Parent Presentation

Tiffany Baker
ECE497: Child Development Capstone Course
Instructor: Kara Bullock
September 2
nd
, 2014



WELCOME!
Welcome parents, teachers, community and
staff members of Lincoln Elementary
School. I hope this presentation helps you
in maintaining positive relationships
with the students, parents, families and
community members of this school.
Period of
Development
Here at Lincoln Elementary School, the
periods of development vary. Because
this school starts Pre-K and ends at
sixth grade, the periods of development
range from early childhood, moving on
through middle childhood and ending at
adolescence.

My Role as a Child Development
Professional
My role as a child development professional is to help children
develop. My role is to provide the necessary tools to children and
their families to help be successful in their lives and
communities. As a child development professional, I want to take
advantage of any learning situations, whether it be with the
children, families or within the community. My job is to also
offer support for those families, children and parents that are
in need of knowledge and support. I will be a nurturing force
with an emphasis on communication, for all children, parents
and families.
Rationale
The reason for this presentation is
to educate you on how to create
partnerships and maintain positive
relationships with each other as
parent and teacher, as well as with
the community. When partnerships
are created and maintained, parents
and teachers can better influence
the childrens overall development in
a positive manner.
Rationale
When parents and teachers create a bond, they are
able to facilitate a childs behavior and
development in a positive manner and setting. The
reason for this presentation is to help you along
the way when building a mutual confidence
amongst each other - parent and teacher. Mutual
confidence is the framework within which
effective school and home relationships occur. The
school respects the responsibility of the parent,
and values what he is able to do with his children
within the limitations that he has. Such respect
on the part of the school for the parents is
mirrored by parental respect for the school
(Sharma, 2008).

Urie Bronfenbrenners
Ecological System
Theory
According to Laura E. Berk, in
her text entitled Child
Development, Ecological
systems theory views the
child as developing within a
complex system of
relationships, affected by
multiple levels surrounding
environment.
Urie Bronfenbrenners Ecological
System Theory: The Microsystem
The microsystem has a daily and
direct impact on a child.
Contexts like school, peers,
neighborhood, and religious
affiliation make up the setting
in which a child lives (Mossler,
2011). The family to has a
daily, direct impact on a child
and their learning.
Urie Bronfenbrenners Ecological
System Theory: The Mesosystem
Each part of a childs microsystem is connected, which brings me to
introducing the second level of Bronfenbrenners model, which is called
the mesosystem. The mesosystem explains how the community, religion,
family, school and peers are connected to each other. For example,
childrens academic learning is not only influenced by the interactions
taken place at school and in the classroom, but a childs development also
has a lot to do with how a parent implements academic learning at
home. Similarly, parent-child interaction at home is likely to affect
caregiver-child interaction in the child-care setting, and vice versa.
Each relationship is more likely to support development when there are
links between home and child care, in the form of visits, and cooperative
exchanges of information (Berk, 2013). This also includes the
connections between the family and the neighborhood. For example, low-
income neighborhoods benefit from before and after-school programs,
because they may include such activities as music, sports and art, that
are associated with improved school performance.
Epsteins Six Types of
Involvement
Dr. Joyce L. Epstein, created a series of six involvement strategies.
These were created to better understand the relationship between
school, family and the community. These strategies help in
achievement and goals to meet the needs of children and families. The
six types of involvement are as follows.
1. Parenting
2. Communicating
3. Volunteering
4. Learning at Home
5. Decision Making
6. Collaborating with the Community



Type 1: Parenting
This type of involvement pertains to helping
families with parenting, child-rearing and
maintaining home environments to support
children as students. This type of
involvement helps influence a child's
learning and development because it instill
values, beliefs and respect. Parents are
supported through trainings, such as
getting college credit, or GED courses which
can better the lives of not only the parents,
but the children as well. Children will gain a
better respect for school.


Schools could implement English classes for parents who do
not speak English. Since 58% of students at this school are
second language learners, English classes can be provided to
the parents, because this could better help their children
achieve more goals in school, when the parents can speak
English and understand the language as well.
According to Epstein, the Communicating type
of involvement is, Design effective forms of
school-to-home and home-to-school
communications about school programs and
children's progress. It is the teachers
responsibility to communicate with families
about programs at school, the childs
progression, using effective communication.
When this is done effectively, children will
understand what types of behaviors are
appropriate, they will be able to self-monitor
their academic grades and abilities, as well as
an awareness of partnerships and
communicating.
Type 2: Communicating
This school can implement translators, seeing that most of
the children here are Spanish speaking students and 58% of
the students are second language learners. This school can
also implement a Parent Buddy System. This means that the
percentage of parents that speak fairly good English, can be
buddied with a group of parents that are second language
learners. To help discuss the schools policies and procedures.
This way, these parents are in the know and can discuss such
matters with their children.
Type 3: Volunteering
This particular type of involvement is supposed to improve
recruitment and provide help for parents schedules to be
more involved with their childs school. When this is done,
children learn how to communicate effectively. They begin
to gain more information, due to volunteers within the
school setting, as well as a sense of community, by learning
of the different occupations, talents and skills others
posses due to parent volunteering.
One way to implement this in a school setting is by creating a
school and classroom program, allowing parents to assist
teachers and other staff members, as well as other parents.
These volunteers can help during lunch times by helping
children choose healthy choices, as well as help serve the daily
meals. Most of these children get free or reduced lunch, which
could mean more help with food preparation and distribution.
Type 4: Learning at Home
According to Epstein, this type of involvement
will Provide information and ideas to families
about how to help students at home with
homework and other curriculum-related
activities, decisions, and planning. When this
is implemented, students build a positive
attitude towards homework. Children are able
to better meet their goals, as well as improve
their test scores, sue to classwork and
homework. They are able to learn academically
from their parents and gain a sense of self.
This school can implement this right away by providing event calendars,
written in English and Spanish to better help these students and parents
stay on track with upcoming events. Family days can also be scheduled
for parent-child learning. This can be done to better incorporate those
families that are learning the English language; with these classes
allowing the families to learn the language together.
Type 5: Decision Making
The school can actively organize a parent group or organization, that can help come up with plans to better
serve the children who are not second language learners. They can help incorporate a Spanish class for all
children and families to participate in, to help all the children and families of the school, better communicate
with each other. Through these organizations, they can help with the decision making for their kids education
and build a better rapport with the teachers and staff of the school.
This type of involvement allows for parents to take
part in the decision making process in regards to
school. They will be able to organize PTA meetings,
get involved in school governance and school councils.
When this is done, children will understand that
their needs and rights are being heard and protected
and in turn gain a sense of self and understanding.
Type 6: Collaborate with the
Community
This involvement type helps to Identify and integrate
resources and services from the community to
strengthen school programs, family practices, and
student learning and development (Epstein, n.d.). When
children and families incorporate their community
resources, they are able to learn about their community,
as well as learn to foster healthy lives and improve
community relationships. Children become aware of
different careers in the community and figure out what
talents they have due to extracurricular activities.
These children gain a sense of understanding when it
comes to community resources.
The school can help parents find effective health care.
The school can even help with finding health care
providers that speak the Spanish language to better
provide for these families. Provide information about
extracurricular activities within the community and help
teach about certain occupations around the community
such as police officers, firefighters and librarians.
References
Berk, L. E. (2013). Child Development. (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Epstein, J. (n.d.). Retrieved from Epstein's Framework of Six Types of Involvement. Retrieved from
http://www.unicef.org/lac/Joyce_L._Epstein_s_Framework_of_Six_Types_of_Involvement(2).pdf
Mossler, R. A. (2011). Child & Adolescent Development. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
Sharma, Ranjan (2008). Effective Teacher-Parent Communication. Jaipur, IND: Book Enclave.