Reflecting on International Early Childhood Education Awareness

Throughout this course, we have been learning about poverty, equity, and quality in the early childhood education system. However, we have also been exposed to the issue of early childhood education globally. Here are three insights I have gained about this issue globally:


Poverty is a major issue among other countries. Whereas we would like to see even more programs for impoverished children in the United States, other countries have even less access or, no programs at all. 

To continually better our programs, it is important that we partner with other countries. By doing so, we can gain ideas and new ways of thinking to strengthen our programs and theirs. As in our schools here, we need to be constant collaborators.

I learned quite a bit from The Harlem Children's Zone website. Although it is not international, it is from an area that faces its own unique challenges that are quite different from the area that i live and teach in. They have pulled together to form their own educational community that provides structure and a safe place for their children to be on a 7-day a week basis.

The major goal I see for international awareness is to be a constant advocate for children not only in the United States, but globally. Children are children, no matter where they are from and our desire to see all children learn to grow and develop in a healthy, quality environment should not stop at our boarders.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3 (Alternative Assignment)

For this week, since I have still received no word from my contacts, I am doing the alternative assignment of reviewing the UNESCO’s “Early Childhood Care and Education” website.  After taking some time to thoroughly explore this site, I have gained some new insights;

• Did you know about "Global Action Week"?  Global Action Week takes place this year from April 22nd-28th, 2012.  It is a week set aside for raising awareness for the need for early childhood education for ALL children-"especially the most vulnerable and disadvantaged". This is an event that is taking place all around the world to raise awareness for this issue.
• This site stresses the quality of early childhood education is about the "holistic" development of the child.  It is not all about just getting them ready for kindergarten, but developing the child as a whole.
• In many countries, poorer children are given "alternatives" to early childhood education rather than the "mainstream" classes that others, who can afford to pay, are taking part in.  I did not realize that rather than assistance, they were given alternatives.
• They stress the importance of countries keeping an open dialogue in terms of education to help better and assist each other in developing and implementing better early childhood programs.

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

Sharing Resources-Week 6

I have been studying The Harlem Children's Zone website.  To explore further, I chose the link to The Promise Academy Charter Schools  (http://www.hcz.org/programs/promise-academy-charter-schools).  These charter schools were formed with The Harlem Children's Zone to provide a more positive and well-rounded school experience for the children in Harlem.  It is staffed with caring teachers, holds high expectations for the students and most importantly, provided a safe environment. They don't just stick to a normal school schedule.  They offer classes after school hours to provide a place for the children to stay safe and use their energy in the best way possible.  They have also opened a clinic in the academy to offer students a place to receive free medical, dental and mental-health services.  What I found so interesting is that they have created a culture of learning and trust in this school to the point that many of the students spend over 10 hours a day there.  They have truly created a place for these children to grow and feel secure.


Unfortunately, going along with what we have been learning this week, there is a degree of inequity.  As the Harlem Children's Zone would like to help all children, especially in early childhood education, they cannot provide this resource for free for everyone.  To remedy this, they hold a lottery.  This is the best way they have found to handle who can attend the charter school.  It is so unfortunate to see such a quality program that is tailored to bettering the lives of these students and still, only a few are able to take part.


They do however also run a pre-kindergarten program named The Harlem Gems.  What is so awesome about this program is that it is an all-day program with a 4:1 adult to child ratio.  They teach English, Spanisha nd French and service 200 children at a time (HCZ.org, 2012).






References:


Harlem Children's Zone (2012).  Retrieved from: http://www.hcz.org/programs/early-childhood

The Promise Academy Charter Schools (2012).  Retrieved from: http://www.hcz.org/programs/promise-academy-charter-schools

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

As to date, I have received no word from the three contacts that I attempted to make.  I was really hoping to have heard at least something from one of them by now, but as that is not the case, I will be doing the alternative assignment to view The Global Children's Initiative website.

This website is quite informative.  However, three topics really interested me.  First, was the topic of Toxic Stress Response.  This can occur in a child when they have prolonged periods of adversity or stress.  Such stresses can include exposure to violence, emotional or physical abuse, neglect and even economic burdens the family as a whole may be facing.  Prolonged exposure to these stresses have shown in studies to cause problems in brain development and can increase stress related diseases.  These complications can continue to affect the child well into their adult years.

Next, I really like how they are making an effort through Harvard University to expand the vision of their students beyond the borders of the United States.  A core mission of this group is to expand knowledge of a diverse global setting.  They also provide leadership training for policymakers, researchers and institutions around the world.

Third, I found the information on Un Buena Comienzo, or "A Good Start".  This project is a collaboration in Santiago, Chile to help improve Early childhood Education, specifically through professional development.  I found this interesting because I feel that when we can become knowledgeable about something, it is our duty to pass it on to other parts of the world.

References:

Global Children's Initiative (2012). Retrieved from: http://developingchild.harvard.edu/activities/global_initiative/

Sharing Resources-week 4

I have been reviewing the website for The Harlem Children's Zone.  A piece of information that caught my eye this week was how the Harlem Children's Zone was making a difference in two different housing developments.  There were two housing developments where they did not feel that children were being reached and were not taking advantage of what they had to offer at their centers. So, they decided to come to them.  They have brought homework help, ACT/SAT study groups, as well as theater and cooking groups on-site to the housing development.  Whereas many of these children might have missed out on these opportunities before, they now have these resources at their fingertips.  i also found it interesting that many former children, now adults, are giving back to this community.  Different organizations gave them a lift-up and instead of just moving away to a better neighborhood, they are giving current children a lift up.  The video can be accessed at: http://www.hcz.org/media/hcz-tv?task=videodirectlink&id=53


I also learned about the HCZ Promise Academy charter school for three year olds.  They offer classes on the weekends for parents of these children who have won a lottery to attend.  Yes, they had to win a lottery to attend.  I find this sad and an example of economics at work.  the fact that some children will not "win the lottery" and be able to go is so sad.  So, so many of the children in this area need this desperately and it's sad that more money can't be made available for all of these children to have a head start.  For the parents of children who have won the lottery, Saturday classes are offered to teach the parents about child development, language skills and development and parenting skills.


This website offers so much information and insight on inner-city youth and the ways this organization is trying to make a difference.  If you haven't viewed their site, I highly recommend it!

Childhood Poverty Research

As I have received no information from any of the contacts i attempted to make, i chose to research poverty in china for this week's blog assignment.

• Modern China has managed to reduce their amount of their population  in poverty to 5%.  While that number may seem low, with a population of roughly 1.27 billion people, 5% of that number is still a massive number of people in comparison to other countries.
• China differs greatly from the U.S. in their public assistance programs.  In China, one must have no work, no savings and no family to rely on in order to receive financial assistance.
• China has changed how they fund health and education.  They put much of the responsibility of paying for these services on their citizens.  Thus, more citizens are finding it harder and harder to pay for basic tuition and supplies for their child's education.

While on initial review, it may seem that China has less poverty.  However, with closer inspection, it seems that China has placed so much financial burden for services that we take for granted as being nationally or state funded, that they are actually creating poverty within their own nation.  

After reading so much on poverty this week, what concerns me the most are people who are the working poor.  I deal with many students from these types of homes in my school district.  Their families are hard-working and strive to have more, but due to poor economy or lack of proper education or training, are unable to attain their goals.

References:
The Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre (CHIP). (2007) Country Overviews Retrieved   fromhttp://www.childhoodpoverty.org/index.php?action=countryo 

Sharing Resources

I have chosen to examine The Harlem Children's Zone website. This site can be accessed through http://www.hcz.org/. This website caught my eye, because it emphasized the "it takes a village" standpoint on fighting poverty for children. Their newsletter stated that it is "...a one-of-a-kind, comprehensive network of education, social-service and community-building programs. This conveyor belt of services for children runs from birth through college" (Canada, 2012).


For me, poverty is an issue that hits home as I teach in a low-income school district. This school district had four of the five factories in it's area closed in the last several years. I don't want to see the students I teach fall victims to poverty. I feel this site could give me ideas on how to better my students' lives.

One thing that really got my attention on the Harlem Children's Zone website was the creation of the Harlem Armory. The Harlem Armory provides a healthy living opportunity for children by providing a gymnasium/fitness club type of atmosphere for children. Many inner-cty children do not get the exposure to playing outdoors and have physical activities introduced like children from the suburbs or rural areas,. This gives those children an outlet for physical activities as well as teaching them about healthy living. I have included a video clip below. If you haven't had an opportunity to view this site, i would highly encourage you to do so.

Reference:
Canada, Geoffrey (Harlem Children's Zone Newsletter (2012).  Retrieved from  http://hcz.convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id=2161.0&dlv_id=9801