"Analysis of International Websites"

The international website that I chose to explore was http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au. This website was interesting to me because it dealt with early childhood in Australia. It is not everyday that we hear about Australia so I felt that it was necessary to expose some of the great things that was found on the website. Some of the hot topics that were featured were code of ethics, best practices in early childhood education, and teaching through play. Of these hot topics, the one that I think is important and is a topic that plague most of today's classroom is the teaching through play topic. Teaching through play is important because it is one of the most beneficial ways in which children learn. If we take the act of play out of the school system, we are doing the children a disservice.

The new insight that I gained was centered on the concept of emotional and social skills and how it contributes to the overall learning experience of the child. "Emotional skills are about learning to manage and express feelings appropriately. Social skills are about relating to others." In the classroom, I think that if the child's emotional and social well-being isn't on the level that it is supposed to be on, then there will be problems in the classroom.

The other noteworthy thing that I learned--not really learned, but it sparked my interest because code of ethics is important in the job and in a school setting. Obeying the code of ethics helps to keep us in line so that we can continue to serve our students.