ParentPost -- web based software for enhancing family/school involvement

 ParentPost              www.parentpost.com

                                 CHECK THIS OUT!!
Do you need to increase family involvement? Do you want to see a great way to get information out in an organized, convenient, consistent manner? Consider this site with affordable pricing based on the size of your care facility.

This fantastic, easy to use software program is a great way to keep parents in the loop.  Any center, home based day care, or even group homes for mentally challenged adults can show off all the great ways their loved ones are enjoying their days and making developmental progress. 
Teachers and directors can send messages to all parents or just select ones with a few clicks, attaching necessary forms and requests.  Attached photos of kids doing activities is a fun way to make parents feel included! Take a look and watch the short videos to get a better idea of how this program would work for your facility. I was impressed!

Sharing Web Resources--www.edweek.org

   
 The huge amount of information put out each week did not touch upon the importance of early education in this issue, but a reference was made in an article dated Sept 22, 2014 entitled, Historic Summit Fueled Push for K-12 Standards. On the 25th anniversary of President George W. Bush's historic summit, during which teacher accountability and standards based education reform were introduced, the goals set forth have not been met and there is discord as to who is responsible.  Should schools be held accountable for poor student achievement if policy makers did not provide the proper supports through preschool and early education?  The 1st Goal of the No Child Left Behind Initiative was to have all --ALL children ready to start school by 2000, yet at that time still only 28% attended state run preschools.(Klein, 2014) Everyone agrees it needs to be done, but no one agrees on who should provide it.

An article about iPads in the classroom by Justin Reich, Towards a Pedagogy for Tablets: From consumption to Curation and Creation, describes a useful tool in the classroom, giving students the ability to record science experiments, take and share notes, and create. Many believe this new technology does not belong in the classroom, but teachers can creatively put it to efficient uses. I agree that it can be a useful tool, used properly, and can even see the benefit in early childhood classes. Children can acquire hand-eye coordination, increase math skills, listen to stories or music, and even 'face time' with people in other cultures.

Many articles detail support of early childhood education by policy makers (State Offers Early Childhood Grants, March 2013) neuroscientists (Music Training Sharpens Brain Pathways, Studies Say, Nov 2013) and economists (John Thompson: Michelle Rhee's DC IMPACT Value Added System Drives Teachers Out- Living in Dialogue, Sept 2014).

Listening to the news, I have only heard negative results of Obama in office. I was happy to find Obama has put education on his "short list" of priorities, and includes early childhood education as a top issue on that list. There is so much to read about the Race to the Top for Education Equity, the Tribes to Take Over Schools initiative, the High School Redesign Contest, and his interest in making college affordable, that I only chipped the tip of the iceburg. This president has his priorities straight when it comes to our children and this nation's future.

Lindiwe in Mpumalanga

My original attempts at communicating with international sources went unanswered, but I was able to find a teacher in South Africa through a friend of my daughter's who is in the Peace Corp there. Although she is attending to the subject of HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, her work involves many families with young children.

She provided me with the information and method (What's App messaging) to contact Lindiwe, a teacher of grade R (reception) at Matjeni Primary School in Komatipoort, which is in the region of Mpumalanga. R grade is not mandatory, and the children are about 4 or 5.

The school has a fee which can be waived or reduced if a parent applies for this, but most parents don't even bother to send their children to school in the area she is from.  Schools are overcrowded, with more than 30 students per teacher, and most don't make it past 9th grade.

She sees may orphans due to AIDS and HIV, as well as many absences from school.

I will be texting more with her throughout this course, but so far this the most I have gotten due to the time change and communication difficulties, both technological and cultural.

Education Week: American Education News Site of Record

                     www.edweek.org -- GO TO IT!

But make sure you have plenty of time to spend there at Education Week....

Prepare to be completely sucked in for a great length of time
because of the tremendous amount of interesting information to be read.

Major headings list Teacher, Digital Directions, Industry and Innovations, Top School Jobs, along with shopping and advertising.
Current issues in the education field are addressed in each heading, making it easy to find and follow trends, research the latest happenings in Washington, along with opinions and blogs regarding the subjects. Written in newspaper format and updated (loosely) every week, I try to read more than just the headlines but find myself going from one article to the next.

Today I enjoyed reading about the Common Core's Image Problem, and the blog responses from the teaching community.
On this same title page was a link to a School Kindness Project, describing one person's response to a fellow student who showed a simple act of concern which then led to an entire attitude adjustment for a school. It was such an inspiring article; I hope everyone reads it.

The article right above it was titled, "We Need Teachers of Color", directly related to this weeks's discussion of demographic shifting.

 

My e-newsletters come daily and always pull me in. Today's headline was "Education looms large in pivotal U.S. Senate races" addressing the large differences in democratic and republican stands on teacher pay, common core curriculum, and higher education student loans.

After reading this article, I noticed the one below it about "distortions" and "bias" in new Texas textbooks. Here is the trailer:

 

"New social studies textbooks under consideration by the Texas board of education include "serious distortions of history and contemporary issues," according to a watchdog group's recent review. Among other problems cited by the group are that the textbooks exaggerate religion's role in the founding of the country, include negative stereotypes about Islam, gloss over civil rights efforts for gay and lesbian citizens, and are critical of affirmative action" (Ujifusa, 2014).

I had to read that one.

 

There are subject headings leading to information on legislative policy shifts, and a listing of upcoming webinars for enhancing your professional development. A section of job postings is also in this area.

 

Because I work with infants and toddlers, my main go-to website is Zerotothree. It is a well known, popular site that is very up to date and resourceful when helping families with a particular problem. By discovering and subscribing to Education Week, it is providing me with a larger picture, where I need to be informed of what is happening in the world I am sending my babies toward. It is enriching my knowledge, strengthening my opinions, and opening up my curiosity.

 

Reference:

 http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/state_edwatch/2014/09/wash_st_court_holds_legislature_in_contempt.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS2

I am going to be exploring issues and trends in the Early Childhood Field for the next few weeks. I am excited and a little frightened to learn what life is like for children in far corners of the world. Excited because I love to open my mind and world, frightened because the small peek I've taken recently tells me there are going to be some sad situations I am not able to fix.

My efforts to find an international Early Childhood professional to communicate with include emails to

• The director of MCCS Child Development Center in Okinawa, Japan
• Professor Tashiko Kimura, correspondent for International Association of Early Childhood Education
• Ali Hassan, managing director of ILM.com.pk, described as Pakistan's Biggest Education Port

Education Week   
is a newsletter I have been subscribing to for a few weeks already, having come across it while searching for information in a former class. It has a quick, easy to read format, with many interesting articles about current issues in American education.  However, my favorite website has been 

for many years. Although my time is limited for casual reading, I refer to it whenever I have a few minutes and often cite it if I need to help a parent with advice. I plan on exploring more of the websites suggested in the resource list. If only there were time to read them all!