Nicci Stowell is a single parent and just quit her job six months ago to stay at home with her kids. When it comes to children, we should follow what the founder of Reggio Emilia’s Approach, Loris Malaguzzi, said, “Our task is to help children communicate with the world using all their potential, strengths, and languages, and to overcome any obstacle presented by our culture.” This family is friends with my aunt and offered to answer some questions. I selected this family because in our textbook, “The Whole Child: Developmental Education for the Early Years” by Patricia Weissman and Joanne Hendrick, it mentions that only thirteen percent of all families in the United States has a stay-at home mother. It was also taken into consideration …show more content…
Throughout the school year, they have a handful of nights where the parents can bring the student and socialize and get to know others. Parents are always welcome to volunteer and help out during the day in the classroom. While these are great ways to include parents in their child’s education, Joyce Epstein of Johns Hopkins University mentions 6 levels of involvement. The first level is parenting, teachers should help establish a home environment that supports learning for the child. Secondly, communicating from school-to-home and home-to-school. Some different ways to do this are phone calls, newsletters, and emails. The next level is volunteering. Teachers should not only promote but ask for family support in and out of the classroom. Learning at home is the fourth level of parent involvement. Teachers should include information about what their child is learning and how they can help with the child's reading and homework and what needs to be improved. Fifthly, teachers should include parents in school decisions and create family organizations such as PTA. Lastly, teachers should collaborate with the community and provide information about community health, cultural, social support, and other programs or services. (Weissman and Hendrick 49-50). By communicating about community cultural services, I believe that it shows that a teacher shows interest in the familys' culture. Establishing a good relationship
Just because a student goes home at the end of the day doesn’t mean him/her should stop learning. The family’s role is to work with the child while he/she is at home and help him/her with homework, read to him/her, and make sure he/she is in a safe environment. The family should allow their child to think for themselves and have their own opinions. They shouldn’t try and force their child to learn something or do things their way. The family can also help me by discussing any problems they are having with their child and any concerns they have about the content or my teaching style so I can better myself. If the family becomes involved in the classroom it makes everything easier because you can communicate better and let the parents know their child’s progress. The community’s role is to work with the children and to make sure schools are safe, rules are followed, and to make sure the children are learning even outside of the school. The community could get involved by volunteering, fundraising, and assisting in the classroom. The community and family participating in these things would help me succeed in giving the students the knowledge and skills they need for the future, and it also helps create emotionally healthy
In other words, contributes to the enhancement of knowledge of the child and his or her growth in school. Research provides implication of parent involvement in schooling, such as the effects on students dependent on the relationship between home and school, related research on the topic (e.g. socioeconomic and race), the issues to producing involving parents, and, concluding, example models of parent involvement that have been
Family involvement in education can help get families involved in school and knowing what their child is learning
According to Michael Seville, a writer for Eutopia Magazine, “… parental involvement is a key ingredient in how well a student learns.” The idea of parental involvement in their school is not a concept exclusive to charter schools. There are many traditional public schools that are launching programs to do just that. In Saratoga, California, an elementary school has made it mandatory for parents to volunteer and attend a seven-session STEP (Systemic Training for Effective Parenting) class. This class is designed to help improve the parent’s usefulness when they appear in class. According to the principal of the McAuliffe Elementary, Michael Kalb, even single working parents are able to find a few hours a month to help out, even if it is in the evening. Since the inception of this program, teachers have noticed more cooperative behavior of their students and a willingness that was not present before. These types of programs could be and should be incorporated into any traditional public school in any part of the country and would create a synergy within the school of parents, teachers, and students.
Parent engagement in schools is a shared responsibility in which schools and other community agencies and organizations are committed to reaching out to engage parents in meaningful ways, and parents are committed to actively supporting their children’s and adolescents’ learning and development. This relationship between schools and parents cuts across and reinforces children’s health and learning in multiple settings—at home, in school, in out-of-school programs, and in the
There are many ways to involve families in the classroom, one way will be to have and open house and let them come in and get to meet the staff. This way the parents get to know the teachers who will be taking care of their kids. Another way is to have a weekly newsletter giving the parents a look into the schools upcoming events and allowing parents to keep up with important dates. Another way to involve families is to create family nights, it can be a reading night or game night, anything that can be educational and fun for the children. When having these nights’ parents are able to talk with the teachers and directors and get to feel more comfortable around
Parents play a pivotal role in the academic success of students. Therefore, it is important for educators to provide frequent opportunities for collaboration with families so they can support student learning at home. Additionally, regular communication with parents helps them understand the educational programs in school so they can monitor student progress and advocate for their child’s needs.
Having a parent who is involved with their children’s education is a huge motivating factor. There are many ways for a stay-at-home mom to be involved, the first is by helping with homework. Having an adult who sets the example, and is willing to help with homework can leave a lasting impression on a child. Even if the stay-at-home parent cannot help beyond motivation, it can still be very motivating. There is no question that stay-at-home parents have more time to help in other ways with their children’s education. Volunteering at the school can also benefit children. By doing this, the parent’s build a relationship with the school employees. This helps teachers get a better understanding of the student. For example, when I was in elementary school my mom volunteered to make copies and help plan activities for my class. This allowed my teachers more time to focus on lesson plans and the student’s needs. This also helps build a
“10 Things a Single Parent Wants You to Know” is an article in Reader’s Digest by Jen Babakhan. This begins by saying that just because you have a spouse that works a lot does not mean you are a single parent. One significant difference is that single parents provide all the income and attention in the household. Next the article discusses that while parenting alone has it’s challenges it’s also very rewarding. I relate this article back to the chapter and class discussions on different family structures and socioeconomic factors.
Teachers can increase parent participation in the child’s learning by, updating them in upcoming activities and events; so they can be included in their child’s education, stay informed in their child’s successes and concerns, participate in special events, and
Parent, family, and community involvement means different things to different people. A research-based framework,6 developed by Joyce Epstein of Johns Hopkins University, describes six types of involvement— parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, and collaborating with the community—that offer a broad range of school, family, and community activities that can engage all parties and help meet student needs. Successful school-parent community partnerships are not stand-alone projects or add-on programs but are well integrated with the school’s overall mission and goals. Research and fieldwork show that parent-school-partnerships improve schools, strengthen families, build community support, and increase student achievement and success. (NEA Education Policy and Practice Department,
Research on parenting also has shown that parent education is related to a warm, social climate in the home. Shumow and Miller (2001) described parental home involvement as those conversations between parent and child that focused on school experiences, while school involvement was conceptualized as parents’ availability for contact with the school. Epstein and Sanders (2002) looked at both direct behaviors, such as attending parent teacher conferences, and indirect behaviors, such as sharing educational expectations with the child. Research indicates that home involvement had greater impact on academic achievement (VanVoorhis, 2003), while regular parent-child discussions about school and expectations had the greatest impact on educational outcomes of adolescents, including truancy and dropping out (McNeal, 1999). Klebanov et al. (1994) found that both mothers’ education and family income were important predictors of the physical environment and learning experiences in the home but that mothers’ education alone was predictive of parental warmth. Although parental involvement is an important contributor to children’s positive school outcomes, much less is known about the factors that motivate parents’ involvement practices. Avvisati et al. (2010) opined that due to recent local and national reforms, parent’s behavior and
This topic was derived from my classroom observations and conducting home visits with my students and their families. I thought about creating a classroom website, starting a parent committee to oversee different school related activities and events, and improving parent-teacher communication. The purpose of my research is to increase parent awareness and knowledge of involvement strategies to help increase overall involvement in the kindergarten classroom. Educators must implement different techniques and strategies in the classroom to increase parental involvement. Some parents have barriers that might prevent them from becoming involved in their child’s education. Many parents have other obligations such as full-time jobs and take care of their elderly relatives. According to Helgesen (2012), many parents have conflicting schedules and other commitments that will not allow them to attend school events or volunteer in the classroom. Educators must reach out to parents by implementing various strategies to increase parental involvement in the classroom. This action research
As many families in today’s society suffer to make ends meet, it is important to remember, “Parents with meager means have the same aspirations for their children as other parents. Children from poor families have the same needs as other children” as Mark Sanford (2015) once said. In every family scenario, the basic life can be affected based on the economic situation each family is in. Each family, when put in various scenarios deals with certain circumstances differently. The family scenario that will be applied throughout this essay was based in a single-parent household, where the father had just passed away; there were also two children which the mother had to support on a low wage job. Within this type of family, it was noticed how it may become difficult for single parents to conquer all the issues going on in their lives . (Statistics Canada, 2017)
Productive collaborations between family and school will demand that parents and teachers recognize the critical importance of each other’s participation in the life of a child. This mutuality of knowledge, understanding, and empathy comes not only with the recognition of the