Family and Parent Reflection Log (PLP)

Parent/Teacher Engagement and SES

Dr. Kristie Chandler

May 9, 2013 

Educate, Serve, Advocate

Pro-Creation and socialization of children and emotional and economic support along with social class placements are the key functions of a family. The family holds these responsibilities to themselves and their children. Family dynamics and involvement directly effects a child's success and outcomes. Areas effected by positive parental involvement include but are not limited to: higher reading scores, language growth and development, higher self-esteem, enrollment in college, social competence. 

An individuals group position is placed within a hierarchical social structure that are based on variable such as occupation, education ,income, wealth and place of residence. 

In comparison to national averages  Alabama has higher poverty rates for white, African American and Latino populations. Through the data collected comparing education level to poverty level, it is obvious that education places a formative role in poverty alleviation. The causes of poverty vary however education can provide a solution from certain types of poverty. 

Behavior of the individual, human and social capital in the community, exploitation, political/economic structures all contribute to different types of poverty, however Education can serve as a solution or resource to help people out of these situations.

"No significant learning occurs without a signifiant relationship" Dr. James Comer 

additional resources: A Framework to Understanding Poverty

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PLP Log

9/13 online (not meeting)	Initial Survey Before our first meeting we filled out a survey discussing our comfort level when dealing with parents. I realized I am very uncomfortable dealing with parents and would benefit from being given resources which would help me when my confidence and communication when dealing with parents.
10/25	Parental Involvement in Schools Ski, our family studies major, introduced us to the information about the comfort level of parents in the schools. It was an interesting perspective to see that many parents do not know how to communicate expectations with teachers, while others are very quick to communicate, and often over-communicate with teachers. She then led us in a discussion on parental involvement.	I had a conflict with the meeting time but received the notes I missed from a classmate.
11/1	Over and Under Involved Parents We looked a characteristics and stereotypes of both the over, and under involved parent. As a group of future teachers we discussed what an ideal level of involvement would be for the parent's of our future students. We were given resources that will help us identify and engage, or redirect parents in their level of involvement.
11/15	Technology’s Role in Parental Involvement Having identified some of the challenges of parental involvement the previous week, we discussed how to best utilize technology to engage parents. We looked at different case studies to determine the best ways to engage our students' parents in their learning and reinforcement of concepts in the home.
11/19	Unique Families and their Stereotypes Ski provided us with handouts covering the various types of family backgrounds our students may come from. We discussed single gender parent families, single parent families, divorce families, military families, intergenerational families and many others. For each group we discussed what may be specific strengths and concerns of each family and what our stereotype of the family background would be. We concluded that the best approach a teacher can take is to look past stereotypes and think creatively about ways in engage each type of parent into the learning and education of the student.
11/29	Final Survey For our assignment over Thanksgiving Break, we were asked to survey our parents about their options and communication abilities with our childhood teachers. It was interesting to see the different levels of involvement they had with the different teachers depending on the grade, school, and phase of life. My mom commented that she always wanted to be a highly involved parent, but sometimes needed direction in how to best channel her enthusiasm. As a teacher I hope to provide direction for my students' parents to create an environment where parents feel welcomed and included. We ended out meeting with a final survey, assessing our comfort level with communication with parents.	For the final assessment I had a schedule conflict but completed the online survey and emailed it to Ski.