Welcome to Blog #1! This first blog will focus on the issues discussed in Unit #1 (Chapters 1-3). Posts and responses to this blog are due by 10/3 at 11:00pm. Here are some questions to respond to and discuss in your posts:
1. Introduce yourself, describe the setting where you work, and discuss what you see as the biggest challenges you face in family engagement and using a family-centered approach.
2. Chapters 1-3 discuss a variety of different theoretical models and principles (ecological/bioecological, family empowerment, funds of knowledge, family support principles). Choose one and develop a list of strategies and initiatives you'd like to implement in your classroom or at your site that reflect the philosophy of that theory. Discuss how the strategy/initiative is related to the theory and why it might be something important to undertake in your setting to improve family engagement and promote a family centered approach.
Remember to integrate the required readings and to use intext citations in your responses.
Hello Everyone! I just wanted to start blogging and introduce myself in this post. I live in the midcoast and work at a Reggio Inspired cooperative preschool. Since the school runs as a coop, parents are expected to be involved in the school in some capacity. There are several committees, daily snack, seasonal cleanup days and many events in which parents may participate. For the most part, this actually works! Parents are really involved in their child's education, there is always multiple parents in the building. Parents also sign their child up with this commitment in mind and really value education.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, the biggest challenge for me is my insecurity about not having my own family and worrying that I am not being sensitive enough about each family's values. On another note, the family systems theory, thay claims family members are interconnected and influence each other is an exciting concept to consider with preschoolers (Grant and Ray, 2019). As the year progresses, variances in child behavior becomes obvious and its always helpful to have a glimpse as to what's happening at home.
When working in a coop school, with so many families around, do you see a difference in how the teachers interact with the children? From previous experience I find the teachers sometimes can be more patient and have a warmer approach with children when families are there. Also do you have families in the same classroom as their children? If so do you notice them acting differently when they are around? When I was working with toddlers, we had two moms in the classroom with their children and I found it very challenging because they behaved so differently with them there. Im wondering what it might look like with the preschool age.
DeleteHi Allison! It must be both beneficial, and sometimes challenging to have the families so involved with their children's preschool experience. Do you find that there are more positive aspects to it than negative ones? I enjoy working with our families very much, but I am not sure that I would want them present all the time.
DeleteI completely understand your insecurity of not having your own children, and wondering how parents feel about that when you are having to have conversations about what is best for their children. I remember those days! Once you have your own children, you do have a better appreciation of what parents are dealing with on a day-to-day basis, however, that does not mean that parents always know best. I think it requires a delicate balance, and a healthy relationship with families, where you can have back and forth conversations with them about what is best for the child.
I used to be very self-conscious to not having children, especially when working with youth at the church. My pastor brought up a fair point, though- he counseled people going through divorces, people with mental health issues, struggling with financial problems, all without having personal experience. Did his lack of experience disqualify him from advising others?
DeleteThat's what personally helped me, but I agree with you, I am still sensitive to sharing too much "advice" with parents. I think this course will be helpful, because research-based suggestions on child-rearing from a teacher has its own validity. Sometimes an extra voice helps, even if the voice is childless.
I think that whether you have children or not, you have to be sensitive in the way in which you share child rearing information to parents. Of course some parents will question your validity and have the viewpoint of "she doesn't even have her own kids, so she doesn't know," but also when you do have your own children you probably have very different beliefs on child-rearing than some parents. They may feel judged and defensive when you give them advice. I think it is definitely a bit of an art to speak to parents in a way in which you are able to educate without making them feel judged and requires two way dialogue.
DeleteI have always wondered what it would be like working at a coop school! Someone was just describing it to me the other day and i thought of you. Do you always have people in your classroom or just in the school?
DeleteHi Allison!
DeleteOne of the most common things I say to parents is "I don't have my own children...." usually followed by advice that is relevant and research-based, but I often worry that because I'm not a mom I'm not a "good enough" resource for families. I am also often younger than the parents/caregivers and wonder if they take me seriously because I don't have children and I'm younger. I don't believe I will be any more capable than any other parents once I do have a family, but it is still an area of anxiety for me.
I would be interested in learning more about the events, activities, volunteer days, etc. that your school hosts! One of my goals this year is to work on volunteer opportunities, and what you describe seems like great ways to get families involved in ways that they feel most comfortable/able!
Hello everyone! I work at a childcare center that offers programs for toddlers, preschool, and School Age Care. The biggest challenge for parent collaboration is that we do not have strong parent representation on the board right now. We do not have a vision for how to utilize parents as volunteers, and how to engage parents in volunteering.
ReplyDeleteI found Moll's "funds of knowledge" very interesting (Grant & Ray, 2019). In thinking about family collaboration in my program I have known that more research about the different neighborhood cultures would be helpful to me as a teacher. My only question is Moll's suggestion that schools form study groups for teachers; this might work for public schools, but is not very feasible for private childcare. I think the idea could be modified, however, like small group discussions during staff meetings.
Maybe starting with an aspect of the funds of knowledge approach that you can do just in your classroom? Even if it is something simple like having a question of the day for when families drop off that would give you some insight into each family culture. That is if your families drop off and pick up. If meeting as a school is challenging maybe a google doc that is ongoing might be more realistic. Or if you have a central office/space for staff to work, you could keep a communication log with staff about family engagement ideas, activities you plan in implementing and information to help guide each other. This would be a quicker more flexible way for everyone to be thinking about family engagement in the school
DeleteI also really liked "funds of knowledge" (Grant & Ray, 2019) approach! I am focusing on a couple of the areas of Epstein's framework, but incorporating Moll's approach when it comes to having families volunteers will be beneficial.
DeleteDo you think the other teachers in your private child care setting would be unwilling to be a part of a study group on the different cultures in your area? If other teachers were interested, could the childcare provide a place for the study groups to take place?
Do you parents from each room on the bored? At the JCA we have two parents from each classroom, which we call room parents that go to meetings every so often and help organize events that take place during the school year. They also help us teachers plan activities that we may partake in outside of school.
DeleteWe have 2 parent representatives on the board. I am not very optimistic about increasing family collaboration in my program, without going into administration myself. I do not think it's on the staff's radar. I think Melissa has a good point- start getting a couple of other teachers invested in the idea. Also focusing on collaboration with families in my own room is a good start.
DeleteI am working at a public school as an Ed Tech. Three days a week I support the preschool and kindergarten classroom which is combined for most of the day. The other two days I support the first grade classroom. The school I work at is in Stratton where they serve grades preschool through eight grade. It is a very small school with a total of 85 students attending. At this point I would say my biggest challenge I face with family engagement is the fact that I am not the teacher in the classroom. During my pervious job I was a teacher at a school that had a strong family-centered approach which made engaging families much easier.
ReplyDeleteThe funds of knowledge model of family engagement instantly made sense to me when thinking about working with the families. I found this model especially fitting for the school I work at based on the fact that it is a small school and area where pretty much everyone knows everyone. In a setting like this I feel that the teachers either already know/have relationships with the family or quickly build that knowledge and relationship. As described by Grant and Ray (2019) the funds of knowledge approach is all about building on families strengths. To do that you have to gain knowledge about the families which most of the teachers already have. This would make it that much easier to incorporate more of what this model when considering family engagement. One strategy I would like to try is sending home a survey to families asking questions about their strengths, passions, interests and skills. I feel as though this would allow families to tell us a little about themselves which would help us be able to engage them. In both rooms I support the teachers have folders that go from school to home and back every day. Throughout the year I would want to send home other surveys and family activities to get to know the families better.
Hi Lauren!
DeleteI hope the start of the school year is going well for you. I can relate in the aspect that ed techs do not have many opportunities for interacting with parents or families. I really like the idea about sending home surveys to families and building an idea on strengths. You must have gotten that idea from working at your previous location. I feel that having a good relationship between the staff members and families is the best way to meet each child's needs.
I like that you send home surveys to get to know your families better. I bet it makes them feel as though you care about being a team with them to support their child.
DeleteHi Lauren!
DeleteI spend time in Eustis with my family each year, and can attest to how small Stratton is! Although the area is not large, there are probably a lot of different skillsets represented that could provide educational opportunities for the classes in the school.
When I was an ed. tech. I also felt that I didn't have as much "say" in what happened in the classroom or with the families. There were times the lead teacher wasn't interested in doing certain after-school or evening activities that I would have gladly hosted. I wonder if the information from your surveys could be incorporated into events outside of the school hours that could provide opportunities for families to get to one another better and offer students more learning opportunities they wouldn't otherwise receive? Or maybe you will find that a parent or family member has great math skills and they could provide tutoring after school, the possibilities are endless! I definitely think the surveys will be useful! Do you think the teachers would be willing to send these home? If they are not, have you thought of how you could advocate for yourself/the surveys to increase the chances you would be able to send them home?
Melissa, I love your idea to incorporate the survey information to create an outside of school hours event! This would be a great way to get families, children, and community members involved during a time that might be more flexible for working families. Families could even come into the after-school program between 2:30 and 4:30 to do activities. As Veronica mentioned the relationships built between staff and families benefits the children and doing something like this would allow more opportunities for that to happen.
DeleteHello everyone! I am currently working as an Ed Tech for Child Development Services out of the Farmington Office. I am working with two boys with Autism in a Head Start and Separate Preschool in the Farmington area. I am the face of CDS when working with these students and their families. I provide support in the classrooms and Supplemental Design Instruction (SDI) where I work on social skills, concepts, and self-care. One of the challenges of working for CDS is that since I am not a full-time teacher, I do not have much contact with families. I often have to defer to the classroom teachers or my supervisors if there is a question about my student. That being said, I do try to make myself available and approachable for parents if they have concerns or questions. I can either defer or try to answer to the best of my ability.
ReplyDeleteI found Bronfenbrenner's ecological system theory very interesting and relatable for my line of work. Often I am not aware of children's home lives, and I have to make assumptions because usually, they cannot tell me, especially those with intellectual disabilities or Autism. The ecological theory, according to Grant and Ray (2019) is made up of diverse systems that influence children behaviors and growth and development, and the relationships between the different entities in the systems. I feel that this is a great model to show that we as teachers need to provide a significant relationship between home and school. There needs to be a consistency between the teachers and the parents to meet the needs of all children.
Hi Veronica,
DeleteI agree that consistency between teachers and parents is essential. This can be very hard to achieve, even with a trusting relationship between parents and teachers. However, the more a parent trusts their child's teacher, the more likely they are to be open to working together and it is important to try to gain that trust through collaboration.
That is a bummer that you are not provided with much interaction with the families and hopefully you are able to gain knowledge and information from the teachers and your supervisors. I think as EC we have a good opportunity to set a stage for positive viewpoints that parents have between teachers and parents as we are some of their child's first teachers.
DeleteVeronica, I think you made a good point that we need to make it a point to get to know the parents and the children. If we do not know a lot about them thats when we do make assumptions. I agree that Brofenbrenner's ecological system is very interesting.
DeleteHi everyone! I am Brittany. I work at Educare in an infant and toddler classroom. We serve mainly families who are low income and face many challenges due to this. However, we are very lucky parents have many ways in the program to engage and be involved in their child's education as much or as little as they want to. All parents sign an agreement to have two parent teacher conferences and two home visits per year. This allows teachers to be connected to them on a more personal basis. There are also other way to be involved like committees, classes, voting on how budgets should be spent, and volunteering. The biggest challenge I have found is properly educating the staff on all of these opportunities so that the information can be more accurately passed along to the families.
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 2 it talked about Six Types of Involvement designed by Epstein and colleagues (2009). These types were 1. parenting, 2. Communicating, 3. Volunteering, 4. Learning at Home, 5. Decision Making, and 6. Collaborating with the community. These six types of involvement were key to a good family school partnership. I think that in my center and in my classroom we do a pretty good job at meeting most of these 6 points. The one that I think I would like to focus on would be number 4. This is described as connecting "families with their children on homework and other curriculum-related activities and decisions" (Grant, K. B., Ray, J. A. (2019) pg 52). We dont do homework at such an early age but I would like to have parents more involved in our curriculum planning and even education around our curriculum. Some ways that I have begun to introduce this idea is to have signs up or posters explaining what type of learning was happening while we were doing an activity. For example, I have papers from each child with stickers all over it. Around those I have a poster that says "Dont be fooled by the cool stickers, we were working hard on our fine motor skills." This way parents can appreciate and learn a little about what kind of work we do. Another way we are slowly working towards this is to have parents develop a goal for their children, which we have always done at parent teacher conferences. But now we explain more about how their goals translate into the classroom and help to plan our activities. I would like to learn more about how to get parents involved in the decision making or give us ideas on what kinds of things their child is interested in, in order to help create curriculum plans.
Hello Brittany! In the past we have tried to get parents involved in curriculum planning at our center. However, we have never had any parents that have come forward with ideas, or those who have wanted to take part in our curriculum planning. I think that part of it is due to the fact that all our families in the full day preschool classroom all work. I have not actively offered this up to our part day preschool families. I might have more luck with this, as the parent involved in drop-off/pick-up typically does not work. Do you have any ideas about how you might go about getting your families more involved with their child's learning?
DeleteThat is a great idea Julie. I bet working with families that may have more "free" time on curriculum will be at least a little easier. I was thinking about having a board where parents could jot down an idea or even a subject their child is interested in. Like lets say the family went apple picking over the weekend they could write something about that, or if their child really enjoyed it etc. And we could use those topics to create activities and experiences. Also, in the past we have had parents who donated materials for a project like cardboard boxes, or anything they may have around the house.
DeleteBrittany, I like the idea of some type of interactive board! That could be used to spark conversations at meeting times with the children. It could also possibly lead in to having families come in to share their experiences somehow with their child. We have had parents involved in bringing in materials that we need for projects. That makes a nice home-school connection.
DeleteHi Brittany, I love the idea of getting parents involved in the planning process. One of the things I do not like about using OWL (or any scripted curriculum) is that this really isn't an option. Of course, I make the curriculum fit my classroom, but I am expected to follow what is laid out for me. I try to bring in puzzles and games that I know the children are interested in, but I don't have as much freedom as I would like. If I did, I would definitely find ways to get the parents involved in the planning process though! :)
DeleteWhen I worked in infant/toddler rooms parents always loved that I sent home a log each day that included what and when they ate and drank, when they soiled their diapers, when they napped and overall how well their day went. Then if I didn't have a chance to talk to the parent at pick up time, they at least knew how their child did and it helped some parents get their young child in more of a routine at home as well.
DeleteHello everyone! I am a preschool teacher at Educare in the Part Day/Part Year program. Unlike the Full Day/Full Year program, we follow the public school schedule and only have children for 14 hours a week. A majority of the families at Educare are low-income families, and the children in our program have even more needs than many of the families in the FD/FY program. This is because in order to place your child in Full Day, you typically need a be a working parent. We do not have that requirement in the PD/PY program, which means that many of them are well below the poverty line. Our program houses the public pre-k for Waterville. I feel as though we do a very good job collaborating with families. We use the whole-family approach and our aim is to serve the whole family. I also do some family service work with my families and help them to create and reach goals, both for the child and the family. We have parent meetings, policy council and several other ways to get parents involved. We work hard to let the parents know that they are their child's first educator and we aim to have a true partnership. We work under KVCAP, which provides many different services to many different families (fuel assistance, transportation, furniture repair, etc). One thing that could make our collaboration easier would be to have an easy way to access all of the services available through KVCAP so we would then be able to help our families get to the correct places and receive the help they need.
ReplyDeleteMany people think of family engagement as being those times that parents come into the classroom for planned activities or attending field trips. But, family engagement really is so much more than that. I came across the word "partnership" many times throughout my reading. Grant and Ray (2019) discuss the importance of creating a genuine partnership with parents and how it really helps to build the trust between the teacher and the parents. This is something that I experience first hand and it is incredibly rewarding. I work very closely with my families, I do home visits, set goals and complete a family strength assessment. I do not judge them and I help them in any way that I can. Because of the trust gained from my parents, they are more likely to keep the communication open and work together to better serve their child. Our families sign an agreement to create a partnership with us and we discuss the different types of things that each party is responsible for. I refer to this agreement often with parents as the year goes on to remind them what their responsibilities are, as well as my own. As Grant and Ray (2019) state, these partnerships can be time consuming and come with many challenges, but a strong relationship with parents reflects in your relationship with the children and it is worth it in the end.
Hello Ashley! From what I read about your description and view on partnerships with families I would want you to be my child's teacher! I commend you on the work that you do. Our program also collaborates with Head Start and we complete home visits and family goals as well. I think that the work that we do is so rewarding. Being able to go to a families houses really opens up the relationship. My view is in order to connect with our students we need to connect with the families first. Do you have any goals for this school year?
DeleteI 100% agree Ashley! Partnership is so important for the home school connection. I do forget to think of it this way when talking about family or parent engagement. The partnership is really the foundation of learning for everyone.
DeleteBrittany H, I agree. We cannot fully connect to our students without having a connection, or at least knowledge of the family as a whole. This is my second year as a teacher at Educare, last year I felt a little overwhelmed with everything I had to do outside the classroom, as it was so new. My goals for this year are to continue to gain knowledge about the ins and outs of my job and to simply serve my families as best as I can. :)
DeleteThat is one of the downfalls of being an educator. We take a lot of our work home with us and we often do much more than just teach our students. We have many different 'hats' we are role models, educators, family supporters, social workers, etc.
DeleteHello! I work as a Pre-K teacher in Rockland. While we are technically a district run program, as a part of the Pre-K Expansion Grant we also collaborate with our local Head Start (Penquis). We serve children from three different towns and due to this some children live as far as 15 miles from the school. Our families have an option to have their child ride the school bus and this year many of the families have opted to do that. I currently have three children in my class of 16 that are pickups and the rest ride the bus to and from school each day. I have found that not having daily interactions with families in the past has made it challenging to build those initial relationships that are so important for family engagement as the year goes on. In addition to the bus challenges the majority of my families are dealing with many hardships (financially, family relationships, housing, etc.) that either takes up much of their time or is adding a great deal of stress to their lives. I feel that family engagement outside of the normal parent-teacher conferences is definitely an area I struggle with as well; I’m hoping that through the course I will be able to gain some insight into new ways to engage families in more meaningful ways.
ReplyDeleteGrant and Ray (2019) discuss utilizing the funds of knowledge that a family has as an approach to family engagement. By intertwining the family’s knowledge and skills with the classroom curriculum, a learning environment that is beneficial and engaging for both the family and the teacher is created (Grant & Ray, 2019). I feel that with the stress my families are facing it’s important for them to feel empowered when it comes to their child’s education. Everyone has skills or knowledge of which they’re proud of and being able to share that with others, especially children can be a special experience for all involved. I think it would be important to first identify what special skills/knowledge the families have, this could be done through a “Get to Know Me” form or during parent-teacher conferences. Along with asking the families to share information I would also share some of our unit activities that we follow within our curriculum to help spark some ideas in families. Grant and Ray (2019) also discuss the teacher playing a role in doing research in the community to help gain information about how families function within a community and how that shapes them and their children. I have lived near the district that I work in now my entire life but there is still a lot I do not know about the community, most specifically the fishing industry (which employees many of our families in one way or another). Along with asking families for information I think it would be important to do some research of my own about opportunities that are specific to our district’s towns.
Hi Sarah! It sounds like you have quite a challenge in regards to family involvement within your program. It must be difficult to not have face-to-face contact with families on a regular basis. I feel blessed that we have this at Sweatt-Winter. Are you able to reach out to families through email to make that family/school connection? I would imagine that there might be transportation issues in regards to planning parent meetings or workshops. Have you tried any type of school/home folders where activities could be collaborated on between home and school? I look forward to seeing how this all evlolves.
DeleteIt definitely is challenging! I do try to keep in touch through email and our classroom Bloomz page (kind of like a FB page for schools). We do try to send home different activities at the beginning of each unit of our main curriculum, OWL (we do 6 units per year) that give families some activities they can do at home that relate to what we are doing in school. This year we are also going to be sending weekly activities/information that relates to our math and social-emotional curriculums. At this point I feel like we do a pretty good job of informing families on what is happening at school, but the collaboration piece is not quite there.
DeleteYou have piqued my interest in what Bloomz is. I will have to do a little research on that. I have done a small amount of investigating SeeSaw, but would like to know more about what other online social sites are available to teachers.
DeleteYes I would highly suggest checking it out. I'm not too familiar with SeeSaw but with Bloomz I am able to share photos, send messages to families, schedule conferences, and even connect families. I've found that being able to connect families is very helpful, especially when thinking about childcare over school vacations. Families have sometimes come together and helped with childcare while other families work.
DeleteI am definitely going to check it out! From what you describe, it sounds like it may be a good fit for keeping families informed, as well as a media tool that might be used to encourage collaboration between home and school. Maybe at our next face2face you could tell me more!
DeleteHello everyone! I am thrilled to be taking this course because I strive to create partnerships with all of the families that I work with. I work in a Pre-K classroom at the Paris Elementary School. Currently we are part of the Pre-K expansion grant and use the Opening the World of Learning (OWL) curriculum. At my center, we partner with a local Head Start agency, Community Concepts. I would say that I have a good rapport with the families that I work with. Year to year many of my families drop off and pick up which makes communication more frequent and convenient. I find two challenges that make it difficult for me to engage all families, which relates to time. Some of the families that I work with either do not have time to communicate regularly or seem uninterested. We also hold parent group meetings and usually don’t have a good turnout. I would say this is due to scheduling conflicts or lack of interest in the groups topic/activities. When we are unable to get ahold of families or see them face to face it is tough to create partnerships. We are consistently reflecting on why parents are not showing up for parent group and even reach out to families to see why they were unable to attend. The majority of the time it is a scheduling conflict because families live busy lives.
ReplyDeleteIn thinking about the site that I work at community involvement has always been a missing component. When looking at the family empowerment model it is stated that families who are supported and empowered in a strength based way are more successful (Grant & Ray, 2019, p. 50). If we can bring in community figures and resources to the children then we can tie in the family. Families can be provided informal and formal resources and these can be further explored in our monthly parent group meetings. Many families are unaware of the supports in their local communities. As the framework shows each component “is essential for children’s optimal learning (Grant & Ray, 2019, p. 49)”. I feel that we often tell families if they need support to reach out to us. I don’t think families always come to us when they need help or don’t know where to turn next. They often reach out to their family and close friends but they may not know what resources are available either. By engaging the community into our center teachers, children, and families can learn about supports in the local community and begin to interact with them. We have begun this process already by contacting the local fire department to come in a have discussions as well as show their equipment to children.
Hello Brittany! I really like your idea about how community involvement with schools can benefit both the child and the families at the same time. I'm wondering what types of community collaboration would be the most helpful to families and children? I think this could also be tied into the funds of knowledge that families can share with children and teachers (Grant & Ray, 2019). If families have connections with people in the community it could help in getting them engaged with the school. Families also may have different professions that would make for a great collaboration with the community, family, and school.
DeleteYes! I am hoping to get some families who work out in the community to come into our classroom this year. As Dunst's models discusses empowering our families supports students achievements (Grant & Ray, 2019). This also relates to Bronfenbrenner's model because community members both effect and are a part of the microsystem and mesosystem. Our school participates in a program offered through Healthy Oxford Hills, this would be a great resource for families who are trying to eat better. I think the community collaborations would change from year to year based on the families needs.
DeleteHi Brittany,
DeleteI always enjoy taking classes with you, as we have a lot in common with both working at PEG schools! However, it sounds like your program has been more effective in establishing collaborative partnerships than my school. In the first two years of the grant, my school partnered with York County Community Action Corp. and we collaborated with a family liaison from Head Start. She conducted all of our home visits and planned parenting nights focused on different topics for our families throughout the school year. Her approach reminded me of the Dunst model as she offered support to families but also sought out ways to empower them. She engaged them in family goal setting and took a strength-based approach in her interactions. She did so many great things for our program and it was a huge loss when we were no longer able to fund her position. I try to carry out her practices as much as possible, but it's tough when we don't have time, coverage, or compensation to go on home visits and meet with families on a regular basis.
It was very upsetting when we lost funding for our family service advocates which is similar to the family liaison that you reference. These services are still being provided at our program because Community Concepts, the local Head Start agency, now has their site managers complete these tasks. I would agree that this system correlates with Dunst's empowerment model. Many of the families that we service come to us not believing in themselves and constantly questioning their choices. My favorite part about my job is working with families to teach them to advocate for their children and their choices.
DeleteHello! My name is Maggie and I work as a Pre-K teacher at Sacopee Valley Elementary School. My school includes students from five towns: Hiram, Porter, Parsonsfield, Baldwin, and Cornish. My school is part of the Preschool Expansion Grant. My school district is very rural and most of our students are bussed in. Thus, I do not see families everyday at pick up and drop off. This makes it challenging to establish a relationship with them. We also have a lot of poverty in our area and some families do not have driver’s licenses, cars, or money for gas to get to and from the school for family engagement events. Some families do not have access to the Internet or consistent cell phone lines, which can make communication a struggle. Another struggle is connecting families with services. I would like to explore more about resources and services available to families in the area and put together some sort of resource list. In the first year of the Preschool Expansion Grant we had a collaboration with York County Head Start. This collaboration included a family liaison, which was amazing. She helped with home visits and provided families with lots of support. After the first year, the collaboration was cut due to funding. My school district is part of three counties (Hiram and Porter are Oxford, Cornish is York, and Baldwin is Cumberland), so that can also make it difficult for community collaboration.
ReplyDeleteGrant and Ray (2019) discuss Epstein’s Six Types of Involvement. I really liked this model, as it provides such a comprehensive look at family engagement. This got me thinking about each type of involvement and strategies I could use at my school to support more meaningful family engagement.
Type 1: Parenting- Plan “Parenting Nights” throughout the year. I could facilitate a discussion among attendees about their concerns regarding parenting. I could send a survey to see what they would like to focus on at these events and I could get resources and speakers together.
Type 2: Communicating- Continue sending daily notes in Family/Teacher Communication Logs through take home folders and also utilize SeeSaw more. This allows for multiple forms of communication and parents can pick whichever they prefer or use a bit of both.
Type 3: Volunteering- Review the volunteer applications that parents sent back and make a list of which parents wanted to volunteer and the types of activities they checked off. Plan opportunities for them to come in to volunteer.
Type 4: Learning at Home- Create and send home literacy and math activity bags for children to do at home with their families.
Type 5: Decision Making- Encourage families to attend the monthly principal breakfasts.
Type 6: Collaborating with the Community- Develop and organize a list of resources and services within the community that will make it easier to connect families with support.
Grant, K. B. & Ray, J. A. (2019). Home, school, and community collaboration: Culturally responsive family engagement (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Maggie, I know we have had several classes together over the past year! I like how you talked about the six types of involvement. From hearing you talk about your class and school it does not sound like you always have the best turnout of volunteering because of the lack of transportation and communication. I know this is my opinion in a way but I think you are going to get some great ideas from this class! Even just the six types of involvement teach us so much.
DeleteLauren, your assumption is definitely correct! We do a field trip once a year, and parent's are eager to volunteer for that. However, we rarely have volunteers throughout the school year. The lack of transportation is a barrier as well as time. Many parents work during the day. Where they are able to take time off of work for something special, like a field trip, they would be unable to take time off on a regular basis. Someone in this class, I believe it might have been Melissa, had mentioned wanting to explore more opportunities for volunteering outside of regular school hours. I am looking forward to hearing more ideas for this, as I think it would increase family engagement. Reading about the six types of involvement and completing the survey for the pre analysis definitely gave me a lot to think about!
DeleteHello classmates! I am the center director at Sweatt-Winter Child Care & Early Education Center. Our center serves as a lab school for the early childhood programs at the University of Maine Farmington. We serve children 2 and 1/2 - 5 years of age in our full and part day preschool programs, and children ages 5-8 in our before and after school program. In addition to my duties as director, I also teach the part day preschool program. We have daily contact with all families at the center, which helps us to develop a positive rapport with them, and strengthens the home/school relationship. As we are an accredited center with the National Association for the Education of Young Children, our enrollment process is quite detailed and we conduct initial parent/teacher conferences. We also complete assessments 2-3 times per year (depending on the program), and meet with families to discuss each child's strengths, areas to work on, and goal setting. We also hold four Family Meetings a year for all programs, and try to allow for opportunities for families to participate in volunteer activities. That being said, I do feel there are areas that could use improvement in regards to the school/home partnership. I would like to see us offer more opportunities for parent education, as well as accessing community resources as it relates to parent education and providing a richer curriculum.
ReplyDeleteI found Epstein's Family-School Partnership theory (Grant & Ray, 2019) to be in line with what I feel is important in the relationship between home and school. This theory includes six types of engagement that help provide a successful partnership: Parenting, Communicating, Volunteering, Learning at home, Decision-Making, and Collaborating with the Community. I feel that by implementing certain types of this theory, I can make the necessary improvements needed to better our family/school connections. For example, I could start a newsletter that includes parenting tips, or provide more workshops to bolster the Parenting component of this theory. I could also access/partner with programs within the community to provide a Collaboration that meets the needs of the center and the families we serve. I look forward to moving ahead with these ideas, and learning more about the Family-School Partnerships theory.
Hello Julie! I am interested in hearing more about your family meetings that occur four times a year. Do you have a good turn out? What types of activities do you do? What is the purpose of the meetings? This is a goal of mine for this year. We have parent group meetings that take place monthly and rarely have any turn out. I'm hoping to engage more community members into our program this year and want to connect them with families. This will be a great opportunity for families to learn about resources in their surrounding area.
DeleteHi Brittany! We typically have a decent turnout for our September meeting, though only five families have signed up for this weeks meeting. I have been told there are a number of previous commitments occurring. Our December meeting has been the most well attended, as we have always provided a meal for families, then they bring cookies for a cookie swap. However, this year we are changing things up, so I am curious to see if that will affect attendance. Our February meeting includes a training, usually conducted by someone other than a staff member. Attendance varies for this one due to training topic and weather. Our May meeting is well attended, as it includes a potluck picnic and concert by the children. Weather has never affected this! I definitely think that the more a family gets out of the meeting, the more likely they are to attend. Topics that relate to healthy eating/exercise, current events, ages/stages have been well attended. However, your demographics may be different. We ask our parents for suggestions, and that has had positive results as well. Our meetings are quite informal, and are held at the center, where everyone already feels welcome and comfortable. The purpose of our meetings varies. Our September meeting is for everyone from all three programs to get to know one another. Also, I ask for volunteers to head-up or clothing/toy/food drives we hold. I also ask for suggestions for the February training. The December meeting is to give families a chance to get out and do something fun together, during what is a crazy time of year for everyone. The February meeting involves parent education, and the May meeting is a chance for families to watch their children perform. If you would like to chat about this more another time, I would be happy to do so!
DeleteAfter completing my pre-partnership analysis I think a survey for families about their talents, interests, and availability is needed to group participation. In the past we have send out forms for families to make suggestions but did not receive many back. I'm thinking if I call some families or email them questions if that would be easier. I know that not all families have time in their schedule to read the papers that are sent home. I think trying to incorporate something with their children will help with attendance as well. I know that for our September meeting we had the children make playdoh. Only three families attended out of 32 but hopefully we can access our families and bring that number up. Thank you for the suggestions!
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ReplyDeleteHello everyone! My name is Justina Dill. I have worked in EC settings for over 20 years. I owned and operated a daycare center for 4 years, taught all day kindergarten, third grade, and a first and second grade combination class. I have also taught public Pre K and grades K-6 Reading Intervention (LLI). I am a single mother (full custody) and have a 3 year old son who attends a preschool program at our local YMCA and a 7 year old daughter who attends 2nd grade at a public school. My anxieties surrounding this class have been that Wasn't sure where I would be teaching this year. I am able to definitely reference a lot of past experiences that I have had as well as give insight to the EC environment that my son attends and my perspective on the family involvement there. For the past three years, I have been home with my children and have worked housekeeping and baby-sitting jobs to get by as I finish grad school. My plan was to substitute teach and recently applied for an ED Tech position at a local school. My interview went well and they offered me the grade 4-6 Special Education instead. I just started on Monday and will operate under a conditional license this year. I am the case manager for 21 students and provide direct instruction and support to these students throughout the year.
ReplyDeleteStarting at the beginning of my career, when I owned and operated a daycare center for teacher's children (it was at a school and for school district employees), I learned how important it was to gain a parent's trust and respect. Caring for someone's young child is a very personal experience and it is important to build and maintain a healthy relationship with parents. The "funds of knowledge approach" in building on families strengths is important so that families feel valued and a partner in their child's educational experience. Families want to feel connected when they can't be with their children. Communication logs, parent-teacher conferences, daily check-ins, volunteer opportunities, Open Houses, Math and Literacy nights, phone calls and emails, and apps such as Class Dojo and Bloomz are all great ways to build a trusting relationship. I also make sure that within the first couple weeks of school, I call each parent to just do a check-in to introduce myself and see how their child is doing. I try to keep an open dialogue and give students an opportunity to give input that will help influence decisions. I appreciate the same sort of dialogue with the teachers that my own children have.
Grant, K.B. and Ray, J.A. (2019). Home, school and community collaboration: culturally responsive family engagement (4th ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: sage.
Hi Justina,
DeleteFirst of all, congratulations about the new position. I am so happy for you. I really like the idea about calling the parents to have a check in about their child. I think keeping an open dialogue is important for families and most importantly students.
Hi Veronica-
DeleteThank you! Yes, I like that initial contact with parents so that we have communicated and started to build a relationship before a phone call that is more difficult happens (such as a discipline issue). That way when there is an issue, we have already talked at least once before and the parent usually seems more open to a discussion.
Hi everyone! My name is Lauren and I am on the two-year track in the masters program. I currently work at the Jewish Community Alliance School in Portland Maine. This is my third year at the school as well as in the toddler classroom. When I am not working or completing schoolwork I enjoy skiing in the winter or heading out on the boat when the weather is warm enough. The year has just started, but as a classroom team we have discussed how important communication and family engagement is with families. This is something that we worked really hard on last year, but I know by taking this class I am going to learn lots of new ideas and techniques to bring back to my team and school as a whole. Last year we had several Sunday afternoons where we got together with just parents from our class and went to a local brewery that one of the families owned. This was a great time for families and teachers to connect outside of school. One thing that really stuck out to me during these get tog ethers was how the parents were introducing each other to one another. Most of these parents just pass each other during drop offs or pick-ups so its nice for people to truly get to know each other. I also met some of the families up at Shawnee Peak for a Sunday afternoon skiing adventure! It was a lot of fun and nice to see the children outside of school.
ReplyDeleteI have found this textbook to be very interesting and a read that makes you wanting to keep going! Something that has really stuck out to me from Grant and Ray (2019) is how much talk there is about family engagement because there is not enough of this in a lot of school settings. They also discuss how hard it is for parents to come in and volunteer in classrooms.
When I was working in Taiwan I went with a couple of families to this restaurant that had a sort of sandbox (with little pebbles, have you ever seen that in the U.S)? Your note about the brewery reminded me about that. I really like that you did that because it wasn't child-centered, it gave the adults a chance to relax and connect with each other.
DeleteI love that you spent Sunday's meeting with families! That is such a great idea! There is a new brewery being built in my town, and knowing most of my families this year, I think this would be a huge with them. Also, the idea of getting the parents together to just talk and be together is a great idea. I send home a class directory each year (with information provided by parents so no one feels "exposed") and always wonder how many parents actually use it. Doing something like this could strengthen the networking between parents. I do not ski, but we have a great local sledding hill that I could host a family fun day at in the winter!
Delete1. I'm Melissa! This is my fourth year as a Pre-Kindergarten teacher at Burchard A. Dunn Elementary School in New Gloucester. I have 30 students, 16 in the AM session, and 14 in the PM session. Our sessions are 2.5 hours long, which is hardly enough time! Challenges I am currently facing are limited time during the day with my students, difficulty gathering volunteers due to most families working during the day, having limited face-to-face contact with parents due to most students being bussed to and from Pre-K, and the implementation of stronger security practices at the school which seem like we are working towards keeping people out instead of be warm and inviting.
ReplyDelete2. The Family-School Partnerships Framework presented by Joyce Epstein has stuck with me since reading chapter 2 in our textbook. Looking at the quick summaries of the six types of involvement in Figure 2.4 (Grant & Roy, 2019, p. 53), I can see that I am not being successful in many areas. Two areas I want to focus on this year would be volunteer opportunities and decision-making.
Families in my class are not readily available to volunteer during the day, however there are families who would gladly help cut out shapes at home, or who would come by our room during the evening to help if their children could tag along. By coming up with ways to involve parents during the school day as well as outside of school hours, I could lighten my own work load while also involving parents in ways that feel meaningful and important for them. Hosting a volunteer night where families were invited to help get our playground ready for winter could promote physical activity as well as a sense of community and give parents valuable time to play with their children and provide positive role models for taking care of our environment.
Most families are not fully aware of the MELDS or what standards are included. Conferences are often too short to dive into the MELDS and Pre-K standards fully, so adding a family information night, or several, to discuss what is included would be beneficial to families. If families are more informed, they may be able to offer suggestions on how to incorporate certain standards into the classroom and may be the perfect person to come in and provide education to the students. For example, in our unit on Space, a parent who had been to Space Camp several times and had education in the field brought in resources and provided a lesson for students on space, planets, astronauts, etc. It was an experience I could not have given my students, and their learning was enriched tenfold by her presentation. She also felt much more integrated in her sons learning and his classroom, so it was a win-win! Having more opportunities for parents to be involved in this way could really transform my classroom's curriculum.
Reference
Grant, K.B., & Ray, J.A. (2019). Home, school, and community collaboration: Culturally responsive family engagement (4th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
At Educare, I know that we truly embrace family partnerships and much of what we are discussing in this class are things that are happening for me everyday. However, I wish that there was a way to involve parents more with decision making. Our curriculum is already in place and we are expected to follow it to fidelity, so there is not much room to involve the parents in that aspect. We have parent meetings, and encourage parents to develop special events and come up with ideas of things we can do, but when parents are able to come to the meetings or simply don't want to, it really takes away their power to help make decisions. I'm not sure how we can improve this.
DeleteHi Melissa,
DeleteThe struggles you listed are all issues that we face at my public school as well! We also have a hard time finding volunteers as parents are typically busy during the day, most of my children are bussed in, and security practices have gotten very intense at my school in the past year. You put it so well in your statement, "we are working towards keeping people out instead of be warm and inviting." Parent volunteers at my school have to go through background checks, be finger printed if they don't pass the background check, and they must have references. Parents are no longer allowed to walk their children up to the classrooms unless they check in at the office and follow a specific protocol. Understandably, many families seem intimidated by the whole process and they shy away from interactions with the school.
Your connection about the parent coming in to teach the children about space reminded me of Luis Moll's family funds of knowledge theory from the Grant and Ray text. Parents are great resources and they have so many interesting hobbies, experiences, and things to share. I want to come up with some sort of survey that could give me an idea of the skills, knowledge, and experience that the families of my students have that I could connect to learning opportunities within our curriculum.