Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Part 1:

When I saw this assignment about expanding professional contacts and that it was going to be with early childhood professionals from around the world, like so many of us I too got very anxious and nervous. I’m not sure why because I have been expanding my professional contacts for the past year in the county my agency expanded into. Becoming the Program Supervisor it is my job to go out and learn about different agencies in the community. I have sent emails to a family member who is stationed in Germany and works in the education field. He is going to try to find me a contact in the early childhood field over there to talk to. The other part of the country I have sent emails to is Thailand. I used the UNICEF site to find an email to a representative of Thailand. I have been interested to learn about Thailand for a couple of years. My father was stationed over there a very long time ago. He talks about going back all the time. So I thought it would be interesting to learn about the early childhood field in Thailand.  Unfortunately I have not heard back from any of my emails that I have sent to anyone, but I remain hopeful that I will get a reply soon.

Part 2:

The second part of this assignment has been very hard for me to decide what website I want to immerse myself into. I have narrowed it down to the following two websites, Zero To Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families, and National Head Start Association. I already receive the Zero to Three journal at work. I have used both websites in the past for work related issues, but I feel that I really could benefit more from both websites if I immerse myself in them to learn what all they have to offer. I am leaning more towards the Zero to Three website because I have attended one of their conferences. I feel that I will dive into both websites more but think I will be focusing more on the Zero to Three website for this assignment.