ exclusion from secondary education in many countries has enormous implications for the achievement of all the internationally agreed development goals.  Girls attendance in school is 39% compared to 48% for boys.  Girls are the first to suffer from the inequality of attendance of secondary school.  Girls are also less likely than boys to complete this level of schooling in a large majority of countries in the region reporting data.    Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region in which the gender disparities against girls are getting worse at the upper secondary level with 8 million boys enrolled compared to only 6 million girls.  According to the Digest about one-third of the world’s children live in countries where lower secondary education is mandatory, but the laws are not respected. 

The second news release I read was UNESCO and Procter & Gamble launch partnership to promote education for young girls and young women.  Overcoming the gender gap is one of UNESCO’s major priorities.  There are still 793 million illiterate adults, with women accounting for two third of those who cannot read and write.  Girls account for 53% of the 67 million primary-age school children around the world who are not receiving the education they have a right to.  The project launched in Senegal in 2006.  Educational kits and digital resources were made available to train more than 1,200 teachers who will devote 600 hours teaching girls in Senegal.

The third news release I read Every child has the right to education!  This article focuses on the 20^th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.  The convention on the rights of the child is a good example of the largest number of ratifications of any convention.  What is needed now is a sharper focus on the universal and effective application of the right to education particularly in respect to articles 28, 29 and 30 of the convention.  There exists a gap between ratification and implementation that is being seen in the lives of 69 million children, mostly girls who are still deprived of their right to basic education.  There are children who do have access to school but suffer from poor quality education and who leave school.  On its 20^th anniversary of the Convention the biggest challenge is to eliminate disparities in education and to ensure that the obligations of states regarding the right to education remain in the forefront.

References:

Desrus, B. (2011)  Two out of three children in Africa are left out of secondary school

UNESCOPRESS (2011) UNESCo and Proctor & Gamble launch partnership to promote education for young girls and young women

Mustafa, R. (n.d.)  Every child has the right to education

Sharing Resources

I read a paper called Focusing on results in Promise Neighborhoods, which is a recommendation for federal initiative.  This paper outlines Harlem Children’s zones initiative to help selected local communities to dramatically improve outcomes and opportunities for children and their families.  The initiative will be diverse in its approach, reflecting local needs and context.  Promise neighborhoods strives to achieve

·         Children are healthy and prepared for school entry

·         Children and youth are healthy and succeed in school

·         Youth graduate from high school and college, and

·         Families and neighborhoods support the healthy development,  academic success and well-being of their children

To enable communities to gauge their progress two types of indicators should be present.  The first would be an indicator that allows communities to track progress year to year.  Clear federal guidance and expectations about which indicators could be measured and viewed as signs of progress.  The second type would be and indicator of capacity to achieve the results.  An example of such and indicator would assess quality of teaching, which is a critical indicator of improving students’ academic success.

Attention to closing gaps will ensure that Promise Neighborhoods expand opportunities for the children and families who otherwise face the greatest barriers to success.  Promise Neighborhoods will evaluate their neighborhood data as well as for a larger jurisdictions and regions and set targets as it relates to closing gaps in health, academic success and college entry/graduation between children and families served within Promise Neighborhoods and children and families in the city, the school district or the region.  The effort concentrates on closing gaps that exist in terms of racial, ethnic or language acquisition disparities for children and families in the Promise Neighborhoods, so that all children in the neighborhood area are provided the opportunities and support needed to succeed.

This initiative addresses inequity for all children.  It will address some of the barriers immigrant families and ELL children face regarding early education.

Reference:

Casey, A. (2010)  Focusing on Results in Promise Neighborhoods Retrieved at  www.hcz.com

Alternative

The podcast that I listened to was about TJ Skalski is Principal of The Mother Earth’s Children’s Charter School, the first Indigenous charter school in Canada. There are only 13 charter schools in Alberta .  Originally from the Blood Reserve and raised in southern Alberta, she eventually left to complete her education, including a Masters of Education degree.

Surrounded by Mother Nature, recently moved from Wabamun into the former Saint John’s School of Alberta located 35 minutes southwest of Stony Plain, AB on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River near Genessee. 

TJ Skalski talks of her life and describes the differences between her and the children she services.  She says the reason she is not like to families she services is because of a strong work ethic of her mother and her strong grandparents.  The children she services are damaged, scared, wounded, hungry, depressed and not feeling of any worth.   Through the vision and mission of the school, which is to re-invest in children and creating a community where culture and language is a priority and is revitalized.  Culture and language is absolutely essential to the survival and progress of the people.   TJ Skalski believes in building dreams and hope in the children.  She believes in inspiring children to want to do something with their life.  She shows the children there is more beyond the walls of what they see.  The work she is doing is very similar to our Head Start program here in the United States.  Her program takes into account the whole child, inclusive of a child’s culture and language and provides service to the family.  In addition this school is addressing inequities of culture and poverty for these children and families.

Reference:

World Forum Foundation Radio. Includes links to podcasts of conversations with early childhood professionals. http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/wf/radio.php

As part of its Global Children’s Initiative, Harvard University Center is launching its first major programmatic effort outside the United States.  The center is going to use the science of child health and development to guide stronger policies and larger investments to benefit young children and their families in Brazil.

The Center working with the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University, Fundação Maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal, the Faculty of Medicine at the University of São Paulo, and Insper. This collaboration represents an opportunity for the Center to work with Brazilian scholars, policymakers, and civil society leaders to adapt the Center’s programmatic model for the local context in order to bring about more effective policies and programs that will, ultimately, foster a more prosperous, sustainable, and equitable society.

Together, these organizations will engage in the following activities:

•Building a scientific agenda and community of scholars around early childhood development;

•Fusing and translating scientific knowledge for application to social policy.

•Strengthening leadership around early childhood development through an executive leadership course for policymakers;

•Adapting the Center’s existing print and multimedia resources for a Brazilian audience.

 This collaboration is a great effort toward equity and excellence for the Brazilian people. 

Reference:

Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” website (http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/

Sharing Web Resources

I read a paper by Geoffrey Canada, President and CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone, Inc. about Poverty and how it relates to education in America.  He states that there are 13 million children living in poverty in the United States.  He feels that the educational system as it is today is failing and has failed particularly in regard to poor students of color.  He states that education is the way to fight poverty and states five ways to make a difference in the years to come.

1)       Reform the Bureaucracy - Good teachers and other school staff should be able to move from a successful school to failing school.  Principals and lousy teachers are not replaced in a timely manner.

2)      End the public school monopoly – In poor communities parents don’t have choices as to where their children will attend school.  Children can’t opt out of a failing school and attend a successful school.

3)      Attract and retain Good Teachers – He states that the median starting salary for a teacher in the U.S. is $29,564, while a recent MBA can start his or her career with a salary of $75,000 or more.

4)      Making teaching and learning full-time jobs.  Mr. Canada proposes that school hours be extended over the summer months because schools are failing.

5)      Create incentives for excellent teachers – He proposes that our educational system needs to structure a reward system for great teachers and train other teachers to improve their classroom skills.

He states “We can spend escalating amounts of money on jails, drug treatment and welfare or we can pay a fraction of that money up front and do the job of educating low-income Americans right the first time” (G. Canada, n.d.). 

I found this short paper inspiring because as an early head start teacher I would like to advocate for families living in poverty.  I believe like Geoffrey Canada that education is the way to fight poverty for the next generation.  His ideas make sense. 

I also watched a video of Barack Obama speaking about the Harlem Children’s zone and the fight on poverty.  He is a strong supporter of this program and stated that when he became president he combat urban poverty by replicating HCZ in 20 states in the United States.

I think this topic lines up with the Economists, neuroscientists and politicians support of early childhood field.  HCZ on a small scale has launched it attack on poverty in a small community.  They are providing services in the area of medical services, crime prevention technology training, early childhood education, after school programs, job counseling, charter schools, which is directly benefiting the families and children of poverty.  HCZ reasons may be different from the economists, neuroscientist and politicians, but they are preparing children to be a benefit to society not a liability.

The insight I gained is that the Early Childhood Education is a major issue in Washington and it sounds as though Washington is going to make a major investment in Early Childhood Education.

Reference:

G. Canada (n.d.)  Winning the War on Poverty Through Education retrieved from http://www.hcz.org/images/stories/pdfs/legaccy_op-ed.pdf

Getting to Know your International Contacts

I listened to Podcast radio with Irma Allen – Chairperson of the Swaziland Environment Authority (the equivalent to the EPA in the United States) and a member of World Forum Nature Action Collaborative for Children.  The podcast describes her work in African where she lives with her husband.  She has been challenged to teach community people to teach early childhood education.  Much of their work is done in the environment opposed to classrooms which they do not have.  The environment or nature is very strong part of the experience since they are teaching a respect for nature and Environment.  Ms. Allen describes a story of a young man who was an orphan that was one of the first participants of the early childhood experiences and how he stated that he remembers a woman smiling at him with open arms.  He states that learned to appreciate his country, home and environment, which gave him strength and encouragement.  He stated as he moved through life and experienced struggles and failures he would always draw on his early childhood experiences for encouragement.  Listening to this podcast reminded me of a school here in Decatur, Georgia called the Waldrof school.  Their curriculum is founded in nature and spend a great deal of time exploring the environment and nature.

I visited the site (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/), Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre’s page and read about poverty in India.  India has 260.2 million people living in poverty as of 1999-2000.  Through systematic efforts to alleviate poverty they have increased economic growth, including liberalization of the economy, targeted programs, land and tenancy reforms and participatory empowerment based approaches and the provision of basic services.  I learned that governmental policy and programs are helping alleviate poverty in India.  Due to these approaches the poverty line declined from 54.9 percent to an estimated 26 percent.    In India there is a high rate of communicable diseases, malnutrition and maternal and perinatal illness.  So poverty has a negative effect on the health of people living in poverty.  India has a high percentage of working children.  There are inequalities in child wellbeing based on gender.  Girls life chances are less than boys, this is due to the fact of poverty as well as the Indian’s views that boys are permanent members of a family while girls are only temporary members.

Harlem Children’s Zone at http://www.hcz.org/

This organization began in 1970 as a truancy-prevention program.  Through the 1980’s and 1990’s the crack epidemic was a problem in Harlem HCZ’s staff developed new approaches to help these families.  In 1991 HCZ turned a public school into a community center offering a range of services and activities on nights, weekends and summers.   In the early 1990’s HCZ ran a pilot project that brought a range of support services to a single block.  They addressed all the problems that poor families were facing:  from crumbling apartments to failing schools, from violent crime to chronic health problems.    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 .  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 and 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.   HCZ aims at doing nothing less than breaking the cycle of generational poverty for the thousands of children and families it serves.

I listened to an interview CNN had with the CEO, Geoffrey Canada of Harlem Children’s Zone entitled Education and the American Dream.  One of the things he said in this interview is that children today are not getting the education that their parents received.  He feels that education is failing today due to lack of innovation.  What he is saying is that the education experience to day is the same as it was years ago, nothing has changed.  He feels that what is required of this generation is much more than previous generations and change is necessary for Education to work.  I think that with the changing demographics this is also an issue.  Education needs to go through some change because the clientele is different now than in years ago and we as Educators need to address the new issues in educating our children.

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

I emailed a couple of professionals using the email addresses that were provided on the NAEYC website, but my emails were returned to me.  So I tried locating email address that looked familiar like yahoo accounts.  I emailed Blesilda Rios in the Phillippines and Mrs. Bimbo Are in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.  I explained that I was an Early Childhood Education major and was looking to correspond with them regarding issues and trends in the field.  I have not received an email back, but I am hopful.  If I don't receive a response by Tuesday I will have to proceed with the alternate.

The second part of our assignment expanding resources I chose the Harlem Children's Zone website.  I chose this site because I am from New York and am interested in the fight to end poverty for minorities and all people.  I realize that poverty has a negative affect on children.   When I clicked on the website the first thing you see is statistics on how there early childhood programs are impacting the lives of the people in Harlem.  I will enjoy following this website.

Sharing Web Resources

I read a paper by Geoffrey Canada, President and CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone, Inc. about Poverty and how it relates to education in America.  He states that there are 13 million children living in poverty in the United States.  He feels that the educational system as it is today is failing and has failed particularly in regard to poor students of color.  He states that education is the way to fight poverty and states five ways to make a difference in the years to come.

1)       Reform the Bureaucracy - Good teachers and other school staff should be able to move from a successful school to failing school.  Principals and lousy teachers are not replaced in a timely manner.

2)      End the public school monopoly – In poor communities parents don’t have choices as to where their children will attend school.  Children can’t opt out of a failing school and attend a successful school.

3)      Attract and retain Good Teachers – He states that the median starting salary for a teacher in the U.S. is $29,564, while a recent MBA can start his or her career with a salary of $75,000 or more.

4)      Making teaching and learning full-time jobs.  Mr. Canada proposes that school hours be extended over the summer months because schools are failing.

5)      Create incentives for excellent teachers – He proposes that our educational system needs to structure a reward system for great teachers and train other teachers to improve their classroom skills.

He states “We can spend escalating amounts of money on jails, drug treatment and welfare or we can pay a fraction of that money up front and do the job of educating low-income Americans right the first time” (G. Canada, n.d.). 

I found this short paper inspiring because as an early head start teacher I would like to advocate for families living in poverty.  I believe like Geoffrey Canada that education is the way to fight poverty for the next generation.  His ideas make sense. 

I also watched a video of Barack Obama speaking about the Harlem Children’s zone and the fight on poverty.  He is a strong supporter of this program and stated that when he became president he combat urban poverty by replicating HCZ in 20 states in the United States.

I think this topic lines up with the Economists, neuroscientists and politicians support of early childhood field.  HCZ on a small scale has launched it attack on poverty in a small community.  They are providing services in the area of medical services, crime prevention technology training, early childhood education, after school programs, job counseling, charter schools, which is directly benefiting the families and children of poverty.  HCZ reasons may be different from the economists, neuroscientist and politicians, but they are preparing children to be a benefit to society not a liability.

The insight I gained is that the Early Childhood Education is a major issue in Washington and it sounds as though Washington is going to make a major investment in Early Childhood Education.

Reference:

G. Canada (n.d.)  Winning the War on Poverty Through Education retrieved from http://www.hcz.org/images/stories/pdfs/legaccy_op-ed.pdf

Getting to Know your International Contacts

I listened to Podcast radio with Irma Allen – Chairperson of the Swaziland Environment Authority (the equivalent to the EPA in the United States) and a member of World Forum Nature Action Collaborative for Children.  The podcast describes her work in African where she lives with her husband.  She has been challenged to teach community people to teach early childhood education.  Much of their work is done in the environment opposed to classrooms which they do not have.  The environment or nature is very strong part of the experience since they are teaching a respect for nature and Environment.  Ms. Allen describes a story of a young man who was an orphan that was one of the first participants of the early childhood experiences and how he stated that he remembers a woman smiling at him with open arms.  He states that learned to appreciate his country, home and environment, which gave him strength and encouragement.  He stated as he moved through life and experienced struggles and failures he would always draw on his early childhood experiences for encouragement.  Listening to this podcast reminded me of a school here in Decatur, Georgia called the Waldrof school.  Their curriculum is founded in nature and spend a great deal of time exploring the environment and nature.

I visited the site (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/), Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre’s page and read about poverty in India.  India has 260.2 million people living in poverty as of 1999-2000.  Through systematic efforts to alleviate poverty they have increased economic growth, including liberalization of the economy, targeted programs, land and tenancy reforms and participatory empowerment based approaches and the provision of basic services.  I learned that governmental policy and programs are helping alleviate poverty in India.  Due to these approaches the poverty line declined from 54.9 percent to an estimated 26 percent.    In India there is a high rate of communicable diseases, malnutrition and maternal and perinatal illness.  So poverty has a negative effect on the health of people living in poverty.  India has a high percentage of working children.  Due to poverty large numbers  There  is inequalities in child wellbeing based on gender.  Girls life chances are less than boys, this is due to the fact of poverty as well as the Indian’s views that boys are permanent members of a family while girls are only temporary members.

Harlem Children's Zone

Harlem Children’s Zone at http://www.hcz.org/

This organization began in 1970 as a truancy-prevention program.  Through the 1980’s and 1990’s the crack epidemic was a problem in Harlem HCZ’s staff developed new approaches to help these families.  In 1991 HCZ turned a public school into a community center offering a range of services and activities on nights, weekends and summers.   In the early 1990’s HCZ ran a pilot project that brought a range of support services to a single block.  They addressed all the problems that poor families were facing:  from crumbling apartments to failing schools, from violent crime to chronic health problems.    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 .  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 and 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.   HCZ aims at doing nothing less than breaking the cycle of generational poverty for the thousands of children and families it serves.

I listened to an interview CNN had with the CEO, Geoffrey Canada of Harlem Children’s Zone entitled Education and the American Dream.  One of the things he said in this interview is that children today are not getting the education that their parents received.  He feels that education is failing today due to lack of innovation.  What he is saying is that the education experience to day is the same as it was years ago, nothing has changed.  He feels that what is required of this generation is much more than previous generations and change is necessary for Education to work.  I think that with the changing demographics this is also an issue.  Education needs to go through some change because the clientele is different  now than in years ago and we as Educators need to address the new issues in educating our children.

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

I emailed a couple of professionals using the email addresses that were provided on the NAEYC website, but my emails were returned to me.  So I tried locating email address that looked familiar like yahoo accounts.  I emailed Blesilda Rios in the Phillippines and Mrs. Bimbo Are in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.  I have not received an email back, but I am hopful.  If I don't receive a response by Tuesday I will have to proceed with the alternate.

The second part of our assignment expanding resources I chose the Harlem Children's Zone website.  I chose this site because I am from New York and am interested in the fight to end poverty for minorities.  When I clicked on the website the first thing you see is statistics on how there early childhood programs are impacting the lives of the people in Harlem.  I will enjoy following this website.

When I Think of Research

What insights have you gained about research from taking this course?

I have learned that there is a lot of details that need to be addressed when undertaking any research project.  I understand that there are ethical issues that need to be addressed when soliciting participants.  Obtaining the necessary permissions and assents from parents and children is key.  Also understanding the risk factors of a research project is important to be able to receive the necessary approval to proceed with a project.

In what way have your ideas about the nature of doing research changed?

Prior to taking this course I had assignments that involved my reading research papers and I was challenged with understanding the material presented, particularly the results section of a research paper.  I now understand how to read and interpret a research paper, because of the material covered in this course.  I think one of the key components to research is conducting a valid research project and I now understand that triangulation is an important factor in producing a valid research project.

What lessons about planning, designing and conducting research in early childhood did you learn?

I learned that your question in a research project cannot be a general question, but incisive and that creating sub topics helps to identify what your research will address.  I also learned that equity is important to any research project.  Researchers need to address the issues of justice and fairness when designing a project.  Researchers need to be sensitive to their perception of authority or power when undertaking a researcher project, because their outcomes may be tainted or contaminated.  Over all I have learned there is much detail that goes into the design of a research project.

What were some of the challenges you encountered and in what ways did you meet them?

The work I did on my own research project was challenging to me.  The process of identifying a effective research questions was challenging to me.  I think that my initial question was too general so I came up with several subtopics, but could not decide which one closest addressed the issue that I was trying to research.

What are some of the ways your perception of an early childhood professional has been modified as a result of this course?

I have a greater respect for research and how it helps improve and guide the early childhood field.  I have learned that research is a science that has many details that need to be addressed before research can be valid and can improve the lives of young children. 

Research Around the World

Early Childhood Australia about us states that they will advocate to ensure quality, social justice and equity in all issues relating to the education and care of children from birth to eight years old.  Their values are the rights of children, leadership, excellence and respect, courage, honesty, and openness, collaboration and diversity, justice, and social inclusion of children(ECA, 2011).  This site announces upcoming conferences and offers books and journal subscriptions.  One of the journals I found was Australasian Journal of Early Childhood is Australasia’s foremost scholarly journal and the world’s longest running major journal within the early childhood field.  This journal is published quarterly and offers evidence-based articles that promote an exchange of ideas among early childhood practitioners, students and academics.  I found a list of various topics related to the early childhood filed such as Aggression and young children, dealing with bullying together:  Preventions and resolutions and Learning and teaching through play.

What I found interesting was an article Young Children as active learners this article states that the way children were once viewed or the Western perspective about young children assumed that they were vulnerable so they are viewed in terms of what they cannot do, requiring adult care during this time.   Adults must always determine what is best for children.  The article states that the traditional ideas  about childhood is changing such as time of dependency on adults and a time of innocence due to children’s access to computer games, mobile telephones and obtaining information from the internet.  “It is argued that this greater access to popular culture has subverted contemporary children’s consciousness of themselves as incompetent and dependent entities”.    Children are now considered as active agents in and of their own learning.

Early Childhood Australia has taken a position regarding children of refugees and children in detention the paper is called ECA Position Statement :  Children of Asylum Seekers.  Asylum seekers are people who have entered Australia claiming refugee status under the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and seeking protection of the Australian Government.  The children of these people are experiencing their childhood in detention centers or in the communities of Australia.   The ECA developed principles  that should be applied to all policies and practices as they relate to the children of asylum seekers and children of refugees.  The main goal of these principles is to ensure the protection and healthy development of all children and to achieve durable solutions which are appropriate to the immediate and long-term developmental needs of children.

Reference:

ECA. (2011). Early Childhood Australia: A Voice for Young Children. Retrieved from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/resource_themes/resource_themes.html

Safe Research

I read a research paper called The Family Origins of Empathic Concern, which was a 26-year Longitudinal study.   Subjects of this study were 5 year olds.  Their mothers were interviewed about their parenting behavior and those of their spouses.  These interviews were transcribed and then rated for a variety of specific maternal and paternal behaviors.  The analysis of maternal styles yielded 6 dimensions, warmth, strictness, restricts sexuality, inhibits aggression, tolerates dependency and role satisfaction.  There was also an analysis of mother’s management techniques, use of physical punishment and use of praise.  The analysis of paternal ratings yielded  3 dimensions, involvement in child care, firmness in discipline and warmth (Koestner, Weinberger & Franz, 1990).  There were 379 subjects followed. 

This paper’s hypothesis was that the development of empathy is most likely to occur in a family environment that satisfies the child’s own emotional needs and discourages excessive self-concern, encourages the child to experience and express a broad range of emotions and provides opportunities for the child to observe and interact with others who encourage emotional sensitivity and responsiveness.  The 379 subjects were followed through surveys,  interviews and personality tests.

The results indicated that there is a relatively strong association between early parenting experiences and adult empathic concern.  It was found that children whose fathers were very involved in their care and whose mothers were tolerant of dependency were most likely to report high levels of empathic concern at age 31 (Koestner, Weinberger & Franz, 1990).  Parental affection was excluded as a predictor of a child’s development of empathy.  The results suggest that parenting behaviors in early childhood can have a lasting impact on the course of personality development.  This study is important because it shows the importance of family on child development.  The results of this study can be impacting on parenting techniques and what parents can learn about being a source to their child’s development.   This type of research seems not to propose greater than minimal risk to the participants as their parents were the ones interviewed and they were interviewed and or tested during a 26 year long period and the benefits of this research is extremely impacting the early childhood field.

Reference:

Koestner, R., Weinberger & Franz, C. (1990).  The Family Origins of Empathic Concern:  A 26 year Longitudinal Study The American Psychological Association Vol. 58, No 4 709-717

Reasons for my Topic

My topic for my simulation is empathy.  The questions I would like to answer is when does empathy present itself in young children and Is prosocial behavior inherent or is it learned from older children and adults.  This topic is important to me because prosocial behavior in children is the foundation to their learning.  If children are unable to cooperate and trust the people they are around learning is impossible. 

I would like to know when children are capable of empathy and or prosocial behavior  and if it is inherent or something that must be cultivated in a child.  As an early head start teacher I work with very young children and behavior is a major issue in the classroom.   I would like to have realistic expectations of the children in my class and this information would be helpful to me.  It is my position if prosocial behavior has to be cultivated, I would like to know this so that I can work on helping children to learn prosocial behavior.  Knowing the age sets my expectations.  I have read in a previous course that children begin to exhibit empathy at the age of  4 years old, but read a research paper that found that 18 month olds exhibit empathy.  The research document also examined monkeys and they too are capable to altruistic behavior.  I personally have witnessed very young children exhibit behavior that I would consider empathetic.   I would like clarity as to when I could have expectations of a child being capable to prosocial behavior/empathy.

I think obtaining knowledge in this area would be beneficial to Early Childhood field because it would  shed light on how children learn and develop, which is key to knowing how to teach them.

My Supports

There are many factors that help support me in my daily environment namely my husband he not only makes sure I get up in the morning when the alarm goes off, but he is a friend and confidant to me.  I can talk to him about anything that is going on in my life.  He also serves as a chauffeur to me because I let my driving license go because I am tired of driving.  He also manages the household and chores since he is not working at this time, which is a major help to me.  My husband is someone that I bounce ideas on and he also reads my school work for me before I submit it. My mother also is a major support to me in that I can talk to her about anything and everything that is going on in my life.  She always offers wisdom and humor to some of my situations. My colleagues at wok are a source of support to me also they are also people I can bounce ideas off and get positive reinforcements from and helpful criticism.  I love the job because I work with true professionals. I don’t know what I would do without these three major support systems in my life.  Due to my writing this assignment I can see how I have taken them for granted because they have always been there for me.  If I did not have them my life would be very lonely and might not be able to accomplish the things that I am in my life, mainly returning to college.  They are the source of inspiration to me and help keep me motivated. 

 The support that I would like to have is my husband having a good job.  I would quit my job and focus on completing my degree.  This support would alleviate my having to contribute financially to the household and allow me more time to spend completing my assignments.  My husband would be happy with this arrangement and so would I. 

My Connection to Play

“Play is important because it is the way in which children are able to use and reflect on their experiences, to represent their ideas and to ask and answer the questions that preoccupy them”.  Sandra Schmidt

“Play helps children weave together all the elements of life as they experience it”.  Joan Almon

I don’t have pictures, but I have vivid memories of playing with a cash register and money made out of newspaper when my two brothers and I would play store for hours in our home.  I also remember playing house and having baby dolls and a blanket which I used to put the dolls to sleep with.  I remember playing outdoors until it got dark or it was time for dinner.  The children in the neighborhood would play hot peas and butter and we would play punch ball.  I remember how major these two games were; every kid in the neighborhood would play and we had so much fun.  I also remember that the park in our neighborhood did not have a basketball hoop so the boys would use the monkey bars as a hoop and play basketball for hours.

The adults that were in my life when I was younger bought toys that supported my play experiences.  The toys back then were not computerized, but could be used to develop a child’s imagination. My parents would also give us empty containers, newspaper and pennies to use for our time playing store. My mother would always encourage my brothers and me to go play.  She may have done so to get us out of her hair, but she always said “go play”.  Another example of support was the adults did not involve themselves in our play.  It was a time of exploration, decision making on our part and learning.  My brothers and I would work through our differences during our play time without adult interference.

Outside of the children in my class the only other children I have the real opportunity to see interact are my step-grandchildren.  When they come to my house they have their own room.  I have some games and legos that they might play with, but they don’t really play with these things.  I have observed them playing for hours on their handheld computer game devices.  Occasionally the youngest will ask for paper and draw, but they don’t participate in imaginary play or dramatic play like my brothers and I did.  These children spend a great deal of time also watching TV.  When I was a child we had specific times of the day we were allowed to watch TV and the shows we watched were monitored.  Play today, from what I have observed is very different.  My step-grandchildren are not allowed to play outdoors unless my husband is outside with them.   So they don’t have the time of exploration I had when I was young.  What I see as the problem for children today is the threat of bodily harm if they are allowed to play outdoors unsupervised and the invention of computer games.  My hopes for children of today is to have what I had when I was a child and that is to have hours of unsupervised play.

The role of play in my childhood helped me become creative, independent, physically agile and cooperative with my playmates.  I think the hours of unsupervised time of play that I experienced as a child help me to be less stressed by the demands that school/academics played in my life.  I think having the opportunity to play helped me become a better student in school as a child and an adult, because I was able to be a child when I was a child.

Relationship Reflection

Relationships/Partnerships are important to me because it is a way to gather information about the children in the program.  Information that I gather helps me plan and strategize my lesson plans and teaching style with each child.  I recently had a conversation with the mother of Andriana, who is speech delayed.  I told her that Andriana speech has not improved over the last two months since her meeting with Babies Can’t Wait.  Babies Can’t Wait is an organization that handles children with a speech deficit.  I wanted to talk to her because Babies Can’t Wait told the mother to give Andriana a couple of months to see if she improved.  Andriana’s mother enlightened me to the fact that at home Andriana was using her words more they were better able to understand what she was saying.  Her progress at home was a surprise to me and my co-teacher.  The two of us now had to figure out how to get Andriana to use her language in the classroom.  This conversation was very important to this child’s development and success and created a challenge for me as a teacher.

 I have several professional relationships with people in different functions in Early Childhood Education.  My relationships with the family advocates proves to be one of the most important relationships that I have.  The family advocates work very closely with the families.  They provide me with important information about the children in my program and I also provide them with information.  My relationship with the Director and Executive Director serves me well in that they provide information about things that are happening in the agency and events and activities that are in the planning mode for the families.

I am challenged with maintaining a partnership with a few of my families.  Mainly because they do not drop-off or pick-up their children so we do not make contact with each other daily.  What I do to stay in contact with them is periodically call and let them know how their children are doing and advise if there are any problems.

Each of these relationships helps me be a better teacher.  Information is powerful especially when you are teaching.  I think I am helpful to the professionals  that  I have a relationship with in that I bring suggestions, knowledge and encouragement to the table.

Thank you

I just would like to thank everyone in group 2 for their blogs.  I have learned a great deal in this course and some of what I learned I learned from you.  I would like to especially thank Gwen Phelps and Cassie Massaker I definitely visited your sites, sometimes I commented other times I just read.
I wish everyone the best in their future endeavors.


 "When we deal with children we are not merely one person.  We are at least three people.  We are parents of our children...we are children of our parents...we are adults with our own interests and needs.  Often these three people within us do not agree and may have different ideas...about what should or shouldn't be done."  -Magda Gerber

Testing for Intelligence

In early childhood children should be assessed based on the interplay of domains.  They should be assessed cognitively, socially, gross and fine motor skills because these are the areas that we concentrate on when we teach them.  Each of these areas should be tested.  Each overlap as children develop.

Average scores on intelligence tests are rising substantially and consistently, all over the world.  These gains have been going on for the better part of a century.  These increases are called the Flynn Effect.  The rate of gain on standard broad-spectrum IQ tests amount to three IQ points per decade and it is even higher on certain specialized measures. (Neisser,  1997).   Many factors have influenced these gains in IQ tests such as child-rearing practices.  Parents everywhere are now interested in their children’s cognitive development and are probably doing more to encourage it than they did in the past.  Children are spending hours watching shows such as Sesame Street and other educational programs.  Better health and nutrition is a factor over the years, there has been a marked improvement in worldwide nutrition.  This means better nourished brains would allow individuals to perform better.   Increase of education, longer formal schooling years and an increase in culture-free IQ tests.  Visual and technical environment has increased.  Video games and computers each successive generation has been exposed to far richer optical displays than the one before.

Reference:

Neisser, Ulric (September-October 1997).  Rising Scores on Intelligence Tests  retrieved from  http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/num2/rising-scores-on-intelligence-test/1

Sandhu, Inderbir  (2002-2011).  Decline and Increase in IQ Scores   retrieved from:  http://www.brainy-child.com/exper/iq-score.shtml

Stress on Children's Development

The only stressful situation I can think of was a family in New York that experienced a terrible tragedy.  I was about 10 years old at the time when a young girl committed suicide by jumping from the 16^th floor of a friend’s apartment.  Her brothers were 6 and 8 and were friends with my younger brothers.  What made this so traumatic is her body was found near the playground and her brothers saw her lifeless body lying there.  This incident caused stress and trauma not only to her brothers, but to most of the children in the playground.  My mother took the three of us to counseling at our pediatrician’s office.  I had terrible nightmares for several weeks.   My mother suggested to this young girl’s mother that she might consider counseling for her boys and referred her to our pediatrician.  The community reached out to the family in many ways to help them get through their loss.   About  a year later the family moved away, but her brothers never seemed the same after this tragedy.

I read an article about a five year old girl named Marjan she and her aunt who is 10 years old spend their days collecting trash in the community.   The trash that they collect is used as fuel for cooking and heating.  Marjan’s family is poor.  She lives in Kabul Afghanistan where it has been said “it is the worst place in the world to be a child”.  One in five children do not live past five years old.  Many children die from hypothermia.  Many children are forced on the streets due to poverty.  Marjan little brother died from a cold.   Due to the effects of extreme poverty young children are deprived of their most basic needs, decent food, health, immunization and protection.  Many are exposed to the extreme cold of the winters in Afghanistan.    Many of these children will suffer from impaired brain development due to the malnutrition and lack of stimuli/interaction from their parents.   The only organization I was able to find that is working on combating the problem of Poverty in Afghanistan is Save the Children.

 Poverty can present many risk factors:  Inadequate nutrition, substance abuse, maternal depression, exposure to environmental toxins, trauma/abuse, and inadequate daily care of children.    Parental stress particularly impacts upon the developing child disrupting the neuron pathways of a child’s developing brain.  This can cause long term problems, such as learning disabilities, behavior, physical and mental health.  Studies have shown that children raised in poverty have poor academic achievement, are less likely to attend college, are more likely to become a teen parent, are more likely to smoke and use illegal drugs, are more likely to be unemployed.    One intervention for children of poverty is high-quality child care environment.

References:

Damon, Arwa (2008).  Child Scavenges for family's survival in Afghanistan.  Cable News Network retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2011/World/asiapcf/01/04/afghanistan.child.trash.scavenger

Policy Brief (2009).  The impact of poverty on early childhood development.  retrieved from http://www.rch.av/emplibrary/ccch/pb14_impact_poverty_ecd.pdf

NCCP (June, 1999).  Poverty and Brain Development in Early Childhood retrieved from http://nccp.org/publication/pub_398.html

Immunization

Childhood immunization has recently come under scrutiny because there have been studies that link immunization to autism.  Many advocates of Autism believe that thimerosal mercury which is a preservative in some vaccines was the cause.  Since 2001 thimerosal mercury has been removed, but the rate of the onset of autism has not decreased.   It is the same rate of other countries where thimerosal continues to be used. 

Immunizations is said to have had “a greater impact on human mortality reduction and population growth than any other public health intervention besides clean water” (J.P. Baker, 2000).   Immunizations in the United States have been mandatory if you wanted your children to attend school.  But recently at least 21 states have adopted what is called the personal belief exemption which allows children who have not been immunized to attend school.   These exemption rates are going up. 

Vaccines have been so effective that parents of today have no idea what many of these diseases look like and what the diseases cause.   Americans no longer see the shrunken legs and paralyzed children affected by polio.  It is my opinion that the benefits of immunization far outweigh the disadvantages and children should still be required to be immunized against these diseases. 

In India immunization such as DPT vaccine and polio vaccine are provided under Universal immunization Program, but there are several others such as varicella, vaccine against chickenpox and Pneumococcal infection that are not covered under this program.  The MMR vaccine that protects against Measles, Mumps and Rubella diseases have not been a priority for health agencies in this area.

The polio disease is still seen in countries such as South Asia, Utter Pradesh and Bihar states in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan and Africa.  Measles, Mumps and Rubella are still seen in other countries such as Western Europe. 

I choose this subject because I read how positively it has impacted mortality rates around the world.  After researching this topic my opinion remains the same that immunizations are very necessary and the dangers are far less than the benefits.  I would always recommend to parents to immunize their children.

References:

Berger, K. S. (2009). The developing person through childhood (5th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.   Chapter 5 page 150

Park, M. (2008).  Where Vaccine doubt persists.  Cable News Network   Retrieved from http://www.CNN.com/2010/Health/10/20/why.not.vaccinate/index.html

Article (2008).  Vaccines for Adopted Children.   National Network for Immunization Information (NNii)  Retrieved from http://www.immunizationinfo.org/issues/general/vaccines-adopted-children

Birthing

My only experience with birthing was my own. In 1991 I went into premature labor at 26 weeks of pregnancy. I was visiting New York, my mother and was taken to the hospital. My obstetrician deemed my pregnancy hi-risk and had a procedure called a cerclage which assisted in my womb remaining closed. It was decided after about 6 hours of trying to stop labor that they were going to deliver my son by c-section. I was given an epidural for pain. I was taken to an operating room where the delivery was performed.  My mother was present with me.  My son was born at 1lb 4 oz. He remained in the hospital for approximately 4 months until he reached 5lbs and I was hospitalized for approximately 3 days. I was told by doctors that my son may have a host of problems due to the early delivery. The only problem he had was respiratory problems when he had a cold up until he was approximately 5 years old. He is smart and healthy 19 year old today. Due to the circumstances regarding my child's birth I am very pro hospital and doctor delivering babies. If I were in another country the out come regarding my child's birth may have been tragic. Even with a full term delivery so many things can and do go wrong. Having trained professional decreases tragic outcomes.

I researched two countries birthing procedures and found that I am happy I live in the United States. In the Netherlands pregnant woman don't see obstetricians but instead are referred to midwife. Doctors only intervene in high risk Case or if complications arise during delivery. Dutch woman decide whether they will deliver and home or at a hospital and more than half of them choose home delivery. The pregnant woman is responsible for obtaining medical supplies necessary for home birth it is called Kraampakket. Epidurals are rarely given. If given it would be because an anaesthesiologist schedule permitted administration of such. If a mother gives birth early in the day at a hospital she and baby may go home in as little as two hours. Then a system called Kraamhulp maternity home care is put in place. For seven days a nurse would visit the house and tended to medical needs as well cleans, cooks and provides basic parenting skills.

In Germany woman also see midwives for their prenatal care. It is a law that a midwife must be present at every birth and a doctor is optional. A local custom parents must choose child's name from an approved government list. Any exceptions must be approved. The reason for the policy is an effort to thwart potential ridicule of a child with a name that is too different.

In Japan women strive to give birth without the use of pain killers. It relates to the Buddhist perception of suffering: Labor pains act as a kind of test that a woman must endure in preparation for the challenging role of motherhood. Japanese women deliver in hospitals. The baby's father is only allowed in the delivery room if he has taken prenatal classes with the mother. If a c-section is performed the father must wait in the waiting room. After leaving the hospital mother and baby traditionally stay with the mother's parents for months or sometimes longer. The new mother must stay in bed for 21 days. During this time mother and baby are visited by friends and eat a celebratory food Osekihan (red rice and red beans).

My birthing experience was very different from these other countries in that a doctor was present during my delivery and it was done at a hospital.  I was given the option of an epidural.  My baby had the best care because a doctor tended to him and the complications were minimized.  My mother's presents was soothing for me during this stressful time and my recovery time was minimal.