When I Think of Research…

The insights I have learned about research is there is a process researchers go through to research a topic of choice, that’s an interest for them, they would like other professionals to learn and understand the importance of the topic being studied.  All the hard work researchers put into creating their research simulation, by deciding which research design (qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods) will best support the conclusion of their research question. The researchers need to gain consent for all their participants from all those that are needed for the research simulation.  Being an early childhood teacher, I looked at researcher for help and support with the students in my classroom, to offer them extra guidance and support for their growing development. Viewing research in a fashion of breaking it down and trying to set up my very own research simulation, is an overwhelming process that I’m not quite sure I will be participating in my future in the early childhood field. I enjoy teaching and plan to teach for as long as I can, supporting and guiding young children build their confident and development through interactions and play. My ideas about the nature of doing research changed or not, well I don’t have any ambition to go into research for the field of early childhood at this time in my career. As time go on in my career in the early childhood field, I might want to take the next step and go into research for the field. The topic of my research simulation is a topic many families and early childhood teachers and other professionals new ideas, techniques, and strategies to use with young children and the importance of young children’s social-emotional development.

The lessons I learned about planning of a research simulation, it takes time to plan, design, and conduct a research simulation. The planning of the research simulation is deciding a topic, forming a question, creating subtopic questions, and the importance and benefit of the topic for others in the early childhood field. The process of design is knowing the research question and what the researcher is looking for as results in conclude their findings. The researcher has to know what approaches they will use for their research simulation; quantitative, qualitative, or the mixed methods. They need to work out their variables, participates, the ethics, the sampling process, the way of collecting data from the research. Once the design of the research simulation is complete the researcher is able to start conducting the research sampling process to achieve the data needed to be analyzed for the results and conclusion of the topic the research simulation is making for the contribution into the early childhood field for young children and their families.

I think the most challenging part for myself was understanding and knowing from my research question what the independent and dependent variables are for the research simulation to begin the start of the study. As a researcher, the variables and sampling process is the most important part of the research, without this information the researcher wouldn't be able to collect any data as evidence to analyze for the conclusion of the purpose of the research simulation. The independent and dependent variables, the sampling process this the heart of the research simulation. It is what helps the researcher know where and how to achieve the evidence and the best ways to analyze the collected data retrieved from the research study. Now I have a better understanding of my independent and dependent variables, along with my sampling process, I feel confident as a researcher to fully conduct my research simulation and start collecting data on the effective strategies early childhood teachers can use to support toddlers social-emotional development in the classroom.

My perceptions of an early childhood professional, I give them credit for all the hard work and effort they have when putting together a research simulation on a topic of interest and importance of the early childhood field on children’s development. Having the consent and sampling process ready to begin the research study, gives them power to follow through with the main purpose of contribution to the early childhood field to keep professionals up-to-date in the field of early childhood and their development.

I want to thank my Professor and all my colleagues for helping my way through this class and gaining all the knowledge I have about research and research process, researchers go through to share their conclusions with families, teachers, and other early childhood professionals in the early childhood field.  The questions, extended thoughts and ideas on various topics about research and the research process has helped me to understand there is more to research and the research process then this class. So much goes into the process and the time, effort, and dedication at sharing the results with those it will most benefit in the long. Those young children and their families, including the early childhood teachers and professionals that want to see the success and share in the success.  Thank you!!

Reference:

Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S. A., & Siraj-Blatchford, J. (2010). Doing early childhood research:

International perspectives on theory and practice (2^nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Research Around the World

Australian Early Development Census resources

This project is to promote and demonstrate the importance of using the data collected for to inform programming, planning, and development and implementation on Quality Improvement Plans and to assist Kindergartens and other programs to build skills and knowledge of how to use the data to support their programming and planning.

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/our-work/aedc-project/

They have a whole website dedicated to this project and it even has a link for researchers, specifically for researchers. Not many sites do have a section just for researchers, but I think it’s important for all professionals in the early childhood field to receive information to keep the field going strong and the benefits it has for young children.

http://www.aedc.gov.au/researchers

They have a list of options in the researchers section and the section that I found interesting was the current research projects. On the site there is a list of research projects; all of the projects are on important developmental needs of young children. The researcher project that was the most current is on young children’s health development. It breaks down the various health issues young children can suffer from and learn ways to prevent them from happening.

http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/epidemiology/Publications/2014-CHO-Report.pdf

Some of the current topics that are interesting and I would like to learn more of are: The Health of Children and Young People in NSW: Report of the Chief Health Officer 2014, Associations Between the Early Development Instrument at Age 5, and Reading and Numeracy Skills at Ages 8, 10 and 12: a Prospective Linked Data Study, and Updating Child Social Exclusion (CSE) at Small Area Level in Australia; there are many more interesting projects relating to early childhood education and the field itself.

The new insight I have gained from exploring this website is the importance of children’s health and nutrition, including separation anxiety, and transition to schools for children and adults. These topics are all under the parent resource section on the website. Throughout the article, there are links for more information and other resources on the same topic. I find that children, families, and early childhood professionals care about health and nutrition, child development, and transitions to changes that occur in a child’s life. It’s a nice guide for researchers to know why early childhood professionals partake in various research projects that support and share knowledge on topics relating to early childhood education and the field.

I was impressed with all the resources and professional training's that are offered through the site. It’s a place I would want to go back and look through. There are many resources that I thought were helpful for teachers to use in their classrooms. There are some great guidelines that I could share with the families in my program to help support their knowledge on health and nutrition, especially asthma. The resources explain it in a way many can easily understand what asthma is and how to support those that have it. 

Reference:

Early Childhood Australia. Retrieved from http://earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

Research that Benefits Children and Families – Uplifting Stories

Uri Bronfenbrenner stated, “…the only safe way to avoid violating principles of professional ethics is to refrain from doing social research altogether" (Coady, 2010, p. 73).

To think about myself as a researcher that has the ability and knowledge of conducting research on any topic in the early childhood field. Looking at the benefits and positive contributions to young children and their families is in a way, why research is so important to finding the data to support families and children to overcome many struggles and challenges they can face in their lifetime. This could be diseases, disorders, medical conditions, and various disabilities that a child or an adult is diagnosed with and there is no known cure to prevent the decline in a patient or to cure the condition all together (OHRP, 45 CFR 46.406; OHRP, section 406).

The topic I would chose would be attachment. The attachment between parents and their child, what are the benefits of this bond for those children and their families in the long run. The benefits of a strong attachment with their parents, will support their child’s ability of interacting with others and forming bonds with peers, teachers, and other people in their community. Having a strong attachment with family members, helps the child grow and develop learning skills, as ease; with the support from the child’s parents. Children that have a strong attachment with their parent or guardian, the child is able to make attachments with others around them, their able to grow and develop their learning skills by mastering their developmental needs to be successful. Their focus and attention span is strong and they don’t lose focus too easily, they are able to deal with distractions compared to other children.  The contribution that would be made for this topic, based on the research conducted by myself and my colleagues would be the importance of a strong attachment between a parent and child will have the ability to understand others emotions and how to interact and socialize with others in the world around them. The research would involve observation of young children and interviews with their parents; to discover how their relationship with their child is and how they could strengthen the relationship and bond with one another. I would continue to research the topic and see what other researchers, scientists, and other early childhood professionals, have found on the topic to continue to contribute to the topic and the benefits of attachment between a parent and their child.

References

Coady, M. (2010). Ethics in early childhood research. Doing early childhood research: International perspectives on theory and practice (2nd ed., pp. 73 - 84). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP). (n.d.) Special protections for children as research subjects. HHS.gov. Retrieved on from http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/policy/populations/children.html.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP). (n.d.). Research with children—FAQs. HHS.gov. Retrieved from http://answers.hhs.gov/ohrp/categories/1570.

Your Personal Research Journey

The topic I have chosen for my research simulation is the ways to foster, positive, healthy social-emotional development in toddlers. I chose this topic because a child’s social-emotional development is the key to a child’s understanding and knowledge of the world around them. For the last year, I have been trying my best as a teacher to support a child that have out of control aggressive behavior towards his peers and teachers. I was the child’s primary teacher, in an Early Head Start Program, where I worked very closely with the child and his family. I spoke with the parents on a regular basis and share my concerns of his behavior. I would ask the family if they saw any of the behaviors that the child has been expressing in the program at home. The parents would always tell me no, he doesn't act like that there, and doesn't understand why he does it at school. I had many support meetings with the parents and other early childhood professionals to get the help and support he needs to overcome his emotional state of mind. I did everything I could think of to help this child overcome and deal with his emotions, help himself become self-regulated, and support the child to bond with others to help him feel confident in himself. This is why I chose the topic at hand, because of my personal struggle as a teacher to help this specific child to overcome his fears, anger, frustration, that all seems to stem from his family experiences and environment that plays a roll into his social-emotional development with other children, other adults, and other people within his community.

I took the time to start some research on my topic that I have chosen, but realizing its picking the right wording to search for the topic. I was able to find some resources on my topic, but need to find the correct way to use the terms to find more information regarding my topic. Though I only found about 5 resources regarding my topic, I think I need to do a lot more to find information regarding social-emotional development, when I’m aware of the importance of social-emotional development on young children.

I found the research chart helpful, but a challenge at the same time. I feel like I’m looking at research in a whole in light, because there are steps that brand new to me that I just learning.  There are things that I would never have thought about when starting to research any topic within the early childhood field. I feel there are many steps at completing high-quality research and I’m at the beginning of my journey. There are terms like positivist, interpretivist, postmodern paradigms, I've never heard of before; including the intense process of research as a whole. I’m hoping to understand it and knowing that I’ll have to focus more on understanding what is asked of me for assignments throughout this course to understand the best way to go about research and gain knowledge to quality research in the early childhood field.

I would like to ask my colleagues for advice and suggestions on key terms when research my topic of choice. I would like to hear your thoughts on your own journey of research as well. I think if we help and support one another with resources and the way we each look up information on our specific research topic. I’m willing to share resources when asked and work together to explore the resource together.  By working together and collaborating for an outcome, together we can find all the resources needed to everyone’s topic.

References:

Mac Naughton, G., & Rolfe, S. A. (2010). The research process. Doing Early Childhood Research: International perspectives on theory and practice (2^nd ed., pp. 22 - 43). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Reflection

It’s been an amazing journey learning about issues within early childhood education field that is beneficial for all early childhood professionals, families, and their children should be aware of and have knowledge of. I feel I have learned so many new resources to use when it comes to supporting families and young children on their way to success.  Having all the resources brought to the forefront helped open my eyes to a world of issues and trends in early childhood education. The entire world is dealing with the same issues and I think we need to start to work together to help support one another on solving these issues to have a better world for our children and families.

The main issues I learned from this course were changing demographics and diversity, poverty, influences of economics, neuroscience, and politics, and equity and excellence in care and education of children, families, and early childhood professionals.  I think this issues will continue to be consequences within the early childhood field for years to come. Part of these issues, I want to share, happen in some ways relating with politics. No matter how society votes, these issues will still stand for young children, their families, and early childhood professionals. These four issues can be attempted to change by professionals and families standing up and fighting for their rights and concerns about what they want for young children and their needs to grow strong and be successful in their future.  I have learned so much about these topics that I would do my best to stay strong as a professional to stand up and fight for the benefits of early childhood education has for the community, to society, and to the world. Early childhood education is beneficial to all children before they enter public school, which most children start school in Kindergarten.  I will do my best to help reduce these issues within my own community and work my way to support the reduction on a national level.

My goal is to help society understand and gain knowledge about the importance and benefits of supporting and funding early childhood programs for young children, their families, and early childhood professionals.  I think it’s important that society has all the knowledge of the benefits early childhood programs have for young children, their families, and early childhood professionals, and for many generations to come to have a successful life.   

Getting to Know Your International Contacts – Part 3

I explored the UNESCO’s “Early Childhood Care and Education” website at: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/

The site itself it very informational, it shares their mission statement and the strategies they have in place to make sure all children between zero to 8 years old receives an education that supports their overall development. It shares the sites overall history and focus of their fight for early childhood education. The website also offers various resources for professionals within the early childhood field, including other professionals within the field as well, even for families. They are many published books for families and educators to use to help them gain knowledge within child development and information regarding the benefits that are behind the scenes of many high-quality programs out there for young children and their families. There are videos that share about early childhood education in various countries and the programs these countries offer to the children and families that can benefit from the offered program in the long run.

“There are no universally agreed criteria for quantifying ECCE quality but useful factors to consider include pedagogy materials, personnel training, service setting and parental education and involvement.” These line from the site speaks loud and clear for many teachers that are within the early childhood education field. I feel there should be universal agreed upon criteria for those to qualify as a high-quality teacher.  In a field where professionals work with children and families their hope is for the family and child to be successful and gain and master important skills they will use over a lifetime.

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

The website have an area just designed to Early Childhood. The major subject topics that it shares and talks about area are access and equity, quality, investment and financing, and coordination and integration. The way they take the time to talk about each topic and make professionals and families be aware of regarding early childhood education. This information makes it known what is being down and how they feel the topics support all children all over the world to receive the same benefits of the child’s growth and development to master many skills to be successful as they continue to learn and grow. It’s important for all families to want the best for their child even at a young age as an infant. All children deserve the right to an education, all children in all countries deserve the right to an education and make something out of themselves for their future.   

Sharing Web Resources

The outside links head to current news and issues within early childhood education.  One place brought me to Juggling Jobs and Babies, it shares the ever changing work force and economic status that many families are facing at this time.

http://www.zerotothree.org/public-policy/working-families-infographic.html

Another outside link heads to the president’s budget proposal for our nation’s babies. The budget will continue to support Head Start Programs for children and their families, of those families that are vulnerable and at risk. The plan would help create high-quality child care options for infants and toddlers, with working families.  The plan will ensure that young children and families have access to high-quality child care.

http://www.zerotothree.org/public-policy/press-release-presidents-budget-proposal.html

There is one section designated for public policy. It shares all the current news and fight for early childhood education.  In this section it talks about; action center, building early childhood systems, federal policy, infant-toddler policy issues, policy guide, and state and community policy. It’s a nice section to see the current issues and trends within early childhood education right at your fingertips.  I wonder what I can do with this information; how it will help me to guide and support my families and young children.  TO know that I will be on their side fighting for the benefits early childhood education has for young children, their families, and professionals.

http://www.zerotothree.org/public-policy/

I receive newsletter from this site but it doesn’t share information regarding awareness, accessibility, or responsiveness. It only shares important information regarding ways to help children within your classroom based on their age. It shares where they are and how to support their learning to grow within each of their developmental stages.

Looking through the website, I learned that that fight for early childhood education is at the stand front and supports the needs of many families and children that don’t have a voice when they really wish to share their experiences with others about their struggles and challenges they have faced. I find the public policy suggestion is a great resource for families and professionals, including other professionals within the field. It brings to up to date on the fight for early childhood and the benefits they are fighting for these young children and families to have.  It makes me want to look through all the current public policy information that will help guide my professionalism when working with families to give them the strength and the ability to be strong to fight for themselves and their children. I want to share in the same fight and have their strength and passion for the fight.  I believe in early childhood education and the benefits the children and families receive from attended high-quality child care like Head Start and Early Head Start.  The benefits speak loud and clear for why many families should be aware, have access too, and be responsive when they need to be. It’s clear that these high-quality programs benefit all young children, their families, and professionals; to learn more about the awareness of such programs, the access to these programs, and the responsiveness of wanting to be a part of these programs. It’s a fight that all are willing to do in the end. Including professionals and other professionals within the field, for the families and children!! 

Getting to Know Your International Contacts – Part 2

Again, I’m partaking in the alternative section.  I took the time to explore the site over at Harvard’s University’s “Global Children’s Initiative.”

http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/

Being part of the, “Global Children’s Initiative,” organization launched, the first, the Center, Núcleo Ciência Pela Infância, the major programmatic effort outside the United States.  The program aims to use the science of child health and development to guide stronger policies and larger investments to help benefit young children and their families in Brazil. The main activities the organizations engage in are:

• Building a scientific agenda and community of scholars around early childhood development;
• Synthesizing and translating scientific knowledge for application to social policy. This will include working with the Center’s longtime partner organization, Frameworks Institute, to effectively communicate the science of child development in the Brazilian cultural context;
• Strengthening leadership around early childhood development through an executive leadership course for policymakers;
• Translating and adapting the Center’s existing print and multimedia resources for a Brazilian audience.

I think it’s amazing that there is a programmatic effort for early childhood education around the world and the impact of child health and development is being seen and heard around the world globally, not just locally.  There are many videos and links to show the effort Brazil is making with their efforts to help support young children and families in early childhood education.

http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/applying_the_science_of_early_childhood_in_brazi/

In Zambia, there is an early childhood development project, are investigating the impact of early childhood experiences based on children’s developmental, health, and educational outcomes in other countries, focusing in Africa. The ZECDP, have created a new comprehensive instrument for assessing children’s physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive development before and throughout their schooling. It’s the first assessment tool of its kind in Zambia.  I would love to see the assessment tool being used in Zambia.  The assessment tools that I use for infants and toddlers are more suitable to the toddler age group compared to the infant age group.  Collaborating with various assessment tools, it will be helpful to guide and create a new assessment tool for the young children and their development.

 http://developingchild.harvard.edu/activities/global_initiative/zambian_project/

There is an entire article that supports early childhood education and the scientific frameworks that support childhood development. The purpose of the article is to build a strong foundation for healthy development within the early years of early childhood education. According to Shonkoff, Richter, Gaag, & Bhutta, social and physical environments can threaten human development that can lead to short-term physiologic and psychologist adjustments; that require immediate adaptions for long-term outcomes of learning, behavior, health, and longevity.  It shares about the various environments that play part of children’s development that have an effect of children’s health and development growth.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2012/01/02/peds.2011-0366.full.pdf+html?ijkey=wYgaHJh7gbXlg&keytype=ref&siteid=aapjournals

Sharing Web Resources

I have signed up to receive newsletters, based on three children in my classroom, based on their age to help support their overall growth and development. The main section of the newsletter that struck my interest is the spotlight section of the newsletter. In this newsletter that spotlight was on nurturing early writing skills. It gives a description of how each child learns at their own pace; with the support of their growing bodies and muscles. To help the children’s writing skills, offer the children activities like stringing beads, pop beads, Lego blocks, and play dough, along with other fine motor activities to build and strengthen their small muscles in their hands and fingers.  Then it gives a brief overview of the different developmental stages of writing skills for young children. It describes the different stages and how to help and support the child to move onto the next level or stage in their writing skills.

There is a section called what’s on your mind and it’s where parents send in questions regarding their child at a certain age. This specific parent asked about how to support their child to be more flexible compared to being ridged and wanting the same clothes, bowl, spoon, at all times. It explains how the child has a temperament and it can be different from the parents. It examples different ways to guide and support the children on being more open to new ideas by offering choices.  It shares that it’s typical of children in the toddler land to experience and be demanding of their wants and needs. Then it helps and supports the parents of how they feel regarding the situation of the child. It helps the parents validate their feelings and emotions of the situation that it’s okay for both the child and parent to have their feels based on the same situation. It helps them to work together as one to have different strategies and techniques to deal with the next situation that arises.

I looked around the website and the newsletters, I found on the site an article, “Building Relationships: Parallels between Infant-Toddler Development and the Public Policy Process.” It talks about policymakers and how to form relationships with the government on the federal and state levels. These levels of government are the ones that support, fund, and are the leaders, for the success of early childhood programs for young children and their families. I don’t think they are all only voice or support that are helping and guiding early childhood programs to gain the success of young children’s future. It gave a list of advocates within the community that are available to help guide and support children, families, and professionals within the field of early childhood education.

References:

Article: Building Relationships: Parallels between Infant-Toddler Development and the Public Policy Process. Retrieved from http://zttcfn.convio.net/site/DocServer/BuildingRelationships.pdf?docID=3641

Newsletter on 28 Month Old Child. Retrieved from http://main.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=FromBabyToBigKid_Month28#ForYou

Getting to Know Your International Contacts

Well, I continued to get in contact with professionals from around the world, but I was not successful in this journey of connecting.

I'm doing the alternative option: I took the time to look at the UNICEF website in the region of Germany.

http://www.unicef.de/informieren/aktuelles

This link is the news section of the website for Germany. It shares the current news that is taking place in Germany to help support the children there. The news article, "Eyes on Child Rights," topic struck a cord within myself. As a teacher, I want all children, with and without disabilities to be successful in their lives and be happy with who they are as a person. The organizations are using door signs to hang on doors all around their community. All the boys and girls are able to take part in hanging these signs around their community to have their voices heard, instead of being silenced. I think this is an amazing way for children to voice their feelings and misunderstandings of the world around them. They want to be treated with respect and have so much knowledge that others don't think children understand the world around them.

http://www.unicef.de/presse/2014/augen-auf-fuer-kinderrechte--/57308

I think its great that there is an article out there to share what's most important to children. Again, its taking the time to acknowledge that children have a voice of their own. Speaking with children, getting to know them, helps others to understand what children want and what's important to them. Being a teacher, I'm not surprised that its family and friends, their parents work ethics, and the importance of values and traditions. It shows the community that children get it and understand the world around them more then people give them credit for.

http://www.unicef.de/informieren/blog/2014/geolino-unicef-kinderwertemonitor/56972

I find it heartfelt when young adults are supporting the needs for young children to help them be successful in their future. They are showing the world that all children deserve the right to be heard and receive an education.  I think its a powerful message to other countries that importance of children being heard and respected for what they have to say and share with others.

http://www.unicef.de/presse/2014/juniorbotschafter/56734

Continue to empower families and children to know they have the right to fight for their rights.  The more organization share their mission of empowering families and children to be strong and to have a voice; they will become successful and feel strong.

Sharing Web Resources

Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families

http://www.zerotothree.org/

The organizations focus is on Infant and Toddler development and their families.   It focuses and shares information about many topics that families can experience with their infant and toddler children. It offers support and guidance relating to the children’s behavior and development, maltreatment, and care and education (school readiness). It breaks each topic down into age groups by; 0 to 12 months, 13 to 24 months, 25 to 36 months, to show the various stages of child development and how each stage develops over time. The topics under the behavior and development section focuses on brain development, challenging behavior, early childhood mental health, early development, health and nutrition, mental health screening and assessment, play, sleep, promoting social emotional development, temperament and behavior. The topics under maltreatment are child abuse and neglect, safe babies court teams, and impact of trauma. The topics in care and education are child care, family, friend and neighbor care, and school readiness interactive, and the topics under public policy are infant-toddler policy issues, building early childhood systems, federal policy, state and community policy, action center, policy toolkit, and webinars and conference calls. I noticed many of the articles help support families that are in the military, as well as other families with different dynamics.

I recently signed up for E-newsletters from the sight that is called From Baby to Big Kid and it asks you to share your child’s date of birth; to help support parents and other early childhood professionals work with the child and family to the best of their abilities. By putting in the child’s birth date they will send newsletters that are specific for the child’s age and development.

I like how the site offers so much information for parents and professionals alike to learn and gain many resources to strengthen families and their children.  As much as I’m a teacher in an Early Head Start Program, there is a wonderful article that explains the importance of what Early Head Start is all about and the many opportunities the program offers to the families and children. It shares with parents and other early childhood professionals, how Early Head Start came to be, how the states are building upon the program, the opportunities and challenges they are facing, and any recommendations. It’s a start for others to learn and know about, since it’s a program that is beneficial for families and children to be able to succeed; to know that they were successful in all their adventures and journey to achieve that success.

Reference:

http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/Building_on_the_Promise.pdf?docID=5281

Getting Ready – Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

This week, I took the time to explore the Global Alliance of NAEYC website, of early childhood professionals from around the world. I took the time to email, one contact from each country. One professional, I’m unable to connect with because their email is no longer in use. I have send emails to other professionals around the world and I waiting for them to respond back to my email. I have spoken with my supervisor and manager of early childhood and asked them if they knew any professionals within the early childhood education field that I could correspond with during my class for my Master’s Program. I explained to my supervisor and manager the goals of the class and how often I’m encouraged to communicate with the professionals.  I showed them my assignment and they were going to contact their professional from around the world. They will let me know if I will be able to contact them for my class, if I’m unable to make contact with any of the professionals I have at least tried to make contact with; I will be using the alternate assignment for Part 1 of the blog assignments.

This week, I took the time to observe the early childhood related websites within the United States. I looked at the majority of websites and I make a decision to study the Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. I felt this website offers many resources for professionals, teachers, and families. They have simple and easy tabs for quick search, depending on the subject and topic a person is interested in finding more information on to help support the children and families. It shares resources for child development and the topic concerns and challenges families and teachers experience with child. They have resources to help support and overcome the struggles of aggressive behavior/challenging behavior, biting, routines, transitions, and separation anxiety. The site offers many articles and other websites for professionals, teachers, and families to explore and learn more about the topics listed above. I will be going back to the website to sign up for their newsletters and more information to help my guide of studying issues and trends within the early childhood education field. If any of my colleagues have any questions or want to discuss a certain topic, I’m willing to share my thoughts, suggestions, and new techniques or resources to help with any issues and trends they deal with on a regular basis.

My Supports

Emotional support from family and friends – including boss

Practical support by creating to-do lists

Physical support, I will ask for help and receiving it is another story, I don’t always receive help.

I can currently identify a challenge that I’m facing at the moment, well, have been facing since April.  As a teacher I have shared my concerns with my boss/supervisor about a child’s aggressive behavior within the classroom.  I would share what the child was doing towards the other children and at times towards the teachers.  I wrote up a contacts sheet that describes the child’s challenging behavior and the techniques used by the teachers to help support the child.  The boss/supervisor looks it over and signs it and makes a copy for our Mental Health Consultant.  Then I speak with the parents about having the Mental Health Consultant do an observation on the child.  The parents sign a form and the MHC sets up a time to conduct the observation.  After the observation, recommends suggestions for the teachers to try with the child to support this challenging time.  As the teachers continue to work with this child, they continue to share their concerns with the supervisor, but nothing changes.  Then the supervisor decides to set up a support conference with the parents to brainstorm a support system for the child.  The parents only are encouraged to set up an appointment with Early Intervention for an assessment.  Still there are no consequences regarding the child’s actions within the classroom and the teachers continue to support the child the best way they can.  The child ends up being sick during the time of his assessment so now it’s back to square one.

I would want support emotionally to know that everything I have been doing to help this child, is truly helping one small step at a time.  I want my feelings to be considered and respected, not pushed to the side and feel offended been my supervisor and administrators. 

I would want support practically, to know what new techniques, and current ones are working for the child and with his teachers to help him overcome the challenges within his life at the moment.  I want to be shown and given new ways to support the child and the family with this challenge happening, supposedly just at school.  I want to be offered to take new training's that support challenging behaviors and how to support them in the classroom environment. 

The factors that support me are speaking with my team members at my frustration level regarding the handling from the supervisor and administrators with the concerns from the teachers to get this child the help he needs to control his aggressive behavior.  By sharing my feelings with my team members it helps myself release the frustration and tense from the given situation and challenge within the classroom.  Hearing their shared feelings and concerns, tell me that they understand the feelings and emotions of the given situation.  They feel the same way regarding the lack of support from our supervisor and administrators with the struggles and challenges us teachers are dealing with.  When sharing and getting to brainstorm techniques and new ways to approach the challenge with new eyes to help support this challenge the best way we can, with the challenges of change happening within the child’s family environment.  As a professional, I look at different resources to help find new techniques and ways to help support the child to decrease the level of his aggressive behavior in the classroom towards the other children.  I try my best to read articles, about the topic at hand, regarding the challenges the child is facing.  I do my best finding articles about aggressive behaviors, self-regulation, and finding new ways to show him how to relax and get control over his body.  Sometimes with all the research and articles, the teaching team, works together to try new ways of supporting the child regarding the results from the research on various topics to support this child with his aggressive behavior.  I even speak with some friends and family members regarding the challenges I face at work and the lack of support to get this child the help he needs to be successful.  It frustrates me that the lack of support in a professional manner do want to support the efforts of a teacher and their team to help the child overcome the struggles and challenge within his life at the moment.  It’s just nice to know that I have others, outside of the situation to take the time to listen, with an open heart the concerns teachers have about a child going through a rough time and needs all the help and support he can get.

Having supports within your life helps ease the roller-coaster of emotions going on within that person regarding the situation at hand.  It makes the situation and challenge helpful when others are there offering support, guidance, and respect to make every technique work to the best of their abilities for the child.  It makes a day with the child different every day, always guessing what sort of mood the child will be in to pull out the techniques that will work regarding the emotional stability of the child.  Without these supports I would be going to a professional counselor or therapist to express my feelings and emotions of the situation and challenge I’m facing currently in my life.  I don’t think I could continue to with helping the child if I wasn't receiving any help or guidance professionally to encourage this child to discover ways on his own to control and relax his body, self-regulation, and understand his own emotions within side of him.  I feel that everyone deserves to have a support system, big or small, regarding life and the struggles any one person faces at work, with a family, school, and other situations.  A support system will help bring everyone together and be successful.

My Connections to Play

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." - Plato

"Play keeps us vital and alive.  It gives us an enthusiasm for life that is irreplaceable.  Without it, life just doesn't taste good." - Lucia Capocchione

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw

Pictures of Toys that Were Essential to My Play

                             

Being an only child growing up, I was encouraged to play by myself or with the neighborhood kids when I was younger.  My parents supported my play by encouraging me to use my imagination, exploring with my toys, and creating pictures to express myself.  My grandparents supported my interest in puzzles and making sand castle or houses for my match box cars.  I acted out events or situations I remember and saw while exploring and discovery my world.  I enjoyed being outdoors and spending time going for walks, riding my bike, planting, and cooking.  I got to help with the cooking and rolling hamburg into meatballs for spaghetti night.  I enjoyed playing with my barbie dolls, match box cars, and my toy phone to call my friends and family on.  I loved pulling the phone around with me so that I could call my favorite people any time I want.  I loved playing in the sand and building houses for my match box cars to park at their home.  The cars would drive to the shop to get food or clothing and to school.  I also pretended to be a teacher and line up all my stuffed animals and teach them what I was being taught.

In some ways play is very different compared to when I was younger till now.  Many children today, don't play outdoors at all.  Many children are hooked on play with electronics and not longer play like I did as a child.  I don't see many children today riding their bikes or playing a game of tag outside with friends, or even playing an outdoor game like bad-mitten anymore.   Play today is so wrapped around academic skills and mastering these various academic skills to move forward in life.  Its good and all, but children need to play with others and by themselves.  I want children to find the love of nature again and be outdoors, exploring the beauty around them.  I loved watching the flowers grow and bloom, digging for worms, and watching the clouds above me; naming them as they floated by.  I want to see children do this again and not so attached to electronics.  I find that children need to grow up faster then ever before and that the meaning of play is no longer an importance for a child's needs of growth and development (Almon, 2002).  

The role of play is important on so many levels.  I still enjoy play; whether its a video game, with the toddlers in my classroom, or my cousins and nieces and nephews.  I like to read stories, though when I was younger, I enjoyed making up stories.  Today, I still do, but this time I get to write them out and post them for others to view.  I think, sometimes as an adult, we forget what its like to be a kid and playing with our toys and stuffed animals.  When I read stories I always find myself, thinking I was a character in the story and what the character would do in the story - I was doing instead of the character.  Still do that today when I am reading.  My development is still growing and developing, even if I'm in my early 30's.  The understanding and knowledge of development and play starts in infancy and goes through adulthood (Berger, 2012).  

References:

Almon, K. (2002). The vital role of play in early childhood education. Gateways, 43. Retrieved from http://www.waldorfresearchinstitute.org/pdf/BAPlayAlmon.pdf

 Berger, K.S. (2012).  The Developing Person through Childhood.  (6^th Ed.).  New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

Relationship Reflection

Relationships/partnerships with other people are so important within a person's life.  Relationships help shape a person's understanding of the world around them and how they fit within their world.  Relationships with others bring the best out of a person and they can look past the strengthens and weaknesses to see the unique being someone really is.  I have amazing relationships with multiple people in my life.  I have great relationships with family, friends, co-teachers, and other people within my community that I am apart of.

I have a wonderful relationship/partnership with my co-teacher Annie, who I have known for over 3 years.  We work together in the toddler classroom and support each other within the classroom and in our personal lives.  I helped support her when she decided to send her son to a preschool program before entering Kindergarten.  Watching the struggles that she went to at making her decision at sending him to the preschool program; its the best choice she made when he graduated from the program and the joy she felt at how hard he has come through his overall development.  I learn very valuable strategies and skills from her at how well she interacts with the children, their families, and classroom management.  Gaining these skills within myself from watching and observing my co-teacher through this process, I have been rewarded in learning skills that I was unable to achieve at the early stages of my career.    Our relationship stays strong because we continue to support each other and share feedback with one another.  We support each others strengthens and weaknesses and offer advice when needed; its sort of like a marriage.

I have another wonderful relationship/partnership with my best friend Christine.  I met her when I was a student in the Engineering Program and she was in my English class.  She supported me and was a tutor to me for a particular class that I was having trouble in and she never stopped until I understood how to solve the problem.  No matter how much she helped and supported me for this class, it just was not meant to be and I flunked out of the program.  I have not regrets because now I have been in the field of early childhood education for about 13 years.  She supported my decision of changing schools and majors and continues to support me throughout our relationship.  I have supported her on many similar experiences within her life as she has for mine.  I find it very humbling to know that I have someone to go to and talk about what I am passionate about and she offers advice to guide me in the right path for decision making.

I have a great relationship with my mother.  She is my first teacher and will continue to be my teacher and offer advice and guidance when I need it.  She was been there to support my decision of partaking in the engineering program and not being successful to changing career paths to education and being as successful as I have been; despite some struggles and challenges I have faced within the field itself.  My mom continues to support my decisions on life my sharing her thoughts regarding it to help me see the pros and cons of the decision at hand.  I do the same for her and want the best for her now that she is getting older.  I want her to have the best care regarding her health and that meant the decision of changing doctors that cared more about their patients than just going through the motions of the job.  I support her to be the best person she can be and she does the same for me.

Some challenges that might arise in developing and maintaining relationships/partnerships with another person is lying to one another and not being able to connect to one another when there are no similar interests among the parties.  Or one person tries and makes the effort to make the relationship/partnership work while the other wants nothing to do with it.  Though at the same time I find it hard to answer this topic subject because I am dealing with this dilemma at the moment in my own personal life.

I feel that I am able to see the person for whom they are and respect their strengths and weaknesses that make the person who they are in this world.  We each bring something to the table (relationship/partnership) because of our experiences growing up and the way we were raised within our own families.  I find the relationship I have with my co-teacher is more like a partnership compared to the other relationships but I find that each relationship with another person can be considered a partnership.  When both parties are willing to put the effort in, be respectful, and offer advice that is positive and negative can really strengthen the relationship to the core.

I feel by understanding and knowing how much effort and willingness I but into my relationships with others in my life helps me in wanting to have strong relationships with the students and families that I will meet and work with for years to come.  By stepping out of your shell and trying to find one thing in common with other person can be a breaking point and help support a brand new relationship with a child and/or their families.  By reflecting on my past and history regarding relationships I find help and support me on connecting and bonding with the students and families really well.  I am able to know what turns others away and knowing too always be open, honest, and understanding as well as respectful to the other person will help keep the relationship strong.

When I Think of Child Development

"Diversity creates dimension in the world."  - anonymous

"Children need models more then they need critics."  - Joseph Joubert

"You can learn many things from children.  How much patience you have, for instance."  - Franklin P. Jones

Testing for Intelligence?

As a professional in the system already, I look at the whole child and all their developmental areas to start with.  I feel by looking at the whole child, a person will have a better sense and knowledge about the child and how to support them with the progression of their development.  By understanding the whole child its helpful to support a child's development; I believe the multiple intelligence helps support this idea because it focuses on all areas of development.  I feel the best way to assess a child is through observations and their daily interactions with peers, teachers, and their families.

In Japan they strive to have quality, high standards, and efficiency for all children in all grades. The have a system known as MEXT that supports the above statement for their children in schools of all ages.  Japanese children have some much knowledge in all areas of development, they sadly lack the thinking and learning by themselves or to apply their knowledge.  These children are focused on groups and lack individual motivation.  The Japanese school system is changing its focus from group motivation to individual motivation to support and encourage the children to motivate their individual self.

This quote stood out to me:  "I strongly believe that the lack of discipline from parents at home is the cause of our children's issues, not the performance of our teachers."

It amazes me that people are finally understanding that a child's first teacher is their parents or families, before their teachers.  I am surprised to know that in the Japanese culture that they would suggest this statement because of research in the Japanese culture families are very in-tune with their children's education and development.



References:

http://mabryonline.org/mglc/japan/archives/2006/10/japans_assessment_of_japanese.html

Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

The stressor I choose to speak about is Natural Disasters because I have experienced it myself, even though I was not a young children, I remember how it made me feel and how to overcome the experience.  My family had a family summer home up in Maine, near the border of New Hampshire and Maine that they built them selves.  I remember being up there with my grandparents before the new school year began, sitting at the kitchen table playing a game of cribbage while listening to the radio.  The weather was sunny and warm and during the game the weather outside changed.  The wind began to pick up and it started down pouring with the unexpected hail that came with this storm.  As my family began to get up and close the open windows and doors, I began to scream at what I was seeing along with my grandfather.  A large tree was picked up by an invisible force with the roots attached, the tree spun around, and with gentle ease placed on the forest floor without a loud sound coming from the drop.  Once this moment happened the storm had ended and we explored to see what damage was done.  There were 6 large fallen trees along the driveway and around the summer home along the forest line of trees.  The summer home, swing set, car, and other items were untouched by this storm that was later discovered to have been a micro-burst storm.  I have need had an experience like this in my life until that moment the storm came rolling in.  I felt that it made me more aware of my surroundings when a storm comes rolling in and what to expect can happen within a severe storm I experienced with my grandparents.  I am not afraid of severe storms, I am now on edge at what the final results of the storm will have and if it will be like the storm in Maine.  I do make sure that windows and doors are closed and locked when a severe storm rolls in because of the many trees that fall and got broken during the storm.

I choose to explore how many Japanese families deal with natural disasters and how it effects children's development.  I choose Japan because of my training in the martial arts that derived from Japan.  Japan had an earthquake and tsunami that devastated their country that effects the recovery of economic stability and the effects on each and every person who experienced this natural disaster.  Children in Japan who have experienced  traumatic natural disaster, researchers are able to altruistic and empathetic tendencies emerge. about 12 students are trying to support other children by an event called "Rebuilding Communities Together with Children," that highlighted the importance of children's voices to be hear regrading the experience and to help prepare future disasters.  When rebuilding its important to include the children in the process because it effects their development.  By listening and supporting children to express their feelings about the disaster because it effects them with detrimental impact on their long-term development.  Children are the future and they react in a similar fashion as adults do though their development plays a role in how much a child understands through major milestones in their life.  They created special conferences and meetings where children were able to express their thoughts, feelings, and opinions about the disaster and insights of preventing future disasters.

References:

http://unicefeapro.blogspot.com/2014/04/in-japan-children-help-prepare-for.html


  

Child Development and Public Health

I chose malnutrition because it is a chronic issue that affects one third of the children around the world (Berger, 2012, p. 154).  Malnutrition is categorized as protein-calorie malnutrition that occurs when a person doesn't consume sufficient food to sustain normal growth and development (Berger, 2012, p. 154).   Its sad to know that so many children in the world are malnourished and don't receive enough food.  In any culture or country all children and families should have enough food to eat but sadly this is not the case.  Malnutrition can cause stunting which is being short do to their chronic malnutrition keeping them from growing; which hits the poorest nations in the world (Berger, 2012, p. 154).  Another severe case of malnutrition for these children is wasting which is when children with severe underweight at their age and height (Berger, 2012, p. 154).  Malnutrition is a problem in all countries, even the United States.  I work for a Early Head Start Program and many of the children come from low or poor income families and its sad to see how much food they intake throughout their day at school.  Some children only receive a decent meal at school that supplies the children with breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon snack.  A few children ask for many helpings after their first helping because some families are in situations were they can't offer their children a nutritional meal.  Some families don't have jobs, some are homeless, and others put their money to more important things like prescriptions for ADHD, or bipolar, or any other reasoning to take a prescription for.  As a professional I support the families by letting them know of different places that offers meals and food to them for free.  Many of these places are food pantries and food kitchens that serve food to families.  To help prevent and support a turn around of malnutrition is to education families about the importance of nutrition and the causes and effect of malnutrition on young children and their future.

After doing some research about malnutrition I found that its still a extreme problem in the United Kingdom (Kids Company).  The article shared the 4 million children in low income households while half of those children are living in poverty (Kids Company).  I learned a new term from this article called food insecurity which is a term to describe the limited availability of nutritional adequate and safe food or uncertain ability to acquire food in socially acceptable ways (Kids Company).  It suggested that some children receive quality good food while at other times they receive poor quality food (Kids Company).  I truly feel bad that children in any country have to deal with malnutrition and deal with the issues malnutrition can cause for their development.  

I feel that I can help in some way to get this information out into the world for others to know how serious this topic is around the world.  I would want to find different ways to support these families and children to get the education they need to overcome malnutrition in their owns and life.  As a professional I would like to learn from these families and children what their ideas and suggestions would be to get this topic out into the open for discussion.  I would like them to share their stories for others to learn from and to help prevent malnutrition in our homes in the world.  No child or family member should know the effects of malnutrition and should be able to receive and have a well balanced nutritional diet at all times.

References:

Berger, K. S. (2012). The First Two Years: Biosocial Development. In J. Bayne (Ed.), The developing person through childhood (6th ed.). (pp. 127-159)  New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

Kids Company.  The Impact of Malnutrition on Children's Physical and Mental Development. Retrieved on May 17, 2014,

http://www.kidscoplatepledge.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/platepledge-the-impact-of-nutrition.pdf

Child Birth In Your Life and Around the World

I do not have a personal birthing experience to share.  I don’t have any children of my own and I never took part in a birthing experience of those who were pregnant.  The only birthing experience I can share is my own personal birth.  In order to share that story with others I had to speak with my mother to find out about her experience of child birth.  My mother had an ultra sound appointment and they check out the baby and the progress the baby was making.  My mother said the doctor focused on a certain spot that was low and began to become uncomfortable.  Went home for dinner and continued to feel uncomfortable.  After a while she started feeling and keeping track of her contractions.  Around 11 PM she called her doctor and went to the hospital.  My dad stayed out of the room and watched and waited in the waiting room until I was born.  I was born at 2:46 AM and delivery was very quick.  I feel that having a healthy and supportive pregnancy will help a child regarding their child development.  With the help and support from nurses, doctors, family members, it helps the mother, father, and child bond in a way full of love that is important for the child and how their child will develop once they are born.

I choose to speak about the Japanese culture of child birth around the world.  I learned that many Japanese women find out they are pregnant is by a doctor, at a women’s clinic.  Once the women finds out that she is pregnant she finds a mid-wife and they help support the women to prepare for delivery at the hospital.  The husbands are encouraged to stay in the waiting rooms or at home until the wives come back home with their new born.  The doctors encourage the women to have a low calorie diet and drink lots of tea.  The nurses/mid-wives follow the doctors’ orders and follow the hospital/birthing clinic policies to the book.  Once the baby is born the baby stays in the nursery for 3 days to give the mother time to recover on giving birth to their child.  The similarities are that a doctor can tell if a woman will be having a baby or not, though most women in the American culture learn through a pregnancy test from a store.  Many doctors encourage women to gain some weight and have a healthy diet for them and the unborn baby, but in the Japanese culture it is frowned upon to gain weight.  In the American culture that new born babies are able to stay in the room with the mother or can be sent to the nursery, it is all about the mother’s choice of wanting to bond with their child and breastfeed right away.  I find that each culture is very unique and their beliefs, values, and history of their culture play a large importance to prenatal care and development.

References:

Andy Gray. 2008. Giving Birth, Having a Baby in Japan.  Retrieved on May 10, 2014.  http://www.globalcompassion.com/japan-birth.htm

Thank You!!!

I know this is not part of the assignment but I wanted to share this with all the wonderful people I have meet through my first course of my Master's Program in Early Childhood Studies from Walden University.

I want to Thank each and every one of you for your help and support through this course.  I have learned so much from all of you that it has help me to reflect in a way that I never thought was possible.  I have learned how to share my experiences, passion, dedication, resources, with a community of Early Childhood Education Professionals in a new light that I am honored to be apart of and continue to be apart of.  It has been an honor to hear your stories, views, strengths and weaknesses, and what keeps you fighting for the children and families that you all work with to help them succeed.  I wanted to share that all of you in this course have inspired me to work harder with families and inspire them to be more involve in their child's early childhood education.

Thank you for each and every one of you being yourself and a true inspiration.  All of you will go far in the early childhood education field and make a real difference in the field as well.

Thank You!!!!

Codes of Ethics

The Codes of Ethics is a guide and responsibilities for those in the early childhood education field.

There were three ideals that spoke to me and have meaning to me in my professional life.

Ethical Responsibilities to Children

Ideals
I-1.8 - To support the right of each child to play and learn in an inclusive environment that meets the needs of children with and without disabilities.  I had the experience to work one-on-one with a child with a disability and I supported and encouraged her by modeling and explaining to her how to play with others, as well as to interact with other children in the classroom.  I supported the other children to engage with a child with disabilities and encouraged them they were no different than any other child in the classroom. 


Ethical Responsibilities to Families

Ideals
I-2.3 - To welcome all family members and encourage them to participate in the program.  I encourage families to come to the center to participate in their child's learning by joining their child for meal times, outdoor play, classroom activities (art activities), read them a story, and to share their culture with the entire classroom to expose the children to other cultures and for educators to have a better understanding of the family.  I want families to feel comfortable to partake in their child's learning and education.


Ethical Responsibilities to Colleagues

Ideals
I-3A.1 - To establish and maintain relationships of respect, trust, confidentiality, collaboration, and cooperation with co-workers.  I feel its very important for staff member to establish a working environment with trust, respect, and confidentiality, collaboration, and cooperation, because it will help support the children in their care.  When the staff members are on the same page they can work will to support those children who have challenging behaviors, partake in Early Intervention, and those who are developing nicely in their classroom environment.

Course Resources for Early Childhood

Part 1: Position Statements and Influential Practices

NAEYC. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/dap

NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on child abuse prevention. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/ChildAbuseStand.pdf

NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on school readiness. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/Readiness.pdf

NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on responding to linguistic and cultural diversity. Retrieved May 26, 2010, fromhttp://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/diversity.pdf

NAEYC. (2003). Early childhood curriculum, assessment, and program evaluation: Building an effective, accountable system in programs for children birth through age 8. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/pscape.pdf

NAEYC. (2009, April). Early childhood inclusion: A summary. Retrieved May 26, 2010, fromhttp://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/DEC_NAEYC_ECSummary_A.pdf

Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. (2010). Infant-toddler policy agenda. Retrieved May 26, 2010, fromhttp://main.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ter_pub_infanttodller

FPG Child Development Institute. (2006, September). Evidence-based practice empowers early childhood professionals and families. (FPG Snapshot, No. 33). Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://community.fpg.unc.edu/sites/community.fpg.unc.edu/files/imce/documents/FPG_Snapshot_N33_EvidenceBasedPractice_09-2006.pdf

Turnbull, A., Zuna, N., Hong, J. Y., Hu, X., Kyzar, K., Obremski, S., et al. (2010). Knowledge-to-action guides. Teaching Exceptional Children, 42(3), 42-53.

Part 2: Global Support for Children's Rights and Well-Being

Article: UNICEF (n.d.). Fact sheet: A summary of the rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Retrieved May 26, 2010, fromhttp://www.unicef.org/crc/files/Rights_overview.pdf

Websites:

World Forum Foundation
http://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/about-us

• This link connects you to the mission statement of this organization. Make sure to watch the media segment on this webpage

World Organization for Early Childhood Education
http://www.omep-usnc.org/

• Read about OMEP's mission.

Association for Childhood Education International
http://acei.org/

• Click on "Mission/Vision" and "Guiding Principles and Beliefs" and read these statements.

Part 3: Selected Early Childhood Organizations

• National Association for the Education of Young Children
  http://www.naeyc.org/
• The Division for Early Childhood
  http://www.dec-sped.org/
• Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families
  http://www.zerotothree.org/
• WESTED
  http://www.wested.org/cs/we/print/docs/we/home.htm
• Harvard Education Letter
  http://www.hepg.org/hel/topic/85
• FPG Child Development Institute
  http://www.fpg.unc.edu/
• Administration for Children and Families Headstart's National Research Conference
  http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/hsrc/
• HighScope
  http://www.highscope.org/
• Children's Defense Fund
  http://www.childrensdefense.org/
• Center for Child Care Workforce
  http://www.ccw.org/
• Council for Exceptional Children
  http://www.cec.sped.org/
• Institute for Women's Policy Research
  http://www.iwpr.org/
• National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education
  http://www.ncrece.org/wordpress/
• National Child Care Association
  http://www.nccanet.org/
• National Institute for Early Education Research
  http://nieer.org/
• Pre[K]Now
  http://www.pewstates.org/projects/pre-k-now-328067
• Voices for America's Children
  http://www.voices.org/
• The Erikson Institute
  http://www.erikson.edu/

Part 4: Professional Journals 

• YC Young Children
• Childhood
• Journal of Child & Family Studies
• Child Study Journal
• Multicultural Education
• Early Childhood Education Journal
• Journal of Early Childhood Research
• International Journal of Early Childhood
• Early Childhood Research Quarterly
• Developmental Psychology
• Social Studies
• Maternal & Child Health Journal
• International Journal of Early Years Education

Part 5: My Personal Additional Resources

Center on the Social Emotional Foundations for Early Learning

 http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/

• This link is focused on promoting social emotional development and school readiness of young children.  Along with resources for teachers, parents, and trainers.

Brazelton Touchpoints Center

http://www.brazeltontouchpoints.org/

• This link is focused on that all children grow up to be adults who can cope with adversity, strengthen their communities, participate in civil life, and nurture the next generation.  It supports ways to positive communication with families while respecting culture and diversity. 

Learning Language and Loving It: A Guide to Promoting Children's Social, Langauge, and Literacy Development in Early Childhood Settings (Second Edition, Weitzman & Greenberg, Hanen Early Languge Program, 2002).  It supported the birth of the Teacher Talk Series that help and support young children's language development.  

http://www.hanen.org/CMSPages/PortalTemplate.aspx?aliaspath=%2fHome