ESTABLISHING PERSONAL CONTACTS:

I am currently in the process of establishing two contacts with early childhood professors outside the United States via email.  I have decided to send out correspondence to both Global Alliance and UNICEF websites and have emailed many professional contacts, but have received no response.  I am looking forward to communicating with these contacts and will post more information as I receive it. My main focus is communicating with someone from the International Step by Step Association in Haiti.

If anyone can contact me and tell me another way to correspond with Early Childhood Professionals out of the U.S., please leave a comment on my blog.

 

                                                Expanding Resources:

For part two, I expanded my resources as I explored the International Step by Step Association (ISSA) website.  This membership organization supports equal access to quality education for minorities and children and making sure they are treated like all other children and given the opportunity to reach their full potential in school. Within the context of child-centered learning and family participation, the ISSA supports a wide range of programs.  It is reaching out to children and families without access to quality preschool programs.  A range of creative, flexible strategies to provide parents with the knowledge, skills, and practices needed to support their children’s development.   

I also decided to look into the Step by Step Initiatives which is centered around child-centered learning and family participation, where you can open up and do research on Early Childhood (birth to 6 years old); Primary School (grades 1-4); Equal Access (education for social justice); Teacher Education (training for adult trainers); and Civic Participation in Education (Parent advocacy).   This site is very informative, because it gives you the chance to research on the different trends of different countries.  

Tipa Tipa is a program for children ranging from 0-12 years old and their families.  It offers quality and modern education opportunities to children from disadvantages environments using an individualized child-centered approach.  What’s good about this program is that it encourages participation from the families and local communities.

The role of the teacher in the ISSA programs is to facilitate children’s learning and create a community of learners.  Teachers should be able to create a climate for learning, intellectual curiosity, independent learning, empathy and caring. Teachers of this school are not only introduced to the child centered approach but are also given instruction on teaching methods for mathematics, science, social sciences, art, Creole and language development and French as a second language. 

GOAL:  is to expand services to reach families whose children are not attending formal preschools.  Additional programs include: parent-child activities, parent education workshops, adult education, and informal developmentally appropriate activities for children from birth to 7 years of age

                                                                        Reference:

International Step by Step Association. Retrieved on January 8, 2013 from

http://www.issa.nl/program_early_child.html