Getting to Know Your International Contacts Part 3

UNESCO mission is to support early childhood policy development with the aim to build a solid foundation for children as lifelong learners. They use two strategies to address early childhood. One is phasing and the other one is partnership. A phased plan is when they respond to the needs of young children with an overall commitment. Partnership deals with the care and education of the young child and well as the older child when it is closely linked with the family.
UNESCO plays a lead role in promoting literacy. UNSECO’s advocacy strategy is based on partnerships with governments, NGOs, international agencies, and many other partners. Literacy programmes need various key components:
1. Appropriate pedagogical approaches
2. Training of literacy personnel
3. Beyond basic literacy
4. A literate enivornment
UNSECO’s main goal in this area is to improve literacy policies and practices through qualitative and quantitative research.
　

Sharing Web Resources

The National Black Child Development website can take you to a lot of other sites that gives a lot of information. The one that stood out to me was the Foundation for Child Development. The FCD focuses on the disadvantage child and their well being. They have three programs that they promote. They support PreK-3rd Education, Child Well-Being Index, and New American Children. The one that caught my attention was PreK-3rd Education. This program focuses on children up to age eight. Children that fall behind have a slim chance of catching up.

The website gave information about books written by African Americans and they have the books separated by their age group. They also give some information about each book and a picture of the book.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts

I have not heard back from any of my professional contacts so I am doing the alternative assignment. As I looked through the webwsite the innovation part of the website stood out to me. Their mission is to enhance the well being of children through science and to translate the sciences into new strategies for action. The center has three content areas as priority. The first area is reducing developmental barries to learning. The second is strengthening the early foundations of lifelong health. The last is enahancing the resources and capacities of the family environment.

There are three core elements of innovation. The first one is seeds which relates to the economic and relationships with young children. The second one is soil which talks about communities and their purpose. The last one is climate and it deals with understanding behavior and emotions. Each of the elements are needed to work together for the benefits of the children. They want to introduce new ideas into the arena of intervention.

The site has a partnership ECIP where they work together to enhance young children and their families. The video links also give you more insight on innovation.

Sharing Web Resources

The information that stood out to me was about play. It talked about the importance of play at home and school. It gave three ways that parents should play with their children. One is to find time to play with your children as an individual. It shows that each of your children are unique. Allow the child to decide what they want to play. The next one is to play as a whole family. Allow your children teach you things and do not be shy about it. The last one is child play for those children that are having behavior problems. Play therapy help children work through their problems. It also talked about using exercise as a play time also.

The article made me see play as a major part of a child's life. Children should have time to play alone and with others. Play as therapy really stood out to me. I am going to tell my parents about play therapy because I see it working with children in early childhood.

State and local leaders can help with the funding of early childhood education. They are needed as a voice in funding for early childhood education. The site has ways you can donate to help with the issues and trends that are current. The site also had a representative that attended the speech President Obama gave on education. You can read the article on the website.

There is a conference for Head Start. It is for people involved in early childhood education. The conference talks about issues pertaining to early childhood today.

Getting to know your International Contact

I have not heard back from any of the professional contacts that I tried to contact from other parts of the world. Since, I did not hear back from any of the professionals I decided to do the alternative assignment. I am not giving up completely on the professional contacts. I am going to keep trying and maybe I will hear back from someone before this class is over.

I looked at childhood poverty in India. Between 1999-2000 the poverty rate was over 250 million. India has the highest poverty rate in South Asia. The rural poverty is cause by the lack of education, health, and skills. Over the past five decades they are trying to reduce the rate of poverty. One way is by their anti poverty programme. The three main programmes are rural employment creation and infrastructure, self-employment, and good subsidy.

This week I have learned a lot about poverty. Poverty does not have a name, color, or type. Poverty can happen to anyone at any given time especially the way the economy is going now. We as educators must let our voices be heard. If we have students that are going through poverty we need to help them find resources that can assist them during their hard times.

Sharing Web Resources

The National Black Child Development Institute was brought to life by the Black Women's Community Development Foundation. In 1970, the organization was started and they began to build a voice to improve the lives of African American children through policy changes. Their mission is to improve and advance the lives of black children and their families through education and advocacy. Their mission is carried out by giving information out that directly work with children and providing services throughout the nation. Throughout the years, millions of children have benefited from the program. The organization works to expand the following core program areas: Love to Read, the Parent Empowerment Program, African American Parents Project and Spark, Entering the College Zone, and the National Affiliate Network.

The NBBCDI received $300,000 from WalMart Foundation to promote healthy eating among families. The funds will promote nutrition to black families.

I subscribed to receive newsletters from NBBCDI. I am excited to learn more about this organization.

Professional Contact

I emailed around 7 different people and have not heard back from any of them. Several of the emails I sent came back to me. I am going to try up until Friday this week. If I do not hear anything by Friday I will do the alternative assignment. I would love to get in contact with a professional from another country to learn from them. It would be a great experience.

The National Black Child Development Institute is my choice for the organization to study. I would love to learn about them. This is a organization I know nothing about. I think it is going to be exciting to study and learn about them.