Further Exploration of NAECTE

In the past few weeks as I have begun research and go through the NAECTE website, I have discovered several important pieces of information. For my professional growth and in order to receive the very most from this web resource I will have to join as a member. I have considered this as an option in the past for career purposes and now as I am truly delving site, I can see there is so much more for me to learn and attain through membership. 

I have begun to make great use of the "links to related organizations" page through the NAECTE site, one of the sites that I have found very interesting is the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education or AACTE. Through the AACTE site and their resource library I have begun to find read what they feel are the current issues and policies facing teachers. The Teacher Leader Model Standards https://secure.aacte.org/apps/rl/res_get.php?fid=488&ref=rl , is a comprehensive and in depth at how through leadership by teachers is essential to serving the needs of students, schools and the teaching profession. To that end, the Teacher Leadership Exploratory Consortium has developed these Teacher Leader Model Standards to codify, promote and support teacher leadership as a vehicle to transform schools for the needs of the 21st century. 

By beginning to look and research into AACTE, I am beginning to develop a broader perspective into issues facing educators, and how to develop myself into a an educator who is aware of the the issues but is willing to learn and grow as well. In order to bring about more effective change.

Poverty in Malawi

Malawi is one of the poorest nations the world. It is one of the least developed as well.  Over  50% of Malawians, the majority being female-headed households, live below the poverty line. Many Malawaians deal with hunger and malnutrition, conditions that plague much of the continent of Africa. Most Malawians rely on subsistence farming, but the food supply situation is precarious and the country is prone to natural disasters of both extremes - from drought to heavy rainfalls - putting it in constant need of thousands of tons of food aid every year. For much of Malawi's villager's collect water from wells and streams to cook with. Diseases such as malaria, measles, tubercles and pneumonia  are common place.

To compound the issues of this under developed nation 1 in 10 adult  Malawains it is believed contract and die from the virus AIDS. The epidemic is further worsened by the silence and shame that many feel while battling this disease. Tens of thousands of people die from the disease. 

The government of Malawi along with world aid organizations have begun establish programs which may help to combat many of the issues that this nation has been been facing for so long. However in a country with so much to deal with is will be a long up hill battle. It has been very enlightening to learn about the plight of Malawians, I have known through media about the issues that face much of the African Continent but toe delve in to and look deep into Malawi as a nation is shocking. This is nation that it would seem that the rest of the world seems to have forgotten. 

http://www.our-africa.org/malawi/poverty-healthcare

 http://www.raisingmalawi.org.

(www.bbc.com).  

Save the Children- Expanding Resources

In researching and exploring through the two sites Save the Children http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6115947/k.8D6E/Official_ and The Global Fund for Children http://www.globalfundforchildren.org/.  I am choosing to focus my attention and time as of now the site, Save the Children. Through their site I have found their blog, with the stories writings various individuals involved with the organization. One story " A  Heartfelt Letter of Gratitude"  was written by Lorren a former save the child "child" who was saved through the organization. She is now a college graduate with a Bachelor's Degree. As a child she had dreams that she hoped would one say be fulfilled and through Save the Children, she has been able to accomplish her goals. Truly an inspiring story. 

Sharing Web Resources: NAECTE

I have decided to focus on National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators http://www.naecte.org.

NAECTE Purpose:

•                   To promote the professional growth of   Their membership •                        To discuss educational issues specific to  their membership •                        To advocate for improvements in early childhood teacher education •                        Provide a forum for consideration of issues and concerns of interest to educators of early childhood teacher educators •                        Provide a communication network for early childhood teacher educators •                        Facilitate the interchange of information and ideas about research and practice •                        Use, as vehicles, the Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, conferences, resolutions, position papers, and other publications •                       Cooperate with other national and international organizations concerned with the study and education of young children In most recent E-Letters, or newsletter as I have researched  I have not seen much mention of current issues and or trends in Early Childhood Education in terms of diversity or demographical changes in the United States.

Issues and Trends- Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Establishing Professional Contacts :

Over the previous week I have begun my attempts to establish professional contacts outside of the United States. As of yet I have not had opportunity hear back from the professionals that I have reached out to via email. I am confident that to have such resource in various parts of the world will be invaluable.  I am hoping to hear soon from one or more of these perspective contacts over the coming days, however if not I will move forward with in terms of my blog with the alternative assignment.

Expanding Resources:

Over this past week I have begun to explore two different websites to begin to use over the next coming weeks, I have narrowed my choices to Harlem's Children's Zone 
www.hcz.org & 
National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators
http://www.naecte.org.

Both hold a vast amount of resources for early childhood educators. I am familiar with both sites on a professional basis, in a limited basis. I have always wanted the opportunity to fully delve into both and fully immerse myself in to all their resources.

My Support

My Support System fall into several classification : Family, Friends, & Colleagues.

My husband is my rock,  my best friend and is highly supportive of everything I want to do in life, it is because of his support and love that I was able to accomplish graduating with my Bachelor's degree while raising our three children, through three deployments. He has sacrificed by his time and reenlisting multiple times in the military to help support my dreams.

My sister, there are sometimes no words to express the encouragement that she has been able to give me. Not only is she my love, she is my sister. She is also an educator( BONUS!!!) Whenever I am frustrated just as my husband will do she also will pick me up dust me off and tell me yes I can. She is always there to lend an ear , or come visit just make sure I know I have her love and support.

My Parents and My Brothers, wow! what can I say about that I have prayers and encouragement that abound. I can pick up a phone and call just to say"Hi" on a day that I may not feel my best. On a day that I feel like giving in to all the pressures of the world and each will tell me how proud they are, how I can do this and make me feel OK. Without knowing that's what I needed to hear they say it.

My friends are not merely friends they are family to me, they each have given me support on my journey. My colleagues are quickly become friends to me, indispensable parts of my life from which I am not able to do my job with.  I am encouraged through and by. We give each other support and provide far more time and energy , outside of what is seen outside it being merely just a job. So I can say they are not just my colleagues but my friends as well.

IF I DIDN'T HAVE.....

I am the oldest  of 6 children  3 girls and 3 boys, in 2005  my youngest sister passed away. So in this scenario I am writing from truth. My sister Tiffany was 18 years old, and had just a few days before graduated from High School. Up until that point in her life, she, our sister Latoya, and my sister we always called our parents three angels. Their three girls we were close, even though I was married and already raising a family I visited often, and my sisters came to visit me often. Tiffany spent her Spring Break as a senior not with her friends but with my family. We were sisters in every sense of the word, her death devastated our whole family. It ripped a piece of our hearts away that we can not replace. Her support for me to go to college while raising kids, with a husband that was at war at the time was huge.  So her loss took the breath, from me literally, from me and Latoya. Some days I only functioned for my children. Until a day came that I remembered that I could honor her through all the living that I was left here to continue to live.

If I could imagine or have any other support, it would be to have my husband here all the time, yet I know that the sacrifices he makes are for a greater good. So I don't want to be selfish. Truly, I know I am blessed with a great support system that helps me and holds me up whenever  I need it the most. I can not , and could not have done anything that I have accomplished thus far on my own. If I did not have them in place. I would be struggling to work still on every dream. So I am always thankful and forever grateful to the Almighty for placing every person in my life. :)

My Connections to Play

"Imagination is where your child lives and when you play with him, you enter his world"- Chris Hathaway

"Play: (v) to make a big mess "

My Parents and How Play was Important

My mother and Father always felt that it was important that my siblings and I had time for play in our lives. There was never too much going on that we did not have time for an hour or two to play outside or inside.  My fondest memories of growing up in southeast North Carolina are not of the toys we had growing up but of times we would spend together as a family outside . 

We would ride bikes, play baskeball, or just run around playing hide and go seek. We would have water balloon fights or chase each other around the yard just for fun. Even now that I have two younger brother still living at home and will visit with my own children,  my parents still hold firm that play is important to all children and make time for all the kids to go out and just have FUN!

Play Today vs. Play Yesterday

Play does not have the same role in our children's lives as it did our own.  It has taken a back seat to the fast pace of organized sports and the hard core educational work ethic that states, play is not learning. For children or today there is no time for play,  no joy in just going outside just for the fun of going. Their attention is being pulled to "play" video games inside or computer games or any other media device, designed to enhance their veiwing pleasure.  Children have so many things that are fighting for their attention that we did not have as children. 

How Play has Contributed Throughout my Life,

Play is important throughout our lives, through play we learn as children and adults. We learn about the world around us and how we fit into as we are children. As adults we see how we can contribute further to it and learn to sit back and enjoy it more. Life is not all about work, its about how we enjoy it as well. Through play we can see the enjoyment of life. Play has always been central for me in that respect for I have always wanted to enjoy my life adult life as much as I did my childhood. I have wanted my children to have the same if not better childhood as I did so I encourage play for them as well.