Getting to Know your Internation Contacts Pt 1

Initially I contacted Ms. Michele Berthelot, a regional specialist in education, from the Santiago, Chile office of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization. She responded within a few days informing me that she worked with adult education. She forwarded my contact information to her colleague and told me I could contact her. I wrote to Mrs. Rosa Blanco, the regional specialist in Inclusive and Early Childhood education, concerning the issue of poverty and how it impacts the work she does for the UNESCO and its population but I did not hear back from her yet. I am still holding out hope that I will be able to establish this contact and use it for future assignments.

I examined the website of the Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre’s page (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/) and read about the child poverty in Kyrgyzstan. I learned:

·         The funding for CHIP has been depleted but the website is still available for use by organizations and individuals for policy and advocacy purposes.

·         CHIP also coordinated with the Save the Children organization to help eradicate childhood poverty.

·         “Over 600 million children world-wide live in absolute poverty - an estimated 1 in 4. In many countries, rates are much higher with over 60 percent of children living in households with incomes below international poverty lines. Over 10 million children under five still die every year from preventable diseases - the vast majority of them in developing countries” (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/)

·         The CHIP website includes a photo gallery, case studies, and video clips of the four countries highlighted on the website.

Poverty, especially for young children, is far reaching. The statistical information given on the website is shocking. The fact that so many children suffer from being poor which contributes to malnourishment, lack of vaccinations, and low educational attainment is sad. One thing that I have taken away from exploring the websites is how important advocacy is and policy changes are needed in order to protect the youngest population.

Sharing Web Resources

I chose the National Black Child Development Institute, which has a local chapter in my city. This organization addresses issues concerning young children, specifically issues related to African-American children. However, the information is beneficial to all young children. The NBCHI website addresses the organizations initiatives which are literacy, child welfare, education, nutrition and health.

The current NBCHI newsletter has an article on autism that contained some statistical information I did not know. There was an article on speaking to young children about unemployment and the current economic situation in our country. It gave suggestions on what to say by the developmental age/stage of the child. That article related to the changing demographics and diversity because of families becoming more transit with the economic recession.

I read a position paper that the organization issued on protecting the benefit of pre-k programs by strengthening the transition to elementary school. After the third grade the educational gap between children that attended a quality preschool program and those that did not disappears. It is the position of NBCHI that school districts should structure elementary schools to have full day programs for preschool and kindergarten, and then transition families through the other grades to build on the foundation established.

Current NBCDI Newsletter

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

I decided to contact two individuals in order to expand my resources internationally. One of the professionals is from the United Kingdom and the other is in Chile. I will happily share if I hear back from them. I like the idea of communicating with other early childhood professionals in other parts of the world. How exciting!

The website and newsletter I decided to follow is the National Black Child Development Institute. This organization has a local chapter in my city and I have seen literature at my local library about events the organization participated in. The Detroit chapter president is also a director for NBCDI. The website list initiatives in literacy, education, health and nutrition that I am excited to learn about.

http://nbcdi.org/

My Supports

I am fortunate to have the support of family and friends that provide me with the help I need on a consistent basis. My mother helps me with my children; I can depend on her for child care, picking up from school and dropping them off at their extracurricular activities. My father is a financial support by providing my children with allowances and extra surprises. I recognize that I am blessed to have my parents, I know so many people whose parents are deceased. The benefit of having such supportive parents is I don’t have to rely on strangers to take care of my children when I am not able to. They are always in the care of people who love them and only want the best for them. If I did not have my parents as a part of my support I would feel lost.

I have great girlfriends that I can depend on to talk to when I need encouragement or someone to talk to. As an only child (biologically- I have step siblings) my long term relationships with my girlfriends are special to me. I have known them since childhood and they are like my sisters.

Over the last several years my family has been dealing with my stepfather’s depilating illness. His health deteriorated to the point of him losing control of his lower extremities. He is now totally wheel chair bound. It was difficult dealing with him during the challenges; when he could have changed his condition and use physical therapy he chose not to. So I have imagined myself with that type of challenge, the lost of my legs and the ability to walk. I know I would need supportive family like he has. A partner and children willing to arrange excellent health care, drive me places, and help with the small things I can’t do for myself. I also would need my support circle to encourage me and not enable me.  

My Connections to Play

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

“A person's maturity consists in having found again the seriousness one had as a child, at play” - Nietzsche

I grew up an only child so I played a lot by myself. Even when I was with my cousins, who were boys, I would play by myself. I had my favorite toys (pictured below) that I enjoyed. I loved playing board games, cards, and puzzles as well. I would always pretend to play with someone else. To this day I can play a game alone and not cheat! Play was important in my childhood because it’s what I did to keep myself company. I was a serious child even at play!

Children play differently now than when I was a child. We spent more time outdoors playing games like tag, hide ‘n seek, and riding bikes. Today children spend more time indoors playing video games or other electronics. I didn’t have my first video game until middle school; I was one of the first children in the neighborhood to have one.

There was a time in education when recess was disappearing and children weren’t getting the opportunity to play during the day. However, that has changed since society became aware of the health hazards of inactivity that children are experiencing. So with recess a part of the school day children are learning how to play with playground equipment and games with their peers they may not be exposed to at home.

Play in childhood helps develop the skills that we need in life as adults. While playing you learn how to compromise, patience, negotiate, time management, communication, and physical skills.



Barbie Dream House



Baby Doll



Big Wheel



Child Development and Public Health

I have been concerned about mental health and its impact on families for a few years. A number of students in my recent Kindergarten classes have been affected by mental health issues in their families. Either a parent suffering from some type of mental health issue or concern that the student may have a mental health issue. Understanding the challenges that families are enduring is important and will impact how you form a relationship with them.

In Ghana, Africa one in five children suffers from a mental disorder (Kleintjes, S., Lund C., Flisher, AJ, 2010). Policy makers and researchers are seeking ways to remove the barriers for people resisting treatment such as the stigma attached to disorders, low priority for treatment, and poverty. Families receiving treatment and early intervention face some of the same challenges that are seen in the Western world.  

An article in the Concord Monitor (Toumpas & Barry, 2009) points out that “research tells us that healthy emotional development is critical to a child’s health and well-being and greatly affects his or her ability to learn.” If children have experienced early trauma, abuse, or have an untreated mental health problem they may have trouble in the classroom socially and struggle academically. All children need the benefit of early intervention for mental health issues for the best chance of normal, healthy development during their early childhood years. These situations can greatly affect how you, as an educator, interact with the child and the family.  

Kleintjes S, Lund C, Flisher AJ. Afr J Psychiatry (Johannesburg). 2010 May;13(2):132-9.

Toumpas, N. and Barry, V. Concord Monitor. Concord, N.H. June 17, 2009.

I believe that children should be measured in all areas of development, i.e. social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development. There should be artifacts gathered as evidence that demonstrate the growth or lack of growth in all those areas. Children should not be subjected to standardized tests as the only measurement of what they know. It is important to offer a variety of ways for children to demonstrate their knowledge or skill in a particular area. There are so many factors that affect the performance of an individual on written examinations that it should not be the only reliable assessment.

In Ghana, West Africa children are given written exams to demonstrate subject content knowledge. They are given these tests only three times during their academic career.  The last exam that students take during secondary school (what we call high school) determines whether they can attend a university or a trade school. Although these exams attempt to measure that a child has acquired the understanding of the subject matter they have studied throughout their years in school, there is not a system to measure yearly growth or development other than subject content.

On the website www.modernghana.com writer John Ashie wrote:

“In most developed countries various forms of assessment is used during the school year. Diagnostic assessment is used to identify more precisely a student's need. Screening assessment before instruction begins to help teachers determine which students will need more support. Monitoring assessment is used to see if a child's instruction is on the right track and finally, the outcome based assessment or standard based assessment. Standard based assessment is what we lack in Ghana. Even though we have a curriculum and a guided syllabus there is no set up standardized test at each grade level.”

In contrast, some teachers in the U.S. complain of the formal, standardized testing. They don’t like funding being tied to the results or there may be too many tests given during the school year. It is important for teachers to provide the balance; gather student work, document informal and formal observations, and anecdotal records to create student portfolios that demonstrate student development and growth.

Information retrieved from: www.ghanawaec.org   and www.ghanawaec.org/