I am now in my fourth course of my Master's program: Issues and Trends in the Early Childhood Field. It looks to be very informative, as all of my previous courses have been. This week my blog assignment is two fold.
Part I: Establish Professional Contacts:
I am to make contact with E.C. professionals outside the U.S. I chose to contact Siobhan Fitzpatrick in Ireland and Ivy Kok in Singapore. I chose Ireland and Singapore because I wanted a European and Asian outlook for this assignment. I emailed them on the evening of January 7th, and have not received a response as of 1/8/14. I will detail my interactions in coming weeks.
UPDATE: 1/10/14: No responses yet. I have just sent an email to the Canadian Childcare Federation (using contact info from their website) and the Finnish National Board of Education (through their website).
UPDATE: 1/13/14: Since I have not received any responses yet, I sent emails to two early childhood organizations through their websites: The British Association for Early Childhood Education and Early Childhood Australia. I received a response from Australia!
Part II: Expanding Resources:
The second part of the assignment was to chose an E.C. organization website and immerse myself in it to learn how the organization itself supports the early childhood community and the resources it offers. After looking at the list provided in the course I chose NBCDI-The National Black Child Development Institute (http://www.nbcdi.org). I chose it because it is unique in it's purpose, and I feel there are many black children in our society who face unique challenges, and being white, I would like to know more about the issues affect black children and how they are being solved. In coming weeks I will expand on this research.
Hi BethAnn, where did you find those two contacts? I hope you receive a positive answer, I am sure they will give you many insights!!! Especially from Singapore.
ReplyDeleteI found my contacts from the blog resources list and the NAEYC Global Alliance. Some of the information was outdated so I went to the contact's websites themselves and sent requests from there.
DeleteHello BethAnn,
ReplyDeleteFor starts i hope you get as much valuable information you can from your two sources. I chose to take the alternative route because I couldn't find anyone in time but I do love the assignment and your great picks. I will definitely be coming by your blog page. It is a nice page by the way and I wish you luck on your quest.
Hello BethAnn,
ReplyDeleteI also tried to get in contact with the Canadian representaive this week and had no luck. I'm really excited about this assignment and I must admit I'm a little dissapointed that I have do the alternative assignment but I look forward to learning more about the international early childhood feild. I'm thankful that I had you as a guide for this first blog assigment because I will admit I was a little stress when b Thursday none of the 5 people I've emailed responded back. I hope you gain all the knowledge you wish and have fun doing this assignment.
Hi BethAnn,
ReplyDeleteI see that we both used the same strategy in which we tried to contact as many people as possible. I got a reply back from the executive director of NAEYC and she said that she would forward my message to the person that heads their International Initiatives Department. I am so excited about hearing from someone and interacting from someone from another country. I cant wait to read you blogs and the information you provide from the assignments. Your posts are always informative and a great read!.
Hi Beth Ann,
ReplyDeleteGlad to see I wasn't the only one who chose Singapore, I alos did not receive a response back from the list of countries I chose. I will be checking your site often to read about the your research on National Black Child Development Inst. I did research in undergrad about why black children are still behind the learning gap.
Thanks for sharing,
Toshiko Pinckney
Hey Beth Ann,
ReplyDeleteI am so excited to be in the same group with you this semester. I chose Macedonia and Haiti for my EC professionals. I haven't heard back from them yet, but I will be reaching out again this week. I also chose the National Black Child Development Institute to review. I had not heard of this site and was curious to learn more. Looking forward to following your updates this semester.
Keli