Getting to Know My International Contact

I was able to contact a friend I used to teach with here in Las Vegas.  Her name is Tami Lence and she is now teaching in Xiamen Fujian, China.  She is teaching first grade, which she says is a big change for her from third grade she used to teach.  I am hoping to hear back from her in a few days regarding more information about teaching in Xiamen Fujian.  Until I do , I have done more research on the city.  Xaimen is a major city on the southeast coast of the People's Republic of China, and was ranked as China's second most suitable city for living.  In looking at http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/, I discovered that most of China's poor communities are located in the western regions of the country.  There is also poverty in the cities, due to unemployment.  This was taken directly from the childhoodpoverty.org website:  In towns and cities, high employment pressure is the critical issue in urban poverty. By 2003, 22.47 million urban residents in China were reported to have incomes below the poverty line.  Among them, 1,793,000 were employed, 5,184,000 had been laid off, 907,000 were retired and 4,091,000 were unemployed.

I cannot wait to continue my talk with Tami and find out more about her experiences teaching in China.  I am excited to broaden my knowledge about education and discover how poverty is impacting children around the world. 

Sharing Web Resources

The website I chose was www.naeyc.org, The National Association for the Education of Young Children.  This site is full of wonderful articles, links, ideas, and other information for early childhood professionals.  “The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) was founded in 1926; it is the world's largest organization working on behalf of young children with nearly 80,000 members, and a national network of over 300 local, state, and regional affiliates.  NAEYC is dedicated to improving the well-being of all young children, with particular focus on the quality of educational and developmental services for all children from birth through age 8.” (Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org) 

When you first pull up the site, there are two rows of links across the top that cover everything from the vision of the association, to membership information, to resource links.  At the top, there is a “Conferences” link that gives information about the NAEYC Annual Conference and Expo held every year.  There are also 4 columns down the front that highlight important news and events, periodicals, and quick links to other early childhood sites.   My favorite link under the “Resources” tab at the top of the screen is the “play” link.  It has information about the value of play in the early childhood classroom.  What I love about this link is that is has 3 smaller links within it.  Links to play information for parents, teachers, and my personal favorite, play information for policymakers.  There are articles and excerpts from books discussing the importance of play in the classroom and ideas for integrating standards into engaged learning and play.

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Part 1:
I currently have 3 friends teaching in other parts of the world (China, Morocco, and Norway) and have sent all of them e-mails.  I am not sure what grade levels they teach, but I am quite sure one of them works in the early childhood field.  I am excited to hear back from them and hopeful that they will be a good resource for me.  

Part 2:
The website I choose to use as a resource is naeyc.org.  I like the format of their site and have already found many resources helpful.  One resource I love and will use this year are messages in a backpack.  They are notes for families on a variety of topics: the importance of play, building social and emotional skills at home, building fine motor skills, etc.  The notes are available in English and Spanish, which will be fantastic for the families I work with.  I plan on sending one message home a month to help my parents understand what they can do at home to help their child succeed in school.  I am excited to explore this website more and learn all I can. :)