Poverty in India

I visited the website for the Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre. I chose to read about India and their issue with poverty. I was overwhelmed with the amount of poverty this country faces. India has 1.03 billion people, this is the 2nd largest population in the world, second to only China. There are an estimated 260.2 million people that live in poverty. "Rural poverty is strongly associated with lack of access to assets, skills, and low levels of health and education"(Childhood Poverty Research).
*Some main problems that affect poverty are:
   1. Growing population
   2. Industrialization
   3. Globalizing economy
*There is also a growing rate of non-communicable diseases and a rise of HIV/aids.
*An estimated 400 million living in poverty are between the ages of 0-18.
*Almost 1/2 of children under 5 are malnourished
*34% of newborns are significantly underweight

They have been making improvements through government programs, the infant mortality rate has decreased from 80 per 1000 live births to 69 in 2000. Enrollment in primary school rose from 68% to 82%. They still have a large number of children working. 1/3 of their children work and are under the age of 16.
I was not aware of the issues of poverty in India, nor did I know how extreme it was, this website gave new information and made more aware of poverty and the world.

Reference:

Childhood Povety Research and Policy Centre, Retrieved from http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/

Establishing Contacts and Expanding Resources

I attempted to contact several different organizations using the links given. I only recieved one response from Megan Pacey, Chief Executive of Early Education in London, England. Her email stated the following:
Thank you for contacting Early Education, I'm afraid this organization doesn't have the capacity or the mechanisms to put you in touch with other early childhood practitioners and programmes as you have describe below. If you are interested in engaging with other early childhood practitioners and the issues that they are facing in England, you might find the Foundation Years forum helpful tool.
http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/forum/
I have emailed this foundation and was informed it could take 15 days for a response. I have decided to use the alterantive assignment for not having time to wait. I am hoping for a response and I am still emailing different organizations trying to find a contact.
I will be listening to podcast from the  world forum foundation, I have used this website before and find it intriguing to listen to converstaions from early childhood professionals.

Support is having anyone in your daily life that give you a shoulder to lean on. Since I am the boss there is sometimes days that I need to vent. My group teacher Sandy is my support. She not only listens to me she understands. Her years of expierence in the early childhood field gives her the understanding that I need to help get through difficult situations.
 Support in the early childhood field, when it comes to children means giving them the guidence they need along with their families to support their needs on a daily basis. For some it simply is an understanding ear, or time to spend with  a child that is having a difficult day and needs a little more one on one time. Giving children and parents this one on one attention is the differnce in many lives.

The support I recieve from Sandy can make the most difference in a day. She makes me feel that I am not alone and she gives me advice for me to consider. Sometimes I simply need someone to listen to me. Being the boss can leave you feeling isolated, and Sandy makes me feel like I am not alone.

Another form of support I receive is at home. My family understands that there are days that are mentally harder than others. There understanding and giving me my down time helps me extremely. Just having the understanding from them makes the stress in my life a little less.

I am a verbal person. I need people to listen to me and just let me talk! Even when I am rambling and they have no idea what I am talking about.  The most important part of talking is having people not judge, just listen and give constructive advice. Most of us do not need to be judeged,  just heard!!

If I didnt have anyone to listen to me, I think my life would be harder.  I would feel that there is not who understands and would burn out in this field. We all need support when our days are hard, my staff gives me that and I try to give them the same.

My Connections to Play

When I was a child, play was a part of everyday. My sister and I spent hours daily playing with the kids in the neighborhood. There wasnt a day that went by that we werent either outside, or playing in the basement. My parents encouraged our play by allowing us to play outside and with other children. There were no special toys or gadgets that we played with, just each other and anything we could find. We would play king of the mountian, chase tag, hide and seek. Inside we played school and house. Unfourtunatley in todays world is has become unsafe for children to freely play in their neighborhood, leaving parents the only alternative of keeping thier children inside for fear of abduction. This is the reason that parents should encourage chidren to play in sports, join boy scouts and girl scouts. This is a safe alterantive to playing outside and still allows the child to interact with other children and play.

Quotes about play

'You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of converstaion" Plato

Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consist of whatever a body is not obliged to do" Mark Twian

Both these quotes give the best example of what play is supposed to do. Children learn more about life while playing with each other than in any other activitie. This is alos true for adults. All adult have some form of play that they do with friends. This is how we bond, and enjoy life.

These are two simple toys that I enjoyed as a child! No high tech gadgeets just a jump rope and a slinky!

Relationship Reflection

My relationships throughout my life have formed the person that I am. I believe that everyone in my life have made me the person I am. The relationships in my life are important to me, they give me peace, love and acceptance. My huband is my rock. He is my partner in life and would not chose any other.

 While completing my BA he was the one that gave me the encouragement that I needed to keep going, I would not have finished my BA without him. My children are the reason I continue to better myself. I want to show them that anything in life can be achieved. I want them to work hard and achieve all their goals. In every realtionship the good and the bad times teach me about life. They teach me how to be forgiving, how to love and accept what I can not change. They make me a better person.
I have always been the peace keeper in my family. I was always making sure that everyone else was happy and walking on eggshells in tense situations, with family that did not get alone. What I learned was I needed to have relationships with my family and friends on a personal note and not worry about if they got along. Learning how to handle family relatioshis has taught me how to be objective in situations dealing with children. I have learned to listen to everyone and never pass judgment. The grass is not always greener on the other side.

Quote about children

"A person's a person, no matter how small" Dr. Seuss

"Children are great imitators, so give them something great to imitate" Anonymous


These quotes are relevant to all early childhood educators. We can never forget the importance of treating children like they matter and giving them positive role models.

I wish everyone success in their future endeavors. It has been a pleasure.

Intelligence testing is an old fashioned idea. There are many other ways to determine whether or not a child is progressing normally. Using standardized test only puts unnecessary stress on a child. Most teachers teach to the test anyway, so we are really not getting the correct date from these test. Observation is important is assessing a child's development. Children should be assessed on every level of their development, socially, physically, emotionally and intellectually. Only testing one way does not give a clear understanding of the child as a whole. Assessing children needs to be done early to help diagnose and problems and help address them. I say this with a little reserve, sometimes we over analyze situations and children are unfairly diagnosed with delays that they do not have. Their development is just a little slower than the "norm". If we assess the child as a whole we will have a better understanding of where they are.

Education in Italy

In Italy there education system is  not that different than in the United States.
From 3 to 5 there is optional education offered for all children. Children enter primary school at 5 years old and this last 5 years. From 11 to 14 they attend lover secondary school, a national curriculum is followed, which is mandated by the Ministry of Public Education.

Each term every student receives a teachers report outlining their aptitude, behavior and achievement. students do take a standard exam consisting of a written exam, and a oral exam. Students may not move into upper secondary school if they do not pass this exam. Upper secondary school is split between an obligatory 2 years of general studies and an optional 3 years of a specialised education. Either for college or a vocational trade. there is a state mandated curriculum and specialised courses begin the third year of upper primary school. For students to receive an upper secondary school diploma the mus pass a written and oral exam. There are 6 teachers that administer the exam.

Italys assessment of their students involves both written and oral exams. This helps the students who may not be good written test takers. By being able to communicate with teachers that are giving the exam a student has more opportunities to express there thoughts without having them be written.
I liked the idea of being able to express my understanding of a certain subject verbally instead of writing, sometimes your main idea gets lost in a word maze.


Reference
 Angloinfo: Italian Education and Schooling in Italy:
Retrieved from: http://angloinfo.com/f3hx5c