Sharing Web Resources

The Early Childhood and The Baby College Programs seemed particularly relevant to my current professional development because researchers confirm that the early-childhood years are key to building a strong foundation for future educational success Harlem Children's Zone has been bolstering its work with children and families in these critically important first years. Like all of HCZ’s programs, our early childhood programs provide their services free to the public, which is possible thanks to the generosity of people like you. The Baby College offers a nine-week parenting workshop to expectant parents and those raising a child up to three years old. Among other lessons, the workshops promote reading to children and verbal discipline over corporal punishment. Over the past two years, more than 870 people graduated from The Baby College.

I didn't find any ideas/statements/resources to be controversial, but the website made me think about an issue in new ways. For example, I see that there programs are free of charge. Whereas if this was in the United States, I feel as though some of our programs would charge and want a donations at the same time. The Baby College and The Promise Academy Charter Schools were good programs that focus on children getting a high-quality well-rounded education.

I learned that their last newsletter was from Spring 2009. It was very informative information about TEAM HCZ. The newsletter was titled 100 DAYS OF PEACE AND PURPOSE. The purpose was a look back at some of the people and events that made 100 Days a success. It had numerous of topics such as Public-service campaign helps Harlem community; Volunteers help HCZ; Chess team scores big at national tournament; Promise students excel on statewide exams; Bringing $7 million to Harlem taxpayers; Preventive programs launch Quality Assurance Team; College news; Multi-media arts show; Getting ready for college; Financial Summit for high school students; New initiative to create role models for boys; Showtime Tournament nets several winners. I like this quote by the president: 

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been

waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

- President Barack Obama

Getting to Know Your International Contacts-Part 1

This week I chose to listen to the podcast from the World Forum Foundation presented by Delfena Mitchell.
Delfena Mitchell is Director of the Liberty Children’s Home, on the outskirts of Belize City. This program opened in the summer of 2005 and is licensed to house up to 40 children, predominantly between birth to 5 years of age. However, older children who have younger siblings in care are and will always be accommodated.All of the children at the care center have been abandoned, abused or orphaned and many have disabilities, special needs or are HIV positive. Further information on this program is available at www.libertyfoundation.org.uk

What I have learned do far from the podcast is that Joseph is a nine years old boy that came to them about nine months ago. When he came to them, he hadn't spoken in over a year because his situation where he was living in was really bad. He was physically abused and he observed his sister and because of that he just shut down and didn't speak for over a year. He came to them with his six other brothers and sisters. At first, what they did with him was just trying to home school him there under the compound for a little bit, then they enrolled him in school out of town, but after the first week, he was kicked out of school and sent home because he seem to have a problem with understanding. One day she took him horse back riding with her and they would go on a 30 minutes horse back ride, so he was on the horse behind her on the same horse. They were riding and all of sudden he started talking and telling her about his grandmother that use to beat him with a stick and how when he was hungry and he wanted to eat, he had to take his food underneath his bed to eat so that the other children in the house or the adults wouldn't take his food away from him. He just started talking about his uncle that he misses and is gone away. Although he was talking, she couldn't understand everything he was saying because it was like he was regressed at his age. The important thing that got her excited was that he started talking again. They finished their ride and things went back to normal and he stopped talking again, but over a period of weeks he would start saying a couple of words. In the meantime, we were just allowing him to have a couple of words in our little informal session of training of schooling and then they would allow him time to be in the gardens on the compound because he liked to be outdoors. With a combination of Joseph going back to school and the medication in a matter of weeks you can see the change in him where he started talking and he was talking a mile a minute. Joseph speaks now and even the kids stop to listen to him because everybody was so use to him not saying anything. When he has anything to say we all want to hear what he has to say.

My new insights and information about the issues of poverty in China is that it has made major strides in poverty reduction in recent years. The economic growth being slower in Western China has cause it to be poorer than Eastern China. China has had helped to reduce chronic poverty due to the fact that it has transition from a centrally planned to a globalized market economy. China receives more foreign investment than any other country in the world except for the US.

Sharing Web Resources

The organization that I have selected is Harlem Children's Zone and here is the link:
http://www.hcz.org/index.php

Description of the Organization's focus

HISTORY

Harlem Children's Zone, Inc. has experienced incredible growth - from the number of children we serve to the breadth of our services. But one thing has stayed the same: the agency's "whatever it takes" attitude when it comes to helping children to succeed.

The organization began 1970 as Rheedlen, working with young children and their families as the city's first truancy-prevention program.

Through the 1980s and 1990s, the crack epidemic tore through Harlem; open-air drug markets flourished while families disintegrated. While many inside and outside Harlem gave up hope, HCZ's staff believed that new approaches were necessary.

In 1991, the agency was among the first in the city to open a Beacon center. Our Countee Cullen Community Center turned a public school that used to shut its door at the end of the school day into a community center offering a range of services and activities on nights, weekends and summers.

In the 1990s, to help keep local schools safe, the Peacemakers program began placing AmeriCorps participants in classrooms. These young people were a welcome presence assisting teachers during the school day and then running programs after school.

The beginning of the Children's Zone^®
In the early 1990s, HCZ ran a pilot project that brought a range of support services to a single block. The idea was to address all the problems that poor families were facing: from crumbling apartments to failing schools, from violent crime to chronic health problems.

HCZ created a 10-year business plan, then to ensure its best-practice programs were operating as planned, HCZ was in the vanguard of nonprofits that began carefully evaluating and tracking the results of their work. Those evaluation results enabled staff to see if programs were achieving their objectives and to take corrective actions if they were not.

In 1997, the agency began a network of programs for a 24-block area: the Harlem Children's Zone Project. In 2007, the Zone Project grew to almost 100 blocks. Today the Children's Zone^®serves more than 8,000 children and 6,000 adults. Overall, the organization serves more than 10,000 children and more than 7,400 adults.  The FY 2010 budget for the agency overall is over $75 million.

A history of innovation

Over the years, the agency introduced several ground-breaking efforts: in 2000, The Baby College^® parenting workshops; in 2001, the Harlem Gems^® pre-school program; also in 2001, the HCZ Asthma Initiative, which teaches families to better manage the disease; in 2004, the Promise Academy, a high-quality public charter school; and in 2006, an obesity program to help children stay healthy.

Under the visionary leadership of its President and CEO, Geoffrey Canada, HCZ continues to offer innovative, efficiently run programs that are aimed at doing nothing less than breaking the cycle of generational poverty for the thousands of children and families it serves.

What caught my attention from the website is that they have education from early childhood through college. I like the way you can click on each level of education and it provided you with a description of it. There is a donation section that you can give to this organization if you want to. 

Getting Ready-Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Alternative Part 1:

I was unable to establish contact with the international early childhood professionals, so I chose the Alternative to Part 1.

First you must download iTunes Application to your computer or laptop, then proceed to these steps:

Steps to listening and subscribing to podcasts:

1. Type in www.worldforumfoundation.org in the web browser

2. In The Blue Search Box: Type in Podcasts

3. Click on World Forum Radio

4. Click on the Subscribe to World Forum Radio

5. After you click on it, it will send you to http://itunes.app.com/podcast/world-forum-radio/id332072980?mt=2

6. Click on the two World Forum Radio that you want and click on View In iTunes

7. A box that say External Protocol Request-Click on Launch Application

8. Listen to the two World Forum Radio that you choose to and then hit subscribe

OR

1. Type in www.worldforumfoundation.org/world-forum-radio/ in the web browser

2. Just scroll down and pick the two Episode that you want and click on to Listen to this episode

Part 2: Expanding Resources

I decided to study Harlem Children's Zone because when I clicked on most of the websites that was provided, it couldn't be found. I like the way this website was set up and I seen where you could sign up for their news letter versus the other sites that I looked at, they didn't have no where for you to sign up or subscribe.

"My Supports"

My Supports

My support factors includes:

The first supporter is The Lord because without him there would be no me. I know that through all my trials and tribulations, he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. King James Version: Deuteronomy 31:6

The next supporter is my mother because when I felt like quitting sometimes she would always encourage me and say don't give up because you have come to far to quit. She has always been my motivation and I know that I could call on her for anything and she would try her best to make it right.

My final supporter is my Aunt Rita Brooks because she is the one who taught me the ropes about college and how to go after what I want in life. She was the one to make sure that I did all my paperwork was done even if it took her helping me to fill it out. Still till this day she comes by ever now and than to check on me to see how is things are going.

My daily supporters would be my sister Whitney Brackins and my cousin Naomi Minor. I know that we have each backs and when I am having problems and my mother is not feeling well, then one of them would be the next person that I would call and talk to.

The benefits of these supports is that we are family, we try and talk on a daily basis, we grew a friendship that is a bond forever, and we can depend on each other during our time of need. It would miserable to exist without these supporters especially my mother because I am use to talking with them and being there for each other. My mother and I depend on each other a whole lot because of her sickness. The impact that my mother would have on my life if she was gone would be like a whole in my heart because she is like my other half until my husband come along. lol. I am so use to having daily talks with my mom about anything and I will definitely miss her and seeing that beautiful smile on her face everyday even when she is in pain.

I really don't have a challenge that I imagine because I try and live my life day by day. I guess if I had to pick a challenge it would be having a baby. I know that my family would be my support team because they already want me to have a baby, so that they can spoil him/her. They are scared that I might not have a baby because I have had some female problems. The factors within my daily environment that would be supportive to me would be the doctors, family, friends, and my mother. The potential benefits that I see of these supports is that the doctor will have to see me on a monthly basis in order for me to deliver a healthy baby and my mother will be there to help me because I probably would be lost without her. My family and friends would be there to help support me as well. It would be hard to exist without these supports because it takes a village to raise a family. The impact that they would have on my life if they weren't there would be restless nights, worrying, stressing, and high blood pressure etc.

"My Connection to Play"

My Connection to Play

Quotes that I feel that summarize what play represented for me in childhood:

1. “When you play, play hard; when you work, don't play at all.” 
― Theodore Roosevelt

2. “Play keeps us vital and alive. It gives us an enthusiasm for life that is irreplaceable. Without it, life just doesn’t taste good” Lucia Capocchione

People supported play when I was younger in my childhood because they would allow us to go outside and play from sun up to sun down. We would play with our cousins, family, friends, and siblings in the neighborhood, but was not allow to argue and fight because if we did, then we would get a but whipping and had to apologize to each other. When I went to my grandmother's house, sometimes she would sit on the porch and watch us play. They supported us by being our cheerleaders when we would play different activities in the yard such as basketball, dodge ball, and kickball. I can hear them cheering us on while we run around those bases. They would even help us out by telling us when to run and when to stay on base.

The way I feel about play today is different from the play in which I engaged as a child because now-a-days children likes to play on video games and stay in the house and watch television all day. When I was younger we use to make up games to play outside and we believe in playing outside. My hope for younger children with regard to play is that children will learn how to not grow up so fast in life and stay as child as long as they can.

My thoughts regarding regarding the role of play throughout your life and/ or the role of play throughout childhood and adulthood is that play is very important because it helps us to become who we are. Play helps us to define our self and it helps us to interact with other people.

Relationship Reflection

Relationship Reflection

I feel like relationships are important to me because it is an expression of how one feels. It helps me to communicate with other people. Also, its helps to develop friendship along the way whether it is good/bad. I feel like relationships are a form of identity to help make me who I am. Relationships are important because it helps to establish a bond that can't be broken if it is real and serious. A relationships takes a lot of work from both people and sometimes it takes a neutral person to help see things from a different perspective or just to give some feedback of what they might see as going wrong in the relationship. Whereas, sometimes we can be blinded about what we are doing wrong in the relationship because we are to busy trying to make it right.

I currently have a positive relationships with my mother and a friend who I met in college, but she is just like my real sister. My relationship with my mother is indescribable because I can go to her and talk to her about anything and when I say anything I mean it. We act just like sisters, but I know when it is time for the mother side too. The relationship with my friend who I call a sister is a blessing because every since we met in 05-06 at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) we have not stop calling each other. So far we have not had an argument and we call each other everyday. She even calls my parents our parents. If I am feeling down and out and my mother is not feeling well, then she will be the next person that I call for advice or when I'm having problems. I keep a positive relationship with a lot of people because I am an outgoing person who keeps a smile on my face and is always starting a conversation with someone. I don't meet no strangers because I try to get along with everybody.

My relationship is positive with my mother due to the fact that I take care of her because she is sickly and I have seen her go through 20 something surgeries when nobody else was there but me. Until this day, I still take care of my mother with no help from my brother or sister. Our relationship/friendship is indescribable because we had each other backs through thick and thin. The relationship with the friend that I call a sister is positive because it was nothing but GOD who allowed us to meet one another. The reasoning why I say this is because if something is wrong with her I can feel it and vice versus. Our relationship/friendship is a bond that we don't plan on breaking because we both put GOD in it and I know that it can't be broken as long as he is in it.  The factors that contribute to developing and maintaining each relationship is to first put God in everything that you do, communication, honest, patience, time, trust, understanding, and etc. I feel like these factors are important in a relationships because without them then how will anything every get started.

The insights regarding challenges to developing and maintaining relationships that I have learned from my experience over time is that we all get busy in life, but it is up to you to understand that sometimes all it takes is a phone call or text to keep in contact. I have learned that communication is the key to a relationship because if you don't talk, then how will a person know what is wrong. In order to get over those challenges and maintain a relationship you must be willing to make mistake, but learn from them. If you have a problem in the relationship it is best to talk about where you all went wrong, then to let it build up. When it builds up, then that is when things tends to get of out hand.

My experiences with relationships, including my ability to be an active, reflective contributor, impact my work as an effective early childhood professional because it can lead to developing communication skills. I feel like the parent/teacher relationship is important because that will help to build a connection among them. Building a connection will help to cut down on misbehavior in the classroom.