New Insights

Happy Saturday loves!

Hope every one is off to a good start to their weekend.

This week is all about new insights into our resources and what we have learned from them both personally and professionally.
This week I utilized Harvard's Global Children's Initiative to learn more about the collaborations within early childhood.

Although it is (now) common knowledge that early childhood education involves fields from all disciplines, the diversity and partnerships between different fields in order to collaborate in doing the most good to strengthen early childhood is mind-blowing.

Partnerships between Harvard University and Brazil's Health Care Network are used to promote better policy towards early childhood education and development. This is done through creating a cohort of 40-45 Brazilian policy makers  in a week-long training at Harvard's campus. These trainings then involve a complex array of opportunities for hands-on, engaging learning that applies broad ideas into concrete planning. These policy makers then are allowed to go and implement these strategies in their respective neighborhoods in Brazil.

This was most intrigung to me as it bridges the gap between policy and science. Anyone can read a news brief or an article but to actually apply data, concepts, and ideas to a miniature version of the problem and/or area that is in need of assistance is taking it a step further. This not only gives policy makers insight into the first-hand  experiences of the population they serve but also new knowledge into the problems and their long-term effects of mental health.

Next insights are both the science of early childhood brain development as well as their preventative strategies. Early Childhood brain development is complex, intense, and beautiful. Enviornmental factors such as poverty, parental practices, violence, and constant stress can begin to delay and/or degrade brain architecture; leaving the mind suceptible to toxic stress, limited prefrontal cortex control (emotional regulation), and serve and return functions that build upon in social and emotional development.

Although these effects can occur to any population or demographic, strategies to prevent these delays and/or issues vary from each demographic. One strategy of increasing the funding for overall education for one group may not have the same effects as a group that needs more strategies to educate parents on creating healthy attachments with their kids.

Understanding these new insights have piqued my interest to know more about Early Childhood Development as well their effects in young children of color within my own backyard. As an educator that has intentions to go into policy, understanding the weight of what my decisions may hold gives new perspective into what implementations of policy and adjustments that can be created for my own community.

What may work for the Latino community may not be able to be transferred to the African-American community. Understanding that there is no one size fits all model allows me to better observe and undertand my students, their families, and their backgrounds to best assist their development inside and outside the classroom.