Getting to Know Your Professional Contacts-Part 3

UNESCO

            I am first and foremost a social-emotional type of teacher and so it was with great pleasure to find the information on the Learning to Live Together site. At a time of increasing global challenges and threats, such as inequality, exclusion, violence and sectarianism worsened by local tensions and conflicts which undermine humanity’s cohesion, learning to live together among all members of the global community becomes more topical than ever before (UNESCO, 2012). The idea behind this writing is to promote peace among the diversity in the classroom and eventually the world by learning to appreciate that which makes us different. It is extremely important for children to feel safe and supported within their surroundings in order to learn properly and that is my goal with every child I encounter.

            Learning to live in harmony is awesome but not if we do not have a planet to live on and so my second set of thoughts are addressed as well. Teaching children to care for their environment. Sustainable development requires quality education and learning at all levels and in all social contexts (UNESCO, 2017)

            UNESCO believes that education is a human right for all throughout life and that access must be matched by quality (UNESCO, 2017).  This link seemed to have the most for what I look for in learning to better improve my thoughts on quality education across the world. I have a student from Pakistan this year so I read the link which address UNESCO’s work in that area. They have created five schools for the disabled and trained 53 teachers to educate in an all-inclusive classroom. This is so exciting to me. The more that children are educated in a positive way the better chance this world has to change!

Reference

UNESCO (2017) Retrieved from http://en.unesco.org/

Sharing Web Resourses

Save the Children

I chose the Save the Children website to study what is going on in parts of the world I know very little about. There are many links asking for support through donations and I wish I made enough to sponsor several children.

Exploring various links beyond the donations sites brings me to news stories which break my heart. For instance, girls living in Mosul giving birth while on the run with their families to camps that are in horrible condition. These babies are born during a time of war and the stress of violence and starvation will do serious damage to their developing brain and body. There is also a technical library and blog site which are very interesting.

Upon a more thorough search I found the blog site, “Voices from the Field” which has many different topics addressed. I zeroed into the educational blogs and started researching for what I could find relating to our studies. I did find a blog which addressed excellence in teaching which was based on highly qualified teachers from Save the Children going to Ethiopia to train teachers there in high-quality teaching technics. We believe learning takes place both inside school and out, we work with teachers, parents, community literacy volunteers and youth to create a holistic reading program that sets the stage for a brighter future (Save the Children, 2016). The article also stated the teachers in Ethiopia have learned the value of high-quality education and plan to stick with all they have learned.

There were also many other blogs about education around the world but also here in America as well. I think we tend to forget the extreme poverty that exists in many areas. Well, maybe not forget, but perhaps not understand the depths of it. One blog article spoke about this and the effects of those in poverty having to leave school for the summer. It stated that children in poverty often regress over the summer months and begin school three months behind their peers which totals about to about a three-year academic gap by fifth grade. This was shocking to me and makes me want to fight even more for excellence not only during the school year but through the summer months as well.

Reference

Save the Children(2016) Retrieved from

http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6146363/k.8932/Get_Involved.htm?smtrctid=AALsYG&msource=emecuews2016&utm_source=welcome&utm_medium=email-sc&utm_campaign=welcome-stream-1

Getting to Know Your International Contacts-Part 2

For this blog assignment I would like to talk about Global Children's Initiative. There was so much information and it is not an organization I had heard about prior to this class. As I explored the site I did recognize many of its theories from another agency we use in my Head Start program, the Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health program. Devereux uses many of the same thoughts as the Global Children's Initiative although it is focused in the U.S.  only.

Saving Brains

This was an interesting area of the web site. Saving Brains is a partnership led by Grand Challenges Canada and its goal is to improve outcomes for children living in poverty.  The program knows that the first 1000 days of a child's life are extremely important and so their focus is on ensuring a child's brain development is a positive one through proper nutrition and stimulation.  The Saving Brains organization has developed a body of research and practical knowledge to help develop, refine, and evaluate innovative solutions to healthy child development.

Our Kin

This is another organization striving to create equal educational outcomes for those in poverty starting with research to give methods to do better for these children and why. This organizations feels strongly that the best place to start with equality and excellence is with the caregivers themselves, giving them techniques and research-based education. The final step Our Kin uses is a multifaceted partnership with those in the communities such as policy-makers, doctors, educators, etc. Using all aspects of a child's life and community will help deliver a equal and quality education.

Toxic Stress


This area is also focused on in the website and rightly so because there are stressors in everyone's life both good and bad. The more positive stressors are addressed and tend to be those which make us cope better in our environment. The toxic stress this site speaks about is that of war, abuse, neglect, violence, and other negative influences which adversely effect the development of the brain. Children living in this type of environment often fall behind their peers in school and do not have positive relationships in their lives. Studies show that even in the worse environment, if a child has positive relationships they can still develop positively and have resilience to bounce back.

As I stated earlier, there is so many interesting pieces to the Global Children's Initiative website and it gives one hope for a brighter tomorrow.


References


 Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health(2017). Retrieved from http://www.devereux.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ny_index

Global Children's Initiative(2017) Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/about/what-we-do/global-work/

Sharing Web Resources

Save the Children

The title of this website caught my eye immediately because if we save all the children our world has a fighting chance.

     When exploring this site there are many areas which pertain to my professional development in that I love and care for children all over the world not just in my classroom. To bring it down into my own professional development I can research this site to gain access to information of those future students I most likely will have within my own classroom as immigrant refugees. I need to know what they may have endured so I may create a trauma free environment in both physical and emotional situations.

     This website is heart-retching as I learn more about the atrocities children are enduring around the world. This is what I find controversial and makes me think of  these issues in a new light because it just should not be. There is no excuse for it. Entering the newsroom of stories written in other areas of the world is where this information is found. 

Save the Children Action Network is the political voice for kids. We believe that every child deserves the best start in life. That’s why we’re building bipartisan will and voter support to make sure every child in the U.S. has access to high-quality early learning and that no mother or child around the globe dies from a preventable disease or illness. By investing in kids and holding leaders accountable, we are helping kids from birth to age five survive and thrive. (Save the Children, 2017).

There are other statements such as the one above stating the governments involvement in this organization. Those in politics see the investment in young children as an investment into the future.

Economists are also represented in this site on the home page which asks for donations with this statement: By transforming children's lives now, we change the course of their future and ours. Learn more about how you can support our future (Save the Children, 2017).

Scientists and their research is also represented within the site as work is done to find the effects of poverty and trauma on young children's lives and it is never good.

This website is huge and there is so much to explore and so much for me to learn. I am not sure where to even begin to help "save the children."

Reference

Save the Children (2017) Retrieved from http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.9506653/k.C303/Press_Releases_2017/apps/nl/newsletter2.asp

Getting To Know Your International Contacts-Part One

     Well, I am very disappointed that the four or five people I contacted did not return my e-mails. It would have been so interesting to learn from them. However, I did go onto the UNICEF web site and looked around at the information discussed around Africa though there were many other countries to look at.

      One story I read was about a 17 year old girl who was born in Benin, Africa, at home and so she has no birth certificate. This makes it impossible to go to a secondary school and onto a profitable job. In Benin, 4 out of every 10 children do not get a birth certificate within the first 10 days after their birth when it is free. They are born in their homes and most families either do not know about it or do not see the importance of having a birth certificate. Children without a birth certificate are often denied education and lack access to other services. This keeps the cycle of poverty always turning. 

     The next story comes from Agadez, Niger and discussed the children who live on the streets. One such boy left his home when his father died at 12 years of age. He collects tin from the dump to make some money. Some of this money he uses for food but for the most part is to buy glue for sniffing. The boy said it makes him feel nothing and he often gets beat up or robbed when he falls asleep. There is a child agency which can monitor about 50 children which is sometimes their only hope as well as their families'.

      Another story from Africa is based around the internal conflict of Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger where at one time it had 11 million children out of school. Now that the conflict has escalated there are an additional 1 million children also out of school. These children are going to grow up with no education and no means to support themselves.

By 2030 a short 13 years from now:
     167 MILLION children will live in extreme poverty
       69 MILLION children under the age of 5 will die between the years 2016 and 2030
       60 MILLION children of primary school age will be out of school


We have to do something! NO child deserves to suffer like this.

Sharing Web Resources

Save the Children is the Early Childhood related web site I found which interested me and can be found at:

http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXGIpI4E/b.6213813/k.4C6/eNewsletter_Sign_Up/apps/ka/ct/contactus.asp?c=8rKLIXMGIpI4E&b=6213813&en=kvlQJ4ORKhlQJ3MOKcINI4NSJfLZiOSJmLYL4OSJrK9JsJ

When I read the first newsletter my heart broke. I know things are bad for children in war-torn countries but I had no real clue what they have endured along with their families.

Women and Children Flee Famine and War in South Sudan

"The children and the elderly, they slaughtered them... I've seen children tied to their dead mother and thrown in the river"

 This is the first article I read and I now am overwhelmed of what I can possibly do for these suffereing people?!

The reason I am focusing on this horrific story is because the refugees from countries such as this often end up in my classroom. These children must overcome more than learning another language and customs, they must learn how not to be afraid any more. They need to learn to cope in a new world perhaps with trauma too deep for us as teachers to even know where to begin. This is the changing demographics of the classroom in my area. I wish I had an answer but I do know it is something we as educators need to know and to look at.

Getting Ready—E stablishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

     I had a little trouble with this assignment but I think I have it now. I contacted three different organizations and have not heard form anyone as of yet. I tried UNUCEF, The International School of Yangon (in Myanmar) and the Global Educational Network for People and Planet. I am excited about the school in Myanmar because I have had several students from this area and I would like to get to know their educational beliefs. I am really hoping to get to talk with others about their thoughts over the next few weeks.

For the next part of this endeavor I have chosen to learn more about the Safe the Children Foundation. I have signed up for their newsletters and updates and I hope to become more involved with them as well. This program reaches out to children all over the world and if we each tried to live our lives FOR the children this world would be a much better place!