Sharing Web Resources

This week I chose to look at the media videos contained on the website for the Pre-K Now Project.  I love how at the beginning of the video, Wendy Kopp, talked about how they want ALL children to have access to quality and transformative preschool no matter their socio economic background.  Wendy Kopp is the Teach for America CEO and founder.  I was happy to hear this because I feel that ALL children should have the opportunity to receive quality early childhood education.  Many times we focus very strongly on disadvantages children, which I totally understand, but I also believe there are children who live in what some people may call a “privileged” home but still do not receive quality early childhood education.  It would be ideal to be able to reach ALL children.  Next came Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers.  She stated she would like to see America feel that early childhood programs are as essential as any other grade.   I believe in this because even though I teach preschool in a school district, I am actually paid through Title 1 money and other grant money.  Every year there is a chance that we will not have the funds to have preschool.  I wish we would just have a pre-k through 12^th grade district with preschools in all of our elementary schools.  Hopefully this is something I will see in my future career of teaching. 

Another important point brought up in the video is how they worked to mobilize advocates to get their Pre-K Now project going and successful.  Their goals were to change how people thought about pre-k and to get a handful of states committed to putting the policy in place.  Law enforcement officials joined forces for early childhood education programs because early education helps fight crime.  A group of business executives called Ready for School launched an initiative to allocate $40 million dollars for early childhood education.  The U.S. Education Secretary and other politicians came on board to help advocate for quality early childhood programs.  Through this program state funding for pre-k more than doubled in 10 years, quality of programs improved and over a million children were receiving the benefits from this project.  Pre-K Now was a huge step forward for early childhood education and hopefully our country will continue to see the importance of early childhood education and work to make it accessible for all children. 

Reference

The PEW Charitable Trusts: Archived Project Pre-K Now. (2011).  Pre-K Now:  Marking a Decade of Pre-K Milestones.  Retrieved from

http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/multimedia/video/2011/pre-k-now-making-a-decade-of-prek-milestones

  

Getting To Know Your International Contacts - Part 1

I chose to look at the poverty rate in China.  I chose China because I knew a lot of people lived there and I wondered if they had a high poverty rate because they had such a big population.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out that China actually has a very low poverty rate.  China made a huge cut in its poverty rate in the last thirty years.  In 1980 China had the largest number of people living in poverty with a poverty rate of 84% (The Economist, 2013).  In 2013 China’s poverty rate was approximately 10% (The Economist, 2013).  This huge change is attributed to the economic reforms taking place in the country in the last thirty years.  “One particular aspect of the socio-economic success has been the rapid industrialization of the country, with a major pivot of people moving from the poorer rural areas of the country to more well off jobs in urban centers, particularly within the manufacturing sector” (Kravtsov, 2013). 

After the year 1990 many governments came together and made it their goal to cut the amount of people living in poverty in half by 2015.  This was called the Millennium Development Goal.  China was the first developing country to achieve this goal.  China achieved this goal in 2010 when their poverty rate dropped to approximately 12%.  “China alone accounts for around three quarters of the world’s total decline in extreme poverty over the past 30 years”  (The Economist, 2013).   
 
Even though China has made huge progress in lowering the percentage of people in poverty, their economic growth has been uneven.  There is a huge income gap between people who live in urban areas and people who live in rural areas.  In the rural areas there is still a high percentage of people in poverty.  China is one of the most unequal countries in the world when it comes to people’s wealth.  The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.  This is something the country is currently working to change.   

References   

   

Kravtsov, G. (2013, December 24).  China makes huge strides to tackle poverty. CNN.  Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/24/business/china-poverty-report/.

The Economist. (2013, June 1).  The world has an astonishing chance to take a billion people out of extreme poverty by 2030.  Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21578643-world-has-astonishing-chance-take-billion-people-out-extreme-poverty-2030-not

Sharing Web Resources

I chose to explore the resource The PEW Charitable Trusts:  Pre K Now at the following website http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/archived-projects/pre-k-now.

The PEW Charitable Trusts is driven to solve today’s most challenging problems.  The Pre K Now project was a ten year campaign the PEW Charitable Trusts created to advance high-quality pre-kindergarten for all three and four year olds.  They believe essential learning takes place prior to age five and school districts need to be focused on including pre-kindergarten in their schools. Children will have better academic success if they attend a quality pre-kindergarten program.  Pre K Now challenged the nation’s policy makers to move away from schools being kindergarten through twelfth grade and move towards schools being pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. 

This week I read the report the Pre K Now project created that challenges the nation to change public education to include pre-kindergarten.  It was interesting to find out that this campaign started in 2001.  At that time the Pew and a network of advocates from forty states partnered with policy makers and researchers to increase the availability and quality of publicly funded pre-k programs.  This seems like a long time ago, yet here in Wyoming most of our cities and towns do not have pre-k in their public schools.  The pre-k classes we do have in our district are not enough to service all the children in our city.  The following is a quote from the report that I highly agree with:  “The vast body of evidence shows that high-quality pre-k is an essential catalyst for raising school performance.  It multiplies the effects of later reforms by narrowing early achievement gaps and ensuring that children are fully prepared to learn and thrive academically, physically, social and emotionally” (http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/legacy/uploadedfiles/pcs_assets/2011/PewPreKTransformingPublicEducationpdf.pdf).

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

This week I attempted to make contact with two early childhood professionals outside of the United States.  I went to the Global Alliance of NAEYC website and emailed a dozen different people from Africa, Asia and Europe.  Over half of my emails came back undeliverable.  I am hoping I will get a response from some of the emails that did go through.  I also talked with other teachers at my school as well as my principal to see if they had any professional contacts outside of the United States but they did not.  I also spent a little time looking at the UNICEF website.  This website looks like it is full of important information.  If I do not hear back from any of the people I tried to email I will need to choose the alternate assignment. 

Since I teach preschool and I am passionate about the importance of preschool I chose to study the Pre K Now: A Campaign of the Pew Center on the States.  I also signed up to receive their weekly newsletter.  I am excited to explore this website further and find out all it has to offer. 

My Supports

I have many support systems in my life.  My husband is a huge support to me.  My husband supports me by encouraging me, loving me, respecting me, helping around the house and with our children.  My husband is a great listener and always has good advice when I ask for it.  My husband makes each day easier because he is so supportive.  My children are always supporting me by cheering for me in what ever it is I am trying to accomplish.  My mother has always been a huge support in my life.  She has supported me through good decisions and bad decisions.  I have always known that she loves me and supports me.  Another huge support in my life is a wonderful family friend and woman who takes care of our children when we are working.  Her name is Myrtie and she amazing!  She supports me by taking great care of my children while I am away which makes it much easier for me to focus on being a great teacher.  All of these people are very important in my life and without them I would not be able to do everything I do.

The challenge I chose to imagine is if I had a child in my class who had cancer.  I pray this is a challenge I never have to face but I chose this challenge because this year I had two siblings of former students get cancer and it really affected me.  It made me think about what would I do if I had a child in my class get cancer. I would need to be supportive for the family of the child and for the other children in my classroom.  I think it would be important for the children in the classroom to stay connected to the other child by drawing pictures and writing cards for that child.  I definitely would need all of the supports in my life to get through a challenge like this.  I would be encouraged because I know my support system would be praying for the child, the child’s family and for me!  Their prayer and support would be essential!!

My Connections to Play

"Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning.  But for children, play is serious learning." - Mr. Rogers

We all had a playroom growing up.  It was called "outside." - Anonymous

Essential play items when I was younger!

When I was a child I remember playing all the time.  I spent hours playing with dolls, riding my bike, going to the park and playing with my friends.  When the weather was nice we were always outside.  When I was about five years old we lived in an apartment building.  I remember playing with the other children in the apartment building.  We would play outside and ride our bikes on the sidewalk right in front of our apartments.  My mom would check on me often and sometimes stay outside with me.  My mom would also take me to the park and watch me as I played on the equipment.  I had a pretend kitchen and I would make my mom all kinds of different food.  My mother always encouraged me to play and many times would watch me play or play with me.  All of these are very fond memories when I think of my childhood.  I learned a lot about getting along with people, communicating and problem solving through my play.  Today children do not get nearly enough time to play outside or inside.  Children definitely spend way too much time watching television, playing video games and using technology.  I understand that parents have to be more protected of their children because society has changed during the last twenty-five years.  I am a parent myself and I am just starting to let my seven year old go in our backyard without me being out there with him.  Even though I am very protected of my children I do understand the importance of play and exploring outside.  I enjoy watching my children play with each other and friends.  My husband and I also spend a lot of time playing with our children and this does help you feel like a child again.  Growing up I loved playing basketball and always wanted a basketball court in my yard.  We have a basketball hoop in our backyard and we love having family games and competitions.  I hope, as my children get older they will get the opportunity to experience the fun of playing night games in their neighborhood.  If nothing else they will get to play night games with their parents!