Research around the world

The article that I read was called Building Community Leadership for Quality Sustainability in Madrasa Preschools: The Case of Madrasa Preschools Post Graduation Support. This article was very interesting because it allowed me to see that people all over the world have some of the same issues of education that we have here.  These children in Africa are often forgotten about and often don’t receive the same day to day necessities that our children get here without a second thought and one of those is a good education. 

The Madrasa Preschools Post Graduation Support Program (MPP) that tries to assist community owned preschools.  They want to make sure that the preschools in those areas don’t vanish and that they continue to serve the children there with quality teachers and support systems for the families.  This program tries to offer teacher training and develop relationships with the families so that they can assist their children in developing positive learning skills.

At first training of the teachers didn’t have follow up support so the outcome was not as successful as the Community Resource Team (CRT) would have liked.  They have since put into place continuous support teams that reach out to the teachers and the families.  They partner with the parents to make sure that they understand what is going on in the program and how to be better resources for them.  They teach the families about health (AIDS) and nutrition awareness.  The teachers are trained in the development of the children, how the children learn, active learning, and communication skills.

Like I stated earlier it was interesting to find that there was a program set in place in Africa.  I wasn’t aware that there was much being done about the children and their education there.  I am very pleased.  I found that this website had many other areas that you can look into all over the globe that would provide insights on what other educators and community workers are facing in this field.  It is important to understand that the fight on education is not ours alone and that we can band together to make sure that all children receive quality educations and support systems.  If we can fix our roads we should be able to educate our children.

References:

Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): Retrieved: March 28, 2012.  http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/index.php 

Research that benefits children and families

One example of research that affected my family was when my daughter suffered severe stomach pain.  Doctors couldn’t figure out why she was in so much pain.  They did several tests and found that she was holding her bowels.  They asked me if she had suffered any trauma in her life recently.  I told them that her grandmother had just passed away several weeks ago.  Apparently, this was something that she felt that she could control since she couldn’t control the lost that had affected her so deeply.

They did a study test on her to see how she dealt with sadness and tragedy.  At the end of the test it was found that she was otherwise happy but didn’t want to leave her dad and me to go potty.  After the study was done we found different ways to let her know that we would still be there when she came out of the potty.

This study was needed and affective because children deal with tragedy in different ways.  They are just like adults and they try to find ways to take control of their lives when they feel that they have lost control.  This was a very non-evasive study in the sense that it didn’t require overnight visits to the doctors or long observations.  There was a lot of talking and drawing.  My daughter actually thought it was fun.

Personal Research Journey

I decided to research how to be a better resource to the families that I work with and to my community.  I have found that parents are stumped when it comes to certain areas of their children's lives.  They often find it difficult to locate other parents or teachers that can share their compassion for situations that they are going through.  What they don't realize is that their child didn't break the mold and there are plenty of other parents sharing the same issues. 

Through the Walden University website I was able to type in "Parent Resources" and I found lots of different topics that were helpful not only to parents but to me as a teacher as well.  Some of the article that I read are:

A Wealth of Reading Resources.  Retrieved: March 8, 2012.  Full Text Available By: Steward, Frances; Goff, Diana. Illinois Reading Council Journal, Spring2006, Vol. 34 Issue 2, p61-64, 4p.

Parental information and resource centers.  Retrieved: March 8, 2012.  Report by: U.S. Department of Education. ED.gov, 2005. p359. Word Count: 498.Also Known as PIRCs CFDA # (or ED #) 84.310A Administering Office Office of Innovation and Improvement.

Radey, M., & Randolph, K. A. (2009). Parenting Sources: How Do Parents Differ in Their Efforts to Learn About Parenting?  Retrieved: March 8, 2012.   Family Relations, 58(5), 536-548. doi:10.1111/j.1741-

I think these would be helpful to anyone that has these same situations.  Please let me know if you have any further information that would help me in my research journey.