Getting to know my international ECE contact Petra has been really rewarding for me. I have enjoyed learning about her insights in the Czech Republic and it is good to know that many of these are issues and trends that professionals, children, and families are experiencing world wide and this is the first consequence of my personal and professional development through these blog assignments. I feel that my love of learning about cultures different than my own will ultimately make me into a better advocate for my communities and the ECE field I work in.
Another consequence to learning about the ECE field is that by learning about how many global websites, agencies, and grassroots programs are striving to make the world a better place and are advocating for children's rights is very humbling. Petra and I have talked (well, written) at length that our abilities, responsibilities, and goals of working in the ECE field some times seem unachievable. Sometimes it feels like we carry the weight of the world on our shoulders with all of the shortcomings in the issues and trends we are experiencing. I think it is important to remember that the work of one, DOES make a difference!
Lastly, learning about international issues and trends reminds me not to ever get comfortable with my knowledge or experience bases. There is always more to learn and more to do out there in the world of early childhood!
One goal that I will continue to have throughout my career is to take every opportunity for participant observation I can get and remember that some of the best education and insight an advocate can have is by really getting one's hands dirty! I hope to accentuate my formal education and training with travel and by continuing to reach out to my colleagues on a global scale.
THANK YOU, PETRA, AND MY FELLOW CLASSMATES. Keep on, Keepin On!
TashaLu
A love of my life!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
Week 6: Sharing Web Resources-ICRI, Equity, & Excellence
The icrichild.org website has a blog that I have been following throughout this course. Though the agency probably has no idea as to who I am specifically, I can always find something discussed or examined on the website and blog that seems to coincide with what I am learning in EDUC 6162 Issues and Trends in the ECE field. This week was no exception!
One of the latest blog entries on the International Child Resource Institute’s website discussed the professional journey of Marianela, an ECE professional who had quite the global childhood growing up in the US, Canada, and South America. She was the daughter of a diplomat, and therefore, exposed to various cultures and other children as she developed.
Currently, it is clear through the ICRI blog posting about her, that she is a dedicated child advocate, who works with at-risk students and youth that have been exposed to abuse. I was especially intrigued as I learned about Marianela because though she has many international experiences, which guided her journey as an ECE professional, her traditional education through higher learning took place in my neck of the woods, where I grew up in and around Boston, Mass.
The blog continues by explaining her dedication to continual education and participant observation to provide well-educated and well-rounded services to the children and families she works with. The article describes her as “eager to hone her knowledge,” but also discusses her challenge of “sustaining herself” professionally (icri.org, October 2011).
Equity and excellence are important values that every professional involved with the ECE field should strive for in my opinion. By staying abreast of the populations we serve, their challenges, and the need for advocacy are simply not enough. We must also advocate for ourselves as a vital piece of the safety and well-being of future generations of ECE professionals!
Your profession is not what brings home your paycheck. Your profession is what you were put on earth to do. With such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling.
One of the latest blog entries on the International Child Resource Institute’s website discussed the professional journey of Marianela, an ECE professional who had quite the global childhood growing up in the US, Canada, and South America. She was the daughter of a diplomat, and therefore, exposed to various cultures and other children as she developed. Currently, it is clear through the ICRI blog posting about her, that she is a dedicated child advocate, who works with at-risk students and youth that have been exposed to abuse. I was especially intrigued as I learned about Marianela because though she has many international experiences, which guided her journey as an ECE professional, her traditional education through higher learning took place in my neck of the woods, where I grew up in and around Boston, Mass.
The blog continues by explaining her dedication to continual education and participant observation to provide well-educated and well-rounded services to the children and families she works with. The article describes her as “eager to hone her knowledge,” but also discusses her challenge of “sustaining herself” professionally (icri.org, October 2011).
Equity and excellence are important values that every professional involved with the ECE field should strive for in my opinion. By staying abreast of the populations we serve, their challenges, and the need for advocacy are simply not enough. We must also advocate for ourselves as a vital piece of the safety and well-being of future generations of ECE professionals!
Your profession is not what brings home your paycheck. Your profession is what you were put on earth to do. With such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling.
Vincent Van Gogh
Week 7: Getting to know international ECE Contacts Part 3-Quality and Excellence
My international contact Petra from the Czech Republic has been vital in my understanding of issues and trends in the Early Childhood Field throughout this class, and I am positive that she will be a good resource to me throughout my graduate studies journey with Walden. By exchanging thoughts, views, and her own goals as an ECE professional, my passion for the work we do with children and families has been validated.
Petra shared with me that all of her friends in colleagues engaged in similar work shares our passion for providing quality services to children and families, as well as makes their experiences contribute to the quality of work they perform. Like me, Petra discusses the challenges associated with being the most effective professional one can be versus the many responsibilities and standards they must live up to. Early childhood professionals perform at their best when this balance is achieved and they tend to remain in the field for long periods. In Czech, Petra shared that the profession of teaching seems to be a bit more well respected than in America, based on what she reads in the media as well as the general tone of some of my questions and inquiries about the field from her perspective. I have to agree, while Petra reports that Czech does have strict and conservative standards teachers must meet in their curriculum, it seems as though that her country both compensates their educators fairly, as well as provides both tangible and intangible tools they need to provide high-quality education to their students. Examples of these are the priority placed on on-going training and education as evidenced by tuition reimbursements, and grants, classroom supply allowances, as well as various testing tools utilized by subject and student.
Petra writes that she hopes to be a music teacher until the end of her career decades and decades from now. She writes that she hopes that her students remember her every time they hear music. Petra’s dreams include that her idea of providing high-quality education on the subject of music, remains a priority in her culture.
In my own community, the issue of certain subjects continuing to be taught in school is up for serious debate. It is discouraging that many PE, Art, and Music educational programs are “being looked at for cuts” due to dwindling budgets. One of my close friends is an Art teacher for a local middle school and he was telling me recently that last academic year, he was transferred twice due to schools loosing funding for their art classes. He is seriously concerned about the security of his job, and his passion for working with kids. He considers himself to strive for excellence in his perseverance and his ability to show his students the power of advocacy and their voices. In talking to him, he thinks that providing quality education to children and support for families is vital for a successful community and society.
Lastly, I do not believe that anyone enters this field looking to make millions, I do think that why we chose to become involved, stay involved, and give it our all deserves not only high respect, but also, fair compensation and recognition. If we do not continue to work toward this equality, then we all will face the major challenge of making our livelihoods sustainable in this field. I hope that I can make a field and a profession that I am so dedicated to and (and talented at) last so that I may sustain a career which is so rewarding...and so necessary.
Petra shared with me that all of her friends in colleagues engaged in similar work shares our passion for providing quality services to children and families, as well as makes their experiences contribute to the quality of work they perform. Like me, Petra discusses the challenges associated with being the most effective professional one can be versus the many responsibilities and standards they must live up to. Early childhood professionals perform at their best when this balance is achieved and they tend to remain in the field for long periods. In Czech, Petra shared that the profession of teaching seems to be a bit more well respected than in America, based on what she reads in the media as well as the general tone of some of my questions and inquiries about the field from her perspective. I have to agree, while Petra reports that Czech does have strict and conservative standards teachers must meet in their curriculum, it seems as though that her country both compensates their educators fairly, as well as provides both tangible and intangible tools they need to provide high-quality education to their students. Examples of these are the priority placed on on-going training and education as evidenced by tuition reimbursements, and grants, classroom supply allowances, as well as various testing tools utilized by subject and student. Petra writes that she hopes to be a music teacher until the end of her career decades and decades from now. She writes that she hopes that her students remember her every time they hear music. Petra’s dreams include that her idea of providing high-quality education on the subject of music, remains a priority in her culture.
In my own community, the issue of certain subjects continuing to be taught in school is up for serious debate. It is discouraging that many PE, Art, and Music educational programs are “being looked at for cuts” due to dwindling budgets. One of my close friends is an Art teacher for a local middle school and he was telling me recently that last academic year, he was transferred twice due to schools loosing funding for their art classes. He is seriously concerned about the security of his job, and his passion for working with kids. He considers himself to strive for excellence in his perseverance and his ability to show his students the power of advocacy and their voices. In talking to him, he thinks that providing quality education to children and support for families is vital for a successful community and society. Lastly, I do not believe that anyone enters this field looking to make millions, I do think that why we chose to become involved, stay involved, and give it our all deserves not only high respect, but also, fair compensation and recognition. If we do not continue to work toward this equality, then we all will face the major challenge of making our livelihoods sustainable in this field. I hope that I can make a field and a profession that I am so dedicated to and (and talented at) last so that I may sustain a career which is so rewarding...and so necessary.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Week 5: Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2 Excellence and Equity
When discussing the issues of excellence and equity with my primary international early
childhood education contact, Petra, at first she was a bit confused as to what I meant by excellence. I explained to her that here in the US, the ECE field strives for excellence and providing the most current, appropriate, and most importantly effective services to children. However, this goal is often met with various barriers such as inadequate teacher training and experience, unequal allocation of financial and other resources, high professional turnover, etc.
Petra shared with me that the same issues are being faced by ECE professionals in the Czech
Republic. She discussed with me that though government may have a higher respect for ECE careers and it would seem the US has, they also struggle with sparse resources and high rates of teacher turnover. Petra shared with me that she has been working in her current school for about 4 years and is one of the senior most teachers in the school. This is concerning to her because she does not understand why teachers are not “rolling with the punches” that are present in the ECE field in Czech.
Petra and I agree that compensation for ECE professionals is entirely unequal compared to some other fields in both our countries, and this is an issue which needs to be addressed and improved rapidly, if we are to attain our goals of being effective in our advocacy for children and families!
Week 4: Continuing to share web resources
The website that I have been exploring during this course is the International Children’s Resource Institute site, www.icrichild.org. ICRI envisions a world in which all children and families are able to fulfill their greatest potential. This institute engages in advocacy work by focusing on child care and early education issues, children’s rights, the empowerment of women and girls, maternal and child health, and grassroots collaboration and community development. All of these works are relevant in what I do professionally, as well as contribute to my future professional development in the ECE field. 
Most of the US based projects are based out of various areas of California; however, I believethat California and Florida are very similar in terms of facing some of the same issues with service delivery to children and families, and this is an insight which I recently obtained. The demographics of those we serve are very similar mostly due to the fact that we have high rates of immigrants due to our geographic locations. There are many specific, US based projects that ICRI sponsors which seem as though they are relevant to my professional development.
One of these is the HOMEY Project. This initiative works with young people of color to reduce their risks of dropping out of school, gang affiliation, etc. Additionally, with particular concentration on young Latinos, the project works to link them with community resources that offer culturally competent services including case management, educational services, violence prevention, counseling, and most importantly (in my opinion) advocacy and empowerment programs. I like the idea of the HOMEY project because it has the potential to focus on prevention. I believe preventative services for at-risk youth and families are one of the toughest undertakings the ECE field has currently. Yes, we must address current issues and struggles of children and families, however, it is just as, if not more important to strive for preventing these challenges in the first place! Another advantage to the HOMEY project is that it acts as “a major voice for youth at the local and statewide levels” allowing politicians to gain the insight needed to make tough decisions concerning children and families (http://www.icrichild.org/homey/).
During my exploration of the ICRI website and organization, it is very clear that the International Children’s Resource Institute is rapidly becoming a leader in the movement towards advocacy for the rights of children and families. ICRI is making a name for itself and its cause by being invited to prestigious and collaborative gatherings such as: In 2009 ICRI was invited to provide keynote speeches at the first Prime Minister and First Lady’s International Conference on Early Childhood Education. ICRI celebrated their 30 year anniversary and achievements at the 2011 World Forum on Early Care and Education in Honolulu, HI. The ICRI organization inspires me to keep going in my professional development working toward equality and empowerment of children and families, both here at home and across the globe.
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