Lincoln Elementary School Martha Dunn ECE 497 Child Development Capstone Course Instructor: Amy Wood August 6, 2013

Lincoln Elementary School Here at Lincoln Elementary School we have a professional staff of teachers which are dedicated in providing the best possible learning experience for your child/children. However, teachers alone cannot do this by themselves. We need the support and engagement from you, the parents and community. Working together will make a difference, not only for your children but for you as well.

What Role Do I Play? My role is to provide your child/children with structured developmental growth in areas of cognitive, physical, emotional and social growth. Berk, (2013, pg.7), states “ many theories offer different ideas about what children are like and how they change. The study of child development provides no ultimate truth because investigators do not always agree in the meaning of what they see. But the existence of many theories help advance knowledge as researchers continually try to support, contradict, and integrate these different points of view.” The purpose of using these different theories is to help us, as educators, to have a timeline to incorporate modifications, if necessary, if we notice that any child may be having difficulties adjusting to certain learning procedures. My focus is the well-being of your child/children and to see that they have every chance possible to a structured learning experience.

Rationale In order to educate the parents and community on the importance of working together as a partnership. This presentation will elaborate on the many achievements your child/children will receive by working together on their behalf. “As children and adolescents participate in their parents’ social networks and in youth-oriented community activities, other adults can influence children directly through warmth, stimulation and exposure to a wide array of competent models. In this way, family-neighborhood ties can reduce the impact of ineffective parenting” (Berk, pg. 572).

Uri Bronfenbrenner’s Mesosystem Uri Bronfenbrenner’s Mesosystem is part of his study that describes how the engagement of children from two microsystems come together from different environments play a part of their learning and growth. The Mesosystem is stated in (Bronfenbrenner’s Microsystems and Mesosystems, nd., pg. 1), “The Mesosystem refers to those situations or events in which two Microsystems come together in some respect. The people or activities from individual Microsystems intact to from a new experience for the child.” An example of this would/could be your child going on a class field trip. This would have your child engaging with other children outside the immediate family and exposing them to new surroundings. Berk (2013, pg. 7), suggest that the direct contact with parents, neighborhood interaction and school involvement is what the mesosystem is all about. As a child, being able to interact with different people in different environments is what helps a child lean…..

Epstein’s Types of Involvement There are many types of engagements that your child/children may be able to associate in that may have an impact in their learning and growth. Epstein describes six types of partnerships that they may encounter. 1. Parenting2. Communication 3. Volunteering4. Learning at home 5. Decision Making6. Collaborating with the community

Parenting Parenting is the first lesson that our children are going to learn from. Our children here at Lincoln Elementary come from families of different cultures and beliefs. What we need to do is come together and focus on, not the differences, but the similarities that we can share with each other in order to help our children learn and grow. The involvement of parents helps greatly for our educators. This allows them to “respect their strengths and efforts, diversity, and allows awareness of their own skills to share information on child development” (Epstein, nd. Pg. 1). The fabrication that parents can utilize form this partnership is a stronger foundation that leads to a better “understanding of child and adolescent development, and setting home conditions that support children as students at each age and grade level” (Epstein, Coates, & Salinas, 1997, pg. 1). In order to help this learning and development to be successful “there must be a simultaneous effort by parents and educators to learn and support each other. It would put the responsibility on the schools to extend a hand to initiate the process of engagement. Schools could work toward creating a robust partnership infrastructure by having dedicated central office and school building staff, having budget allocations, policies and district wide plans that include annual goals on engagement, and educators would receive professional training on reaching out to diverse families” (Domingo, 2013).

Communication Communication is the foundation for all student success. “Schools and teachers know that good communication with parents is an important part of their job. Teachers need to know about the children’s family, language, and culture in order to help children learn” (Kreider, Mayer, & Vaughan, 1999). Parents and educators need to converse as often as possible in order to address, both the child’s strengths and weaknesses. Through correspondence with the parents will give specific areas of where their child needs improvement as well as keeping them informed of events happenings and to monitor their child’s progress. There are many choices in which this can be done, such as parent teacher conferences, telephone, , etc. Either way, the importance of this is vital for all who are involved, especially the child. In order to build a more effective line of communication with the families of students I propose that we incorporate an afterschool program for students, family. Here students, family, and members of the community can come and be actively involved as to what their child is engaged in within the school. “This even not only helps bring awareness of the value of the afterschool programs to the community, but it also gives families the opportunity to spend quality time together, a meal and other fun activies” (Osterhaus, nd. P.1).

Volunteering Many schools rely on parents and the community for volunteer work within their schools. This provides developmental skills such as, cognitive skills by establishing good relationships with teachers so you, as parents can help generate encouragement of your child in areas in which they are struggling. Parents that volunteer in the classrooms greatly impact a student’s success in many ways. There are several ways in which parents can utilize their time, such as helping with school functions, get involved with the PTO committee, etc. All of these suggestions will help parents understand the learning process in which we are engaging their children in in order to promote a learning environment for their child. Having a world culture day will enhance our students be educated in the cultures of the students her at Lincoln Elementary. We encourage all parents to participate in this event as it will help parents and children learn about the different cultures of our students, lifestyles, food, etc. This will be a program which will help educate not only you, our parents but us, as educators get a better understanding of our students and their cultural ways.

Learning at Home Being active in your child’s school curriculum is important. Having a routine for your child to do in reference with their school work is crucial to their learning structure. By doing this the student’s “gain leaning skills, a positive attitude towards school work and view their parents as more similar to a teach and a home as more similar to school, and gain self-concept of an ability as a learner” (Epstein, nd). Parents need to be role models for their children. “Agree for a regular time for studying. Help your child develop a method of keeping track of their homework assignments” (Myers, 2014). This can be done by a chart on the wall or a sheet that they can check off when they complete their work. In order to reach out to our children and help them continue their learning and development here at Lincoln Elementary we will continue to provide “communication regularly with community partners to ensure-continued progress toward goals and inviting valid and reliable Learning Supports identified by school leadership into their classroom” (Illinois State Board of Education, nd). This will be implemented by having, for example, a Veterinarian come into the classroom if any of our students are interested in working with the care of animals.

Decision Making Parents being actively involved in the decisions that their children make can have a positive impact on them during their growing stages of their lives. Parents that are involved with committees within the school have a greater impact on the outcomes for suggested improvements, curriculum based material and the awareness of happenings for their children at school. Community involvement plays a vital role for our children. If our community comes together on behalf of our students to represent programs that will help provide instructional opinions. “Families can have an important, positive impact on the school’s ability to deliver quality education when they are valued, their contributions are sought and integrated into the decision making, and the collaboratively plan to deliver services aimed at higher student achievement. Families represent a valuable resource that should be factored into the educational equation” (Rodriuez & Villareal, 2002, p. 1).

Collaborating with the Community In order to stay informed of happenings within the school district parents need to reach out to one another and to be a service within the community. By doing so, for parents, it will give them the “knowledge and use of local resources from by family and child to increase skills and talents or to obtain needed services; for teachers, they will have an openness to and skill in using mentors, business partners community volunteers and other to assist students augment teaching practices” (Epstein, nd.). Building a strong community partnership will help bring ideas to our school. “Community organizations can also provide key support to schools when access to families is difficult or when there are language or cultural barriers” (Rodrigues & Villarreal, 2002, p.1). Implementing workshops that will help parents and students learn a second language may be beneficial within the community and school in order to break or improve the language barrier.

References Berk, L. E. (2013). Child Development. Boston: Pearson Education. Bronfenbrenner’s Microsystems and Mesosystems, (nd). Retrieved from: development/droege/ht/coursez/faculty/lecture/cd6lectmicro.html. Epstein, J.L., Coates, L., Salinas, K.C., Sanders, M.G., & Simon, B.S. (1997). School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Retrieved from: Epstein, J.L. (nd). Epstein’s Framework of Six Types of Involvement. Retrieved from: net.ecollege.com/pub/content/ d-a60z-41bb-be3e-a03fO5e17c1b/Epstein.J._nid..Epsteins_ framework_of_six_types_involvement.pdf.

Illinois Roard of Education, (nd). Comprehension Systems of Learning Supports. Retrieved from: Kreide, H., Mayer, E. Vaughan, (1999, May). Early Childhood Digest: Helping Parents Communicate Better with Schools. Retrieved from: Myers, R. Phd. (2014, 10, Jan.). The Positive Influence of Being Involved in Your Child’s Education. Retrieved from: child’s-education/. Osterhaus, L. (nd). Effective Strategies for Engaging Parents: Real-Life Experiences that Make a Difference. Retrieved from: parents-real-life-expreriences-make-difference.

Rodrigues, R. G. Phd. & Villarreal, A. Phd. (2002). Improving Educational Impact through Community and Family Engagement. Retrieved from: Improving_Educational_Impact_through_Community_and_Family_Engagement/.