Thank You

Thank You to my 6005 Early Childhood Community 

Its amazing the effect a few words of wisdom and support can have on an individual's life. 6005 community, I thank you for all your support, advice, guidance, and wisdom. As my mother taught me, you are never to old to learn, and I have truly learned a lot from you all. I love that fact that we all come from different walks of life, and yet have come together to uplift one another and support each other despite our inability to foresee the future. I have supported you with my experience, my wisdom and passion for early childhood, and you all have done the same for me. I wish my 6005 community all the best and continue to strive to be the best educator you can be. 

"When educating the minds of our youth, we must not forget to educate their hearts"

- Dalai Lama  

Three Ideals found from NAEYC and DEC: Code of Ethics

NAEYC

I - 1.7     To use assessment information to understand and support children's development and learning to support instruction and to identify children who may need additional services. 

- This is very significant to me in my field of Early Childhood Education. Without the most effective form of developmental and learning assessment, I fail as an Early Childhood professional in providing the most adequate learning environment that will encourage children to learn to their full capacity. Also, if we as educators, lack in the most accurate and effective assessment tools, we are unable to identify significant signs that can impact a child's childhood, and even up to adulthood. 

I - 2.2     To develop relationships of mutual trust and create partnerships with the families we serve. 

- It is imperative that we provide a safe and secure environment for our children. As Early Childhood professionals, it is our duty to reassure parents that we are providing that safe and secure environment for their children. We also need to partner with our families, to become more involved in the education of their children, by encouraging an open-door policy; allowing the parents the option to come and volunteer as they see fit; encouraging family oriented activities at school, providing fun and tangible workshops for parents and guardians, and providing parents with tangible information such as information regarding School Readiness.

DEC 

Professional Development

# 4 - We shall support professionals new to the field by mentoring them in the practice of evidence and ethically based services. 

As pioneers in the Early Childhood Profession, I see it imperative for our more seasoned and well experienced teachers to guide new professionals coming into the early childhood field. With experience comes wisdom, and many of our experienced teachers obtain career changing knowledge and wisdom and fail as supporters by not sharing that knowledge and wisdom with new comers to the field. I love to share my experiences with new members of the early education field and enjoy helping in any way possible. I also love to receive knowledge and wisdom from experienced teachers, because this experience with help me to become a more effective teacher, and soon to be, Self-employed Childcare Owner.

Three Additional Useful Resources

Below are three additional useful resources in the Early Childhood Field:

1. B.F.T.S.
http://decal.ga.gov/

Bright From The Start is a program which provides a plethora of tangible and resourceful information for families, early childcare centers and the early childhood field. They also provide government resources for low income families, as well as, children with special needs.

2. N.A.E.Y.C
http://www.naeyc.org/

NAEYC Mission Statement

NAEYC's mission is to serve and act on behalf of the needs, rights and well-being of all young children with primary focus on the provision of educational and developmental services and resources (NAEYC Bylaws, Article I., Section 1.1).

Goals

NAEYC expresses its mission in terms of three broad goals:

1. Improving professional practice and working conditions in early childhood education.
2. Supporting early childhood programs by working to achieve a high-quality system of early childhood education.
3. Building a high-performing, inclusive organization of groups and individuals who are committed to promoting excellence in early childhood education for all young children. 

(Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/about/mission)

3. Zero to Three
http://www.zerotothree.org/

ZERO TO THREE is a national, nonprofit organization that provides parents, professionals and policymakers the knowledge and know-how to nurture early development.

Our mission is to ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life.
(Retrieved from http://www.zerotothree.org/)

Expanding Your Resources

For anyone who is interested in working with children, or who may already be working with children, and would like to further your research in the Early Childhood field, here are a few useful resources from my current course, Foundations: Early Childhood.

 

 

NAEYC. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://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, from http://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, from http://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.
 

• 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 Foundationhttp://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/about-us
    This link connects you to the mission statement of this organization. Make sure to watch the media segment on this webpage
  • World Organization for Early Childhood Educationhttp://www.omep-usnc.org/
    Read about OMEP's mission.
  • Association for Childhood Education Internationalhttp://acei.org/
    Click on "Mission/Vision" and "Guiding Principles and Beliefs" and read these statements.

 

 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/