Rachel Gillen's Blog

Before this class, I had not explored the international early childhood world. Through this course, I have discovered the many organizations working to improve early childhood around the world. Many of these organizations have enriched my professional development and provided many benefits for my professional development in the field.  Through this course and the exploration of international organizations, I have gained awareness of the many issues that affect the early childhood world. Poverty, war, funding, access, disease, etc. greatly affect the early childhood experience children experience. Organizations like UNICEF that are working to provide education to all children, The National Black Child Development organization that is working to provide a better life for all Black children, Children International that is working towards ending poverty in communities, etc. have opened my mind to the grandiose issues we face.  The second benefit I believe I have received ...

Early childhood is in an interesting state where I live. There are many quality programs in the community I live and work in but, they all differ greatly. Colorado has struggled to set a standard of quality because there are so many different private programs. I think the conversation regarding quality and early childhood professionals in my area is centered around what qualifications they should have to teach our youngest population. This has been a constant discussion and has only increased in importance over the past year. In Colorado, one must have a bachelor degree in a specific area (child development, early childhood, or human development and family studies), completed specific early childhood courses, have a specific certification, or hold a teacher's license. The challenge with this has been, the fact that this requirement just allows staff to be alone with children, it's not necessarily used to define qualified staff. Our licensing does include ongoing personal deve...

When looking through "The Harlem Children's Zone" website this week, I had a hard time finding specific items that looked at equity and excellence. I think the website in general is looking at equity and excellence in education. The entire organization of Harlem Children's Zone is working to provide equity and excellence in education. They look at how to start providing equity and excellence early in a child's life for all families. This organization and website addresses health, early childhood education, and education beyond. The programs provided and the sections on the website show that excellence and equity in education not only includes what happens in a classroom but in the community. Heath and community are major parts of the Harlem Children's Zone program. The fact that HCZ is in Harlem and works with many different types of families show the concept of equity in education.  I haven't really looked into the health section until this week. I knew...

The podcast this week was something I completely agreed with. While reading, it made me think of all of the changes the field has experienced and will continue to experience. In the beginning of the podcast I learned that standards have pros and cons to them. Ms. Vasquez talked about how they give everyone guidelines for teaching but it's a one size fits all method so then we lose our view of the holistic child. It was also interesting how Ms. Vasquez talked about the achievement gap and the potential that it's more of a social issue rather than an education issue. That is a point of view I have never considered. I also learned that early childhood professionals have a responsibility to teach what we know about child development and early childhood education so we can ensure we are following best practice.  The international source I have been looking at is Save the Children. Save the Children helps each person get a positive start in life where they have the resources need a...

For the past few weeks I have been researching The Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) website. The first section I found pertinent to my current professional development is the "Our Programs" section. This section introduces the different programs the Harlem Children's Zone provides. I think this is pertinent to my professional development currently because I am learning about programs that are effective and address current issues and trends in early childhood. There is also a "News" and "Blog" section that has different articles and posts about different aspects of HCZ. I think this is helping me learn about programs that are for families from many different backgrounds and the extra supports they may need.  In the "About Us Section" you can find a documents and publications section that provides many different resources. There are documents under a section saying "Sharing the HCZ Model" that I believe show different perspectives a...

The international organization I found is CARE. CARE works to address the underlying issues of poverty and social injustice in the hopes of making change in the lives of people in poverty that has lasting affects (CARE, n.d.).  From what I have seen on the website so far, it looks like this organization works to promote Women's rights and the power of gender inequality. Due to cultural beliefs around the world, women and girls have less rights and access to education and CARE believes this is an underlying cause of poverty. Women empowerment is the basis for all of CARE's programs. CARE also works to create inclusive governments in countries and communities suffering from poverty. Inclusive government is promoted by encouraging poor people to educate themselves on what is happening and helping them use their voice to stand up for what is needed. CARE also works with politicians in making the right decisions for their community but also listening to the poor. Finally, CARE wor...

As I looked through a few of the different websites. I ended up choosing the Harlem Children's Zone website as I recalled their founder from the "Waiting for Superman" documentary. This organization started out as a community program in Harlem looking to help families and children. This organization has now grown to a program that supports children, families, and the community through the entirety of childhood. It includes many different programs like "Baby College" and a Charter school.  One trend I saw on the Harlem Children's Zone website was the early childhood programs they are promoting and providing to families in the Harlem area. These programs are not only working with children, they are also working to provide education and supports for parents and guardians. This trend starts with Baby College where new parents and expecting parents can come and have free child care and take classes on parenting. This program provides education for parents whil...