Websites and additional resources

The website I am exploring is www.naccrra.org 

·         What specific section(s) or information seemed particularly relevant to your current professional development?

• Currently I am speaking with a professional overseas on a Dodds school, mixing that with a sister whose husband is in the Marines, the military assistance program was something I wanted to explore further.  A number of centers that I am associated with accept NACCRRA assistance and I believe it to be a great thing!  Providers must meet standards and apply to be a part of the NACCRRA program.  Also, the amount of support given by NACCRRA is “Fee assistance amounts vary by program. For many programs, your fee assistance will be based on your total family income and provider rate” (NACCRRA, 2012).  Families in more of a need will receive more assistance than others.

·         Which ideas/statements/resources, either on the website or in an e-newsletter, did you find controversial or made you think about an issue in new ways?

• One area I thought was pretty controversial was the support and lack thereof for politicians.  In my opinion, when organizations get too involved in political stand points it takes away from the objective of that organization.  If the focus is on children, allow the focus to be on children . . . not taking the opportunity and podium to voice one’s opinion or slanted version of people.

·         What information does the website or the e-newsletter contain that adds to your understanding of how economists, neuroscientists, or politicians support the early childhood field?

• Reading some of the articles posted on the website, NACCRRA includes in their posts the politicians that voted in favor of bill/act/law.  One area that was slightly shocking to me, I thought more states required child care professionals to pass some form of a background check.  Understanding more now “The Child Care Accountability and Responsibility Act of 2012 (CARE for Kids Act) calls on states to conduct a fingerprint check against federal and state records and the sex offender, child abuse and neglect registries” (NACCRRA, 2012).

·         What other new insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field did you gain from exploring the website or e-newsletter?

• Taking advantage of the “Media Kit” on this website offers a large array of information.  Information on advocacy, products/services, and partnerships.  Any chance to grow in resources within this field is a chance that should be quickly taken advantage of!

This week communicating with my International contacts, I wanted to hear about some of their additional resources they use to enhance their curriculum.

Questions that began our discussions:

What types of resources does your school offer for enhancing your curriculum?

What are your favorite websites or additional resources that you prefer to use?

·         Kathryn Wonnacott – Belfast, Ireland, Nursery Asst. in a preschool of 3’s – 4’s with 52 children within the school.

o   Awaiting to hear back from Kathryn as of 05.25.2012

·         Lina Vasquez – Pre School teacher in Colombia

o   Continuing information regarding poverty:  in my community the families have many resources, but when they enter schooling that requires money they turn out to be affected and move for the one who is going to pay the school and these things, these days the families suffer very much!  My school also provides psychological guidance to families and at times when it is a possibility (due to money) they buy insurance at beginning of year to help them in those moments and covers for the rest of the study.

o   We use a program called SISBEN in our school we are implementing ICT in the classroom. We handle the artistic portion; we strive to teach through play.  Assembly of artistic portion: the teachers handle the conceptual content and are way more creative.  Our organization has the pedagogic model, something that has part of the spiritual, academic and concerned with the part of

·         Melanie Buckley – Germany Dodds school system (Department of Defense schools usual locations are on military bases both state side and overseas)

o   Upon returning to Germany from visiting her father, Melanie will return communication as she catches up on her obligations.  If she answers before this week is over I will update the blog.

·         Crystal Trigaux – Incheon, South Korea,2^nd level teacher (In American terms equivalent to 2^nd grade)

o   Crystal is away on “holiday” this week.  I will be in contact with her next week.

·         Katie Meyler – Monrovia, Liberia (founder of “More than me foundation”, an organization that assists girls in West Africa to get off of the streets and gain an education)

o   Upon posting this, unable to reach Katie.  If communication is opened, I will update promptly.

Poverty

Poverty

According to dictionary.com poverty is:

pov·er·ty   [pov-er-tee]  noun

1.   the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, ormeans of support; condition of being poor. Synonyms:privation, neediness, destitution, indigence, pauperism,penury. Antonyms: riches, wealth, plenty.

Communicating with the international colleagues this week was enlightening in some areas.  It’s very intriguing being able to understand our professional field in these different areas of the world through the eyes of those that are teaching it.  The below information is conversation back and forth put into context.

Questions that began our discussions:

Does your school and/or community see a high number of families with economic struggles?  Poverty?  Low income that places parents in hardships when it comes to the education of their child?

Does your school assist these families with tuition or any form of assistance?  Does the government assist if the school isn’t able to?

·         Kathryn Wonnacott – Belfast, Ireland, Nursery Asst. in a preschool of 3’s – 4’s with 52 children within the school.

o   Application priority is given to families who receive state benefit ie those who are out of work because they can't find work or are too ill to work. These children usually make up about half of our nursery. (Reminder, nursery is what this region refers to as preschool ages 3 – 4).  These children are also entitled to free school meals at nursery while other pay £10.50 a week. Everyone pays a voluntary £4 a week for school funds and other than that we are government funded. However the more free school meals children we have forms a base for our funding the following year.  Each year the school must supply documentation of families in need for both school lunches and children in need of additional specialists coming within the building for assistance.

·         Lina Vasquez – Pre School teacher in Colombia

o    Help is offered to the families of economic struggles, women are of high “strata” and go through this process, and the Government does not help.  Medellin (the town from where she is from) there are many households with nuclear families, but these families are not from homes of adults, young households are those who live this problem.  (an easier translation of this is that younger couples that have children tend to have a lot of disagreements within the home)  The majority of couples are married because there is already a child, few are planned they plan the same.  Couples live together and have no children because they are unsure if they want them or of their relationship, these couples (partners) offer major stability to the children when children do come as they are wanted and wished for instead of happening then the couple ends up having to marry.

·         Melanie Buckley – Germany Dodds school system (Department of Defense schools usual locations are on military bases both state side and overseas)

o   I haven't seen a dramatic change in our demographics, however they fluctuate pretty frequently because we're a transient community - being a Dodds school - our families are generally only stationed here for 3 years so the population is constantly changing. 

There is a good deal of diversity in our classrooms, both ethnically and racially. Again, this directly reflects the military community in general. We have a number of ESL students - where one parent or the other comes from a Hispanic, Asian or German background. I don't think that this diversity affects our school community in a negative way - on the contrary, I think that it lends itself to a sense of open-mindedness and a lack of cliques that I've observed in stateside public/civilian schools. 

As far as low-income students - we do see a difference in students who come from very young families (which would also mean from lower ranking soldiers = less pay). I'm not sure if their finances make the difference in their child rearing skills, or if it's just a lack of maturity. The military has an excellent support system to ensure that children/families are provided the very basic needs. They also offer many services (for free) that would not be as readily available in the civilian world - i.e. financial classes for parents, parenting classes, child care services (low or no cost), low cost extra-curricular activities for students including sports, dance & artistic classes, etc. There is a free/reduced lunch program that anyone E-4 and below qualifies for, and we have WIC available for the same demographic. With all of that provided, however, we still see students coming to school under dressed, without proper lunches, lacking sleep/structure/supervision...so it's hard to say if it's a reflection on finances or their experience. I will say that if we have a consistent problem with a family - once we contact their Command there is usually a swift solution.

·         Crystal Trigaux – Incheon, South Korea,2^nd level teacher (In American terms equivalent to 2^nd grade)

o   The cost of tuition is just the way of life/ cost of things in Korea. All Korean education is expensive... no scholarships/ no poverty... I am in Korea to make money to go work within impoverished situations... The school year ends in September... No poverty at my school, of course...I dont mean that about all schools.. I am not sure about others, only my own. I have been told our school is well known and sort of has the creme de la creme so to speak. I wasn’t aware of that going in, but I am glad at least that I am at a school where I am getting paid etc. We do get paid well, but the salary is about the same as in US for a teacher. I don’t have a teaching degree of course/ only missions and economics...so it’s a better job for me here, in that I am not working some 10 to 15 dollar and hour job like in the U.S. and I don’t have a teaching certificate. 

§  Crystal described the pay to me as the school paid for her to fly to the country (Korea) and they will pay for one return trip home for “holiday” while also paying for her return flight at the end of contract.  School is over in September and she was offered to re-sign on for another year.  Most teachers within her school are moving on to another region of the world as with the company she is with you must begin teaching in a “less desirable” area in order to transfer to a different more desirable location.  On top of being paid a salary equivalent to a US teaching salary, the school supplies housing.  Her only bills are food.

·         Katie Meyler – Monrovia, Liberia (founder of “More than me foundation”, an organization that assists girls in West Africa to get off of the streets and gain an education)

Upon posting this, unable to reach Katie.  If communication is opened, I will update promptly.

Changing Demographics and Diversity

Changing Demographics and Diversity

This week I communicated with my contacts through a few questions.  They’re answers were quite intriguing.  I’ve really enjoyed communicating with them and growing in their areas of work in their different regions of the world.  It’s amazing and shocking to discuss some of these differences.  Below is a smaller portion of our communications.

Questions that began our discussions:

Have you seen a change in demographics of your students throughout your school or class?

What type of diversity is within your school or classroom setting?  How does this affect your class if any affects?

·         Kathryn Wonnacott – Belfast, Ireland, Nursery Asst. in a preschool of 3’s – 4’s with 52 children within the school.

o    Our children only attend for one year and then move to a new school, we are based in a working class area and the majority of children are from the local area. Over the last few years we have seen a sharp increase of children with language problems.  Recently also we have had a few children of foreign nationals, they have English as their second language. This provides a lot of speech difficulties and communication problems.

·         Lina Vasquez – Pre School teacher in Colombia

o    When we speak of the student population of preschool age we find variants related to preschool children and schools, few children start schooling in institutions that cover the entire academics and prefer pre-school more small with more personalized instruction.  Classes notice many changes relating to children who enter quickly due to two parents working and others that his first year of schooling is preschool, this indirectly affects the classroom diversity of age and hideout.  IE; in my group are 32 children of which 17 came from other locally known pre-schools they know, write the numbers and count and know to write his name. The rest of the population departed from 0 which means that the Group should be leveled and therefore the processes behind.  Also we have a symptom of unaccompanied children, most are separated couples, incredible that children from age 4 are living these processes, in particular that affects them, be alienated and many take attitude of violence against their fellow or just want to have MOM by his side types of diversity.

·         Melanie Buckley – Germany DoDs school system

o    Unable to reach this week as her father is hospitalized and she is bed side with him.  My thoughts and prayers are with her and entire family!

·         Crystal Trigaux – Incheon, South Korea,2^nd level teacher (In American terms equivalent to 2^nd grade)

o    The demographics don't really change, because Hagwons (Korean private school) run for more business than school. They will accept anyone who will pay, so the kids are sometimes very poorly mannered and because the expense is high, they are of mostly for the upper "echelon" of Korean society ie they all dress similarly in super expensive Tommy Hilfiger brands, etc. (Sorry to be blunt about it...I feel like this sounds so negative, but it's just the truth where I work/ not all schools are like this in Korea.)- My students are usually all Korean/ we don't much have mixed students or students of other nationalities. This may be partially because of racism in Korea, and the lower income of those of different races/ lack of equal opportunity here.) I think the homogenous effect is not always good. It teaches students that they are in fact privileged/ reinforces their bad behaviors, and sets them up for future failures if they think that because they have this fancy education, then they will most-certainly make something of themselves in life in the future. It is my understanding that though the students I teach are hard workers, because we do not "kick-out" or specifically offer one on one tutoring to those who fall behind (Korean parents do not like to hear that their kids are behind, so schools will often not even share with non-English speaking parents, that their children are not adequate in their learning.) That many student's parents will spend as much for Kindergarten at a Hagwon (Korean private school), as an American might pay for one year at Harvard University...and the child will continue into higher expense post graduate schools...graduating with little ability/ and not creating any greater job opportunity for themselves. The students lacking interaction with people of other races/ cultures, often makes them unable to relate to me as a teacher, and creates negative / lack of submissive qualities and stereotypes for them, in the learning process. Korean hagwons are trying to get rid of their need for foreign teachers actually, by training nationals to be able to proficiently teach English, so as to fill in the cultural gap...but I personally think this will only serve to create more ignorance and cultural bias/ cultural bigotry in a country which already seems (unlike my experience in a lot of other Asian countries,) to think that it is in some ways "better" "more intellectually adept," "superior in many ways" to cultures around them, and around the world.

·         Katie Meyler – Monrovia, Liberia (founder of “More than me foundation”, an organization that assists girls in West Africa to get off of the streets and gain an education)

o   Upon posting this, unable to reach Katie.  If communication is opened, I will update promptly.

NACRRA Website

NACRRA (National Association of Child Care Resources & Referral Agencies) is an organization whose vision is “A nation that supports the development and learning of all children” (NACCRRA, 2012). Mission: “To promote national policies and partnerships to advance the development and learning of all children and to provide vision, leadership, and support to community Child Care Resource and Referral” (NACCRRA, 2012).

NACCRRA Benefits:

·         Discounts on NACCRRA’S National Child Care Policy Symposium (five staff)

·         Discounts on Leadership and Professional Development Institutes

·         Electronic communications: Capitol Connection and other timely actions alerts, NACCRRA e-News to keep you informed of all the latest initiatives, training, and news about CCR&R.

·         Exclusive ability to purchase NACCRRAware suite of data and information services

·         Preference to purchase NACCRRAs Child Care Aware Training Academy™ portal

·         Discount on Child Care Aware Training Academy™ Training for CCR&R professionals

·         One free copy, and discounts of additional copies of NACCRRA publications

NACCRRA Link news magazine

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

"Establishing Professional Contacts" 

·         Kathryn Wonnacott – Belfast, Ireland, Nursery Asst. in a preschool of 3’s – 4’s with 52 children within the school.

·         Lina Vasquez – Pre School teacher in Colombia

·         Melanie Buckley – Germany DoDs school system

·         Crystal Trigaux – Incheon, South Korea,2^nd level teacher (In American terms equivalent to 2^nd grade)

·         Katie Meyler – Monrovia, Liberia (founder of “More than me foundation”, an organization that assists girls in West Africa to get off of the streets and gain an education)

I have chosen to connect with a larger number of educators overseas as my husband and I travel frequently overseas and to learn and meet new people is always a great thing!  I have also connected with new educators that I have not yet met by posting on a social network asking for assistance to connect with educators within the field overseas.  I received an overwhelming response of people and have chosen the first 5 that responded to me.  I am looking forward to new areas of the world that I have not yet traveled to or assisted in an educational manner.

"Expanding Resources," 

I have chosen to further my knowledge with the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies  @ www.naccrra.org.  My purpose for desiring to look into this organization further is that I do not have a strong knowledge of it and it being a leading organization within the field; I want to further my knowledge of it.

For my colleagues at Walden:

What are you hoping to gain from communicating with professionals around the world?  What types of questions or topics will you discuss?