Sharing Web Resorces

In regards to my current professional development, I found the link discussing Quality Rating and Improvement Systems the most relevant. The QRIS is a rating system that assesses early childhood programs. My organization, Scotland County partnership for Children and Families, must go through this assessment at the end of this fiscal year. In relation to my job, I can use the information presented in this section to receive a better understanding of what the QRIS measures. Once I am knowledgeable, I can evaluate my job performance to determine whether I am fully meeting the needs of the children, providers, and families that I serve.

I discovered that the QRIS provides finical incentives to programs that meet all standards. Due to the discovery of this information, it has motivated me to perform my job to the best of my ability. Any monetary contribution can be used to provide better service and programs to our children, childcare providers, and families.

The May/June 2011 newsletter featured an article on President Obama and a Fatherhood and Mentoring Initiative Program. In my opinion having the support of the President makes the ECE field an important and every emerging field.

While exploring the website, I discovered that there was program in the neighboring state of South Carolina, that is geared towards children ages 0-3. The Keeping Pee Dee Kids Safe at Home is designed to involve communities in preventing child malnutrition. Overall this website offers valuable information concerning childcare providers, children, and families.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts

This week on World Forum Radio I focused on Delfena Mitchell, who is the Director of the Liberty Children’s Home in Belize. The Liberty Children's Home opened in the summer of 2005 and is licensed to house up to 40 children. The program was established to serve children from birth to 5 years of age. Older children are served if they have younger siblings in care. All of the children in care are physically or sexually abused or come from some sort of unfortunate circumstance.

On this week Ms. Mitchell shared a success story of one child. Joseph was a 9 year old boy who had been physically abused by his drug addicted mother. As a result of the abuse Joseph did not speak for a year. Joseph’s life at home consisted of overcrowding conditions ( 6 brothers and sisters, in addition to several adults) and lack of food. When Joseph did receive food he had to hide it in order to prevent others from eating it.  Once Joseph arrived at the home he was enrolled in school, but was later kicked out. As a result he received informal sessions each day. Joseph was soon enrolled back in school and began to thrive like a typical 9 year old.

After listening to this podcast, I have learned that poverty can bring upon other unfortunate circumstances for children. In Joseph’s case he was physically abused. It's sad that in addition to their living conditions Joseph and his siblings were also psychologically and emotionally damaged. As ECE professionals, it is our duty to get to the root of the problem. Sometimes what we observe barely scratches the surface. I commend Ms. Mitchell and her staff for all of the young children they give refuge to.

To learn more about Liberty Children's Home visit  http://www.libertyfoundation.org.uk/projects_libertycareprogram.html

Sharing Web Resources

The name of the organization I selected is Center for the Child Care Workforce. This organization can be accessed at http://www.ccw.org/.  The focus of this organization is to enhance the quality of early care and education for all children and to ensure the early care and education workforce is well-educated, receives better compensation and a voice in their workplace.

One issue/trend that caught my attention was the Worthy Wage Day. This day is held annually on May 1^st. CCW utilizes this day to build community awareness and emphasize the importance of quality care for children. CCW also uses the day to show the correlation between worthy wages for child care work. Worthy Wage Day events include rallies, media events, conferences, local fundraising efforts. After discovering this vital information, I’m going to make it my duty to present this information to my supervisor, in order to participate (with childcare providers, local officials, and partnership board members) and show our support locally for this worthy cause

Browsing this organizations site in one’s spare time can be very beneficial. I encourage all of my colleagues to take a moment to read all about CCW and its purpose and programs. I ensure you all will be amazed at all of the hard work this organization has put into lobbying on behalf  of early care and education workforce.

Establishing Professional Connections

Part 1

Due to this exciting and transitioning point in my life (I am expecting my first child any day now and was released from a 6 day, 5 night hospital stay on yesterday 1/6/2012)  I have chosen to use Alternative 1. Had I not been hospitalized, I would have made any and all attempts to contact Early Childhood Professionals outside of our country. The idea of sharing educational values and resources with others outside of our country would have been an interesting experience. However, I believe I will gain insight into the educational system of other countries through research methods. I look forward to expanding my views and learning more about others.



Part 2

After viewing the resources for this blog assignment, the website I decided upon was the Center for Child Care Workforce. This particular area is of interest to me because I worked in childcare for 6 years before graduating from college and taking a position with Scotland County Partnership for Children and Families(Smart Start). I believe that many people do not understand or either choose not to recognize all of the hard work and dedication that goes into being an excellent teacher for children 0-5. Many still have that mind frame of childcare being babysitters, so organizations such as CCW and Smart Start are essential to the progression of early childhood field and early childhood educators. I look forward to learning more about this organization and all it offers.