When I read that we had to immerse ourselves into an early childhood organization’s website, I immediately thought of the organizations in my island country, Jamaica.
The organizations that came to mind were:
- The Early Childhood Commission
- Child Development Agency – Jamaica
- Ministry of Education
All these sites provided information on the varying missions, values, resources offered and organizational structures. However, none of the websites offered the opportunity to subscribe to a free electronic newsletter. Therefore, I decided to venture overseas.
The website that I chose was the World Organization for Early Childhood Education (OMEP) - http://www.omep-usnc.org/. Why? Because interestingly, a portion of their membership dues goes directly to support OMEP-USA projects, such as the Haiti Relief fund, a preschool support project in Jamaica, or a professional materials collection for new early childhood teacher preparation program in Jamaica.
OMEP has a journal called the International Journal of Early Childhood and I visited the publisher’s website at http://www.springer.com/education+&+language/journal/13158 to obtain access to previous issues. The title of a September 2011 article caught my eye and I hope to read it - Opening Spaces for Dialogue and Re-Envisioning Children’s Bathroom in a Preschool: Practitioner Research with Children on a Sensitive and Neglected Area of Concern written by Zsuzsa Millei and Jannelle Gallagher.
I also checked out the website of the National Black Child Development Institute - http://nbcdi.org/. Why again? Because I am from a predominately black country and I wanted to see how this Institute is achieving its mission of improving and advancing the lives of Black children and their families, through advocacy (my primary profession) and education (what interests me). I signed up for the NBCDI newsletter and received a “Thank you for signing up!” email. I now wait to see if I will receive any newsletters.
A review of the list of Early Childhood websites made me realize that there is so much information out there and so much that one can learn. It seems very daunting and one must ensure that they prioritize and not get swamped by the wealth of information.
Hello Sheryl,
ReplyDeleteI must confess, I have always thought of Jamaica as so alluring and exotic. Perhaps especially now--we've just had another ten inches of snow!
Your comment about the daunting amount of information regarding early childhood rang true with me. It is overwhelming sometimes and it's hard to know where to start. Once I start, it's hard to keep it all straight! I have begun to use index cards and I fill them out as I travel from site to site--it helps a bit, but now I have a mountain of index cards...
I enjoy your blog very much and I would love to know where you find your fabulous clipart!
Hey Julia,
DeleteYes Jamaica is exotic in some respects. Nice sunshine weather :)
I tried filing the new information that I received for EC but then I could not keep track of the info and what to replace when new info came in.
Thanks for the compliment re: my blog. My clipart is found on Google images.
Sheryl
Sheryl, I agree, there is so much information in regards to the field of early childhood and it is easy to get overwhelmed by it. With as much information that is offered to educators, we are bound to find the information we are seeking. I think the websites you chose sound interesting and I am definitely going to be visiting them soon. Thanks for the resources!
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