Building Effective Partnership with Families

Shondrea Pryor

July 27, 2016

EEC4005

Chapter 7

Building Effective Partnership with Families

What do we know about families today? What is the role of families in children’s development? How does the larger social, economic, and culture context affect family functioning?

We know that families are all different. Families can be made up of child, mother and father. Some families only have one parent or even a grandparent or aunt. Other families includes adopted parent. Families has different religious, values, economical status, sexual preferences, culture and mobility.  The role of families in children’s development is very important. The exposure and experience the family shows the child and increase their learning and development.

What are reciprocal relationship between teachers and families, and how are they best developed? What are the elements of family-centered practice?

Communication and respect are the keys for teachers and families to develop a good relationship. For example at the beginning of the school year, I love to introduce myself and have an open line of communication with my parents.  No, all of the parents are not the same, some parents does not like to talk as much as others but I always communicate with the parents information about the child. I also love to ask the parents for their idea or some things. I like to get their input in the classroom. Most of the parents enjoy being asked to help out in the class when they feel more comfortable with the teacher. So I make sure they are comfortable with me or my co-worker. If there is a problem, the teacher that the parents is most comfortable with will negotiate any problems.

What are effective strategies for maintaining two-way communication with families?

Maintaining two –way communication with families includes the teacher being very inviting to conversation with the parent about the child’s progress. The teacher should have a pleasant environment that makes the parent comfortable. Communicating on a daily basis with the parent also helps create a positive place for the teacher and parents. For example, last year the majority of our parents want to discuss their child improvement at home during the time the class had already begun. We had to schedule many conferencing with the parents to discuss many different things about the child of things they did at home, ideas to help them with different kills and much more. We also keep every conversation confidential and also went to home visits.

How can teachers involve families in their children’s care and education? Teacher can involve parents by encouraging the parents to come to read a story to the children. For example, our class came up with a calendar because once one parent came in the class to read a story all of the other children want their parents to read a story to the class. Once a week a parents signed up to read to the class. When they read to the class or was able to bring in something new to discuss with the class we the teachers took a picture and placed it out the bulletin board. The children were excited as well as the parents to see their pictures on the bulletin board. Another way we encourage our parent involvement was having a Male Involvement Day. This day we encourage all the males to come out and play different sports with the children. We also had days where the class with the most parent involvement gets a pizza party.  

How can teachers build partnerships with families to achieve their goals as well as parents’ goals for children?

Teachers can build a partnership with the parents by being clear and willing to help the child. The teacher should also show interest in the child and his or her accomplishments. The teacher should communicate with the parents verbally and written. The teacher should let the parent know the expectations and the teacher should ask for the parent opinions. The teacher should always be respectful and both parties should be willing to learn from each other and be able to adapt to the change.

Chapter 8

                Creating a Caring Community of Learning Guiding Young Children

How can the Teaching Pyramid model help teachers create a caring community of learners? The Teaching Pyramid has four parts. The four parts are positive relationship with children, nurturing relationship which means to support relationship with adults and children and promote healthy social emotional development. The next level is High Quality Environment. This level is for the teacher to support and encourage positive outcomes for the children. The next level is Targeted Social Emotional Supports. The last level is Intensive Intervention. This is when the teacher has to assess he student and the team has to come up with  a behavior plan for the child.