Final Blog!!!!

Time has really gone by fast and I have enjoyed reading each and everyone blogs. I want to wish each of you the best of luck as you continue on your journey. I have learned many new things throughout this course and plan to use some new resources I have discovered since this class.I wasn't able to make an internationl contact but I have explored many new websites and have learned many things about other countires and early childhood education. It is good to become familiar with the way education is in other countries. I have learned about many different orgainzations that foucs on early childhood educaiton. This is good to know because the early years are important in a child's life and we as teachers need to learn how to prepare for these young learners for a great learning experience. One web resource I found was Smart Study. Smart Start, the early learning division of United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta has joined forces with a coalition of early childhood advocates. The programs focus on low-income, preschool children with risks for reading difficulties, transforming our existing, good programs into programs of excellence. Some of the aspects of the program is implementing Opening the World of Learning (OWL), which comprehensive, integrated curriculum, enhancing classroom learning environments, providing teachers with new ways to help children improve their language, providing coaching and early literacy training for teachers to help them fully integrate literacy throughout their classrooms and engaging families in their child's early reading experiences to reinforce these skills at home. Another web resource was call SPARK. SPARK is Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids (SPARK GA) was a national initiative funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation from 2002 - 2008 to help communities combine resources and better prepare children for school. Targeting children ages 3-6 who are vulnerable to poor achievement. These are just two of the many other great web resources. I also read about how in Sub-Saharan Africia there is a high rate of out of school children. They have either never been to school or have dropped out. This is sad becaue every child needs to be in school and every child has the right to learn. When you have countries like this and the chidlren are suffering becuae of the lack of education I see the need for stronger global committes and national policies that need to be stornger. As we face the many downfalls of our economy we are seeing more and more children here in the United States dropping out of school and not having the support to behind them to get their educaiotn. It is all a sad situation. Throughout this course childhood proverty has been see as an issue and it is only growing into a bigger issue. Childhood proverty is seen everywhere and so much more than ever. The Childhood Poverty and Policy Centre's Page showed me just how bad the issue of poverty in early childhood is and the affects it has on our children and also our county.. My goal in Early Childhood field is to be the best teacher I can be. I want to make a differene in the lives of my students. I want to make my community aware of the many issues that children are faced with and how that affects their learning ability. I want to find programs and activities to make parents become more involved in their child's education because we are a team working together to give our students the best. I want to not only serve the children I teach but the families as well. If kids come to us from strong, healthy functioning families, it makes our job easier. If they do not come to us from strong, healthy, functioning families, it makes our job more important. -Barbara Colorose Children are like wet cement, whatever falls on them makes an impression. - Haim Ginott