Time Well Spent

   It is hard to believe that I am completing my Master's program at Walden University. It has been a long journey and at times challenging but well worth it. I have found many things that I have learned and will take with me in my professional career in the early childhood field.
   One thing that I have learned from this program is the importance of understanding and keeping abreast of issues and trends in the early childhood field. This program has taught me that knowing issues and trends in the field can help professional to help better support the developmental growth and well-being of young children and their families. Another aspect of the program that I have learned from is the importance of having connections and professional relationships with my colleagues. Being a part of a community of learners has taught me the values of sharing ideas, opinions, and listening to others about topics in the early childhood field. This can help me to broaden my understandings and have an open mind. The last thing that I learned from this program is the value of having a continuation of professional development. Continuing to learn and grow in my own knowledge about the field of early childhood will not only help young children and their families but my own career goals as well. All professionals to strive to know and understand more about the field and all of it's aspects.
   One long term goal that I have is to continue my work in the early childhood field by helping to support and educate other professionals in the field. I would love to continue my work in the field and further my career by teaching future educators. Being an instructor at a community college or provide work with other training of professionals is something that I would want to strive for.
   I would also like to take this time to thank all of my instructor and my colleagues. My instructors have provided me with ample amounts of information and knowledge that I will definitely take with me in my professional career. My colleagues have allowed me to express my knowledge, as I have heard from their opinions and experiences as well, and provided me with positive connections to their professionalism within the field of early childhood. I am fortunate to be a part of this program and I am excited to see where my degree will take me in my career.

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

   I was able to research different international organizations in the early childhood field. There are many different organizations that appeal to me and there are some that have job opportunities that would fit my interests.
   One organization is the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This organization's mission is to contribute to building peace, eradicate poverty, and sustain development and intercultural dialogue through education, science, culture, and communication. One main reason this organization appealed to me is that they strive to attain education for all and lifelong learning. Looking at job opportunities in this organization I found many different opportunities in many different offices all over the world. While I would not want a job internationally I would be more interested in staying  in the United States. They offer different jobs as well as internships in their recruitment. I think this would be a great and interesting job to have, especially with their influence on lifelong learning.
   Another organization that I found is the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI). This organization reaches out on a global level to the community of educators and advocates who unite knowledge, experience, and perspective in order to exchange information, explore innovation, and advocate for children. I found this organization interesting because of their mission to ensure the developmental growth and well-being of children worldwide. While I did not find any paying jobs, I did find how to apply for volunteering and internships. The internships help handle global education issues. I think even an internship at this organization would be great to gain experience in helping global efforts to improve education.
   The last organization that interested me was the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). I have always heard of UNICEF and I am interested in what their organization has accomplished and their mission. UNICEF has the mission to ensure the well-being and rights of every child on a global scale. While I did not find any jobs at this organization I think it would be an interesting job to have. Having a big influence on the well-being and rights of children from all over the world would be very rewarding. I think UNICEF is a great organization that has great international influence.

References
Association for Childhood Education International http://acei.org/
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization http://en.unesco.org/
United Nations Children's Fund http://www.unicef.org/

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: National/Federal Level

There are three organizations that have appealed to me during my research of communities of practice for my challenge of inequities in teacher preparations.

   One organization is the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). This organization has many different resources and means of assessing the quality of higher education programs in the early childhood field. NAEYC has different accreditation programs for help higher education programs better prepare teachers to work with young children. While looking at their jobs page, I also saw where there was a job for senior director for higher education accreditation. Even though this job would require me to have more experience in higher education, I believe it is a great job to potentially look at in my future as well as what their requirements are for a job such as this.
   Another organization that I found was the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. This organization is there to help and support educator preparation and it is dedicated to promote high-quality, evidence-based preparation programs that assures educators are ready to teach all learners. In searching for job listings on their website I came across a job search page for many different jobs within the higher education field all across the U.S. There was even a section for a few jobs to be found outside of the U.S. I think this would be a great start to look at different potential jobs within the higher education field. 
   The last organization that I found is The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). This organization help establish accreditation to programs to help ensure high quality teacher preparation. Accreditation applies to schools, colleges, and departments of education. This organization can help in my community of practice because of the knowledge of teacher preparation standards that are assessed throughout many different schools and programs. There were no job listings on this website but there are many valuable pieces of information about how to be accredited from this organization. Being accredited will allow me to help find jobs that I know are readily prepared to educate future teachers.

References
http://aacte.org/
http://www.ncate.org/
http://www.naeyc.org/

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community

   It is important for me to grow professionally in the field of early childhood education. Right now I am currently a teacher in a two- three year-old classroom but I hope to grow and move on to other opportunities soon. Before moving on to these other opportunities I have to research and look at different organizations on the local and state level that can help me find different career opportunities. Many of the career choices I am looking for involve teaching/training professionals or potential professionals in the early childhood field.
   One organization that I found was the Partnership for Children of Johnston County. This is an organization that I am well aware of in my local community that helps young children and professionals in the field of early childhood. Opportunities at the organization include providing trainings for other professionals in the field. These trainings can include many different topics in the early childhood field. I think this is a great organization that I could potentially be a part of.
   Another organization that I am well aware of is NCAEYC. This is the North Carolina chapter of NAEYC and I have attended many different conferences that have been arranged by this organization. Potential career opportunities with this organization could be to help the community of early childhood professionals in their own professional growth and development. This organization does not only help professionals in the field but also as advocates for early childhood in communities and the state.
   The last organization that I was interested in was the NC Institute for Child Development Professionals. This organization has many different resources and tools to help professionals that teach adult learners in the early childhood field. Through this resource I could gain certifications and look for career opportunities that are related to the field. It is important as a professional that I look for opportunities to grow and I believe this organization can help me find the resources to do so. No matter which career path I choose, I can be well prepared by doing my research on career opportunities and use my knowledge pertaining to the early childhood field.


References
http://www.partnershipforchildrenjoco.org/
http://ncaeyc.org/
http://ncicdp.org/

Week One: Merging Passion, Vision, and Practice

This week we were able to create a Wordle that represents our passion and interests in the early childhood field. Here is my Wordle:

I look forward to working with each of you on our last course of our program!

Thank You

   I would like to take this time to thank my colleagues throughout this course! I have learned so much from not only the information and resources from the course but from my colleagues. Everyone's personal experiences and insights has helped me to fully understand about communication and collaboration. Hopefully I will get to continue working with a few of you through our specialization courses. To the ones that are going into a different specialization I hope that you all are able to succeed in not only what is left of your Walden education but in your professional goals as well. I am glad to share this educational journey with you all!

Team Development

   During the adjourning stage of team development, it is the time when the team members complete their tasks and say good-bye. I believe that during this stage it is harder to leave some groups than others. A group that would be hard to leave is one where the team members made real connections with one another and even had high performance throughout the project or task. I believe that groups with clear and established norms can be hard to leave because of the high performance situations and the positive interactions through these norms and performances.

   I have been a part of many groups. Some groups were hard to leave while others were very easy. The groups that were the hardest to leave was when I made real connections with the other group members. One group for me that was the hardest to say good-bye was at my last job. I had to leave because I found a better job suited for my family but it was hard for me to leave my co-workers because of the connections that I made. We helped each other greatly professionally and personally and had great team building experiences. Having time to say good-bye was a great ritual that helped me to leave and know that I was making a the right decision. It made me still feel support from others about my decision and that my former co-workers would still be in contact with me.

   Upon leaving my time at Walden University I believe that having the support and knowledge from my other colleagues will help me to feel better about having to say good-bye and prepare me for my future endeavors. Having the time to say good-bye and taking what I have learned can help me in leaving my colleagues that has helped me along the way to gain my master's degree.

Nonviolent Communication and Conflict Management

   One of the most recent conflicts that I have recently had was with one of my colleagues. While the conflict did not result in anger or having a “fight”, I could definitely tell there was some tension because of our two differing viewpoints. During the situation I wanted to change my classroom around and I told my co-teacher my ideas. Since we have to keep a lot of things in mind while rearranging a classroom I decided to ask for some of her input on a few things. She then began to give suggestions that I did not necessarily like but I valued her opinion. It was then time for me to leave for the day and a few hours later my co-teacher called me to inform me that she decided to go ahead and rearrange a few things in the classroom. I became a little annoyed that she went ahead and changed things and we never finalized how the classroom would be rearranged. It was a Friday and since I had no idea as to how she changed the classroom I decided to go ahead and go up on Saturday to change the classroom the way I had intended instead of waiting on Monday. One Monday I explained to her how I just decided to rearrange the entire classroom on Saturday. She did not seem annoyed but I’m sure she felt the same way I did.

   During this conflict it would have been beneficial to use nonviolent communication in this scenario. We should have at some point listened to what each other were saying and try to understand what the other person was saying instead of making decisions without the other person knowing. While we did not have an argument, nonviolent communication would have helped in the tension and bad feelings that we had towards one another. Another strategy that we should have worked through was thinking of solutions to the problem (changing the classroom) instead of saying nothing. Since my co-teacher was giving suggestions that I did not necessarily liked I should have voiced them and she in turn if I suggested something that she was not particularly fond of. I think working through the conflict instead of not truly talking about it has caused tension and annoyance between us at that time. Since this incident I have been trying to be more open to her about what I am trying to say and also respectful to what she is trying to say to me. Learning about better and effective communication skills has helped me to understand how to work through tough conflicts such as this.

Communication Assessment

   During this week's assignment I was asked to rate myself on my communication skills. Then I used two other people, my husband and my mother, to rate my communication skills as well. I then compared the results when they were done. I thought that the results would be vastly different since my husband and my mother would be very honest and know first hand about my communication skills but the results were very similar. Although the numbers did not match exactly they were pretty close and put me into the same categories. I learned that in communication anxiety I am moderate, in verbal aggressiveness I am moderate, and in listening skills I am in group 1.

   One thing I learned through this assignment was that communication is not just about my language or nonverbal language but my listening skills as well. How I listen to others and how I perceive information is just as important as using verbal communication. In my professional work I have to remember that it is important to also listen to others and understand what they are saying in order to effectively communicate with them. I also learned that my own anxiety about certain situations can effect my communication skills. Since I am in group 1 of this category it means that I do get anxious about communicating with others depending on the situation. In my own professional work it is important to recognize which communication situations can make me anxious and it is something that I have to work on to effectively communicate with others.

Communication and Cultural Diversity

   When I see my interactions with others around me, such as my colleagues, families I work with, and my own family, I notice the aspects of cultural diversity and the effects it has on communication. In my own interactions I can notice that I change the way I communicate with different people according to the aspects of their culture. Different groups and cultures determine the way that I interact and communicate. An example would be that I speak with the families at my workplace much differently than my own family. The topics we discuss differ as well as my professionalism. I sometimes have to think about what I am saying and how I respond to the children and their families. In my own family I can speak on any topic and I do not have to communicate professionally. I feel more relaxed and at ease speaking with my own family rather than the professionals that I work with. I understand that I have to consider a person or groups culture when speaking with them.

   Strategies that I would use to effectively communicate with others from differing groups and/or cultures are:

1. I can consciously think of others before myself. I can try to understand more clearly what the other person or group is trying to communicate so that I can effectively respond.
2. Another strategy is to recognize my own nonverbal behaviors. Becoming self aware of how I may be perceived can help with communicating with others that differ from my own culture.
3. I can actively gain more knowledge in another person's culture or how to effectively communicate with others as well. Gaining more knowledge about effective communication can help me become better at my interactions with others.

Communication

                                               

The show that I chose to view was 30 Rock. I have never seen this show before so when browsing my Netflix I decided to choose a random episode.

I first watched some scenes with the sound turned off. The opening scene is of a man and woman talking and from their facial expressions it looks like the conversation is either confusing or uncomfortable. They do not make eye contact and the conversation ends quickly. There is then another scene when a man walks up to a woman at a snack counter. He helps her with coffee and when she faces him she looks away from him while talking. I can assume that she may be blind because of her body language and eye contact. The man seems flustered at what she is saying because he spills the hot coffee on his shoes and his face seems surprised. Another scene was taking place where I gathered that the man and woman were in a relationship or on a date. They were sitting close to each other on the couch and he had his arm around her. She then gets up to go to the other room and when the man opens a window the bathroom door opens to her sitting on the toilet. I can tell in the next scene they both feel uncomfortable about the situation because the woman does not make eye contact with him and he seems to be laughing, maybe trying to lighten the mood. He then receives a phone call and they both seem to have grimaces on their faces after the conversation. I would assume the phone call was an uncomfortable one.

I then viewed the same scenes with the sound turned on. In the opening scene it turns out that Liz plans to meet with Drew and makes plans for Valentine's day. He seems uncomfortable with the idea and that she planned it for that day and when he leaves she can't believe that she made plans to meet with him on Valentine days. Then the next scene I saw a woman, Jennifer, who was trying to grab coffee and Kenneth walks up to help her. She then turns around and thanks him and he notices she is blind. He does not say a word and pours the coffee on his shoe retreating quickly. We then find later out that he indeed has a crush on her. The date scene between Liz and Drew does happen and they are indeed on a first date and Liz has to go to the bathroom. The brownies then begin to burn and he opens the window revealing Liz on the toilet. They then have and uncomfortable conversation and she seems very embarrassed while he tries to make her feel better. Drew then receives a phone call from his ex-wife who is dropping off his daughter at the apartment. He then feels bad about the situation but tells Liz to just move on with the date as planned.

Some of my assumptions between the character relationships were correct but the conversations were off and I could not tell what they characters were talking about just by nonverbal communication. For instance it was hard for me to determine that Liz and Drew were on their first date on Valentine's day. I also did not understand fully the situation between Jennifer and Kenneth until I turned the sound on. I was very confused by what the context of the conversation consisted of. From this assignment I realize the full necessity of all communication skills including verbal and nonverbal to gain the full amount of information.

Competent Communication

   When I think of competent communication there are a few people that come to mind. One person in my life that I feel demonstrates competent communication would be the director of our child development center. She demonstrates this aspect because I have witnessed her interactions with others in our work place. When talking with parents and colleagues she is able to listen to others and provide a positive experience even is the reason for the conversation is not so pleasant. She tries to understand and respect other's ideas and opinions as well as trying to communicate her own. She communicates with others according to their own personal needs (i.e. in person, e-mail, or phone call) and she tries to make sure she is using appropriate language and communication for each person.

   I like to use her as a model at times for my own interactions with parents in my classroom. I try to listen and understand other's ideas and opinions even if it is hard to understand their reasoning at times. She expresses how important communication is in our field and I take that advice and use it as much as I can in my own classroom.

Professional Hopes and Goals

One hope that you have when you think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds.

   One hope that I have from working with children and families from diverse backgrounds is to be more aware and supportive of these children and families. I hope that in the future I am more culturally aware of others. In being more aware I hope to be more supportive of children and families according to their own individual needs. This hope will in turn help me to build relationships and connections with others.

One goal you would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice.

   One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to provide more education and training for professionals. I would love to see professionals in the field receive more educational opportunities related to issues in diversity, equity, and social justice. I believe that this could build a better understanding of the issues and well as better connections with professionals with children and their families.

   I would like to send a special thanks to all of my colleagues. I have enjoyed getting to know all of your opinions and ideas on the issues of diversity, equity, and social justice. I have learned not only from the content presented by Dr. Ferrari but also my colleagues. It has helped me to expand my understanding and ideas of the diversity and equity.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

   This week we are challenged to think about having a family who has recently emigrated from another country that we know nothing about and how we will support this family and be culturally responsive. Since I am in a child care center setting I wanted to choose to keep this setting. I chose to have this family's country of origin be Japan.

   There are many ways that I could help support and be culturally responsive to this family. I chose five ways that will help me be culturally responsive and build a positive relationship with this family:

1. I will research their country of origin which includes the countries culture, economic status, population, history, religion(s), etc.
2. I would then hold a meeting with this family and find out more about their personal background and culture. I would like to know more about what their personal beliefs and values are so that their child can be comfortable in my classroom. I would also like to know what their expectations and opinions of early childhood education.
3. I would attend conferences and trainings on how to support children and families from other country.
4. I would then research more on how to include children from another country especially if their culture is different from the dominant culture in the classroom. This will hopefully give the child a feeling of safety and comfort.
5. Lastly, I would also consult with colleagues and other professionals and their experiences with immigrant children and their families. This can help me to build strategies to better support them.

   These strategies can better prepare me to support the child and his/her family. By using these preparations I can better understand the child and the family. In understanding the child and the family better I can feel better prepared and ready to help the child grow developmentally and ensure his/her well-being. I would hope that using these preparations can build a positive relationship and better connection to not only the family but also their country of origin.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

   Thinking about my life and what I see and observe around me, I can recall a few specific incidents where I have seen bias, prejudice, and oppression. These can be evident and observed in our society whether it be on TV or in personal experiences. While I cannot think of any specific incidences in my personal life I have been witness to a few. One specific incident of prejudice that I have seen was fairly recently. My husband and I were at a restaurant waiting for a table. While we were waiting a Hispanic family was about to be seated. Their party was rather large, probably about 6 people with most of the party being children. As they were walking to be seated a white gentleman leaned over to me and my husband and began to say "That's all America is now. It's all foreigners and minorities and soon us white people will be kicked out if they keep breeding like that" and then pointed to the family being seated. My husband and I were so in shock that we didn't know what to say and we just stared at him. He then walked away to wait for his table. His comments were very clear in the fact that he had specific prejudice with people of a different race and ethnicity as him.

   Looking back I wish I would have said something in return but at the moment my mind was so blank because his comments came out of nowhere. If I hadn't been so shocked I would have definitely informed him of how his comments were not okay and definitely not appreciated. My husband and I talked about the incident during dinner and we talked about how we felt very uncomfortable and angry with not only this man's comments but his blatant prejudice. He was  not shy at all voicing his opinions and bias to us. I would assume he thought his comments would be okay to share with us since we are white. In order for there to be greater equity in this situation he would have to realize his prejudice and how it affects others. While I know that it is hard to change someone's mind especially if they have had these prejudice or biases most of their life I think letting someone know your own opinions about bias and prejudice can show how their actions and way of thinking is something that needs to be changed.

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

   Learning about microaggressions this past week has really opened my eyes and made me become more aware of conversations around me. While I did not find an example of microaggrssion this past week, I remember certain situations and conversations that fit into this definition. My husband and I have a friend that is very blunt in his comments and also jokes around quite a bit. I remember multiple occasions where our friends likes to make jokes about women. Many of these jokes pertain to women's stereotypical role in the household. Many of his jokes would involve women having the job of being in the kitchen and cleaning the house. While many of us either laughed or wrote his comments off, I can see now that his comments indeed were microaggressive. While he did not mean any harm in his comments and jokes, they were still very offensive and insulting. I remember my actions during his comments were mainly just to roll my eyes at him and come back with a sarcastic remark. Now I find that putting a clear definition to what he was doing brings me a whole new perspective. If someone else was on the receiving end of his jokes that did not know him very well, that person may as well be extremely offended by his comments.

   Keeping an open ear this week for microaggressions has really taught me that discrimination and prejudice does not necessarily mean that someone is intentionally trying to be offensive or hurtful. We see that stereotypes can be brought out because someone is being microagressive to another person. Whether the person feels that they have more power in the relationship to say those comments or the ideals are inherited from someone's family background, being microagressive is definitely unintentional and looking into our own biases can help us prevent the cycle of microaggression. I have learned this week that if I do not want to be unintentionally microaggressive then I really have to look into my own background, beliefs, and biases so that I am fully aware of how I feel towards others. The effects of this can be hurtful since microaggression is something that can be unintentional. People that have been victims of a microaggression can have feelings of being marginalized even by the ones that they are close to which is why I believe knowing our own biases can help in this process.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I interviewed three people this week and asked them about their definition of culture and diversity. I chose to interview my husband because he is a different gender from me, my mom because of our age difference, and my co-worker because she is African American which is a different race from me.

Culture:
My husband's definition is different customs and backgrounds for a group of people.
My mom's definition is the surroundings that you are raised in.
My co-workers definition is the way a group of people live within their society.

Diversity:
My husband's definition is the differences in people which could include race, religion, ethnicity, etc.
My mom's definition is the different cultures that we encounter in society.
My co-worker's definition is the differences and uniqueness in everyone and what sets them apart from everyone else.

There are some aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied in this course that can be seen through these interview answers. The aspects of diversity being unique to everyone and diversity includes many things such as race, ethnicity, religion, and many more factors. The aspects of culture including customs, backgrounds, and belonging to groups of people. Culture is also about a person's surroundings and society that they have become accustomed to.

While I think these definitions gave me an insight into each person's individual answer and how they see culture and diversity, I have also seen things that I have learned through this course that were omitted in their answers. While culture can be about the different customs and beliefs that we can see on the surface, it also includes deep culture and the aspects that we cannot see. Diversity also includes aspects of social identities.

In learning more about people's definition of culture and diversity it has broadened me own definition as well as given me a new perspective on culture and diversity. Learning from others I can see that their definitions have been influenced by their own culture and diversity. This interview has shown me how important people's values and opinions are important to them and how each person can be influenced.

My Family Culture

   For this week's blog we are to imagine our family going through a major catastrophe and having to relocate to a different country with a completely different culture. With this trip we are only allowed to bring three small items.

   The three items that I would bring would be a one book from my bookshelf, a picture of my family, and my cell phone. I chose these items because I consider them important to me and significant in my life. When choosing a book from my bookshelf I would have to just choose a random one because there are so many that I would want to bring. I chose to bring a book because I love to read and I think it would help me to deal with the situation of moving to a completely different country. Reading  book and getting away can help to ease stress, which is what I would imagine to be a stressful situation. I would also choose to bring a picture of my family. This item can help me to feel more "at home". Having pictures of those that I love is something that I like to display in my house. Those that I come in contact with would be able to see just who I consider most important to me. The last item that I chose was my cell phone. While i know this item may seem a bit obvious, I chose it because I feel that it could connect me with the new country more. I could look up and discover different aspects about the culture as well as connect socially with the people that I come in contact with. I think this could help me become more at ease with being in a different country and culture entirely.

   If I was told that I could only keep one item upon arrival it would be difficult to give up the other two. While it was hard to think of three items, suddenly telling me I had to give up two of them would make me upset and extremely hard to think of which to keep. From my three items I'm not sure which item I would choose to keep. From this exercise I was able to gain insight into what would be important during a stressful situation. I reflected on my own culture and what certain items mean to me. I was able to reflect on how I might deal with being in a completely different culture from my own. It helped me to understand how people around me may feel if they were coming from a different country.

When I Think of Research...

   Through this course of Building Research Competency I have gained so much more knowledge than I had originally learned through other courses. I have gained many insights such as bias in research, risks, and even the types of research that can be conducted and what might fit best depending on what knowledge a researcher wants to gain. My ideas about the nature of doing research haven't necessarily changed but I feel they have expanded. Since I did not have as much knowledge prior to this course I feel that I gained more rather than having change my ideas. I now understand more about what has to happen and how much has to go into a research study.

   As far as planning, designing, and conducting research I have gained more knowledge and understand more about this. I know that planning takes time and that research questions have to be very specific. I have learned that designing a research study takes time because there are many factor that have to be considered. Risks, participants, limits, and research type all have to be considered when designing a research study. I have learned more about conducting a research study by seeing the types of methods that can be used. I have learned more about observations and interviews with participants and that the research sometimes needs to remain as uninvolved as possible.

   When constructing my research simulation I did encounter some challenges. One challenge that I encountered was trying to find a research question. I found it hard at first to be specific and very narrow in my question. I did find that once I was able to be specific I could see that it was necessary when designing the rest of the research. It made it much easier to design the other specific factors that went along with the research. From taking this course I have learned more about early childhood professionals that have to conduct research. I have not previously learned from the perspective of a researcher and now that I have taken this course I understand that in a way any professional in the field can be a researcher. This course has definitely expended my knowledge about the field and early childhood professionals.

Research Around the World

   I chose to look into the website of Early Childhood Australia. Upon entering the site I looked into their own work to see what projects are going on. One project I saw was the Australian Early Development Census resources (AEDC) Project. This project is to promote and demonstrate the data found to inform programming, planning and development to Kindergartens and day cares. Another resource that I stumbled upon was the Research in Practice series. This provides an index for practical and effective approaches to the early childhood field. It has valuable resources that have been made possible by research to assist in the care and education of young children.

   Some insightful information that I found was their Code of Ethics. It was interesting to see another country's code of ethics for early childhood. I was able to read some of it and can see many connections with our own Code of Ethics in early childhood. I was also very interested to see that in their code of ethics, there is a specific part for allowing children to play as a process and context for learning. They also have a special section for research in the early childhood field.

   There were plenty of noteworthy information that was on the website. One section I found very informative was their publications section. In this section I feel that there are plenty of ways to find valuable resources and research in the early childhood field. From magazines, newsletter, journals, and books there are plenty of options to find out more about early childhood in Australia and from around the world. I enjoyed searching through the Early Childhood Australia website and found it a valuable source for international information on early childhood.

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/