Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

Speaking with the brother in-law this week provided me with some pretty interesting information about issues regarding quality and early childhood professionals in Morocco. He explained that most of the teachers in Morocco were male teachers because mostly the women's job is to tend to the family and farming duties. Most young girls do not receive more than what is equivalent to an elementary school education in America because they will have to leave schooling to help out with basic family needs such as helping to raise children or farming. Recently, Mr. Ezibe explained that there has been a recent push to empower and education families of young girls to extend their education and continue with schooling pass the elementary grades. This has pushed for more female educators to be present beyond the infant to preschool years.

This movement has created opportunity for more professional development geared at educating female teachers to advocate for young girls to desire and education and continue to attend school and help families find ways to manage issues that may arise of they decide to keep their daughter in school longer then they had originally planned. There are workshops and conferences to help mentor these female teachers so that they can be confident and prepare for the tough journey ahead of changing the dynamic of a culture that has existed for decades. 

My professional goal include being a mentor to other teachers and helping realize their impact on young children and their families. I want to help, encourage and inspire teachers to see the value young children bring to the field of education and teach them how to utilize what they bring to maximize their learning experience. My hope is that every teacher has that "ah ha" moment where they see how influential they are the the health and development of a young child. I dream of a day where children are treated as children and mot miniature adults. The hardest part is being able to make that deep connection with teachers so that they are open to explore new concepts and ideas that maybe different from their own. I admire the women who are taking this challenge in Morocco to be the futrue role model for a generation of young girls who might have a change at a higher education and maybe the first girl in their home to attend a grade higher then what we call elementary. 

Sharing Web Resources

The National Black Children Development Institute website sight provides a wealth of information but there is a few link I had yet to check out. For this assignment we were challenged to explore our resource website deeper. As I explored the website, I discovered three links on the home page: donate now, join now, and take action. When I click on the donate now page it takes me to a questionnaire will someone who wants to donate money to the organization they will have to fill out the questionnaire. The second link was the join now page on this page the website provides you with information about the organization, who you can join, and what benefits you will receive as a partner.

The last link entitled take action gives a brief description of what it means to be an affiliate with NBCDI and a list of different charters in the United States. Each of the contact information has additional links to emails and facebook pages for each of the charters. 

One of the areas of the website that I decided to search thoroughly was the Child Welfare page, I selected this page because I was really like the little feet icon the had on the website :) (Sorry it was too cute). When I clicked on the page this was a quote at the top of the page that I found really profound. I really love this because it articulates the passion of an early childhood professional who has dedicated their live to health and well-being of young children.   

"There is no trust more sacred than the one the world holds with children. There is no duty more important than ensuring that their rights are respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear and want and that they can grow up in peace."

- Kofi Annan

    
On the Child Welfare page it list the goal and objectives of the NBCDI to African American children. There are for main goals and objectives. 

To help support the transformation of child welfare systems, NBCDI has established the following priorities and objectives, as adapted from those developed in the BCDI-Seattle Affiliate: 

1. Ensure that African American culture is recognized, respected and reflected in child welfare practices, by integrating appropriate cultural competence teaching into social work training and prevention practices, and by engaging in community support practices that encourage family-to-family mentoring and kinship care support.

2. Implement targeted efforts to actively recruit foster and adoptive families that reflect the culture and ethnicity of children in out-of-home placement, given the dearth of licensed African American foster families and adoptive parents.

3. Focus attention on the issues of racial disproportionally and service disparities in child welfare systems with the goal of reducing and ultimately eliminating those disparities.

4. Engage in effective prevention efforts, including parenting and family support practices, to keep Black children safely in their homes and reduce the number of Black children removed from their homes.

(www.nbcdi.org)

I do not receive monthly newsletters and I was not able to locate them of the website but I was able to find articles under the resource tab on the website. One of the articles I discovered was that was closely related to our discussion this week was entitled, A Call For Change: A Preliminary Blueprint to Improve Educational Excellence and Opportunity for African American Males in Urban Schools. One section of the article talked about school-based policies and program for equity and access. In this section they make the following suggestions for early childhood:  

1. Establish high-quality educational and developmentally appropriate preschool and early
childhood programs and supports to which African American males have full access to.
These programs should have small teacher-to-child ratios, an age-appropriate curriculum that
is integrated across subjects, well-trained teachers in child development, and mechanisms for
engaging parents or guardians.
2. Set clear goals for the developmental progress of African American children participating in
early childhood programs. Monitor student progress, evaluate the results regularly, and
follow students as they move up the grades.
3. Ensure that early childhood programs also connect developmentally to kindergarten and first through
third-grade curriculum, address social, emotional, health, nutritional, and physical
development needs of children, and use developmentally appropriate assessments.
4. Consider implementation of home visitation efforts, pre-school centers, and pre-school
classes in the schools to address the multiple needs of some African American males.
5. Ensure that teachers and aides in early childhood programs serving African American males
are early-childhood certified; have adequate training in child development (particularly as it
applies to African American males); understand the effects of negative stereotyping and the
appropriate use of assessments, and are compensated commensurate with other teachers.
6.Provide mentors Make sure that early childhood programming that serves African American males is staffed with appropriately trained teachers, aides, parent-resource personnel, community liaisons,
nurses, psychologists, and social workers. (Early grades could use these supports as well.)
Staff compensation should be in line with others in the district.
7. Make certain that pre-school programming includes services starting at age two and spanning
two years; that parents or guardians have the opportunity to volunteer and participate in
program decisions; that there is a curriculum in place that focuses on language and earlys in cases where teachers struggle.literacy and is aligned with the curriculum of later grades, and that these programs offer
health screenings, nursing services, and free or reduced price meals.
8. Eliminate the use of out-of-school suspensions to discipline students participating in early
childhood programming.
(http://www.cgcs.org/cms/lib/DC00001581/Centricity/Domain/88/Blueprint%2082312.pdf)

Before this week I never really looked at equities that hinder the success of certain groups of people. I understood that their were inequalities but I did not understand how deeply rooted they were in our society. This information has empowered me to become a better advocate for all young children and families because I have a better understanding of issues and conditions that can hinder the advancement of thousands of people. I also understand how influential policy makers can be at changing or perpetuating an inequity. 

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

This I week I able to talk to my brother in-law, Uchenna Ezibe, about some of his experiences teaching in Morocco. We talked extensively about the sate of poverty in Morocco and how that impacts early childhood development. He explained that the division of wealth in Morocco is extremely disproportion; with only rich and poor economical classes. Mr. Ezibe said that the separation between the two types of classes were extremely evident in how young children were educated. In the institution he worked in, it was only for the most wealthiest students. In Morocco he taught English to children between the ages of 6 and 13. He explained that in Morocco, most people never leave unless it is for international business. The average Moroccan citizen does not need to learn English because they never plan on living the country. Most Moroccans do not complete schooling to tend to duties such as farming, helping to raise children, or working early. The students he taught were predominately men and were from elite families that could afford to send their child to an institution rather then just public school. There were very small classes with just a handful of students at a time; these students were expected and trained to do international business and thus needed to learn English. 

One of the other things were talked about was if major businesses invested in early childhood education in Morocco. He explained that most of the businesses that are in Morocco are companies from China. He feels that China would not be interesting in investing in the education of people of Morocco because they typically just build or establish the business and move out of the country not taking much interest in community at all. He thinks that since China is a academically competitive they would not want to improve the academic success of another country. 

This was a really intriguing conversation because I know very little about the educational state of other countries and it was good to dialogue with someone you know who has had experiences other then your but within the same field. I learn about how economics affect the quantity and quality of education in Morocco. In our conversation we are going to talk about how family income affects early child development and health in Morocco and we will compare he teaching experience from France to Morocco. 

There is an organization I found, called Teach4Morocco,dedicated to increase education to some of the remote areas of Morocco. Please check out the video to learn more.

Sharing Web Resources

The organization that I am following during this course is the National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI). One of sections of the website that caught my attention this week was their section on child welfare. This section jumped out to me because of all the deep research we have been doing in regards to the effects of poverty on young children. On the website they articulate their mission as it relates to the welfare of African American children.

One of the statements that stood out for me was "Across our nation, almost half of the children currently in out-of-home placement care are children of color.  Black children are more likely to be in out-of-home care than are White children; they are also more likely to enter care at an earlier age and to remain in care for longer (www.nbcdi.org)." This was something that I was not aware of and was shocking for me to discover. During our research on poverty we talked about homelessness and although these children are not homeless; it is sad to think that they are not living with their parents. Their mission is to help providers to include black culture into their homes to help children maintain a sense of identity.

They challenge politicians and policy makers to look closely at this issue and find ways to support black families so that more of them and remain together so that children will have to be placed in out-of home care situations. This was interesting to me because I never even gave a thought to children who were not living with their parents and had a out-of -home care situations. I can see how this cam greatly impacted their development. As a teacher it is important for me to know the living situations of all my students so that I have ensure that I am doing everything within my power to meet their needs of development and provide a stable environment to create a sense of security. 

Getting To Know Your International Contact

During my current class, Issues and Trends in Early Childhood, we have be asked to build our professional resource list by getting in contact with an Early Childhood professional in another country. In my last post, I talked about my interest in learning me information about the state of early childhood development and education in Africa. I emailed several people about helping me to establish communication with someone in the early childhood education field but I was not able to make a connection. However recently, I remembered that my brother in-law taught in Morocco and has experience teaching in different parts of the world. I wanted to make sure I was able to someone directly because I think that it would be valuable for me to have deeper understand through someone who has experienced it first hand. I contacted him and he is excited to share his experience with me.

My brother in-law is Unchenna Ezibe a graduate from Bowdin University. He has been teaching for several years know and had dedicated his career in advancing the educational experience for African American students in Washington, DC. Previously, he taught in Morocco last summer and will be teaching in France this up coming school year. I believe that he will be able to provide me with some information about issues and trends in early childhood education in Morocco which is located in Africa. I spoke to him and explained what I needed to do for this course and some of the topics we will be covering as apart of our conversations. He told me that he would love to help me out and can provide a lot of information on the state of early childhood development in Morocco. He went out of town this week but when he comes back we schedule to set down and discuss some of the current issues he faced while teaching there. I'm so excited to hear about his experiences and discover some new and exciting information about state of early childhood development in another country.

Sharing Web Resources

I have found a great organization that I have become very passionate about the National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI) which has a mission to improve and advance the quality of life for black children and their families through education and advocacy. They focus on the impact of early childhood education, literacy, health care and welfare, and family engagement in black children. I choose this organization because being Black and having Black children I think that it important for me to be aware of the issues and trends in the Black community regarding education, politics, health, and family. Inspired by the Civil Rights Movement the NBCDI has been going strong for the more than 40 years. They have a reputation it's work in early care, education, and welfare.

It's 2014 Spring newsletter issue has a wonderful article dedicated to the health and wellness of young black men. Personally, this was important to me because I have two black stepsons who are turning four this year and will be approaching kindergarten. I want to ensure that they will have all the resources they need to be successful and ready for school. I know that this is important for them to stay ahead of the course to ensure they don't fall too far behind. I don't want to see then struggle through their academic careers. I felt this article could provide me valuable information that can help me to assist them better. 

Professionally, I connected to the article because this year I had 16 boys in my class out of 26 students. Have a black male dominated room prove to present some challenges for me this year. One of the things I learn was that I have to alter my teaching technique to accommodate the unique needs of the majority of my class population. One of the things that the article suggest was mentoring and I can agree that was the turning point for my classroom as well. I employed many of the fathers to take an active role in my classroom. They would come and volunteer, work one-on-one with students, and model appropriate behavior. This helped me tremendously. They boys had a different respect for the men who came and volunteered their time. I really contribute this kind of mentoring to the success of my classroom this year. 

What I learn from this article this week was how important it is to have good role model for children to look up to. Young child look towards adult and older children assess who they are and who they can become. For young Black boys it is important that they have some alternatives of role models to look up to besides athletes, music artists, or movie stars. The positive impact it is for them to see members of their direct community that are Black males empowering themselves to do great things is inspirational. This is a great organization deeply rooted in equality for all; making it their mission to directly impact the lives of Black children.

This is the CEO of the NBCDI and her views on school readiness and kindergarten.

Check it out!

http://www.nbcdi.org/

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

In the field of education it is common for teachers to look to each other for advice or connect with them as an additional resource. Too often we get use to just looking within our inner circles for help or references but this limits us to the valuable information we can gain if we just step outside our comfort box and seek other educational professionals in other counties, states, and even other countries.

In the past week, I have been attempting to connect with another early childhood professional in Africa. I chose to connect with an early childhood professional from Africa because I have always been interested in the educational issues and trends in the early childhood field in Africa and wanted to learn more directly from someone impacted with this quest to educate young children in Africa. I have struggled this week with trying to find a way to connect with early education professionals or organizations that will help assist me in connecting with a professional educator in Africa.

I started this quest by talking to my inner circle of educators to see if I could find a lead on how to locate and connect with teacher abroad. I found that most of my early education professionals that were in my circle were as lost as I was and did not have a clue on how to connect with others in the field of early childhood in another country. Next, I sought two people that I knew were going to be teaching aboard this year but they had not left yet and had no prior experience teaching in that country. Finally, I went back to the references that were provided by our professor, Dr. Davenna Williams, I reviewed the websites and was in awe of the wealth of information each one provided. It opened my mind to various issues other face as they try and educate young children. This made me realize how important it was for me to build a relationships with others outside of my comfort zone. There is a wealth of information I can gain for building a connection with others who are passionate about the field of early childhood education. I was able to find a contact list including emails of some early childhood professional in Africa, I sent them an email asking if they could help me with my quest to connecting with early childhood professional in their country. I have not receive a response yet but I will continue to look for someone to connect with. I do believe that I will have to use the alternative website for part 1 but, hopefully, only temporary.

If I could share any advice, it would be to start with the resources that our professor provided first. It gave tons of useful information and is a great place to get you going in the right direction quickly. Second, in your email you can provide our professor email so that they can verify the assignment. This might ease any hesitation someone might have about the authenticity of your request. Lastly, leave the link to your blog so that they can see your pervious posts. This is a great way for them to get to know you and your passions.

Good luck on your journey. Please leave any suggestions, questions, or advice.