Friday, June 26, 2015

What I've Learned about ECE Internationally

Three Consequences of learning about the international childhood field:
·         The need for Pre-schools is different in other areas of the world due to mothers staying home until children reach Kindergarten age.
·         Curriculum changes based on what academic areas are the most important.
·         Religion plays a key part in not only Pre-schools, but primary school as well.

One goal for international awareness of issues and trends in Early Childhood Education:

·         I think that an “Issues and Trends in Early Childhood Education” course should be mandatory in Early Childhood Bachelor’s programs throughout the world. Knowing what is current in the field should apply not only to Master’s students, but anyone seeking a degree in Early Childhood. 

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Sharing Web Resources


The website that I have been researching and following is the National Association for the Education of Young Children website www.naeyc.org. I have learned a lot from the NAEYC website over the last several weeks.

While searching the website I found a very interesting article titled “Anti-Bias Education: Holidays and Fairness” this article discusses how to make decisions about incorporating the holidays, Christmas, Thanksgiving and Halloween into your curriculum and classroom routine during those times of year. There are links detailing how to deal with each holiday and what to consider when choosing activities to include in your classroom and program.

I found this link very helpful. During the holidays I enjoy celebrating with my students, but also understand that there are religious and cultural differences that I need to respect. I want everyone to have a good time and feel valued and included. This article gave me some great ideas. I enjoy utilizing the NAEYC website because the resources are extremely credible and there is an endless amount of them.

 

References

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Getting to Know Your International Contacts

Hello!

My international contact is in Iran. From her I have found out that there are several differences between Early Childhood Education here in the U.S. and in Iran.Though, there are pre-schools in her city, which they call Kindergartens, many mothers do not work and keep their children at home until time to attend elementary school. There are also no men teaching in the Kindergarten programs in her city. I hope to gather more information from her, but contact has been difficult due to the time difference and our busy schedules.

Studying inequities this week gave me the opportunity to reflect on what I can do as a teacher and member of my community to help work against inequities in education.