Sharing Web Resources

I have continued to visit http://www.zerotothree.org a couple of times each week.  The articles and publications on this site are great for parents, policy makers, advocates, and other early childhood educators.  Really, it is a site for anyone who is interested in infants and toddlers and how they develop.  This would be a perfect site for new infant/toddler teachers and expectant mothers.  They have such great advice and tips on this site.

For professional development, the sections on brain development, early development, and language and literacy are a must read.  Even if you are a tried and true I/T teacher, there is always something new to learn.  A responsible teacher knows that she will continue to learn with each child she cares for.  Sections on play, social/emotional development, nutrition and health along with challenging behaviors and mental health are definite subjects that need to be explored.

I did not find any controversial issues on the site, but the presentation of maltreatment of young children and their development issues was an eye-opener.  Child abuse and neglect of infants and toddlers account for over 3/4 of child deaths.  We know that the first three years really mold the child into what he will be.  So the area of maltreatment in these years would be devastating for development, but intervention at this age would most likely be successful.

I found several videos that teach how early childhood can be advocated during federal budget development.  They gave facts about why investment is so important and offered materials and steps to help advocate to congress.  An additional fact for increased investment to several we learned in class readings was the biggest expense of federal dollars is more dependency on public assistance.  We are living this now in so many areas of our country.  It makes sense to spend those dollars on young children to give them the skills, motivation, and confidence to become successful working adults.

One of my favorite things I have found so far is the handouts for parents to download and print.  These handouts are all concerning the things we have been talking about when we speak about investments in early childhood, i.e. the workforce skills that are developed in early childhood.  The subjects these handouts include are development, health and nutrition, language and literacy, thinking skills, self-confidence, and self-control.  Every one of this items have been mentioned as a benefit of the investment into early childhood programs.  So I believe these are a must read for everyone, including policy makers, business leaders, and everyone else who invests in early childhood education programs.

Getting to Know My International Contacts - Part 1

I have made more than 5 new friends from the World Forum Foundation’s WoFo Net, however, none of them responded to the emails I sent them yet.  So I went to the WFF’s WoFo TV to view a really eye opening presentation about children & poverty in Afghanistan by Skeena Yacoobi.  This is an amazing telecast, please click the link and watch it yourselves.

Skeena Yacoobi established the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) in 1995.  She was a presenter at the World Forum Conference in 2011.  She said that life is not beautiful in Afghanistan but it is hopeful.  A real teacher will make children her work; be part of the life of the children; and bring a smile to children.  That is what she set out to do while working in the refugee camps in Pakistan with the children and families of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan has been at war for 30 years.  The families fled to refugee camps with horrible conditions: no food, no water, no place to play, no learning, no place for calm or quiet.  The camps were full of disease, and poisonous and venomous scorpions and snakes.  Children had to sleep on the dirt among these creatures.

As the new Afghani government took over, children were able to go to school.  Before, schools had to meet in secret because the Taliban did not allow education.  Skeena opened her first school in a tent around a tree.  That spread to several tents because the children had to bring the parent to school with them – the thought being this would help the children feel safe.   Skeena and her volunteers began to educate the parents as well as the children.  They taught mostly mothers (because most of the fathers had been killed in the war or murdered) health education, sewing, reading, and life skills.  Skeena knew that she would need to build a program with teachers that would give love and teach children peace words and loving words then the children would begin to have hope.

Skeena said as the health education progressed, sick women began to feel better then they began to learn better.  Once they were learning they began to ask questions this led to greater confidence.  She said we have to teach the women to be happy, to provide for their children, and to give the ability to say no to the abuse they have been suffering for so long.

In 2011, Skeena’s AIL supported 350,000 women and children.  In the 10 years since the new government took over, 6 million children are attending school.  The schools are teaching critical thinking and participation, not rote memorization.  She said in the video, once the environment is happy and safe, people will grow better, get stronger, and learn faster.  Children in her preschool learn and know 3 languages by age 6: Parshto, Farsi, and English.  Her schools go from preschool through 12^th grade.

Skeena said of poverty in Afghanistan, that 5% of people have the money and 95% of people have very little and are struggling.  The money that goes into the government does not get to where it should because the government is corrupt.  There are over 160,000 people on drugs because of being out of work, impoverished, and depressed.  Children have to be street vendors during the day to make money for the family to have food.  She even told a story about one father selling one of his 6 children for 2 bags of wheat so the other 5 children would be able to stay alive during the winter.  There is no electricity, no water, very little food and the government does not support many. 

But there is hope she said.  Women are becoming very strong and educated; some have jobs and work long hours.  Some are even going to schools to become nurses and doctors.  Many want a part in politics, to be in Parliament, and to be community leaders.  They do not want to go back to how it used to be when the Taliban took over.

Insights gained with this presentation:  1. Afghanistan has come a long way; but it has a long way to go.  2. Poverty destroys everything. The only way to break it is through education.  3. Even though the people of Afghanistan are broken, war-ridden, and destitute, they have hope.  Children and adults have the capacity to learn once they feel safe, become healthy, and have someone to care for them.

Poverty is cyclical. Without education and ambition, it is hard for a person to overcome poverty; but because of poverty, people lack the education and ambition to be able to overcome it.

 

http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/media-and-resources/wofo-tv/

http://www.afghaninstituteoflearning.org/

ZERO TO THREE

The organization’s website I chose to explore is http://ZERTOTHREE.org.

This is a national non-profit organization for parents, professionals, and policy makers to become knowledgeable about the development of infants and toddlers from birth to 30 months.  Their mission is to ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life.

The website has information and articles on prenatal development, brain development, language, social/emotional, attachment, etc.  They have podcasts funded by MetLife, downloadable resources, a bookstore, and professional development courses.  They also have a bi-monthly downloadable newsletter that covers current issues and trends for families, caregivers, and policy makers – a subscription is $79 yearly.

The current issues having focus on the home page are the new Presidential Budget Proposal with heavy investments in early learning for infants and toddlers and the proposed Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act (FAMILY).  The current issue of the journal is about Maternal Depression and how to work with it during home visits.

While at ZEROTOTHREE.org, I looked for the topic I picked for this week – cultural responsive care and education.  There were many articles and journal entries.  One article in particular talked about including Infants and Toddlers in Quality Rating and Improvement Systems.  It went on to say that curriculum and environments should reflect the culture and language of every student served.  By doing this two goals are achieved: continuity of care from home to school that is important to developing a strong sense of self and contributes to the issue of basic trust between family and school for the parent/caregiver relationship. To have a high quality program, the environment must reflect all students in it or the program cannot be considered high quality.  “Quality is quite tenuous if diverse populations cannot see themselves and their cultures reflected in the caregiving program” (ZerotoThree.org, 2008, pg.5).

It is so very important for infant and toddlers to experience cultural diversity early.  Children from birth to three grow and learn so rapidly.  If the caregivers practice cultural responsibility during the early years, children will develop an understanding that will stay with them always.  As the children grow from toddlers to preschoolers, they will develop tolerance and acceptance; and will continue learning from other cultures and each other to nurture a cultural responsibility they will need later in life.

ZEROTOTHREE.org. (2008). QRIS Issues Meeting White Paper September 2008. Including Infant and Toddlers in QRIS, National Infant and Toddler Child Care Initiative. Retrieved May 15, 2014 from http://zerotothree.org/public-policy/state-community-policy/nitcci/qris-issues-meeting-white-paper.pdg

 

 

 

Issues and Trends - New sites and contacts!

I remember World Forum Foundation from a previous assignment. They have begun a network -WoFoNet for Early Childhood Professionals from all over the world. Each individual can subscribe to conversations/topics that interest them, then communicate with other EC professionals. This past week WFF was in San Juan, Puerto Rico for the World Forum on Early Care and Education Conference. Topics discussed during this last week, with over 850 participants, were men in child care, healthy environments, supporting children and families w/ HIV and AIDS, Play, and Children's Rights. Below is one of the topic summaries I found:

Questions Surrounding Children’s Rights in Diverse Cultures

This is a summary of issues related to Session #33 at the 2014 World Forum in San Juan, Puerto Rico, moderated by John Nimmo (Australia/USA) and Maria Thereza Marcilio (Brazil), held on Friday May 9^th, 10:45am – 12:15pm

Overview:

When we think about the rights of young children – what they are and how we can promote and protect them – we must consider complex and often contentious issues that reflect differences in cultural, economic and other contextual factors and perspectives. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is one key tool in this work, but it has its limitations. We believe that a critical and inclusive dialogue can only strengthen the Convention and our advocacy of children’s rights.

This session is an open dialogue with World Forum participants. The co-moderators seek to provoke and facilitate a deep and thought provoking session that brings forward issues often left unexamined. This session also draws on issues raised in prior World Forum sessions by the Working Group on Children’s Rights. The moderators will create and feed back to participants a summary of issues, ideas, possible actions, and further work needed, that arise during the session.

Goal:

To raise and explore complex cultural, economic and other contextual issues related to children’s rights, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and their implementation in diverse communities across the globe.

Issues for discussion include:

1. Are there differences in how communities and cultures view, value, and prioritize the core rights (i.e., protection, provision, potential, and participation)?
   1. What is the role of cultural and economic contexts in creating a “hierarchy” of rights? What are the dangers of prioritization? How can we link and integrate the various rights (an interdependence of rights)?
2. What is the role of social-economic class privilege/entitlement in our thinking about and implementation of the rights of children? To what extent does children’s access to rights reflect access to resources (e.g. economic, education, etc)?
   1. How do cultural values regarding individualism and community-orientation impact our understanding of rights?
3. How do cultural expectations regarding child development (what young children can or can’t do) impact our views about rights and their implementation?
4. How do cultural and generational views regarding gender roles/identity and equity affect how we conceptualize the rights of children?
5. What does children’s “participation” look like in different communities given differences in education, community access, and cultural values (e.g. elder respect/con respeto, and literacy)?
   1. What is the role of children’s contributions through work as a form of participation in community? How do we differentiate these contributions from exploitation and labor?
      

I have joined some conversations, reached out to make friends, and have gotten several friend acceptances; but no responses to the messages I have sent. I have e-mailed EC people from Canada, Australia, Nepal, Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago, Norway, and Kazakhstan. I am really looking forward to communicating with so many different cultures.

http://www.worldforumfoundation.org





The website I chose to explore further during this class is ZerotoThree.org. We have all used resources from this site, but usually do not have the extra time to really get involved with what all they offer to parents and early childhood people. I have been interested in brain development and prenatal nutrition since the Foundations class. I have even made a presentation on their importance to our caregivers group.

http://zerotothree.org