Course Resources

Blog Assignment for EDUC 6162, week 1:

Establishing Professional Contacts

Although I live and work outside the USA, I am thrilled at the assignment of interacting with colleagues from various parts of the world. My work is in Dubai, which is a vibrant city in the country named the United Arab Emirates (UAE). To contact professionals outside the USA and outside the UAE, I asked for help from my husband who works with a fantastic and global education institution called Nordanglia Education.

www.nordangliaeducation.com/

Since Nordanglia education has schools all over the world, and they have children starting in early years, he has connected me with two professionals that I tremendously look forward to communicating with.

1.      Rhian Williams
Reception Teacher and Early Years Coordinator

English International School, Prague
Brunelova 960/12 | 142 00 Prague 4 | Czech Republic

2.       Juliet Perrin

Pre Nursery and Nursery Head of Year

Regents International School

Pattaya, Thailand

We have made the first contact by email, and I am hoping to learn more about each of them in the next week or so, as well as some of the issues they face in The Czech Republic and Thailand.

Expanding Resources

After a quick look around several websites, I found the two that were most resourceful to me and then narrowed it down to the ever popular and reliable website by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. When you visit the website www.naeyc.org, you arrive at a page that is filled with options of information that is available at your fingertips.

I am already a member and so I receive the TYC magazine and have access to the online journals as well. The variety of publications is fabulous and caters to professionals of different interests in early childhood education. I am a typical super busy mother and so I need information that comes to me, so they also have the facebook page which you can follow, where new editions of publications are posted as well as numerous announcements.

In addition to publications, the NAEYC has annual conferences, professional development DVDs, webinars and much more. For professionals it is very resourceful. For those who want to advocate and get involved with public policy, the NAEYC has a strong voice and influence in the USA.

Their position statements are most valuable guides to our profession and daily practice, and they are available to download free of charge from their website.

The organization and its website is incredibly professional and resourceful, but I am most excited at their link to a section named TOPIC and their link to a section for families. For us educators, the section on topics is very thorough and updated, please do take the time to discover this section. It so happens that I am revamping my music curriculum at the nursery, and their topic on music is a fabulous resource for me and the staff.

This website is a very valuable resource to anyone working with young children in the USA or globally.

There is only one thing that I found valuable on the www.zerotothree.org which was not available on the NAEYC website, and that was their downloadable handouts on children and various issues, which you can give out to parents.

Since I work outside the USA, I would have loved to find an organization that addresses the early childhood profession in my region, but there isn't one. However, the www.acei.org is an excellent website/organization for the international community of early childhood educators. If you are working outside the USA, I recommend this site.

From previous courses:
Position Statements and Influential Practices

• NAEYC. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Retrieved May 26, 2010, fromhttp://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/dap
• NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on child abuse prevention. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/ChildAbuseStand.pdf
• NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on school readiness. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/Readiness.pdf
• NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on responding to linguistic and cultural diversity. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/diversity.pdf
• NAEYC. (2003). Early childhood curriculum, assessment, and program evaluation: Building an effective, accountable system in programs for children birth through age 8. Retrieved May 26, 2010, fromhttp://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/pscape.pdf
• NAEYC. (2009, April). Early childhood inclusion: A summary. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/DEC_NAEYC_ECSummary_A.pdf
• Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. (2010). Infant-toddler policy agenda. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://main.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ter_pub_infanttodller
• FPG Child Development Institute. (2006, September). Evidence-based practice empowers early childhood professionals and families. (FPG Snapshot, No. 33). Retrieved May 26, 2010, fromhttp://community.fpg.unc.edu/sites/community.fpg.unc.edu/files/imce/documents/FPG_Snapshot_N33_EvidenceBasedPractice_09-2006.pdf
• Turnbull, A., Zuna, N., Hong, J. Y., Hu, X., Kyzar, K., Obremski, S., et al. (2010). Knowledge-to-action guides. Teaching Exceptional Children, 42(3), 42-53.

 Global Support for Children's Rights and Well-being

Article: UNICEF (n.d.). Fact sheet: A summary of the rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.unicef.org/crc/files/Rights_overview.pdf

Websites:

• World Forum Foundation
  http://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/about-us
• World Organization for Early Childhood Education
  http://www.omep-usnc.org/
  Association for Childhood Education International
• http://acei.org/

Selected Early Childhood Organizations

• National Association for the Education of Young Children
  http://www.naeyc.org/
• The Division for Early Childhood
  http://www.dec-sped.org/
• Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families
  http://www.zerotothree.org/
• WESTED
  http://www.wested.org/cs/we/print/docs/we/home.htm
• Harvard Education Letter
  http://www.hepg.org/hel/topic/85
• FPG Child Development Institute
  http://www.fpg.unc.edu/
• Administration for Children and Families Headstart's National Research Conference
  http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/hsrc/
• HighScope
  http://www.highscope.org/
• Children's Defense Fund
  http://www.childrensdefense.org/
• Center for Child Care Workforce
  http://www.ccw.org/
• Council for Exceptional Children
  http://www.cec.sped.org/
• Institute for Women's Policy Research
  http://www.iwpr.org/
• National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education
  http://www.ncrece.org/wordpress/
• National Child Care Association
  http://www.nccanet.org/
• National Institute for Early Education Research
  http://nieer.org/
• Pre[K]Now
  http://www.pewstates.org/projects/pre-k-now-328067
• Voices for America's Children
  http://www.voices.org/
• The Erikson Institute
  http://www.erikson.edu/

Selected Professional Journals Available in the Walden Library

• YC Young Children
• Childhood
• Journal of Child & Family Studies
• Child Study Journal
• Multicultural Education
• Early Childhood Education Journal
• Journal of Early Childhood Research
• International Journal of Early Childhood
• Early Childhood Research Quarterly
• Developmental Psychology
• Social Studies
• Maternal & Child Health Journal
• International Journal of Early Years Education

Additional resources

• http://www.teachpreschool.org/
• http://www.positivediscipline.com/
• http://www.michaelthompson-phd.com/