Learning about the international early childhood field had
many personal and professional consequences.
The first would be that it opened my eyes to the world around me. So often we get caught up in our own little
world and we forget that there are other places to look for inspiration and
information. The second consequence of
international learning was that my knowledge-base and resource pool have
grown. Instead of only using my community
and the people I know, I was introduced to the idea of looking abroad. It would be foolish to assume that the United
States is the only place to look for information on how to run early childhood
programs or care for young children and their families. I now realize I should be looking to others
outside of my little bubble. The third consequence
was an unintended consequence. I realized
that international contact is extremely difficult, albeit beneficial. Out of my group, only one person was able to
establish contact and she had issues maintaining contact due to the time
differences. When you do gain an
international contact, I think it’s important to keep up with them often in
order to maintain that contact.
In the future, I hope to gain and maintain more contacts
outside of my comfort zone. This may
mean international contacts, but would also include people from different walks
of life, different states, and different programs. Learning from others is so important! Having connections with professionals from
different backgrounds makes you a stronger teacher as an individual.
Allison,
ReplyDeleteIt is evident that you learned many new things during this course. I see how you have broadened your understanding of the early childhood field. I am glad you realized it is more to learn about the world around you. As individuals, we often stay within our inner circles, and this causes us to miss many new things in life. If you continue to work on yourself personally and professionally, you will be great in all of the things you set out to achieve. You will become stronger though education, research, and learning from others. I enjoyed reading your post.
Lah-Lah
I felt that my eyes were opened to an whole new level of understanding. I think that if we keep pursuing this knowledge and sharing it with others we can truly make a difference in our center, communities and even further reaching than that. Good luck and see you next class!
ReplyDeleteAllison,
ReplyDeleteI can totally relate to feeling like your eyes were opened up to the world around you. I was amazed with all that I have learned from exploring the international websites. Too often we only focus on what's around us and yet there is so many professionals out there that have the same amount of passion in early childhood that we do. Thank you for sharing!