Sharing Web Resources

                                       
Education Week (Newsletter): Transgender Students and Bathrooms: What should schools Do?

    

This week I got an email for this article and I was instantly intrigued as the transgender bathroom debates have been going on for weeks now. I personally do have an issue with it. It just personally makes me uncomfortable. However, when you talk about it in the schools, now you have to think about children's safety. For one, there is more going on in these school bathrooms than some people will ever know. I don't think for parents the issue is transgenders using the bathroom, its the questions that parents and teachers are going to get asked by the children. How do we prepare for that? How do we explain that? This is a very controversial topic and makes me wonder what are our priorities when it comes to schooling. Is the fact that a child who identifies with being a girl and wants to use the girls restroom that big of a deal in a school setting?


No Small Change: Targeting Money Toward Student Performance
This article is located in the reports and data tab under Quality Counts. Here you will see a number a list and charts that discusses money and how it used to better resource schools. However, I did note that they are talking about public schools and not necessarily childcare. It is good to note how they are coming up with better ways to fund schools. Just to see what policymakers see that needs to be changed

Getting to Know Your International Contacts

Unfortunately, I have not received a response from my contacts. I will pursue that more aggressively this week. Hopefully, I will hear something soon. 

However, I did learn a lot about poverty in India and how it affects the children in that country.

The country I chose is India. The first and second insights that I will share is the fact that India’s indoor air pollution is among the most serious threats to health for children of under five years old. A rather large number of pregnant women in India are exposed to biomass-related indoor air pollution which increases the risk of low birth rate. 

Why is biomass so common in India? Well, that reason being is that biomass is cheaper and some families lack access to modern fuels. Biomass such as wood chips, particular types of garbage, corn and even animal fats, can all be converted into energy. 

The second insight is how do we combat indoor pollution. There are two ways to go about doing this according to Child Poverty Insights. One is to replace biomass fuels with safer fuels. And the other is to reduce the amount of smoke generated by bio-fuels. Could you imagine living in an environment where you had to constantly inhale the smoke of animal fat and garbage?

All of this information is mind blowing to me. It honestly allows me to see how fortunate we are here in U.S. I couldn't imagine bringing a child into such a hazardous environment know these dangers. 

References

http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/files/Child_Poverty_Insights_TERI_June_2013.pdf

Sharing Web Sources

Sharing Web Sources

The website I've been subscribed to for quite some time is Education week! I get weekly emails with different articles each week. This website is basically everything education for leaders and policy experts in the pre-k field! This website is source for data, news, tools and more to help those in their research from a policy standpoint and teachers that are in the classrooms.  It has blogs, "opinions", discussion boards and so much! I haven't read as much as I should but its a good resource to have in your back pocket! They even have a tab for teachers that's like a teacher's corner that deals with everything teachers. One article title that grabbed my attention quickly was, "Catholic School Allows Transgender Teacher to Keep His Job". So there are a variety of topics. I sure will get back to looking at this site more often. It's really jammed pack with great things. Its a must have!

References

Education Week http://www.edweek.org/ew/index.html

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Establishing Professional Contacts 

and Expanding Resources

I sought information from the UNICEF Ireland and New Zealand. Both of these countries are fighting two different things. I chose these two countries because they both fighting for very important causes to help our children now and in the future.

In New Zealand their focus is basically on all areas that affect the human being from birth well into adulthood. Their focuses are child poverty, child protection, child labour, HIV and AIDS, environment and climate change, child survival and development and sustainable and developmental goals. All these factors could make and/or break a person. And they are willing to shine a light on these issues in this country so that children can have a fighting chance.

In Ireland they are for similar issues Those include health, innovation, education, nutrition, water and child protection.

I decided to sign up for the Harlem Children's Zone newsletter and explore their website in the coming weeks! They are doing great things the families in their communities and are making huge impacts in the lives they come across. The numbers alone are mind blowing to me. For instance, 1,450,000 healthy nutritious student meals prepared by HCZ  food services, 7,000 youth across HCZ are participating in Healthy Harlem fitness and nutritious programs. Which means they are decreasing the possibility of childhood obesity and helping children build healthy relationships with food and exercise.

Resources

Ireland https://www.unicef.ie/mission/saving-lives/health/

Harlem Children's Zone http://hcz.org/

New Zealand https://www.unicef.org.nz/