Personal Research Journey

Bilingual educatoin is a growing concern in public education.  Families are more diverse, and there is a growing Hispanic population in my own area.  As a result, teachers in the Head Start program are not equipped to work with bilingual children or children needing ESL programs.  Currently, there are only four teachers in the Head Start program that speak a second language.  Three of these teachers speak Spanish and are overloaded with Spanish speaking children.  Therefore, I would like to research the benefits of bilingual education in the early childhood learning environment.

My Supports

My Support:
I have several support systems.  My primary support comes from family.  They are there for me and they help me to cope with the problems in my life.  My family provides emotional and financial support.  They understand that sometimes I need a word of encouragement and sometimes I need money to make it out of tough financial situations. 

My friends also provide emotional support.  Friends listen to your problems and they talk to you when you are in need of friendship.  Friends are just like family to me, and I would not be where I am today with the help and support of good friends. 

My teachers are a support system in school.  The teachers help me to complete my educational goals. They provide support and advice so that I complete my assignments on time. They also provide feedback that I can use to improve my future work.

Oddly, my phone is a support device.  I store important numbers in my phone and I have contacts that I can call when I need them.  I do not think that I could remember all of the numbers in my phone; therefore, my contact page makes it easy to stay in touch.  I also use my phone for driving directions and for messages.  I even download my email to my phone. 

Challenge:
A challenge for me would be to divorce my husband.  During this process, I would need support from my family and my friends.  I know that divorce is an emotional challenge and a financial strain.  I would have to find somewhere to live and I would have to deal with the court process.  Therefore, I would need financial support from my family and emotional support from my friends and family.  I would also rely on my bank and my job to work with me as move through this transition in my life.  Since I would have to move, I would need housing near my job.

My Connections to Play

Play is important to children and their development. 

Quotes
"A child at play is a happy child"
"Play influences social development" Vygotsky

Connections to play
Play has always  been a part education.  When I went to school, we had recess.  During that time, children were allowed to play freely.  We played games and it allowed us to socialize.  As a result, children developed physically and socially.  Today, schools are trying to eliminate recess and play.  This will affect student development and the learning process.  Play can be creative or exploratory and it can be fun, so children need play to learn; it comes naturally to them.

Relationship Reflection

I have good relationships with several friends.  Relationships are important because people are part of my support system.  As a result, these relationships are important to me.  The factors that lead to good relationships are mutual respect and caring for each other.  When people work together to ensure that they each other are okay, they develop ties to each other.  For example, my friend Marianne works with me.  We help each other at work and provide support for each other. This strengthens our relationship because we trust each other.  Other important relationships for me include family and coworkers.

Family relationships are important becuase we help each other and provide emotional and financial support.  I work with family members to help take care of children in the family and to achieve goals in life.  Coworkers also work with me to achieve goals.  Another important relationship for me is my relationship with church members.  These people provide spiritual support. 

Final Blog Assignment

Consequences of learning about International Early Childhood

1.  International connections make it possible to learn about how issues affect the world.
2.  A global understanding of an issue such as poverty can help to solve domestic poverty issues.
3.  The exchange of information benefits all early childhood educators.

Goal for International Awareness

Early childhood professionals focused on international awareness should create a central website or newsletter that combines global research and information on solving world issues such as hunger.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

This week, I visited the UNESCO site.  I learned that UNESCO advocates for Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programmes that attend to health, nutrition, security and learning and which provide for children’s holistic development (UNESCO, 2011).  This site provides information about early childhood edcuation and other related areas to child development.  UNESCO also founded the first World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education.  This allowed various groups and organizations around the world to discuss issues on how to improve ECCE.  The site also provides resources and publications on various issues to child development.


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

Sharing Web Resources

Sharing Web Resources

In my research, I have mostly used childpoverty.org to find information about early childhood issues. This site provides a publication called, “Who Are America’s Poor Children?”  After reading and downloading this publication, I find several interesting facts about new research in early childhood education.  I also found a site called http://www.campaignforeducationusa.org/learn-the-issue-ece.  This site provides a link to information about initiatives for early childhood education on a global scale.  Based on what I have learned in the newsletter, poverty causes disparities in education and leads to achievement gaps in education.

References

childpoverty.org

Global campaign for education. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.campaignforeducationusa.org/learn-the-issue-ece