Parents, Family & Community

1. Parents, Family & Community By: Kristine Welper, Sammy Schell, Tami Jahnke & Caitlin Hacker

2. “It takes a whole village to raise a child”

3. Three General Types of Parents • Parents who love you • Tutoring • Supplies • Volunteering • Chaperoning • Parents who you will never see • See signatures once and awhile • No relationship with them • Will have to beg for a conference • Parents of children who do no wrong • Defend children to the end • Undermine your authority by your age, experience or stories child has told • Love to get last word-may be unkind • Don’t take personally

4. Importance of Involving Parents • Parent teacher interaction is the contributing factor to a child's success in school • Child, teacher, parents will all have shared understanding of goals • Parents and teachers usually have the same end goal in mind. This helps parents become better parents and teachers more successful • Let parents know how their child is-helps parents be more responsive to those areas their child needs work • Involving parents increases the likelihood that they will remain engaged in children’s education • Assist parents to create healthy homes that support their child’s physical, emotional and cognitive development.

5. Involving Parents continued • Enhances children’s cognitive development • Improve behavior • Boost academic achievement • Increase language and problem-solving skills • Decreases changes that children will be referred into special education classes • Parents can increase their knowledge of child development • Be informed about appropriate approaches to guidance • Trusting relationship built between parent and teacher-parents will be confident dropping child off at school

6. Ways to Involve Parents • If parents feel invitation for involvement is sincere they will be more involved • Be available to all families • Show interest, respect and caring for each child • Short notes home • Journals between parents and teachers • Bulletin boards • Telephone conversations • Web sites • Newsletters • Open houses • Regular scheduled individual conferences • Home visits-Know students family background

7. More Ways to Involve Parents and Families • Parent education • How to parent • How to help with learning at home • School-to-home communication • Notices • Bulletin Boards • Report cards • Signs posted • Volunteer opportunities • Be specific on ways families can volunteer • School decision making • Ask parents for advice about school decisions that will affect their children • School-wide events • Parent night • Open house

8. Tips for Working with Parents • Always begin conversations with positive comments • Don’t insult parenting • Use several forms of communication • Balance • Constant contact • Document all parent contacts • Be a professional when talking with parents

9. Families Family-Centered Programs: Programs that focus on meeting the needs of students and their families. Family-Centered Teaching: Instruction that focuses on the needs of students through the family unit, whatever that unit may be, and is designed to help both generations while strengthening the family unit.

11. Families Teachers, Pre-K-12 Outcomes/Benefits • Parent/family education • Literacy programs • Counseling programs • Referrals to community agencies • Assistance with problems of daily living • Programs designed for specific purposes (i.e. how to help with homework) • Increase knowledge, skills, and understanding of education process • Help families and children address and solve problems • Increase student achievement • Promote school retention and prevent dropout • Provide greater range of resources and more experts that schools alone can provide • Relieve families and children/youth of stress to make learning more possible

12. Importance of Involving Community • Stakeholders • Provide resources for educators • Provide services for low-income families • Discussion Questions: How was your community involved in your school and vice versa? How would you get your community involved in your classroom and vice versa?

13. How to: Involve Community • Advisory boards or board of director positions • Fund-raising • Professionals Day • Voluntary Community Service • Display student work in community • Develop school-community partnerships

14. Setbacks & Barriers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikZ7Lu8Dh9U&feature=PlayList&p=CA5F13F7C66E013A&index=4 4:00 min.

15. Barriers & Setbacks Language Cultural values, morals, traditions Don’t understand school system Different opinions of education Time and financial constraints Feel uncomfortable Confused about options, lack of information

16. Mock Home Visits

17. Resources • Decker, C. A., Decker, J. R., Freeman, N., & Knopf, H. (2008). Planning and Administering Early Childhood Programs (9th Edition) (9 ed.). Alexandria, VA: Prentice Hall. • Jaruis, S., Algozzine, B. (2006). Everything I need to know about Teaching…They forgot to tell me. • Morrison, G.S. (2009). Teaching America. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. • Saracho, O.N. (2007). Hispanic families as facilitators of their children’s literacy development. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, [Vol. 6, Num. 2] 103-117. • Trumbull, E. & Pacheco, M. (2005). The teachers’ guide diversity: Building a knowledge base. • Wherry, J.H. (2010). The barriers to parental involvement- and what can be done: A research analysis. The Parent Institute. Retrieved from http://www.parent-institute.com/articles/obstacles.php