https://padlet.com/klein1ah/155708abdaz7 en-us 2017-03-28 01:26:45 UTC 2017-04-17 03:27:32 UTC hello@padlet.com klein1ah https://padlet.com/klein1ah/155708abdaz7/wish/166478293 This video was created by the Flamboyan Foundation about the importance of family involvement in schools. We hear three teachers each give an example about a student or class who was successful because of the teacher’s extra effort to communicate and work with the families. Each of these teachers faced challenges while working with their student or class, but because of that extra communication with families, the families were willing to put in an extra amount of effort into their child’s education that year. Hearing different challenges that teachers face and then how they were able to make a success come out of them is inspiring to hear as a future educator and gives me the motivation to always want to make that additional effort with my students’ families so that they are able to reach their maximum potential in my classroom. 

]]> 2017-04-16 18:49:00 UTC https://padlet.com/klein1ah/155708abdaz7/wish/166478293 klein1ah https://padlet.com/klein1ah/155708abdaz7/wish/166478724 This video highlights two elementary schools that have actively been implementing new programs to increase family engagement in their buildings and district. They have been working with the Children’s Institute through the Early Works initiative to create a welcoming environment for their families with resources that are able to help families in need. One school has created a “Family Room” where parents are able to bring their young children to interact with other children, but also allows families to connect with one another for support and friendships. This video is a great source for school-wide initiative ideas that could be implemented into a school district, to not only bring more family engagement to your district but also to bring families together to connect with one another. With many families struggling, this video highlights the importance of these families not feeling alone and by giving them an opportunity to connect with other families going through similar challenges you could create a school family that cares and encourages each other through hardships.  

]]> 2017-04-16 19:02:37 UTC https://padlet.com/klein1ah/155708abdaz7/wish/166478724 klein1ah https://padlet.com/klein1ah/155708abdaz7/wish/166480113 This Ted Talk by Megan Olivia Hall is through the lens of working with secondary families, but can easily be translated into the elementary setting as well. Hall talks about her experience as a teacher and how that changed when she became a mother. She realized how important a child is to a family and how the family wants their child to succeed, the teacher wants the child to succeed, and with the same goal if they can work together they can achieve great things. She talks about how she spent time communicating and reaching out to connect with families to make sure she understood her students and their needs. By doing this, not only did she connect with the parents but her relationships with her students were stronger as well. She acknowledges that students can face achievement gaps depending on their home situation, the school they attend, and the resources that they may or may not have. Hall talks about how as a teacher, connecting with the parents and getting them on board with their child’s education, this can help close the achievement gap a considerable amount. Children will always face challenges in their education careers, and if we educators can help close that gap by having those relationships with students’ families, then that is just a small price to pay for such large results. She ends with the idea of reaching out to one new family each day, and to imagine the positive impact that could have on a classroom and school community. 

]]> 2017-04-16 19:42:13 UTC https://padlet.com/klein1ah/155708abdaz7/wish/166480113 klein1ah https://padlet.com/klein1ah/155708abdaz7/wish/166481593 This article opens up by stating that “it is one of the least controversial statements in American education; Parental involvement can make a difference in a child’s education”. It gives percentages that support this statement, and while it can be proven statistically, this is still something that teachers, parents, and schools continuously struggle maintaining. Experts have broken up parent involvement into 6 categories; parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, and community collaboration. What I really enjoyed about this article is that it highlighted the fact that regardless of race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, parents want to be involved in their student’s education, they just might not know where to start. Out of the 6 different categories, this study found that learning at home had the biggest effect on a student’s learning. If teachers are able to send home work that encourages parents to get involved, the positive effects can be endless. Interactive homework can help students improve their skills and even move up from below grade level to grade level, or grade level to above grade level in a matter of a school year or two. While this study found that the benefits aren’t as high statistically in secondary education, it is important to capitalize on these opportunities at the elementary level. There are numerous ways that schools and individual teachers can work on increasing the parent involvement of their students. By implementing ways to do this, students are more likely to attend school regularly, earn higher grades, have higher test scores, and graduate high school. 

]]> 2017-04-16 20:24:42 UTC https://padlet.com/klein1ah/155708abdaz7/wish/166481593 klein1ah https://padlet.com/klein1ah/155708abdaz7/wish/166482335 This article does a great job of highlighting the many challenges that a teacher and a school are faced with when trying to create ways to increase their family involvement. While you may read about the different programs different schools have, it is important to remember that what works for one school may not work for yours. It is important to think about the needs of your families and how you best can accommodate those needs to make your families comfortable working with you. You need to think about how you can reach them through language barriers and how you can make different events accessible to all families. If a large number of your families don’t have access to the internet, then you must think of ways to make phone calls interactive. While it is beneficial to send notes, newsletters, and projects for parents and their students to do, it is also important to send home instructions on what is most important, and what parts should be highlighted and mostly paid attention to by the parents. Some parents don’t have a positive educational experience themselves, and so they don’t see a school as a positive or welcoming place. It is important to think about ways that you can overcome this challenge to communicate with them that everyone here cares about their student and how together they can make their student love to learn and love coming to school. By thinking about the barriers you have to overcome and then seeking creative solutions to these challenges, a school can have active participation from the families of their students. This article also has resource links at the end of each section for those interested in more information on that specific topic.  

]]> 2017-04-16 20:45:29 UTC https://padlet.com/klein1ah/155708abdaz7/wish/166482335 klein1ah https://padlet.com/klein1ah/155708abdaz7/wish/166482791 1. Interactive phone system
2. Newsletters with important information highlighted
3. Email/phone communication with individual parents
4. Send home learning projects for parents and students to complete together
5. Move after school events to locations that benefit families
6. Offer child care for after school events
7. Create a space for families to come in your school to connect and interact with one another
8. Seek classroom volunteers in areas of their strengths
9. Complete home visits
10. Create a parent/family mentor program
11. Send home definitions of the terms used throughout the school/in the curriculum
12. Multiple parent-teacher conferences throughout the year
13. State parent expectations at the beginning of the year
14. Connect parents to resources in the community
15. Keep parents informed of their students progress and showcase what they are learning
16. Provide workshops for parents on different parenting strategies ]]> 2017-04-16 20:59:47 UTC https://padlet.com/klein1ah/155708abdaz7/wish/166482791 klein1ah https://padlet.com/klein1ah/155708abdaz7/wish/166498233 2017-04-17 03:17:47 UTC https://padlet.com/klein1ah/155708abdaz7/wish/166498233