My Family culture

If a catastrophe would strike my home, the three things I would take which would remind me of my culture would be: family pictures, folkloric music, a folkloric item.
I would take family pictures because it would remind me of who and what we did. Remember all the great times we had back in our home. Remember the places we went to.
I would take folkloric music  
because it will remind me of our beautiful music from my home. Music is something that I grew up with, I remember doing plays in school where we danced our music.
The third item I would take are folkloric item such as one like these 
 or something like these which is a Peruvian textile blanket. My reason would be because it would keep us warm wherever we went and will have a part of our culture with us.

If I am given the option to keep only one item, It would be a very hard decision to make but I would keep my blanket because it would be something representative about my culture. Our memories would always be kept in our minds and wherever we would be, we will make new ones.

By doing this exercise, it reminded me when I came to this country for the second time at the age of 16. I remember bringing a folkloric backpack and a hat in the plane and wearing them both. For me it was so significant and special. Up until now, whenever I get a chance I like to buy or order things from my country or ask my family who travels back and forth to bring me items I can put up in my home.

When I think of Research......

First and for most, I would like to thank my colleagues for all your feedback during this class course. I do appreciate every one of your comments and posts, for that I say to you:

                                             

• What insights have you gained about research from taking this course?
• There is so much I have learned throughout this course, as I had shared at the beginning, i felt pretty worried on how well I would do in a research class but as I look back it has been pretty rewarding for me professionally. I feel more competent and confident to not only understand research but perform one.  
• In what ways have your ideas about the nature of doing research changed?
• I have learned in order to do research in the early childhood field, we have to be very careful since this is a very delicate area. Research has to be carefully planned for it not to have risk factors or ethics problems.
• What lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood did you learn?
• Every method has its own unique ways of finding the information looking for. I think it all depends on the topic of choice. To plan a good research takes time because there are so many factors such as what design you are using who you are targeting and where it will take place. 
• What were some of the challenges you encountered—and in what ways did you meet them?
• Some of the challenges I faced was to decide what design I was going to use in my research simulation. I all came together after reading and reflecting on what I was really wanting to do with the results.
• What are some of the ways your perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course?
• As a teacher, I do observations every day with the purpose of getting to know my children better, individualized their learning and needs; therefore, by taking this class my perceptions as a early childhood professional has increased because it has taught me how careful we have to be with our bias and perceptions of gathered information. The field of early childhood is very revolving as it is often changing, research in the field is also a very delicate one but one of the most important as well.

Research Around the World

After much browsing the given websites for this assignment, I decided to look at Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa  (SSA)  http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/index.php  and http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/major_reports.php websites. I have always found interesting to learn about their developments concerning their early childhood education programs. Many of the studies and reports focus on the application on several tools implemented in early childhood classrooms, statuses on the administration and coordination of center in Ghana, parental involvement in the schools and the importance of male involvement. One thing I did notice is that the publication on the website was last updated on 2007. Many of the reports given where significantly old. Another point I gained from the several reports was the importance of how to implement an early childhood development focus in the region. Despite the lack of resources available, there are movements who focus on creating a better environment for the children. Another need with regards of early childhood is the lack of administration and coordinators educational backgrounds and policy procedures practices. Many of them are not following appropriate policy procedures giving their center poor quality. I found interesting, how hard they are working to integrate parent involvement and spread out the importance of it as well as their children's self stem outcomes; which is no different to what we are doing in this country as well. It is very interesting and exciting to see how early childhood education is getting more and more attention around the world.  

                                              

Research that benefits children and their families - Uplifting stories

Throughout my years working with low income children and families, I have become very passionate about promoting literacy and how important is to read to their children. I make sure families become aware of the activities happening in their local library, getting them a library card if needed, providing literacy workshops at our centers by inviting a lady from the community to talk about the topic, etc. I think is so important or families to understand that if they can spend at least twenty minutes a day just one on one looking and talking about a book to your child, it will help their language and vocabulary skills. I have worked very closely with my Latino families and having them understand how important it is to spend time with your kids, many times I got responses such as: I don't have time, he does not sit, I have to take care of the house, he gets read at home, and many more excuses. One thing I share with them is that I use to say that because I did not know any better, I was a young mom, no experience or support and bad relationship. Many of the times I am able to relate to their stories, but it is why I will promote how important and its benefits for their children.

My research will be to study the importance of spending a minimum of twenty minutes either reading, looking, sharing stories with your child and compare their increase of bonding, increase of vocabulary. I would do it as a longitudinal study. 

Sharing the positive results and outcomes will be such an important asset to help families get educate on how they can help their child from early years.

                                

                                             

My Personal Research Journey

I must say, it was hard to pick one of my subtopics because each one of them is important within the field of early childhood. Therefore, I decided to further my research journey in "How home environments can impact a child's emotional development". As professionals we know a child's behavior can be the outcome from what goes on in their homes. During my years of working with children and their families especially learning about their home environments, I have seen and learned a lot of how children's environments can play a roll on how they behave outside their homes. I have worked with many types of families and environments which plants a seed of searching further information which can help teachers better understand the children and their families as well.
                                             
During my chart construction, I was able to understand much more about words which were unfamiliar with me. It has been a great process for me to get better acquaintance with the research process.
To all my classmates, any help of advice in this process, I am open to hear from you all!! Thank you in advance for your replies and suggestions.

                                           

Consequences and Many Thank You's

Although I was not successful receiving any replies from my international contacts, I have learned so much more about early childhood education around the world just by reading and browsing links as well as focusing in specific organizations. It has been interesting reading other countries focuses and methods in implementing early learning including challenges they face in order to keep up the work. For me it has been very rewarding reading about my colleagues posts as well. They have also been very supportive with their replies and feed backs. For that I say:
                                                      
One of my goals is to keep learning from other parts of the world, there is so much we can learn from especially other early childhood professionals, together we can make a difference.

                                                  

Getting to know my international contacts-Part 3

After exploring the alternate website  (http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/)  I found important work being done on behalf of children around the world. I learned about UNESCO advocacy on Early Childhood Education around the world as well as the implementation of quality and equality of resources for children's development. A lot of effort and dedication is being embraced  to provide  health, nutrition, security and learning opportunities for children despite the possible unintended consequences it might encounter. Another insight, I found interesting was the struggles the field of Early Childhood Education faces when it comes to investing and financing. Governments struggle to fund early learning programs which at times there is other priorities taking its place.

When I think about my professional goals. I think about advocacy, generate quality programs and serve as an advocate for children and families who need the most. When I went through this website, I learned about the different foundations and outside links dedicated to the betterment of our children. I believe that policies and laws will see the field of Early Childhood as an immediate necessary, because the children who are served will be the ones who will lead their countries in the future therefore investing in the future will have to start soon.