Sharing Web Resources

2/11/12
     While it was hard to chose an original source to share I found the challenge a little easier this time.  During the past few weeks I have had the opportunity to explore a variety of the required blog resources yet I still managed to find a wonderful source that I knew about but never really explored.  I've used this particular site as a reference more than once but I was looked at the site, found what I needed and moved on.  A few days ago I stopped and really explored the website and I found a wealth of information that I apparently had overlooked on more than occasion.  The website is Zero To Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families (http://www.zerotothree.org/).  I was not previously signed up for this site's newsletter but I did sign up this week for every newsletter they had available for infants through toddlers.


     One particularly interesting portion of the website dealt with public policy and through a link on this page I found information about the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC).  The focus of this program was to increase the number of disadvantaged children in high quality programs (http://www.zerotothree.org/public-policy/state-community-policy/rtt-elc-talking-points-power-point.pdf).  Another topic Building on the Promise (http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/Building_on_the_Promise_April_2008.pdf?docID=5281) discussed expanding Early Head Start to the children that would benefit from it but are not receiving it.  The paper discusses challenges, opportunities and recommendations for expanding the program.  There were several more policy papers on this site including information on advocacy and federal policy.



1/28/12
As I have explored the NAECTE newsletters I am excited about their efforts to support educators.  In working with other organizations such as NAEYC they are working on the behalf of early childhood educators.  As a professional this is very important for me simply because one of the biggest issues they are dealing with is educator training and I am always seeking professional development opportunities for myself and my staff.  The Texas chapter is underway and while you can log into their site, there are still some things under construction.  I like the fact that there is a constant call for research supporting teacher education.  Research is probably not one of my strong suits but at some point I know that it may be beneficial to conduct research and present my papers.  


Although it is not presented in so many words I think that the basic principals of economics is evident thoughout this organization.  The simple fact the this is an organization dedicated to helping teachers proves it simply because in order for our children to benefit we need to invest in the teachers that are teaching them.  As we work to improve the quality of the teachers the children will surely benefit.  NAECTE not only works with NAEYC to make the voice of teachers heard, in Texas a program called Advise TX (www.advisetx.org) wants to increase the number of low-income, underrepresented and first generation students both starting and finishing college.  The program places recent college graduates from different fields into high schools to help the students enter college and I actually found five high schools in my city that participate in the program.  


While the information provided by NAECTE is limited, unless you are a member, it is still a great resource for finding out more about similar programs and in my case the affiliate in my state.  So to that end there was nothing that I found controversial on the website but I have learned about other organizations that are working to support early childhood teachers which is great since sometimes it seems that early childhood teachers are overlooked as professionals.  



National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators
www.naecte.org

1/18/12
I found a great deal of information related to professional development at the NAECTE website.

The group's purpose are as follows as detailed on their website:



  • To promote the professional growth of our membership 
  • To discuss educational issues specific to our membership 
  • To advocate for improvements in early childhood teacher education 
  • Provide a forum for consideration of issues and concerns of interest to educators of early childhood teacher educators 
  • Provide a communication network for early childhood teacher educators 
  • Facilitate the interchange of information and ideas about research and practice 
  • Use, as vehicles, the Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, conferences, resolutions, position papers, and other publications 
  • Cooperate with other national and international organizations concerned with the study and education of young children 
Browsing through the most recent newsletter, Fall 2011, I found several examples to support the position. In promoting professional growth, the article discussed two different conferences. There are also at least three text books for teachers mentioned on curriculum, research and the history of EC. On the website i found quite a bit of information, I even searched for the lastest edition of this groups publications.

The main focus of information was about the conference from November 2011 which main topic was the "Future of EC Teacher Education." Other topics of interest was the position statement on Early Childhood teacher certification.

I really got lost, in a good way, in the website reading through the various resources and browsing their newsletters