If my family were to have to pick up and move to another country it would be a very traumatic experience.  The thought that we would not be able to go back to our home is hard to imagine.  I can only imagine the stress that families have to deal with in this situation.  The three items that I would grab are my study Bible, notepad, and click pen.  I grabbed my study Bible for guidance and hope.  I grabbed my notepad and pen to write down all my experiences and feelings.  I would also use the paper to write down phrases of the new language that are going to be important to the survival of my family. 

Now that we are in the new country we will try to set up our new life.  At this time we are scarred and confused by the new culture and expectations.  We have just been told that we have to leave two of the items we brought from our homeland.  I am confused as to the change in expectations.  I am frustrated and feel deprived.  I don’t understand why this is happening and just want to go back home.  I know that is no longer possible, so I am just going to have to make do and adjust.

          While thinking about my responses to this assignment many ideas and feeling came to my mind.  I learned that there were few items that came to my mind when thinking of the items I would take.  The items that I chose were items that I feel would be most useful to me.  My Bible is the one item that I would not want to live without. 

When I think about research......

Throughout this course I have learned many things.  I have had misconception cleared up.  One insight I gained from this course was that there are many considerations when setting up a research project.  A person cannot just walk in and start a research project.  One must have a well detailed and thought out plan before starting.   I also gained a new set of vocabulary terms.  The research process is less confusing once you have a handle on the terminology. 

During this course my ideas about doing research have changed in that I realized how detailed a plan a researcher must have in order to complete the research project they are working on.

One misconception that was cleared up for me was that there are many types of research designs.  I also learned that you don’t have to use just one type of design either but can used a mixture of methods.  I do believe that without the large amounts of research that have been done in early childhood that our education system would not be as advanced as it is today. We have dedicated research professionals to thank for that.

Some of the challenges that I encountered during this course were learning the vocabulary words and making sense of them.  A challenge for me was also being able to distinguish between the types of designs, qualitative versus quantitative.  Using the research chart was a huge benefit to learning and understanding the vocabulary and other concepts needed. 

My perceptions of early childhood professionals have not changed due to this course.  My perceptions of researchers have changed.  I now have a greater appreciation of the work they do.  I now realize how much thought, planning, and dedication it takes to complete the work they do.  

Research in Africa

The web site that I choose to look at was the Early Childhood Development Virtual University Sub-Saharan Africa site.  I started to look at some of the research papers that had been done by the students of this university.  Some of the topics I found to be interesting were the development and delivery of nutrition training programs for homes that care for motherless babies.  They are trying to improve the nutritional care these children are receiving.  I also found a paper on involving the fathers in early childhood care and development.

The thing that surprised me the most when reviewing the site was the amount of research that is being done through this university.  The topics were not “fluffy” topics but ideas that will change the course of childcare and early childhood development throughout Africa.  The research could then be taken and adapted to other nations as well.  I noticed a few papers that dealt with leadership and curriculum development as well.  I am curious to see if they are starting from the beginning with the curriculum or if they are adapting one that is already set in place.  Another interesting insight that I found was the amount of research done on orphan children.  I know that there is a large orphan population due to HIV/AIDS and other health issues.  I am happy to see that they are not just dismissing this as just a part of life but are trying to help these children to become healthy and adjusted adults.

References:

Early Childhood Development Virtual University Sub-Saharan Africa (2011). Final Major Projects and Theses.  Retrieved from http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/major_reports.php

Research with Homeless and Transient Familes

Research with Homeless and Transient Families

Topic:

The topic I would choose would be academic achievement on homeless and transient families.  It has been shown that children living in poverty situations have lower academic achievement.  My research would include traveling among them to see where intervention could be implemented to help them in later academic situations. 

Positive Contributions:

The positive contributions that could be made by this research would be to improve the academic abilities of children whose families are homeless or transient.  This could reduce or even eliminate some of the guilt felt by parents who can do little to change their situation.  This would give their children a better start to life.

Rational:

Providing children with early interventions would help them have higher academic skills in school.  Living with people gives you a great insight into their thoughts and ways of life.  I would be able to find where the families get resources that they need such as shelter, food, and medical care.  Finding what resources they use on a regular basis and being able to implement early interventions would help all involved.  

Research simulation

For my research simulation I have chosen to research the effects of attending preschool on Autistic children.  I have a heart for working with children who have autism.   The struggles that they and their families deal with on a daily basis are more than I can comprehend.  I am interested in learning if attending preschool will help the social and language skills of autistic children.  Autistic children are often social outcasts and have difficulties with language and speech skills.  In my opinion autistic children being around peers with normal speech skills may help them pick up the language faster.  I believe autistic children being immersed in a social setting with other peers will help to increase their socialization and help them to feel less isolated.  I believe this experience will also help general education students with being more sensitive towards others. 

If anyone has any ideas or personal contacts that may assist in the research process I would be interested in browsing through them.

International consequences

As I come to the end of another course I reflect on the intended and unintended consequences of the relationships between professionals in the international early childhood field and us.  I have listed three consequences of learning about the international early childhood field.  One intentional consequence would be to learn that we are all dealing with some of the same issues; poverty, lack of resources, and Multilanguage learners.  Another consequence would be to learn about the struggles that international programs deal with on a daily basis that we take for granite.  Issues such as clean water and schools in close proximity.  A positive consequence is that we, as professionals, can share ideas back and forth.  We can gain new insight to an old idea, get feed back on things that have be tried and worked or not.

A goal for international awareness of the early childhood program would be to let people know that education is important and collaboration between professionals is important and necessary.  The other issue that I would like Americans to be aware of is the lack of resources such as clean running water, sanitation, and safe schools in other countries.

I want to thank all my classmates that have shared the information and contacts with me.  It has been a blessing.

Getting to know Roma

For this weeks assignment I went back to articles on the World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education that was held in Moscow.  While reading through the articles there were a couple of items that caught my attention.  The first was the cost of good quality childcare is estimated at $7,600 to $22, 000 a year for one child (UNESCO, 2011).  For many families that is their entire paycheck for the year

The second issue that I found not only interesting but also appalling was on the Roma, an ethnic minority group in Europe.  More than 50% of Roma children fail to complete primary education in Europe (UNESCO, 2011).    Roma have the largest risk in Europe of being poor, uneducated and unemployed.  Reading this prompted me to do some investigation on the Roma people.  I was able to find out through Amnesty International, that often the Roma people are denied more than just education but housing, citizenship in some countries, healthcare, and employment.  They are subjected to violence and horrible discrimination.  Roma children are often placed in “special schools” the schools that house the children with mental disabilities.  In some communities the special schools population is 99% Roma children.  

The third issue was a statement that I found to be extremely true.  The denial of education nurtures social tensions was a statement that made me think (UNESCO, 2011).   If all people were allowed access to the same education would the world be a less violent place?  Social tension is caused by many reasons but the tension between the “haves and have-nots” is noticeable.  Those who can afford the best of education starting from birth on do much better in school and some get better jobs because of their education.  This is not something new.  Families that are fighting just to keep a roof over their head and food on the table are not able to afford the highest quality of school.  But if high quality education was available to everyone regardless of income then maybe we could close the achievement gap, lower tension and stress, and find world peace (just hopeful). 

Reference:

Amnesty International. Europe’s Roma Community Still Facing Massive Discrimination. Retrieved August 12, 2011, from http://www.amnesty.org

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Education-Early Childhood Care and Education. Retrieved August 11, 2011, from http://www.unesco.org