Week 4

Researching the website Zero to Three National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families I found the section, Early Care and Education very relevant to my current professional development. As a public school early childhood educator I focus my professional development on high-quality early learning. Within this, I look

into developmentally appropriate practices combining play and academics. In the Early Care Education section three main topics are addressed: childcare, family, friend and neighbor care, and school readiness interactive birth to three. “All babies and toddlers need positive early learning experiences to foster their intellectual, social and emotional development and lay the foundation for later school success” (Zero to Three, 2014).

            On the website under the “public policy” tab there is an article called Working Families Infographic that I believe can be controversial and it also made me think about my working family along with others in a new way. “The White House Summit on Working Families is shining a light on the challenges facing America’s working families as they strive to achieve the American Dream. Part of the American Dream is making a better life for your children, and yet even when parents work full-time, far too many babies are still living in low-income families, the level below which families have difficulty meeting basic needs and are more likely to face hardships” (Zero to Three, 2014).  This article shows pie charts of different percentages of families who meet the median income, how many mothers take time off due to unpaid leave, and when mothers return to work due to money.

            The website has several articles that add to my understanding of how economists, neuroscientists, and/or politicians support the early childhood field. Under the “public policy” tab there are sections labeled,  “infant-toddler policy issues, building early childhood systems, federal policy, and state & community policy. The federal policy section has several articles that add to my understanding such as, 2013 Federal Policy Agenda, Federal Policy Resources, Federal Policy Updates, and Federal Policy Baby Blog.

While researching the public policy information I gained new insight on issues/trends in the early childhood field. I found two links called, National baby facts and State baby facts. I found these links very interesting and spent a lot of time researching my state and learned valuable information. Some of the facts were sad to see and I hope that the more educated people become some of these percentages will change for the better.

Week 3

Thailand

My contact is one of my husband’s co-worker’s wives. She has taught in Thailand for a couple of years. I was not able to get in touch with her before this assignment. In hopes of staying in contact with her for future assignments I researched Thailand’s poverty (I could not get the childhoodpoverty.org site to work).

Thailand’s total population is 67.01 million as of 2013. In 2011 the poverty headcount ratio at the national poverty line was 13.2% of the population. Project Thailand provided statistics from 2010:

6.1 million Thai people live below the national poverty line

1.26% of people live on less than $1 a day and 25.2% live on less than $2 a day

854,000 people are living with HIV and AIDS

2.8 million people are prostitutes (1/3 are thought to be children sold into trade)

Three insights I learned from my research are that the income level in Thailand is upper middle income, that the poverty headcount ratio at the national poverty line has decreased over the last four years (2007-20.9%, 2008-20.5%, 2009-19.1%, 2010-16.9%, 2011-13.2%), and that attendance in early childhood education 2005-2012 of the poorest 20%, 54.8% attend and of the richest 20%, 77.6% attend. I found the early childhood education numbers very interesting. Out of the poorest 20% of people in Thailand half attend early childhood education organizations/programs.

References

The World Bank. (2014). Data-Thailand. Retrieved from http://data.worldbank.org/country/thailand

Project Thailand. (2010). Poverty Statistics. Retrieved from https://projectthailand.net/2010/05/14/poverty-in-thailand/

Unicef. (2013).Thailand Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/Thailand_statistics.html

Week 2

     Last week I selected the website “Zero to Three National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families” (http://www.zerotothree.org). I chose this website because infant and toddler development is close to my heart. I have two sons, 3 years old and 10 months old. The mission statement and organization’s focus is one main reason I chose this website. “To ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life. We know that as babies, the way we are held, talked to and cared for teaches us about who we are and how we are valued. This profoundly shapes who we will become (Zero to Three National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families).” I am always looking for good resources professionally and personally. While researching this website I signed up for a monthly e-newsletter called, “From Baby to Big Kid.” This “e-newsletter offers researched-based information on how children learn and grow each month from birth to age 3. The monthly

e-newsletters include:

• Age-based information about child development
• In-depth articles on common child-rearing issues and challenges
• Parent-child play activities that promote bonding and learning
• Frequently asked questions
• Research on child development and what it means for parents”

(Zero to Three, 2014)

     In the first e-newsletter that I was sent there were several topics featured. I chose to look closer at “Spotlight on: Listening Skills. Taking a closer look at how babies are now able to understand much more than ever before. These important listening (or receptive language) skills will help babies learn to use spoken language.” I chose this topic since language barriers have been a topic of discussion in this class. The website provides a developmental chart showing what babies can do and ways to connect with them. The website then discusses different listening skills a child should be performing at different months of age. In addition, the website provides ideas to help children develop strong language skills. I found this helpful because it gave specific fun activities to do with children which help promote language skills.

References

Zero to Three National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families (2014). Retrieved from http://www.zerotothree.org

Week 1

Professional Contacts and Web Resources

When establishing my two professional contacts I first thought about personal contacts that I already have. My husband works overseas and has had the pleasure of meeting many people from different areas. I met a wife of one of his co-workers who is a teacher in Thailand. I am currently in the process of establishing a professional connection with his wife. I have been texting back and forth with her husband who is in Afghanistan and am waiting to receive her e-mail address.

For my second contact I used our blog resource link for this week’s assignment. After looking at several websites I chose to contact:

Narmandakh Adiya

Mongolia
Mongolian Foundation for Open Society Step by Step Program

I chose this contact because when looking over the website I read, “The Step by Step methodology is active in 267 classrooms and in 53 kindergarten rooms. Also, 300 teachers implementing the program deliver the concepts of child-centered methodology to over 1,355 kindergarten teachers through in-service training (Mongolian Foundation for Open Society Step by Step Program). ” This is interesting to me because I have been teaching kindergarten for 5 years and would love to learn about other kindergartens! I am currently in the process of establishing this connection and am looking forward to hearing back through email.

After reviewing Early Childhood related websites in the United States I chose to further explore the website Zero to Three National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. I chose this website because infant and toddler development is close to my heart. The mission statement is one main reason I chose this website. “To ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life. We know that as babies, the way we are held, talked to and cared for teaches us about who we are and how we are valued. This profoundly shapes who we will become (Zero to Three National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families).” The website had a lot of great information on young children. Under each main tab (behavior & development, maltreatment, care & education, and public policy) there are several links with specialized information, which is great! There are also monthly newsletters that provide detailed information. I am excited to use this website to help further my education in early childhood studies.