Sharing Web Resources

Well everyone, I am here again to share with you more information on an organization that is making a big impact on the lives in children in Harlem.  The Harlem Children’s Zone is dedicated to providing children with the necessary programs and services that will allow them to develop into model citizens who will give back to their community.  The website for the organization is filled with valuable information for any parent, child, or professional, especially those who work within the early childhood field.  As I searched through the website, I became overwhelmed and overjoyed with the amount of information that seemed particularly relevant to my current professional development.  One specific section that caught my eye was the one that was titled Issues.  Many of the issues discussed in this section are issues that are occurring with children and professionals all over the world.  The resources in this section provided different literature on topics such as long-term success of children, list of effective programs, and federal initiatives.  Another section that is relevant to my current professional development is the section on programs that are being implemented by the organization.  This section will allow me to view actual programs that have been effective and which can be applied in my community as well.  It gives any professional an idea of what works and what is effective when it comes to serving children and families.   

As I continued to browse the website I came across a newsletter that was printed in 2009.  The thing that caught my attention about this newsletter was the effort that the organization put forth in order to keep things going and impacting children.  This made me think about all of the programs that have been started in my community that later failed.  What were they doing wrong? How were the programs evaluated?  These are questions I began to ask myself and wonder why they couldn’t be successful like the Harlem Children’s Zone.  This organization receives help from celebrities, volunteers, community officials and makes sure that everything that is done focuses on their core values.  I feel that this is an organization that could help other organizations progress and change things for the better in other communities.  I was even able to find information that adds to my understanding of how economists, neuroscientists, or politicians support the early childhood field.  The Harlem Children’s Zone has developed a Quality Assurance Team to make sure that their programs are effective and that the resources and services the children receive will pay off in the future.  According to Team HCZ Newsletter (2009), “QAT was developed to improve that division’s quality of work, while building upon HCZ’s core values.  On an ongoing basis, QAT now reviews and evaluates the output of preventive’s five branches to ensure that the division is servicing its clients and families to the best of its abilities and performing at its optimum potential” (p. 2).   

As an early childhood professional, I am so glad that the Harlem Children’s Zone is dedicated to changing the lives of children and I hope to one day be a part of an organization that has the drive and force like this one.

References

Team HCZ Newsletter. (2009). 100 days of Peace and purpose.  Retrieved from http://www.hcz.org/images/stories/pdfs/teamHCZ_spring09_v4.pdf.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts

Stephanie Olmore

Director of Quality Enhancement Initiatives at NAEYC

I can honestly say that I have definitely enjoyed the blog assignments so far in which we are given the opportunity to get to know professionals within our fields and learn about different organizations and resource that can be used in our future careers.  However, getting to know other professionals has been a great experience so far.  I became discouraged in the beginning because no one had responded to any of my emails, however, the director of NAEYC, Rhian Evans responded and forwarded my email to the appropriate individual.  The individual who I have been communicating with and would like to introduce to everyone is Stephanie Olmore, Director of Quality Enhancement Initiatives at National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).  Stephanie has a very extensive background in which she has basically been working in the early childhood field since her college years in which she served as an assistant for a child care program on campus.  She received her Bachelors at the University of Colorado at Boulder in which her major was Sociology.  She also received her Master’s degrees from the University of Colorado at Denver in which her major was Early Childhood Education.  She has worked for many companies throughout the years which include working for the Step by Step Association, Governor of Colorado, University of Colorado at Denver, and now at the NAEYC.  She is very dedicated to the early childhood field and an advocate for the well-being of children all over the world.         

The reason why Rhian Evans thought that this would be the perfect person to communicate with is because Stephanie is responsible for overseeing of all international efforts of NAEYC.  The international efforts of NAEYC have just begun in which the organization is seeking and encouraging other early childhood programs from the world to become accredited through the NAEYC.  The organization is in the process of implementing Global Connections which serves as a resource to support high-quality early care and education for all children all over the world.  The organization believes that the best way to address some of the issues that exist with children and families is with the providing of high quality early care and making sure that every child has the opportunity to receive that type of care.  The countries that have developed a partnership and joined Global Alliances include the following countries:

• Africa
• Asia
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Europe
• North America
• South America

According to NAEYC (2013), “The Global Alliance for the Education of Young Children provides an opportunity for early childhood associations from countries throughout the world to distribute materials and share information about programs and services, so that members of the participating organizations will have access to a greater range of early childhood resources” (para. 2).  This will allow the countries to use the resources and services in order to address issues such as poverty in order to aid people in their countries to provide better lives for their families.

When she shared this information I thought to myself that this just may work.  When it comes to issues of poverty a lot of families are not able to afford high quality child care for their children.  However, if all children are given the opportunity to receive this type of care, regardless of their income level, then there is a possibility that this early education will prepare the children for regular school.  This in return will allow the students to continue to excel and eventually receive good jobs in the future so their families will not have to struggle and live in poverty.  Education is the key to success and if we are going to fight to end poverty, educating children is where we need to start.     

References

NAEYC.  (2013).  Global alliance.  Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/resources/partnership/globalalliance.

 

Sharing Web Resources

As an individual who wants to obtain a job in the early childhood profession, I believe that every child should be given the chance at receiving a quality education as well as given the opportunity to experience things in life that will have a positive impact on them.  This is exactly why I chose the organization, Harlem Children's Zone (www.hcz.org).  The Harlem Children's Zone is a community based organization that focuses on the well-being of the children and families in Harlem, NY by providing them with resources and activities in order to promote positivity in their lives.  One of the main focuses of the organization is to end poverty and to educate the children in order to enrich the environment of Harlem, NY.  The one thing that I found interesting about this origanization and what led me to further researching the website was the agencies, "whatever it takes" attitude.  This is exactly how I feel when it comes to children and being able to provide their families with the resources and services needed for a better life for the child.  The Harlem Children's Zone is basically an organization that provides services to everyone, from the preschooler all the way up to the college student.   

While researching the organization's website I was able to determine that the main issue with families and children that Harlem Children's Zone is focusing on is poverty.  The organization feel that there are too many families living in poverty and something has to be done in order to address the issue.  They feel that something more has to be done than just the programs that only help hundreds of children a year.  Their aim is to help thousands of children a year in whcih they have been able to reach as many as 10,000 children a year by providing services such as the Baby College, preschool programs, health related resources and services such as obesity programs, and asthma initiatives, as well as the Promise Academy which is a successful public charter school.  The services and resources provided has allowed the organization to address the concerns and issues that comes along with poverty stricken parents and given them a better view of life.  The organization has a newsletter in which I have subscribed to but awaiting to receive confirmation for access.  However, I feel that the  website has valuable information that would be very useful to any early childhood professional or any individual looking to find ways to address problems within their own community. 

As far as the topics discussed this week and the information found on the website, I feel that the changes in demographics may cause the proverty numbers to rise in which more and more people will need resources or programs that will help them adapt and take control of their situation.  I feel that this website will provide families and professionals with information on how to address the issue and how to start programs or seek help from other organizations such as this one.  However, I encourage everyone to take a look at their website and read about some of the wonderful things the organization has done for the families in Harlem.

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

This is my first blog assignment for Issues and Trends in the Early Childhood field, and I am trying to get back in the swing of things.  This has been such a wonderful journey thus far, and I look forward to learning news things and interacting with everyone in this class.  

After reading the instructions for the first blog assignment, I became very excited because we are given the opportunity to network with other early childhood professionals from other countries as well and become very familiar with websites that focus on the early childhood field.  The blog assignment consists of two parts that will be continuously addressed throughout the eight weeks of class.  

The first part of the assignment focuses on establishing contact with two other professionals within the early childhood field that are located in other countries.  The assignments in weeks to come will require me to communicate with the individuals and basically get to know them on a personal and professional note.  I approached the first part of the assignment head on by sending out as many emails that I could to as many people that I could locate from other countries.  Before I sent out the email, I kind of had a feeling that some of the emails would come back due to emails being incorrect.  I was exactly right in which I received a failure notice for about 10 of the emails that I sent out.  The more the emails failed the more people I found to send additional emails.  After a couple of days of no response, I almost gave up and wanted to just do the alternative assignment.  However, I was contacted by Rhian Evan Allvin, executive director of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), in which she informed me that she had received my email and was going to forward it to the appropriate individual.  She stated that she knew the perfect person that could help me which was Stephanie Olmore who was head of their International Initiative Department.  I was so excited that someone had taken out the time to reply to my message.  I look forward to hearing from Ms. Olmore in hopes that she will be able to share with me her views on the early childhood field.   

The second part of the blog assignment allows me to become familiar with a resource that can be used by early childhood professionals in which we have to select a early childhood organization's website and research it for the next couple of weeks to determine how the organization supports the early childhood field.  After going through the provided list of resources I decided to select the Harlem Children's Zone (www.hcz.org).  The reason why I chose this website is because I have often heard stories about the educational opportunities and services that are offered to children in Harlem.  I wanted to learn more about the services as well as explore the website to learn as much about the community-based organization.

I am very excited about this assignment and the only advice I can give about this assignment is try to contact as many people as possible.  The more people that are contacted the better the chance we may have at contacting someone from another country.  I wish everyone the best of luck with the assignment and look forward to reading your posts in the future.

My Supports

Life can be a challenge in which we as people have to find ways to deal with things and handle things appropriately.  There are times when we are faced with things that we feel that we just cannot go on and just want to give up.  Even though life is not easy we are able to get through it daily with the use of different types of support and support systems.  Without support, I don't think I would have been able to get across some of the bumps in the roads that I have experienced.  My support system is my everything and I don't know what I would do without them. 

My Mother

My daily schedule is very busy and without the people that make up my emotional support system, I think I would have went crazy by now.  The first person that is very supportive is my mother.  My mother is not only a parent but a friend, listener, provider, and wonderful grandmother.  Being a mother of two young daughters have me on the go at all times in which I am having to take them to and from their daily activities such as dance class, baseball practice, and girl scout meetings.  My mother always steps in and helps with the girls in which she takes care of one of the and I handle the other.  She often comes over and helps prepare dinner as well as listen to my daily mishaps that I may have experienced.  I feel that my mothers' support is the reason I am the strong person I am today.  She often motivates  me when I want to give up and also she makes sure that I am taking care of myself both physically and emotionally.  I feel that without the support of my mother I don't know where I would be today.  I don't think that I would be able to function sanely and do all the things that needed to be done daily.  I cherish every day that my mother is in my life and wish that I could have her by my side forever because life without her would be like taking away my sunshine.

My Children

I am blessed to have two beautiful little girls, Nya & Jada, who bring me great joy!  These little girls are two of my biggest supporters.  They make sure that their mother's day is always bright in which they make sure I am always smiling and in a good mood.  When they see that mommy is having a bad they will step in and do things that always turn my frown into a smile such as wanting to help clean, cook, and do laundry.  Being the mother of these two little girls provide me the sense of having something worth living for.  They are the reasons I work so hard to provide them with the best of things in which we make sure that we are all taken care of.  I couldn't imagine a day without these little girls and just the thought of them not being there makes me emotional.  If they were not in my life I don't think I would be the professional, hardworking, and dedicated woman I am today.

Physical Disability

 

The challenge that I chose to imagine to have that I do not currently have it the inability to walk and beinf confined to a wheelchair.  This type of challenge would be very difficult to me in which I would basically need someone on call that could always assist me with different situations and daily activities.  I would want to have a support system that would allow me to independent and not be to the point where they wanted to do everything for me.  I would have to make sure that I had someone to drive me from place to place so that I go do some of the things I could possibly do alone.  In this situation, I definitely feel that my mother and daughters would definitely be supportive in which they would assist me with things that I could not do due to my disability such as getting thing from high places, driving the girls to and from their activities, and just emotional support such as being my motivators.  Regardless of the disability, my support system would made sure that I continued living life to the fullest and that my disability would not be viewed as a disability but a obstacle that I am facing.  If I did not have them, being confined to a wheelchair and trying to take care of my children would be very hard.  I would basically have to find someone to help me which may be a person that would not provide the actual support and love that I needed like my mother and my daughters.  If they weren't there I probably would just give up and live a life full of depression and low self-esteem.

My Connections to Play

Quotes About Play

 Children need the freedom and time to play.  Play is not a luxury.  Play is a necessity.

Kay Redfield Jamison

When children pretend, they're using their imaginations to move beyond the bounds of reality.  A stick can be a magic wand.  A sock can be a puppet.  A small child can be a superhero.

Fred Rogers

My Essential Play Items

 

Doll House

Kitchen Set

Jump Rope

Play & My Childhood

When I was younger, play was a very big part of my life.  I spent a lot of my time playing and getting to know other children.  My mother was a big supporter and advocate for play for children.  She often told us that it was very important that we learn how to play with other children because working with others would be a big part of our lives.  We would often invite cousins and friends over and my mom would have several different activities for us to participate in.  A lot of the time we did things that focused on creating things and using a lot of arts and crafts.  Also, when I was younger, I started daycare at an early age in which I was exposed to play at an extremely early age.  I can remember playing at times and we were taught to share, be nice, and to make sure everyone was happy at all times.  These types of lessons and activities definitely increased my communication ability, language development, emotional development, and social development.  Therefore, I strongly believe that the role of play supported my healthy development.

My Perception of Play

I feel that when I was a child play was basically a part of life and no one really commented on whether or not it was good or bad.  It was just children learning and playing and having a good time.  I feel that now people are taking the fun out of play and debating on it too much.  Some feel that play is necessary and some feel that play is a waste of time; however, it depends on their definition of play and what is actually going on during the child’s play time.  Children need a little time to be able to express themselves and play with other children.  Play gives them the time to be independent and decide what they want to do or what activities they want to participate in where its playing dress up, being a superhero, playing school, or even playing house.  What ever the case may be adults just need to realize that play is very essential for the healthy development of children.

Play & My Adulthood

I feel that play provided me the opportunity to learn how to communicate and socialize with others in which I feel has contributed to ability to become a social butterfly.  I have people now that often come to me with their problems or just like to come around for a little chatting and fun.  The role of play in my childhood has given me the opportunity to learn how to express my feelings and emotions as well as pass it along to my children.  I love to be in places where there are big crowds and everyone is having fun together.  I also love to work on teams and in groups at work in which I often find myself as the leader.  I often allow them to have slumber parties in which they all participate in activities in which they will gain something from it and not just letting it be a waste of time.  I am basically now an advocate for children and play in which I promote it in an setting I am in that involves children. 

References

The Strong.  (2013).  Play quotes.  Retrieved from http://www.thestrong.org/about-play/play-quotes.

Relationship Reflection

Relationships are like rainbows that come and go through good times and bad times.  Relationships are what make us better at communicating and teaches us social skills and how to express our emotions and feelings.  I have had my share of relationships in which some have come and gone and some have come and stayed.  Relationships are very important to me in which they have developed me into the caring, honest, and helpful person I am today.  The relationships I have developed over the years have taught me many lessons in which I was able to learn and figure out who was for me and who was against me.  Therefore, at the end of the day, the bonds that I have developed and kept are very special to me.
As I sit and think about strong and lasting relationships I have developed, four individuals come to mind.  These are four individuals who have been with me through the good times and the bad and never have they left me alone to deal with things on my own.  I can honestly say these are four individuals who will never lead me in the wrong direction or lead me astray.  These four people are my father, Lee Dukes, my mother, Mary Dukes, my brother, Lee Hodges, and my sister, Chandra Hodges.  The relationships I have with each of these individuals are very positive.  The relationship I have with my father is very loving and special such as bond that father and daughter develops.  He often gives me advice and makes sure no one is trying to take advantage of me.  He is very open and is honest about everything.  The relationship I have with my mother is very strong.  She is my motivator and my guidance counsel in which I can go to her about anything or any problem I am experiencing.  She is my shoulder to lean on and cry on.  The relationship with my sister is very strong in which we are like best friends.  We love to spend hours talking about life and spending time together.  We are honest with each other and have promised each other to always be open regardless of the outcome.  Last, the relationship with my brother is like that of a protective big brother over a little sister.  He has been by my side since day one and I appreciate all of it.  He is the type that always asks questions and makes sure that I am always safe.  I feel that the positive aspects of all of these relationships comes from the strong bond that our parents encouraged us to have and to love each other regardless of the situation or what we were going through.  

Over the years I have definitely realized that there are challenges that come along with developing and maintaining relationships.  I feel that the reasons I only have a few strong relationships is due to the fact that a lot of people do not believe in honesty or being a person that can be trusted.  A lack of honesty is one of the main reason why a lot of my relationships ended instead of maintained.  The four individuals listed above have never been dishonest or deceptive and have always kept it real with me.  I am an individual who believes in trust and honesty and if they go against that then I feel that they are not worthy of a relationship with me.  I have also learned that no everyone has your best interest at heart and will basically try to destroy your life intentionally.  However, if honesty is not developed and kept there is absolutely no way that a partnership can be developed.    

As I reflect on my relationships, both past and present, I definitely feel that my experiences with relationships/partnerships have prepared me to be an effective early childhood professional.  I have learned that honesty is the best policy in every relationship and partnership that is developed.  When it comes to developing relationships and partnerships with families, children, and parents, you have to be honest and let them know that you are there to provide them with the services and resources needed for their child's education.  If they feel that you are a liar and have deceived them, then the possibility for a strong and lasting relationship is impossible.  I have to show the parents that I want to be an active and supportive participant educating their child and that they can trust me with the task of providing their child with a high quality education.