Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Establishing Professional Contacts
This week we were asked to make contact with professionals from other countries.  I tried using the link to NAEYC global alliance but the link said access denied.  I tried searching for the link while signed into the NAEYC website as a member but that didn't work either.  

Then I got to thinking about all the missions teams my church sponsors.  I searched my church's website for the coordinators of the different mission teams and found that I know two of them personally.  The first mission team leader, Jennifer,  leads missions to China and is a friend of a friend.  Her missions concentrate on providing medical and construction support at an orphanage where she herself ended up adopting a little girl.  I emailed her explaining what I am doing and she got right back to me.  We are going to have a phone conversation this coming week to see who she knows that would be a good fit for me.  The second mission team leader, Maddie, leads mission trips to Haiti to lead Bible School at a school called Institution Universe.  I was Maddie's church camp counselor when she was in Elementary school.  I am waiting to hear back from her.

I am also working on a contact from the mother of one of my former preschool students.  The family moved to Iceland five years ago and just recently returned to the states.  She is working on obtaining a current email for her children's teacher in Iceland.  However, I think she herself would be able to tell me a lot about Iceland's educational system from the viewpoint of a parent.

Expanding Resources
I have chosen to study the website for the National Institute for Early Education Research at www.nieer.org. NIEER is a unit of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.  The website lists all sorts of research topics but they all relate to the education of preschool children.  So far I have read about research of low pay on the morale and retention of preschool teachers and how this affects the quality of early childhood programs.  I also subscribed to the organization's newsletter.

I think this will be a good fit for me because I am interested in knowing the research behind all topics related to early childhood issues. I may be able to use this information in writing papers for Walden and also when contacting members of Congress about these issues.  I also have an interest in conducting research some day.