Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

I have tried to contact early childhood professionals from all over the world. I have emailed 7 different individuals from Ireland, Australia, Germany, Canada, and Italy. I received their contact from either friends that live out of the country that are playing middleman for me or from Google searches. I have not heard back from any of them. I keep thinking I will open my email and be flooded with responses as of now, there is nothing. I am hoping to gain contact before week 3.

I chose to study The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). I chose NAEYC because I really wanted to have the chance to dig deep into the website and the information they provided. I had heard that they recently came out with new information about Math and Technology and I also wanted to find and read about that.

First I went to http://www.naeyc.org/positionstatements to read the NAEYC position statement. I was expecting something much different than what I found. They actually have a page of position statements on every subject imaginable. There is a plethora of information at your fingertips on just one page.  

Then I went on a search for the two articles I was looking for. They are actually new spotlight books. The first one, Exploring Math (http://www.naeyc.org/store/node/17287), talks about the importance of math in the early childhood daily curriculum. “The book offers a comprehensive resource list and a professional development guide with questions and activities to help readers reflect on current practices and incorporate new ones” (naeyc). The second book, Spotlight on Young Children and Technology (http://www.naeyc.org/store/Spotlight-on-Young-Children-and-Technology), talks about how “Technology has paved the way for new and exciting teaching practices”(naeyc).

The National Association for the Education of Young Children 
http://www.naeyc.org/