Sharing Web Resources

Looking at the supports that this organization I can see that big corporations give back to the community in different ways.  Some of the supports include; Kraft Foods, Ford Motor, Univision Communications, The National Education Association (NEA), Southwest Airlines, Aetna, Office of Minority Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, The Century Council, among others.

I have not received the monthly news letter because I sign on to it at the middle of the month. But going through the website I have read the news letter’s that have been previously published, for example; The National Latino Children's Institute Elects
New Leadership (it gives the individuals that are currently on the board), National Latino Children’s Institute Celebrates Young Americans Cities Plan Events to Celebrate the Future of their Communities.

http://www.nlci.org/News-and-Events.html

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 1

Before I begin with my post for this week I want to share a website I found and I thought it was the greatest thing ever. Is called EPals, Inc. it offers K-12 schools, teachers, and students and parents a safe and secure global online communications and collaboration platform for building educational communities, providing quality digital content and facilitating 21^st century learning. In other words, one can communicate and learn from others that are half way around the world. Their website is http://www.epals.com/, join in and start enjoying what others in the field have to say and teach.

 I found this website and this organization as a whole really interesting, full of information and stories that touched my heart. The first story I read was Case Study - Nan Nan: life in a poor migrant family is tough, it talks about a 14 year old girl that her parents migrated to the city from the farm life and has had a hard time making the transition. http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/index.php?action=countryo

The second one I read was Case Study - Nanuram: the schoolboy ice-cream seller is about a 12 year old boy that had to begin selling ice cream during his school holiday vacations to help his family survive. http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/index.php?action=countryo

http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/index.php?action=photos

Reading these stories made my heart hurt, feeling sad for these children losing their childhood because they have to help their parents to survive.

Sharing Web Resources

 

 

The organization that I receive letters from is the National Latino Children’s Institute.

Building stronger communities so that each child has what they need to succeed requires not only an understanding of the existing conditions, but the ability to create unique programs and build alliances with diverse members of the community—government, community-based organizations, religious and other leaders, etc. NLCI has a twelve-year proven track record in bringing people together to work on specific issues and helping to create a better future for all children. NLCI has identified the best strategies for working with the Latino community and partners with community organizations throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico to test ideas and implement new programs. The community programs are frequently chosen from winners of the La Promesa de un Futuro Brillante Awards, a recognition of exemplary work in the Latino community.

Our Mission

NLCI's mission is to focus the nation's attention on the contributions and challenges of young Latinos by advocating for their success and well being through partnerships and programs.

Our Vision

NLCI envisions communities and a nation where young Latinos are heard, valued and a priority for the future of our nation.

If you are still looking for organizations take a look at this link, is offered through the NAEYC.ORG website.

http://www.naeyc.org/links is the  Links to National Early Childhood Organizations

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

I was not successful on finding anyone from another country in our field to conduct the blogs with, but I will continue to look. So for now, I will use the World Forum Foundation Radio. Includes links to podcasts of conversations with early childhood professionals. I listened to the interview of TJ Skalski ; Principal of The Mother Earth’s Children’s Charter School (MECCS), the first Indigenous charter school in Canada. Originally from the Blood Reserve and raised in southern Alberta, she eventually left to complete her education, including a Masters of Education degree.

I enjoyed listening how she is fighting to preserve her native routes in her life and in her community.

For the second part of our assignment I have also decided to use the World Forum Foundation website. I like that they united professionals in this field from around the world, exchanging ideas and programs that have been successful in their respectful countries. For this week I looked into Global Leaders for Young Children; their Mission it to improve life chances for young children around the world by providing opportunities where developing early childhood leaders can become effective change agents and advocates for quality early childhood development services in their home countries.

http://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/initiatives/global-leaders-for-young-children

My Supports

This was a hard assignment for me to do, because apparently my career choice is a joke to some people that are closed to me. The only people that I can truly say that support my career choice are my coworkers. I work at a preschool and I am a baby/infant teacher, everyone thinks I am babysitting.

On the other hand, things in my environment that are supportive to me are my alarm clock, my “brain” appointment book, my books and articles from school, and finally my laptop.

My alarm gets me up everyday to get to work in time, my “brain” helps me keep my themes in order to keep up with the supplies that I need, believe it or not I use many of my books, articles, and journals that I acquire from Walden University, finally my laptop helps me with prints, ideas, and classroom supplies.

I think the biggest challenge I come across (and its not imaginative) is gaining support from my family. I would love for them to be as happy for my career choice as I am; they think all I do is babysit children all day. What they don’t know is that I do more than babysit, I teach children and force them to experiment and try new things on a daily basis.

 

PLAY

"My Connections to Play"

Quotes

Childhood is the world of miracle or of magic: it is as if creation rose luminously out of the night, all new and fresh and astonishing. Childhood is over the moment things are no longer astonishing. When the world gives you a feeling of "déjà vu," when you are used to existence, you become an adult.

EUGENE IONESCO, Present Past / Past Present

Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a necessity.

    Kay Redfield Jamiso
Contemporary American professor of psychiatry

I remember living in Puerto Rico, in a mountain located in Canovanas (really rural area) around that time of my life. My mother used to tell us (my sister, brother, and cousins) to get out of the house and use our imagination to play. We lived at the top of a mountain and at the back side of the mountain there was a river that went all around of the town.  When my mom used to kick us out of the house, my sister used to pack a backpack with water, threats, and first aid supplies and off we went. I remember being gone for hours at a time. I remember getting in the deeper parts of the river, looking for animals or weird looking flowers.  I see my childhood like the best part of my life, we were encouraged to have fun and believe in something more than games or television.

Play is so much different now than before; I have three small children that don’t leave my side for anything. Violence has reached such a high degree that no one is completely safe and children less. I feel bad because I work so much that I don’t have the time I would like to have to take my children to the park, beach, or something where they can use their imagination without worries or judgments.  

This are pictures of my children at the beach and at the part; 

 

These are pictures of my children at either the beach or a park

 

Relationships

RELATIONSHIPS

Relationships are important to me because they help make some part of who I am. Friends that have been by my side and have become like family help me be a better person. Relationships with my children help me guide them and raise them the best that I can so in the future when they are adults they can have good relationships.

There are several people in my life that I have a positive relationship with; I will start with my husband, we need to have an excellent relationship to raise happy positive children. The second person is my mother (now) it’s funny but I did not have a relationship with her when I was growing up, now that I am a mother I understand many things that she did and I can appreciate it. The last person I have an excellent relationship with is my best friend, I have known her for 15 years and she is now like my sister.

The hardest thing of having a good relationship with someone is trying to see eye to eye, we all have different personal believes that might get in the way by a comment that might be taken the wrong way.

Being good as an early childhood professional is being able to form good relationships with everyone around me; from the coworkers, to the children, to the family of the children. If relationships are not positive with any of the three parties I mentioned then the learning and growth of the children will have a positive outcome.

My children

My mother

My best friend/sister and my God daughter