Saturday, September 10, 2011

Attempts to Establish International Contacts and Exploration of a Site to Expand My Knowledge of the EC Field

In an attempt to establish contact with EC professionals in other countries, I consulted the NAEYC site. I have reached out to the following professionals via email:
Mr. Eric Atmore of South Africa
Nives Milinovic of Croatia
Lucie Rastocna of Czech Republic
Iryna Lapitskaga of Belarus
In the emails I explained my relationship to the field and the assignment. I asked each of the professionals if they would be interested in participating in this activity. Hopefully, I will receive responses from at least two professionals. If I receive no responses by Wednesday, I will contact other professionals from the lists.

      I chose to explore the website http://www.zerotothree.org/ . I've subscribed to the newsletter and become a member of the site. I chose this site because I have been studying infant/toddler brain development and developmentally appropriate practice for  infant-toddler age groups as a part of my job as curriculum coordinator for an early childhood center. This site will be a great resource for this area of interest. Zero to Three's mission statement:

ZERO TO THREE is a national, nonprofit organization that informs, trains, and supports professionals, policymakers, and parents in their efforts to improve the lives of infants and toddlers. Our mission is to promote the health and development of infants and toddlers.
   

 The homepage of the site is chock full of information. The tabs at the top of the page enable quick and easy navigation of the site. The headings for the tabs are Behavior and Development, Maltreatment, Care and Education, Public Policy and About Us. My two favorite features of the Zero to Three homepage are the Infant Brain Development Map and the Download of the Week. The Infant Brain Development Map allows one to explore the functions of the infant brain by age and area of interest. Questions and Answers are available as well as what can be done by caregivers to facilitate  healthy development. The Download of the Week for this week is "Healthy Eating Strategies for Young Children", a handout geared toward parents of young children about what they can do to help their infants/toddlers develop healthy eating habits.

3 comments:

  1. Careyann,
    The Zero To Three website is a very educational website for both EC professionals and parents of young children. I would like also to become a member, thanks for sharing

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  3. Careyann, I've seen the Zero To Three name on much of the written resources presented at my son's Head Start Agency. I've never looked deeper into the organization, but will probably give it a good peek while in this course:)

    I am fairly new to the education field, although I've been around the teaching/training field all my life. My mother and father were both educators (more so in the religious sector), and I've grown to love the process of disseminating information to people. As far as teaching in the education field as a professional, this is the reason I am studying EC now to acquire my Masters degree so that I can teach in my son's school. There is a great need for qualified teachers, and I am a firm advocate that EVERY teacher should have an EC background and training.

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