Blog 1: Getting Ready—Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Part 1:

A few areas I chose to send my emails were:

ydionne@cccf-fcsge: A Canadian contact found through the NAEYC website.  I choose this contact because Canada is one of our closest neighbors, and it would be interesting to discuss the difference we have even though we are geographically close.

panama@unicef.org: Panama was another country I took an interest in because one of my very close friends has dual citizenship in America and Panama.  She often visits the country, and talks about its beauty.  I would love to discover more about their education system, and there is even a possibility I would go visit with her in a year or so.

kunderwood@ryerson.ca: Another Canadian contact in case the other contact does not respond.  I discovered this email while doing a search of colleges and universities around the world.

guidance@southessex.ac.uk: I contacted this email through a direction I received from UK education.  I had emailed them, and they responded that they do not deal with Early Childhood issues, and the directed me to South Essex.

I have yet to hear a response back from any of the emails I had sent out.   I do have some working contacts, who are currently out of the office, that have said they will send me information they have collected while on a trip to Italy and Australia.

In addition, my Aunt Michele works for a Friends school in Maryland and I had sent her an email asking if she had any correspondence with other countries.

I certainly hope to hear back soon, I would love to compare and contrast issues and trends we are facing in the Early Childhood profession.


Due to the lack of responses, and my waiting on a co-worker to provide me with some contact information for a colleague of hers, I have opted to subscribe to the World Forum podcasts to keep as a back up in case I do not receive any word.

Part 2:

As for my expanding resources website I choose: http://www.zerotothree.org/

This is a website I have come to rely on for some previous classes to gain information, it is also very helpful in my profession when working with colleagues, parents and children.  I can update them on issues and relevant topics. In addition to reading the website, I subscribed to their newsletters.

I also receive a Child Care Lounge newsletter (and have received this for about a year and a half now) and look forward to sharing any interesting information I receive via email 

As for my international website, i chose two:

http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6115947/k.8D6E/Official_Site.htm - When I was looking at the websites, I liked the layout of this one, and its initial appearance.  They also span the globe and not just one location. 

http://www.cayc.ca/ - The Canadian Association for Young Children is another website I choose because I wanted to follow the issues and trends in Canada, the neighbors to the north.