Reflecting on International Trends

Over the past 8 weeks I have studied and learned about issues and trends from a global perspective. I have listened to many different stories from around the world via pod casts. I started this class trying to communicate with other educators around the world but quickly realized how extremely difficult that task is given a language and time barrier.

The first insight that I learn when learning about education around the world is that no matter where you live or what the background you have, education is a passion. People teach because they have a passion, the want to educate and help others learn what they know. All over the world people are teaching day in a day out and sometimes for nothing but a smile. This is what I think teaching should be about, it's about making a difference in a child not matter your situation or theirs. Children are often too stressed about their personal lives and need a teacher to help them feel successful in their own way.

The second insight that I had is that poverty is all over the world, not just where we most expect it. Doing the research and seeing how many children in my own state live in poverty is shocking to me. There has to be something more that government officials can do around the world to get children in schools and educated. This is only of the reasons that in my own state of Nevada we are pushing for full-day kindergarten funding. The children coming into school are no where near ready and need a full day of school instead of just a half. We can't start them off only giving them 50%.

The third insight that I had is that it is extremely important for teachers and educators to continue their education. Educators always need to stay up on best practices and educational teachings. They need to make sure that they are high quality teachers and know how to best educate children no matter what their ability level. This is part of the reason why I decided to go back to school. I want to be as educated as possible for myself, my families and my students. I think that it is extremely important to continue to have staff development and educational resources for anyone that works with children.

The goal for continuing my education is to continue to research and study different educational systems in the world. I will try to remain in contact with other parts of the world and also try to develop new contacts. One of the goals that I have always had is to teach in another country and help educate children. I still think that it would be an amazing opportunity to build relationships with teachers in other countries and share teaching experiences in their communities.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

This week I listened to the podcast from George Forman. He is from Monroe, Louisiana and has a doctorate in developmental psychology. He is now a professor and observes children in play. He likes to learn about children through play and why it is important. He believes that in preschool education children should have the change to learn things in terms of verbs. Instead of always asking children, "What is this?" Ask them why or how something happens and to show you. He also believes that children learn more through their imagination and should be allowed to play. I truly believe that children should learn through play and using their imagination, especially in the younger ages.

After listening to the podcast I looked at UNESCO's "Early Childhood Care and Education webpage. Under the news on this webpage, there was an article about what the most important skills that a child should learn. I was expecting the skills to be reading and math but what they really were surprised me. The first skill was Know about their Culture, Children need to value and respect their culture because it is what keeps families glued together. When you know your culture you are close to your family and you family is your first teacher. Within your culture you also learn about respect and values. The second skill that children should learn vocal skills so that they can be a good citizen, employee and educational leader. The third thing that a child should learn is to be critical thinkers about who they are and how they relate to the world around them. They must learn to be literate and numerate, be problem solvers and resilient. I think these are great skills for children to learn and they will help lead them to a successful life. 

Sharing Web Resources

I have been looking at the website Save The Children. This week i took a deeper look into the Ways to Give tab. This part of the website explains where your donations go and in what ways it helps children in need. Donations to this website help children receive proper nutrition, have safe drinking water, allow them access to medical assistance and also schooling. There are many different ways to donate to to support the children in need, you can even start a fundraiser.

One of the newsletters that I received this week is on allowing children in need to receive proper medical care. The newsletter discussed the new proposal which can help frontline health workers, also known as soldiers, continue to save lives. They included 3 different options for activists to help speak up and support the proposal in congress.

This week I have learned about equality in the childcare system. Save the Children gives every child that they support the opportunity to learn. They have teachers that are well trained in best practices and also offer parents and volunteers the chance to help in educating the children in the classroom. Their goal is to make sure that children don't stop learning even though they fall on rough, stressful times.

This week I have learned that there are so many people out there, that are willing to help children in need. They are there to make sure that children and well educated and continue to grow their education. It makes me thankful for the people that are willing to go into these areas and teach and work with these children and their families. Who knows what would happen to these children without them.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

This week I listened to a podcast from Maysoun Chehab. She is a regional Early Childhood Care and Development Program Coordinator at the Arab Resource Collective. She works with other professionals to raise awareness of early childhood and working to teachers to teach best practices. One of the most rewarding projects that she has worked with was the July 2006 War on Lebanon. It was a war that lasted for 30 days and effected many children and parents. During the war 126 schools were totally destroyed. When the war stopped she went in and trained parents and teachers about post traumatic situations. They teach many different coping strategies and ways to help the children over come their fears. This is a very interesting position to me because I couldn't imagine  living in an area that was completely destroyed by war. It is hard enough sometimes to teach children just coming from low-income families. I couldn't imagine how difficult it would be to also teach children who have lost everything and have post traumatic stress.

I next took a look at Harvard's Global Children's Initiative. Looking at this website I was kind of taken back that there was such a concern for children's mental health, but I can absolutely see why it is needed. Children need help identifying their problems with the help of a well qualified doctor. Thankfully Harvard is there to help assist in this matter. After taking this course I am more aware that their are children in need. Harvard is taking the initiative to work for children in crisis across the world. Right now they hare focusing a lot of the aftermath of earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. The third thing that I looked at on this website is that Harvard  is trying to incorporate educational trainings into their projects. They want to help build support for their members and the families and countries that they are working with and they want to give more opportunities to provide leadership in these areas all over the world.

Resources:
http://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/current-work/world-forum-radio/
http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/