Enlisting and Providing Support

Presenting In A New Era

Questions that I have for my colleagues

I am doing a presentation at my school on family involvement in literacy development at home.  I would like to know if someone can offer suggestions on how I can use social media in my presentation.  I do not use Facebook, but I have a feeling that I need to step up my game.  I need to find a medium or turning point that will help me to include families in a way that they can make a connection in working with each other.  I have found that blogging is helpful and I am considering creating a Blog page for parents to interact with one another.

Helpful Information

Information that I have found helpful are the different websites that show how to create an advocacy plan and stay organzed.  I have also found resources through NAEYC which offers information on activities that parents can do with their children. 

Information that I am seeking

I would like to get more information on different social media networks that will help my advocacy efforts.

Yvette

Importance of Parent Meetings

Recently at my school, we had a parent meeting and out of 20 parents in the classroom, only 6 parents came to the meeting.  Three weeks before the meeting, I discussed with the parents the importance of attending parent meetings because it is a chance to received information about upcoming events, activities that parents can do at home and in school, workshops that are offered, or FYI.  Many of the parents said they were coming, and only 6 showed up.  Four of the parents were elected members who are required to attend.  Teachers, invited guests and representatives can offer parents information that they might not be able to get from somewhere else.  These meeting also give parents a chance to socialize and get ideas from other parents who might have be able to help another parent.  One thing that I do stress is that in order to be up to be up to date with informtion, sometimes you have to get involved by attending meetings and workshops.  Parents can and need to be involved by attending these meetings and parent workshops so they are better able to stay informed.  My question is:  How do I get parents to attend meetings that will benefit themselves, families and children?

Thanks for your comments,

Yvette :}

Introduction

Hello,

My name is Yvette T. and my topic discussion is Parent Involvement in Early Liteacy Development.

Inspirational Quote

The thing that inspires and excites me about my advocacy plan and being an advocate is the fact that I feel like I am making a difference in the lives of students and families in literacy and language development. If I can only hope for a chance to see that children are taking an interest in books, magazines, environmental print or just using or opportunity to know that literacy and language is used at home during daily activities is a plus. When I know that parents are including reading in their daily activities with children and taking walks, talking about things in the environment, this is good. I see children in the classroom looking at their favorite books. They talk about the pictures and some begin to dictate the story to their classmates. Familarity of books is the key in getting children interested in books and reading. My advocacy plan is having classes for parents in how to read to their children at home and ways to use inferences to ask questions. These classes or workshops can be made accessible to parents so they can participate in literacy activities with their children that are learning experiences and fun for the family.

The challenge that I see is parents making a commitment to give up 10 – 15 minutes for reading activities. I know that many parents have very busy schedules, and are tired when they get home. After working all day, most parents come home prepare dinner, clean and check homework. As a parent myself, I know that it can be a little overwhelming to spend that extra time, but that 10 minutes will make a difference.

"It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed." Quote by Napoleon Hill

I think what will be most effective in helping me to overcome challenging emotions that I may be feeling in regard to presenting and implementing my Advocacy Action Plan is constantly reminding my parents that everyday of reading makes a difference. I know that I will have to stay committed and be prepared to offer suggestions if needed. They need to find 10 -15 minutes in their schedule to spend quality time reading to their child at home. Introducing picture books and easy readers are good beginning for children and parents can read the same book repeatedly. Children become familiar with the story and they begin to read the books to the parents. I would ask a group of parents to try reading for a two week period. Pick a time and read for 10 minutes every other day for the first week. The second week, the parents should read for 10 minutes everyday. After the second week, parents can give me their feedback on improvements.

Thank you !

A note to say thank you for visiting my blog and posting comments.  It took some time for me to get this blog up and going.  But, I must say, it has been an adventure.  I have figured out how to move around a little more than when I first started.  I will continue to visit other blogs from the classroom.  Do not stop posting.

Yvette T.

Module 4

This week I had the opportunity to assess a student in letter knowledge and phonics.  This student has been in Head Start for two years and the mother wanted him to be tested for kindergarten.  The teacher asked me to assess and I was surprised that this student only knew four letters.  He did not any recognition of sounds of the alphabet.  I asked the student to tell me the letters in his name. He was only able to recognize two letters in his name.  I was totally shocked.  This student writes his name everyday.  The teacher does the ABC Word Wall everyday, along with the morning chart.  I can honestly say that this student has no concept of what the letter are. 

Now when I go into the classroom, I search out this student and work with him.  If this student does not grasp the letter/sound correspondence, he will have some serious problems in the beginning months of kindergarten.

I have asked the mother to work with him at home.  She was surprised that he did not know his letters.  I asked if she worked with him at home and she said that his siblings did.  I suggested to her to read books to him. Environmental print from fast food restaurants, familiar foods or books that he likes she can point out the letters to him.

I would like to advocate for programs that will help familes incorporate reading into everyday activities.  This could be in the form of creating shopping lists for groceries, a list of chores, types of foods they like or a learning how to keep a journal.

Early childhood professionals could support this effort by donating books or helping familes to choose websites that will teach phonics and letter recognition. 

Yvette T.

Interactive with Program Director

Module 3

I had the opportunity to spend some time with the program's director this week.  She express that she was hopeful that with the new creative arts after school programs, children will get a better grasp of social emotional skills, creative arts and an immersion in language.  There are many children in the school who are ELL and this can be a difficult time for these students and parents.  Parents are trying to adjust to a new neighborhood and children are adjusting to a new school, friends and teachers.

It is helpful when after school programs are created where students can slowly become a community of learners.  "We have included many after school programs such as cooking, music, drama and dance for our students at the school".  Many teachers have volunteered their time to help these students to develop social emotional skills while creating opportunities for an emersion in language.  "We did an International Night that was very successful with familes and children who performed from grades Pre-K to 5th grade".

How would you address the advocacy issue with professionals in your setting?

I would address this issue by advocating for more school and community events where children and families have the opportunity to learn about other cultures and be exposed to more language. 
The director expressed a need for more teachers to find time to give back to the students and was hopeful that it will be a successful year next year with the new afterschool programs.  The children and the community expressed an interest in participating in these afterschool events.

What kind of difference would I make in this community or my field?

I would like to make a difference by inviting guests to come to afterschool programs in order for students to learn more from experts in their fields.  It does make a difference when you involve children, families, schools and the community to events.  It makes the setting feel more like a family

Yvette T.