Sharing Web Resources

The organization that I chose was the National Black Child Development Institute. BBCDI's mission is to improve and advance the quality of life for Black Children and their families through advocacy and education.
Their link www.nbcdi.org
However, I enjoyed visiting their facebook page as well: https://www.facebook.com/nbcdi


I subscribed to the newsletter but have yet to receive it via mail or email. However, looking at the webpape, I see that there are many issues and trends in which they promote. One trend is the early care and education program. I am eager to learn more about this program. Under Head Start, we have an early care program which allows children as young as 6 wks to begin education under our services. Therefore, professionally I feel as though this is a great trend to learn more about.

 

I chose this website due to the fact that I work for Head Start. Where I live, the majority of Head Start students are African American. However, I felt as though through this organization I could learn a lot of insight about ways to reach out to the afircan american students as well as to communicate effectively with children and their parents.

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

For part 1- Through the Global alliance for young children page, I got the contact email for the Step by Step Program which is in Haiti. I then emailed the director of the program to see if there was a newsletter or way that i could gather more information about their program.
I have not heard back as of yet. However, if I do not hear back by the end of this week, I will choose an alternative organization. I decided to choose Haiti because I am interested in their people, history and how they help young children.

For Part 2- I chose the National Black Child Development Institutue. Through their website. I was able to submit a form on their webpage to subscribe to their newsletter by email. No particular reason for choosing this organization, besides the fact that I thought it would be interesting to know more about the organization.

When I Think of research

Wow, I can't beleive how quickly this class has flown by. I have learned so many new things about research. I learned a lot of new terms that I didnt even know existed and also learned the meaning of a lot of terms in whcih I had already heard. My idea of ealry childhood ahas remained the same. The study of early childhood education is on a whole different scale than of any other research area. There is a lot of red tape when dealing with children. This course has taught me a lot about reasearching. Mainly, it introduced me to the basics of researching an idea and starting a research project.

The insights that I have gained have a lot to do with research definitions. I learned a lot of research terminology in this class. I also learned a lot about the type of resources that can be used for researching such as online, library and print sources. As far as planning designing and conducting research, I learned that it is important to research the area in whcih you are studying. Look for previous research done on the subject and use that as a guide to help plan and conduct your research.
 
The challenges were the defintions and terminology and not getting a full understanding at times even after reading them many times. To gain better understanding, I completed my weekly assignments and read discussions to better guide me. Sometimes, its easier to understand when other classmates explain the subject matter.


 

Research Around the World

 Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)

What are some of the current international research topics?

There were many topics regarding early childhood education located on this website. I saw many research topics focused on Early childhood education programs and how it relates to the quality of care within the education programs. Also there were many articles related to the improvement of ealry childhood programs. 

What surprising facts/insights/new ideas about early childhood did you gain from exploring this international early childhood website?

The research papers located on this website are from papers and theseis that were written by actual students from Victocia University.

What other noteworthy information did you find on this website?

This organization is a huge global organization. I like that there is a link to Victoria University where the site is operated through the the division of child and youth care which focuses on human and social development .  In addition, there is also a link that helps to finance the education and international connections and links.

Research that Benefits Children and Families

I would like to share a research article that I came across about the The Pediatric Cancer Foundation’s (PCF’s) Sunshine Project. In the article, it discusses how the PCF program and The Sunshien Project research has has made positive strides in pediatric cancer research. "The Sunshine Project has helped to fast track three new drugs into clinical trials in ten hospitals. Focus is on less toxic treatments and the 20% of pediatric cancers that are most virulent and for which traditional treatments have failed"(FitzGerald, 2011).

I enjoyed this article and wanted to share it with my colleagues because if I could conduct research studies on any topic, the research and cure into childhood cancer would be my top pick. I feel as though positive contributions would include medicines that help with the treatment and cure of pediatric cancer.

References:
FitzGerald, Sumei. (2011). Spearheading Chance in Cancer Research: The Pediatric Cancer

        Foundation's Sunshine Project. Positive Impact Magazine. Retrieved January 21, 2013 from

        http://www.positiveimpactmagazine.com/2011/02/01/spearheading-change-in-cancer-research-

        the-pediatric-cancer-foundations-sunshine-project/

Your Personal Research Journey

Social factors such as play that impact early learning and development- I chose this topic because a lot of people don’t view play as a means to learning. Before working at Head Start  and taking early childhood classes, I too did not see play as a means of learning. However, working with early childhood and learning through the courses, I have witnessed first-hand the positive impact that play has on early learning. Just like me a lot of parents and other educators are ignorant to the fact that play enhances learning. Researching this topic on play would be of importance to parents, educators, and any other person who directly has contact with early learners. Therefore, they can learn the importance of play, how to facilitate play, and providing tools for play.

Colleagues, Do you feel as though this topic is narrow enough for research? If not, in which ways can I make my topic more narrow. If so, what recommendations can you give me in researchign this topic. Any comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

I am gaining a wealth of information that will be extremely useful to me in guidign me in this research process. Both discussion and application assignments for the last two weeks have been very helpful and necessary on my voyage to learning how to research.

 

My Supports

 

  My daily supports come from my husband, children, and aunt and mother in law. I am supporrted financially, spiritually and lovingly by my husband. He provides and pays the bills for the family. My children support me and give me a reason to be me. They accept me for who I am and love me regardless of my flaws. My step daughter provides me with support by always being there to assist at home with chores, cooking, or keeping the children when my husband is not there. My aunt and mother in law are my supports because they keeep the children during the day while me and my husband work. Without them, I would not be able to work and help provide for the family. Day care is entirely too expensive. If any of the these supports were gone, it would impact me personally and spiritually. I have a deep connection and need for allof these individuals and would not even want to imagine living my life without them.

 

 A challenge that I had in the past when I was pregnant was being on bedrest. This was a challenege for me because I had to leave my job where I was making a substantial amount of income to stay home. I had to stay in bed all day and only get up to use the rest room or shower. This was a challenege because I had a daughter and household to take care of. My supports were my husband, who took care of us financially and never burdened me or complained about having to take care of us on his own. My step daughter helped out with keeping the house clean and chores. She also would help me with fixing my daughter's hair, getting her cleaned and dressed for school as well.  My aunt and mother in law took turns keeping my daughter and cooking me for us. Like I stated, it would be hard to live my life without these supports. They have supported me and my family through challenges and continue to support us today. It would be extremely hard and difficult to be without them.