Sharing Web Resources Week 4

                My organization of choice is the Harlem Children’s Zone.  The information that seems particularly relevant to my current professional development for this week is investing in early childhood programs.  This is a good topic to compare with the Harlem Children’s Zone because Geoffrey Canada, the President of the Harlem Children’s Zone is doing whatever it takes to educate children and strengthen their communities.  In order for children to do well, their families have to do well.  And for families to do well, their community must do well (http://www.hcz.org).   This is why as educators we must work to strengthen families as well as empowering them to have a positive impact on their children’s development.  So we can see that it takes more than just educators to advocate for early childhood programs.  It will take the entire community which includes the parents, teachers, doctors, lawyers, and politicians.  The HCZ programs are absolutely free of charge to the children and their families and these programs are not funded by the government.  If Geoffrey Canada knows that investing in these children will produce a high rate of return later, what are we waiting on?  We can use the Harlem Children’s Zone as a model for where we want our school systems and communities to be and what we need to do to get there. 

            The information from the Harlem Children’s Zone website has made me see that having a dream for young children and their communities that will remove them from poverty can become a reality.  I have often wondered if it was possible for my community to improve and to produce children that will help strengthen our economy.  The HCZ allows me to see that this is possible.  We must develop the same attitudes as the Harlem Children’s Zone staff.  We must not give up hope.  The whatever it takes attitude is what we must keep in mind if we are going to help our children succeed.

            This website has shown the support of not only economists, neuroscientists, and politicians, but it has also shown the support of several of the United States President’s.  President Bill Clinton made a quote about the Harlem Children’s Zone that states “If you volunteer or give money to the Harlem Children’s Zone, you know you will get a high rate of return” (http://www.hcz.org).   President Barack Obama stated that “The Harlem Children’s Zone is an all-encompassing, all-hands-on-deck, anti-poverty effort that is literally saving a generation of children” (http:///www.hcz.org).   I am of the mind that if donated dollars to the Harlem Children’s Zone can produce high returns then governmental funds and grants can do the exact same thing for children as well.  Our objective should be the same as the Harlem Children’s Zone and that is to create a safety net woven so tightly that children just can’t slip through the cracks (http://www.hcz.org).

            The last thing that I gained from this site is the love and compassion that the staffs provide and show the students.  I love their attitudes and their whatever it takes motto. 

Reference

The Harlem Children’s Zone.   Retrieved from http://www.hcz.org

Getting to Know Your International Contacts

Getting to Know Your International Contacts

            I have not received a response from The National Early Childhood Development Alliance; therefore I will be using the alternate method that I chose.  I listened to The World Forum Radio where several early childhood educators communicated concerning poverty and how it affects children.  Tackling childhood poverty is critical.  One educator talks about how we as educators can spread awareness and how it will help the children and their families. 

            From listening to the World Forum Radio I have learned that poverty affects a big portion of communities all over the world.  The World Forum has educators from all over the world that participates in discussions of various topics within the Early Childhood field such as what impacts organizations and programs can have on poverty in communities and the impact that poverty has on children.  After listening to the educators speak on the subject of poverty I went to the website where I read that over 600 million children world-wide live in absolute poverty.  At least 60% of children are living in households that have incomes below poverty level (http://www.childpoverty.org). 

            In the developing countries over 10 million children die each year from diseases that are preventable.  This is due to poverty.  I have gained several insights from the radio and reading the website.  The first insight that I gained is that if we don’t help our children who live in poverty today, they will become parents to children who will also be in poverty tomorrow.  As educators we must spread awareness so that we can help break the cycles in poor families that has been passed down from generation to generation.  We can do this by simple educating the children.

            I have gain insight on what poverty is and what we can do to help eliminate it.  The best possible way to help eliminate poverty in our communities is by advocating to government leaders, senators, and others to keep the programs that start children to learning at an early age.  As we educate all children we make them aware of poverty and how important it is for them to receive the best education possible so that they can in return get good jobs to be above the poverty line, and this will allow them the opportunity to take good care of their families which brings them out of poverty.  The cycle can be broken and raising awareness is the answer. 

      

References

The World Forum Foundation.  Retrieved from http://www.childhoodpovert.org

 The World Foundation Radio.  Retrieved from http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/wf/radio.php

Sharing Web Resources

Harlem Children’s Zone

The Harlem Children’s Zone is an organization that resulted from the Harlem Children’s Zone Project.  This project was a unique, holistic approach to rebuilding a community so that its children could stay on track through college and become productive citizens in the job market.  The HCZ focuses on helping children, their families and the community.  Geoffrey Canada, the CEO, has reworked the strategy.  The strategy is to assist children by creating what they called a ‘conveyor belt” to take children and their parents from baby college to college.  The HCZ teach the parents to care for their children as they prepare their children for success, and this is done at the earliest possible age so that they can impact the children when they are easiest to touch (http://www.hcz.org).

                        The Harlem Children’s Zone has several programs that are included within their Early Childhood, Elementary School, Middle School, High School, prep for College, Family, Community, and Health, and Promise Academy charter Schools programs.  Another program that is very interesting to me is The Baby College.  This program is a nine (9) week program that works with expecting parents and those who are raising children up to three years of age.  It teaches the parents the importance of reading and it also teaches them how to use verbal discipline over corporal punishment.  They also promote a program that they call Get Ready for Pre-K program.  This program takes the children that will be enrolling in the fall to the Pre-Kindergarten program on a six week journey to prepare them for kindergarten.  I think that this is really great.  Another program is called the Harlem Gems.  This program is for pre-kindergarten children.  This program is designed to get these students ready for the kindergarten.  This program has three sites.  As you can see the Harlem Children’s Zone’s CEO and his staff are committed to assisting all children is reaching their full potential. 

            One issue that this organization has dealt with is poverty in the Harlem communities.  This is one of the main reasons this community based organization created the Harlem Children’s Project.  The Harlem Children’s Zone believed that the citizens in our country could not rely on the various programs that are offered to save children in the various communities (http://www.hcz.org).  This program assists over 10,000 children each year and has even communicated with other communities about creating programs similar to the Harlem Children’s Zone.  The Harlem Children’s Zone is winning the war over poverty.

            From studying this organization I also learned that the Harlem Children’s Zone is also diversity focused which is one of the topics we discussed in our lesson for this week.  The link for the Harlem Children’s Zone is http://www.hcz.org.

Reference

Retrieved from the Harlem Children’s Zone website http://www.hcz.org

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources in the Early Childhood Field

Establishing Professional Contacts

I am excited as I attempt to contact my two people from other countries that work as educators, administrators, or even on the government level who are interested in Early Childhood Education.  I have e-mailed to South Africa at cecd@iafrica.com and Armenia at ruzanna@sbsbf.am .  In my e-mail I explained that I am a graduate student at Walden University and that I am studying Early Childhood Education.  I explained that my assignment throughout the course I am taking which is Issues and Trends in Early Childhood Education requires me to stay in contact with two people in other countries in order to gain new perspectives of different issues as they relate to people around the world.  I asked them to participate in this assignment with me so that I could compare our issues and trends in the United States with those of South Africa.  I have not received any correspondence back but I am certainly hopeful that the professionals will respond back to me in a professional manner.  If I do not receive responses within the next week I will chose the alternate and contact the World Forum.

Expanding Resources

In choosing my Early Childhood website I randomly typed in the e-mail addresses to see how appealing the sites would look.  The most appealing site to me was the Harlem Children’s Zone.  This is the website that I will follow throughout this course.  I have signed up for the newsletter and I am awaiting confirmation of my registration.  I have already looked at some of the positive ground-breaking efforts that have been made at the Harlem Children’s Zone.  They have what has been named Baby College parenting workshops, the Harlem Gems which is their pre-school program, and I also read about an obesity program that they have to help children to stay healthy.  The website address for the Harlem Children’s Zone is http://www.hcz.org/ .

I look forward to bringing you, my colleagues updates on how this organization supports their Early
Childhood community and what resources it has to offer.

"My Supports"

My support system means everything to me.  I am the person that I am today because of my supports.

My mother is so supportive.  She is truly the wind beneath my wings.  She supports me by giving her love and support in all of my endeavors.  She supports me financially although I am now on my own.  She supports me by giving me the best advice in the world.  She has supported me by allowing my dreams to become her dreams.  Whatever I set out to do my mother has always been the one that backed me 100% and more.   I have great benefits because of her support.  I have graduated from high school and college because she supported me.  I am a passionate and caring person because she showed me so much love and support.  The best benefit that has come from her support is that I am reaching my full potential as a person.  Her goal was to make sure that I was able to become a productive person in society.  This mission is being accomplished.  Without her support I truly don’t know where I would be.  I just can’t even think of a time when she wasn’t there for me.  My mother would definitely have a great impact on my life when she is gone.  I know that she will leave me with good morals and values.  She will leave me with the most precious gift of all the ability to love and to be compassionate.   She will leave me with the ability to care for and nurture my children and to instill good morals and values in them.  She will also leave me with the ability to respect and love God. 

My cousin David is also supportive.  He is the younger version of my mother.  I always tell him that he is only three years older than I am and he laughs softly.  He is so wise beyond his years.  He supports me by encouraging me to continue my education.  We talk about goals, careers, and life more than any young people that I know.  He also supports me financially.  If I need money I can always call on him for assistance.  I am benefiting from his encouragement and support today because he encouraged me to enroll in Walden University to receive my Master’s degree.  This will be a big benefit for my future.  I will be able to make one of my dreams a reality and that is to own my own child care facility or to become an educator.

My co-workers are very supportive.  I am the new kid on the block on my job.  All of my co-workers support me by making sure that I have the knowledge and resources to do my job effectively.  They support me by making sure that my job is done when I am away.  I have benefited greatly from some of the older co-workers because they bring so much knowledge about the job.  They are enhancing my skills and giving the drive I need to succeed.   I could exist without them but it would be hard to and it would take a lot of additional time to learn what they have already taught me.  They impact my life by allowing me to see that hard work and dedication pays off. 

My personal friend is very supportive as well.  He supports me by being the one that I can talk to when I’m not having such a great day.  He is always there to listen.  His love that he shows makes me feel I can relax and be at ease about most situations that arise in my life.  He supports me by just being there for me.  The benefit of his support is that I have formed a lasting friend/relationship with the person that I love.   I think it would be kind of difficult if I didn’t have his support but I will still be able to exist without him.  The impact that he would leave with me if he was gone is to not be afraid to love again because we always talk about what would happen if one of us were not around for the other. 

 My challenge would have to be my future goal of owning and opening up my own child care facility.   My career goal to me will definitely be a challenge.  In order to make this goal become a reality, I will need financial support, my own attorney, and a good office manager.  I truly believe that I am very capable of making my career goal a reality.  My mother and my cousin will be a great support system.  My mother is an accountant and my cousin is a lawyer.  They are both supports that I know I can depend on.  I will definitely need to complete my course work at Walden University in order to have all the necessary skills that I need in order to run a successful child care facility.  Today Walden is a support because they are giving me the knowledge that I will need to successfully open up my own child care facility.  If Walden University was gone I would have to rely on another institution for my degree.  I don't know if I would get the professionalism and integrity that I am receiving from this institution.

My mother can assist me with the office and payroll and my cousin can give me legal advice in whatever aspect I will need it.  I will benefit from this because I will not have to pay them.  They will support me in whatever way they can to help me succeed in life.  If these two people were gone it would be a big challenge for me to do this alone.  I would need extra money to hire an attorney and an accountant.  By having my mother and my cousin I will benefit because I know that they both have my best interest at heart and I will not need as much start up money because I know that they will not ask to be paid.

"My Connections to Play"

QUOTES

Children need the freedom and time to play.  Play is not a luxury.  Play is a necessity.

-Kay Redfield Jamison

 Play allows you to gain personal growth, social skills, cognitive skills, physical skills, and it enhances children’s creativity.  When I was not able to play outside it really made me sad.  It was just as much a part of me as eating and sleeping was.

 Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning

-Fred Rogers

 Play gave me the opportunity to practice cooking and caring for my dolls.  This was important to me because my mother cooked for me and she nurtured and cared for me.  I mimicked my mother whenever I could while I was involved in play.

PICTURES

 

 

Playing with dolls was one of my favorite play times when I was in nursery school.  Taking care of my baby was very important to me because my mother nurtured and took good care of me.  Feeding was the most important play time for me.  I loved feeding my baby while she was sitting in my arms.

I always had someone with me outside and encouraging me to explore, but to be safe. I was the kid who was not afraid of picking up bugs, snakes or anything else and either trying to keep it or chasing the other kids around the yard with it in my hand.

SUPPORT

 When I was young teachers and parents supported play.  I can remember how my teacher would sit with us and pretend to eat what we had cooked on the stove.  She would move from one center to the other participating and interacting with the children as they played.  It appeared to me that the teacher enjoyed seeing us smile, interacting, and playing.  My mother also took time out to take me to the park often.  It was a joy to meet new friends at the park.  Some are still my friends today.  The swings and the merry-go-rounds were my favorite.  It was always a thrill to sit down on the merry-go-round while an adult pushed us around until we begged to get off.  There was so much parental engagement in play time when I was younger.  This was really great for us because we got to exercise, socialize, and grow up as healthy children. 

DIFFERENCES IN PLAY TODAY

 As I reflect back on play when I was in nursery school and preschool I get a good feeling that brings a smile to my face.  My experiences were great.  I can remember the various centers that we were able to play at that contributed greatly to my cognitive, social, and emotional skills.  For example when we played with the blocks we learned to count, recognized shapes, our alphabets, and the list goes on.  We learned how to socialize and interact with others, we learned what emotions were and we formed lasting relationships with other students and the teachers.  When we played on the playground we got a chance to exercise which allowed us healthy development.

Now play is not prayed upon.  In fact, a lot of parents are not even familiar with the different types of play and how it contributes to their child’s cognitive, social, emotional, and healthy development.  They are not educators so they don’t know what is involved in play.  Stands and benchmarks that most states develop clearly identify what is expected of students at the end of each grade including preschool (Geist, Baum, 2005).  Even in nurseries they have a curriculum that has been developed to identify what students should be taught.  So the play that we had has been chopped down greatly.  Students still have play but the time is so limited.  We played it seems forever.  It appears that no one is concerned about what is best for the child anymore.  Everything that teachers do is about getting the subject introduced and staying on target with what they have to introduce next.  Sometimes students are left behind because they have not mastered the concept.  Teachers still have to move on.  So my question is how we can say that No Child is Left Behind when in fact they are.  I sincerely hope that we can advocate making others see how important play is in child care centers, nursery schools, preschool, and school. 

Why?  Because children do learn a significant amount from each other while they are playing and they form relationships lasting relationships that allows us to have better schools, and communities.  As we advocate I hope that others will recognize that play is needed and reinstate it to its norm.  That means play inside the class and recess as well.  The difference in my play then and the play now has taken a drastic change.  I played with dolls, doll houses, and cooked on play stoves.  Children today play with electronic games.  Most have IPOD’s, IPhones, and IPads at an early age.  This to me isolates them from most real social interactions.  Although they can face time people it just seems that the one on one contact in the classroom worked better for me.

THOUGHTS OF PLAY

I feel the role of play in my life was very instrumental in me becoming the passionate, caring, and intelligent person that I am today.  Play allowed me the opportunity to learn, share, care, and have a healthy lifestyle.  Play also allowed me the opportunity to form relationships with people whom I still interact with today.  It allowed me the opportunity to mimic my mother in cooking and caring for others which I think is really important.  It enhanced my cognitive skills by allowing me to learn colors, numbers, geometric shapes, and measurements by playing with the sand.  Play also allowed me the opportunity understand others emotions when they were not happy.  Throughout my childhood play in school was the one thing that taught me how to share.  Because I was an only child it was very hard for me to share with others.  In spite of my mother’s teaching me to share it was still a difficult task until I observed others sharing during play at school.  Being able to be creative and having your imagination working overtime was another positive impact of play during my childhood

References

Geist, E., & Baum, A. (2005). Yeah, But's that keep teachers from embracing an active curriculum. Young Children, 60(4), 28-36.   Retrieved from the Walden Library using the ProQuest Central databaseRetrieved from http://www.thestrong.org/about-play/play-quotes

Retrieved from https://www.google.com/search?

Relationship Reflection

        Relationships are important to me because I know that we need others to survive.  Without my mother, cousin, teachers, Godmother, and others in my life I would be a loner.  I can't imagine never interacting with these people.  They are my reason for succeeding in life.  Without these people in my life helping me to set goals, supplying my needs, and encouraging me I would not be able to reach my full potential.  I have gained trust in all of these people and because of this we spend a lot of quality time together.

       My mother and I have the most important relationship in my life.  She has been the driving force in my life since I was born.  She has instilled good morals and values in me.  Her positive attitude and her commitment in assisting in me being the best that I can be is the most influential and positive role model that I need.  Because of her love, support, dedication, and her commitment to serve at all of my school plays, programs, classroom activities, and athletic functions, she will always be my best friend and partner. 

        My cousin Abe and I have a close bond.  We established our relationship when I was in the seventh grade.  He has always given me encouraging words, and has passed on his positive attitude to me.  He has assisted me with homework assignments, and supported me at every event that I was a part of.  He also encouraged me to start my studies at Walden University.  Because of his time, love, support, and encouragement I am now on my third course at Walden University.  I wanted to sit out for a year after I received my BS but he insisted that I continue my educational journey and so I did.

        My Godmother whom I call Momma Carter and I have a relationship that is just as close as my biological mother.  She is the one that stressed reading at an early age.  She always took me to the public library to check out books to read.  Our relationship is wonderful because she always gave me the push I needed to read my books.  Because she pushed me so much I received the reading award which was a  pin that I still have to this day.  I often take it out of my drawer in look at it.  It was the best accomplishment for me as a first grader.  She showed me love, support, and she gave me so much of her time.  She is another positive factor in my life.

        Some of the challenges to developing and maintaining relationships came when I was in the eleventh grade.  The time my mother spent with me had to be adjusted when my brother was born.  This was a big adjustment for me because for seventeen year I had all of her attention.  Now I had to share it with my baby brother.  I was so used to having my mother all to myself.  She assured me that she loved us both equally and I soon adjusted but it was a challenge for me.  The other challenge for me was the communication that I had with my cousin was cut short when he went to law school.  He was always my listening ear.  I could talk to him and he would listen before he analyzed the situation.  That has also been resolved because he is out of Law School and is now the Assistant District Attorney for my hometown.  We talk often and so our relationship is still standing.

       I see love, trust, support, kindness, and encouragement as some of the special characteristics that has made our relationships partnerships.  All of these characteristics have enabled me to develop to my fullest potential.  My success is because of the relationships/partnerships that I developed with my mother, cousin and Godmother. 

        My experiences with relationships will impact my work as an educator in a positive way because I know that as an educator I must be able to communicate well with others, be kind, show love and concern, and be very encouraging.  I must be willing to give more of my time to assist my students and their parents so that we can form positive relationships.  I will do my best to build positive relationships with my students and their parents because I know that it is the key to social and academic success of the children (Rudasill, K., Rimm-Kaufman, S. 2008).  When we all work together collaborative the results are always in the favor of the students which is academic success.



Reference

Rusasill, K., & Rimm-Kaufman, S. (2008). Teacher-child relationship quality: The roles of child's temperament and teacher-child interactions.  Early Childhood Research Quarterly. 24(2). 107-129 Retrieved from the Walden Library using the ProQuest Central database.