Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Hello and welcome back one and all! I am embarking on my latest challenge, entering my fourth class of my Master's Degree Program at Walden University entitled Issues & Trends in the Early Childhood Field. In our first week of class, we had a two part blog assignment to complete, as you will see below.

Part 1: Establishing Professional Contacts:

Part 1 of this week's blog assignment required us to establish contact with an international colleague in the field of education or child representation. There were two different websites provided for us to attempt to establish such contacts. Throughout the week, I have attempted to e-mail 9 different professionals from various countries around the world. Unfortunately, it is Saturday and I have still not received a response from any of the professionals I have attempted to contact. I am hopeful I will be able to establish contact and build a rapport with at least two of the professionals I reached out to in order to become more aware of various countries educational systems, beliefs, cultures, languages, and so much more. I think this is a great way to network in the field of education, as well as a great way to better understand our ever-changing diverse population in the United States. At this point, I have contacted representatives from various organizations in the following countries: Ireland, Philippines, Germany, Turkey, Jamaica, Pakistan, and Singapore. I have reached out to two different professionals in Turkey and Ireland, as I am hopeful to establish contact with them and learn more about these countries. The reason I am so interested in Ireland is because it is part of my heritage from both sides of my family and a place in which I have always, always wanted to travel to and learn more about. Turkey, on the other hand, strikes my interest in a different way. My district is the home to several Turkish families who have immigrated to the United States from Turkey, settling in my town. Over the past two years I have been lucky enough to work with two or three students from this country/culture and learn some simple parts of the language and culture. This year I have 5 or 6 students who hail from this region and celebrate this culture. It would mean so much to me if I could learn more about this residence and understand their language, culture, beliefs, and more. :) I have not given up hope yet; I am still attempting to complete the first option for Assignment 1 Part 1. If within the next few days I do not hear back from any of these professionals, I will be forced to complete the alternative assignment.


Part 2: Expanding Resources:

For Part 2 of this assignment in week 1, we had to research and study a variety of organizations in the United States and around the world and choose just one to focus on. Since quite a few of these organizations were new to me or caught my eye, I spent some time researching each that I seemed interested in. I have narrowed it down to two organizations in which I signed up to receive e-newsletters from to stay informed and learn more about the organizations: Save the Children and ACEI (Association for Children International). I had very brief experiences with these two organizations in prior classes and have been hoping for another chance to learn more about them so that is how I ultimately made my decision. I will focus on one of them in the upcoming weeks of this class, but still would like to learn more about both for my own educational knowledge and interest. I think this week has been jam packed with rich resources to explore and discover. These resources will be meaningful, helpful, and come in very handy to have in our toolbox over the next few weeks of this course, as well as in our educational careers in the early childhood field.


Until next week...