Final blog

I have enjoyed this class and learning from my classmates. I have found many resources that will be helpful for me once I am in my own classroom. The consequences that I have seen during this course have been rather positive ones. The first one that I see is that governments internationally are involved with in the education process. Everyone values education and has much of the same goals for the children. Governments around the world are making sure that children receive the education that they need and deserve. The second consequence that I notice is that families want their children to have success and have a better future than they have had. I also realized that families turn to Early Childhood programs so that their children can receive an "early" start on education and gain a better start than what the parent may have had.

UNESCO website

Unfortunately, I did not receive a response from my international contacts so I reviewed the UNESCO website to learn a little more about early childhood in the international realms. 

The first insight that I gained from the website is that education in most countries is considered a privilege that the rich children take part in. The children in poor families must stay home from school in order to help work the fields, or do other jobs that contribute to the basic needs of the family.

The second insight that I gained from the website is that  on literacy. It seems that I take things of this sort for granted many times but the other countries have no idea what literacy is. The numbers are shocking to me. The website said that 1 in 5 adults are not literate and 2/3 of them are women. UNESCO has tried to keep literacy at the top of their list when it comes to important topics but with 793 adults still not literate, reaching to goal of all becoming literate is a hard target to reach.

The third insight that I gained from the sight is that the governments have issues with dealing with early childhood. Education is placed in different sectors such as health and social sectors. Effective coordination must exist between the two but in many cases does not exist. The issues seen with developing and developed countries is finding a holistic approach to early childhood education.

Source -

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

Exploring Resources

While I was researching the NAEYC website, I found a link to the National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education. (http://www.ncpie.org).  The NAEYC has a wealth of resources however, this site caught my interest since it is on parent involvement.

The mission of the NCPIE is to foster relationships between home, school, and community to enhance the education of all young people. Parents and teachers need to have an open line of communication at all times. Teachers can encourage parents to get involved in different activities through the school, get involved in projects sent home with the child, Teachers can also suggest ideas that co-inside with the lesson of the day so that the students and family can interact and learn together. Parents are their child's advocate, so it is important that they get involved in their child's education and understand what is expected of their child.

I have not yet recieved a newsletter from NAEYC but I plan to research and read more about it so that I can have resources at hand. I am new to the early childhood field, so I soak up all resources that I can.


The insights that I gained from the NCPIE website was that parents are important roles in a child's education. I also realized once again that many times parents are not sure as to what to do when it comes to getting involved. The website offered many ideas that made it easy for parents to get hands on with their child's learning. The resources provide a wealth of information to parents, caregivers, and even to educators to help provide the best learning  environment for the children.

Global Children's Initiative

The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University has a wealth of information for the Early Childhood Professionals, parents, or those interested in the early childhood field. There were several sites on the website that include a wealth of information these include: Science of Early Childhood, Understanding Intervention, Global Development, and Foundation of Lifelong Health.  I found all of the topics interesting but the one that stood out the most was Foundations of Lifelong Health. The article stated " Health in the earliest years—beginning with the future mother’s well-being before she becomes pregnant—lays the groundwork for a lifetime of vitality. When developing biological systems occur in an environment of positive early experiences, children have a greater chance to thrive and to grow up to be healthy adults." The article just goes to prove how important positive experiences are for young children. Many times parents think "oh, he/she is too young to remember this or that..but in reality each experience affects the child's development rather for the good or bad.


The Second topic that I found of interest was Understanding Intervention. Harvard University explains the importance of intervention and why it is needed within the field of Early Childhood Education. Intervention. Understanding Intervention also gives an understanding of why intervention is needed and the outcomes that could be produced if children were reached early on for early intervention.

The third topic that I found interesting was Science of Early Childhood. There were a few things in this section that I found to be helpful information. One topic in this section was talking about how experience build brain architecture. " Genes provide the basic blueprints, but experiences influence how or whether the genes are expressed." (Harvard University). This phrase reminds me of the importance of molding children in positive experiences. Children are so impressionable  during the early years.



Harvard University 2011. Global Children's Initiative Retrieved from http//:www.developingchild.harvard.edu

Sharing Resources

The website that I am reviwing is the National Association of Education for Young Children. ( NAEYC.org). The website is filled with a wealth of information. I found many articles on the value of play. Play is an important part of a child's development. The NAEYC offers many resources to educators as well as to families on the value of play.
"Children are eventually going to learn to recognize letters. But learning how people work and what's in others' minds is much deeper and more profound learning. Ironically, parents who think they are helping their children by exposing them to flash cards with letters on them are doing less to help their chidlren  than parents who expose their children to pretend play, read to them, and talk with them." (Dr. Alison Gopnik)

There are many resources on play that I found helpful when looking through the website. As a new Early Childhood Professional I found these articles to be important and the website to be a great resource.