2nd Degree from Walden: June 2013

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Final Blog

This course has moved sooooo quickly. I cant believe it is over already. I really must say that I have learned so much through this course. The blog assignments and learning how people
Three consequences of learning about the international early childhood field is:

Professionally, I have been able to connect with and learn from another education professional from outside of the US.
In connecting with another professional, I was able to learn that all over the world, educators have the same goal for young learners to provide high quality child care for young learners.
Personally, I realized that I must continue and expand my relationship with my international contact and international websites in order to stay abreast of issues that are happening on a worldwide basis.

One goal that I am going to set for myself is to stay in contact with and stay aware of international issues. Their issues are the same as us issues and how we deal with these issues is a lot the same.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Getting to Know your international Contacts

New insights related to international early childhood and my professional goals that I gained from the website http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/ is:

Just like the US, the United Nations are taking initiative to provide access and qaulity early learning education for low income children. "Governments were particularly urged to expand equitable access to quality early childhood services underscoring the importance of instituting policy in favour of the poor"(UNESCO, ND).

UN promotes high qaulity education. From the site, you can tell that they view the child's learning a whole and do not just concentrate on certain areas for testing purposes. "Early childhood care and education programmes should emphasise the child’s holistic development and extend beyond assisting the child’s transition to formal schooling"(UNESCO, ND).

In order to take the holistic approach to education, the different sectors that relate to children must all be in accordance together. "Coordination issues include coherent regulation, funding and staffing schemes and a common vision of care and education. Effective coordination must exist among sectors at both national and local level, and also between public and private establishments" (UNESCO, ND).

References
The United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture. (N.D.). Early Childhood Care and Education. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Sharing Web Resources

Following the National Black Child Development Institute there is a wealth of information that can be used to educate those in the education field.

Following a link the from the resources tab, I was able to connect to a newletter that is published three times a year that includes valuable ifnormation to families that includes things like saving for college to preparing healthy meals for your family.

There are articles that not only help educators but families too. I was particurly interested in one article which inluded ideas for fun and free family actvities to keep kids engaged and learning.

President Obama recently announced a budget in which he called for historic investments in early childhood education for children from birth to age five. This investment will provide availability and assess to high quality early education programs regardless of income. As part of the Strong Start for Children-Building America’s Future campaign, NBCDI is collecting letters from across the country to be delivered to the White House, and are asking educators, students, and anyone else to write or draw a letter of Thanks to the president.

I felt as though this was a great idea and a great way to show children appreciation and gratitude for others.

NBCDI supports equity and excellence in early childhood. They provide information that helps to empower and provides knowledge to parents regarding high quality education for their children, as well as for educators. They have knowledgeable information for educators on ways to improve their teaching schools so that they may provide the most recent and quality learning trends and experiences for their students.

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Getting to Know Your International Contacts

Haiti’s educational issues was made worse by its economic plight. Prior to the earthquake, Haiti's government funded a mere 10 per cent of Haiti's elementary and secondary schools. The rest are funded privately with foreign assistance. Parents earning two dollars a day cannot afford fees, materials and uniforms, and must choose which of their children attends school. Half a million children don't attend school in Haiti. Many stop and start throughout the year and only four per cent finish high school.Following the Jan. 12 earthquake, 1,263 out of 4,716 schools in western Haiti were destroyed and another 2,541 were damaged; 376,000 students were out of school and an unknown number of teachers and students were dead or wounded. The earthquake traumatized and affected their students and they saw grade averages and assessments frop tremendousely. However, the earthquake also affectted teachers. It left many of them homeless, sleeping in their cars and feeling unstable.

Currently many of the children receive education from free compulsory education accessible to all without discrimination. However, the representative for step by step commented that they would like to see a fully funded education system in Haiti.

Some educational programs that aim to improvew the education for students in Haiti are

Step by Step program which focuses on education and teacher training.

Haiti Education foundation- which accepts donations to helpfund education for Haiti children.

Hope Foundation of Haiti- Their primary mission is to provide financial assistance in education, health care and farming to the needy people in Haiti.

There are also several other programs and organizations that contribute to and assist in the education of children in Haiti.

The Birth of my first son!

I chose to write about the birth of my first son, who was born preterm at 19 wks and passed away. I chose this birth to write about because it was the most tramautic and most memorable. I also chose this birth because after reading the chapters and sections I think it is important to be knowledgable about your body and to keep up with appointments and take proper test and procedures to ensure that your baby is born full term and healthy. Five days before going into labor, I felt really bad and had an inkling that something was wrong. The physician that I was using at the time had an office in my town but was only there on Thursdays for appt. This was a Friday afternoon and if I wanted to see her I would have to drive over sixty miles to her next office. So, i gnored the signs and went on thinking that I was ok. On Wednesday morning, I woke up with slight stomach cramps. Took a shower, got dressed for work, and daughter off to daycare. Stopped by my Mother in laws house and when I got inside I had to sit down, the pain had gotten progressively worse. Still I continued on to work and and worked through the morning with the pain getting getting worse. Then I went to the restroom and noticed a bloody show. I had a coworker take me to the local er where I had to got through an hour long ultrasound of the baby and my cervix. My baby looked great and I found out I was having a boy!!!! How exciting, that is just what me and hubby wanted since we already had a daughter togther and he has an older daughter from a previous relationship. This was perfect. Now, all they had to do was stop these cramps so I could get home to inform my husband of the picture perfect family we were going to have! Well after waiting hours for a dr, to come in and see my I was delivered the horrible news!! His words exactly was "you are going to lose this baby". He said it with no sympathy at all. I immediately started crying and askign why. He stated that I had developed an infection. My cervix had already dialted to 5 cm, the blood I saw earlier was my mucus plug and when he checked me, the water bag was coming through my cervix. I pleaded with him to do anything to help save my baby. He stated that if the bag would go up some, he could stitch my cervix closed but he couldn't do that with the bag protruding out of the cervix. So I waited nervously overnight, laying basically upside down in the hospital bed hoping that this would help the bag to go back up and at least give him a little room to stitch me up. The next day he came to check me again and told me that there was nothing else he could do. I had developed an infection from having my cervix opened for so long and that if I didnt deliver the baby I would die. I felt like dying right there. This just couldnt be. I was 19 wks pregnant, certainly I could hang in there three more wks. But he said no. I called my normal dr's office and they called a major medical university located near their office who has one of the best neonatal hospitals in the world. However, they wouldnt even accept me since I wasnt at least 21 wks and due to the fact that I had the infection. So I had to accept that I was going to lose my baby boy. The nurse came into to give me something to break my water and everything just seemed like a blur. I was told that I didnt need an epidural since the baby was less than a pound. However, after hollering and screaming in pain from the emotional and physical stress, they gave me an epidural. Even with the epidural, this was the most painful and emotional births of my three births. Even with the epidural I could feel every single thing, I was in a lot of pain but dont know if it was really physical pain or the emotional and mental pain that was causing me to be in pain. Jackson Reed Hemingway was born on July 23, 2008 at 12:18pm. I decided that I didnt want to see him but having to be sedated after the birth, when I calmed down, I wanted to see my baby. I was able to see him and hold him. The hospital provided me with pics and foot prints. Me and my husband decided not to have a memorial for him. Instead, we mourned privately. Although Jackson did not live, I know that if he had, he would have had tremendous health issues to battle. Pre-term babies literally have to fight for their lifes. I would have wanted him to live. However, when I think of all the pain and issues that would have plagued him the first couple of months of his life, I would never want to see my child suffer. His development would have been slowed but learning from this weeks resources on growth and development it is not to say that he wouldnt have grown up to be a healthy baby boy.