Establishing Contact and Expanding Resources

This week, we were asked to establish contact with two professional early childhood educators outside of the United States.  I was looking forward to learning more about early childhood education in other countries and comparing it to that which we have here in the states. At first, this didn't seem like a very difficult task but as I embarked on my journey I have found it to be much harder than anticipated.

I first researched the list of resources provided and found a wonderful website, The Global Alliance for the Education of Young Children (www.naeyc.org). I looked at many of the different contacts listed and decided to try and reach a program in the Netherlands and one in South Africa. I emailed both contacts and unfortunately, have yet to get a response.  I am hoping to hear from then soon but as a precaution I am going to contact other associations and programs as well. Hopefully I will not have to resort to the alternate assignment for part 1.  I am going to use other resources as well, Facebook in particular, to aide in my journey of  making a contact.

After I initiated contact with the out of country professionals, I began to search for a childhood organization which I would like to research. I went through nearly all of the websites posted in the resources tab and have chosen to study the National Institute for Early Education Research (www.nieer.org). I chose the NIEER to study because their website is full of publications, hot topics, and resources for teachers who work with English Language Learners. I am excited to learn more about this organization and continuing to learn and grow as an educator.