Module+2

1. What does research say about the topic?

JM: The research varies concerning the best ways to connect home and school. Past research suggests that educators feel parents have the majority of the responsibility for a child's success/failure in reading. Teachers now feel that this responsibilty is shared among families and teachers. A families culture will effect what literacy looks like in the home. LJ: "The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children." Many children start school "language- and literacy-different" because they do not have the same language experiences that other children have had. LH: Research says that children who have involved parents generally do better in school. Thus, we need to do what we can to get them involved. I remember reading an article about encouraging parents to be involved in school. They had surveyed parents to find what made a school seem more inviting. I remember a few things the parents had said and it surprised me! It was things such as adequate parking, easily identified front entrances, faculty/staff who said hello in the hallways, ect. Just plain old things that Walmart does, but we don't think of to make our school inviting. ML: The research shows that parents reading to children improves school success. It also suggests that teachers' expectations are sometimes unnrealistic in terms of a family's social, cultural, and linguistic diversity. All in all, the teacher makes the difference. RV: Parental involvement increases school readiness as well as school success later on. Research shows that a stong home to school connection is important. I feel that I am most effective with students when I know their parents and we can have an open dialoge.

MS: WE ALL KNOW FROM EXPERIENCE THE VALUE OF HOME AND SCHOOL WORKING TOGETHER. THIS CHAPTER PROVES THE IMPORTANCE OF VALUING THE HOME AND ITS CULTURE AND HOW TO IMPLEMENT THE STRONG POINTS OF THE HOME INTO THE SCHOOL.

2. Reconstruct ways that we can connect what we know to what we should apply.

JM: We know that families, regardless of background, want to see their children succeed. We must respect these families and learn to work with them. It will be a team effort to help our children succeed. We should not pass judgement because culture will effect the way these families act and work with us. LJ: I wonder if high-stakes testing has developed a more adverserial relationship between schools and families. Teachers feel that when a parent does not follow through (with homework, reading at home, etc.,) a child does not make the gains that he/she would otherwise make--which comes back to the teacher. Many times, the parent also struggled in school and may not have the oral language or literacy skills needed to feel confident in helping their child.​ I agree, Jenny. We definitely need to consider the culture and the literacy skills of the parent and give them the specific skills that they need to help their child. LH: We know that we should involve parents by giving them specific ideas that aren't complicated and take up little time. I loved the parent homework tips that Rebecca and Marlo demonstrated last year at Ketchum. They really go the parents excited about doing homework with their kids by taking away the paper and pencil aspect. Using wiki sticks to spell, playing games, writing in shaving cream. . . all these are just fun to do with your kids, but they are learning and enjoying time with their familiis as well. ML: We know that we need to work closely with families and really get to know them. Only then can we begin to help them help their children by providing worthwhile family literacy projects. RV: I agree with Jenny. I know that parents want their child to do well. I know that reguardless of how they did in school they want their children to be able to do well. It is important to all children that you learn where they come from and how you can best teach them.

MS: AT THE HIGH SCHOOL AND MIDDLE SCHOOL LEVELS, THE STUDENTS WITH AN ACTIVE PARENTAL SUPPORT ARE THOSE GENERALLY WHO ARE SUCCEEDING AND MAKING PLANS BEYOND HIGH SCHOOL. WHEN I GO TO GEAR UP MEETINGS AT THE TULSA HIGH SCHOOLS, THE ACTIVE PARENTS ARE EXACTLY PAIRED WITH THE STUDENTS WHO ARE TRYING THE HARDEST IN THE CLASSROOM. THAT WOULD BE A GREAT RESEARCH STUDY....AMOUNT OF EFFORT IN CLASSROOM AND THE AMOUNT OF PARENT INVOLVEMENT WITH HOME/SCHOOL. 3. Support partnerships with parents and other significant adults.

JM: Programs such as Project FLAME help parents make personal gains in literacy. These personal gains benefit the parents and the students. Parents become more confident in their reading abilities which allows them to support their own children as they begin to read. LJ: The headstart program is also big on parent education. They provide a lot of opportunities for parents to participate in parenting and literacy programs. LH: I remember from my undergrad work learning about a program call PATs. It stood for Parents as Teachers. I think it is llinked to the Head Start/Early Start program. It involved home visits with high-risk families to teach parents how to interact with their babies. I know this is very early, but starting from day one ensures the best! ML: The parent project that we did last year at Ketchum was hands-on and actually showed parents how to do a variety of literacy activities with their children. We showed them educational websites and how to manuever through the site. We also introduced them to graphic novelst. It seemed to be very beneficial, but we had to consider that our low-income parents might not have computer access. RV: I worked with Marlo on the parent project to get our parents excited about reading. We showed them fun ways to get their families involved in literacy activites.

MS: GEAR UP HAS AN ACTIVE COMPONENT FOR THE TULSA PUBLIC SCHOOLS. WHEN I DID PARENT CONFERENCES, I ALWAYS HAD THE STUDENTS LEAD THE CONFERENCES AND GIVE A SPECIAL "EVENT" OR SOMETHING FOR THE PARENTS. THE SPECIAL "EVENT' WAS A SLIDE SHOW, A MUSEUM, A "HUGE" AQUARIUM (SCALED ART EXHIBIT), AND THE STUDENTS "LED" THE PARENTS TO THE CONFERENCE. NO SURPRISES IN GRADES OR BEHAVIOR WERE ALLOWED AT THE CONFERENCE. THIS WAS A STUDENT CELEBRATION TIME.

4. Your questions for your group.

JM: What small, beginning steps can be taken to promote literacy with families that have just moved to the US and do not proficiently speak English? LH: That is a difficult one because I have not had to locate resources for such situation. We had one family who did not speak English and, of course, we had not interpreter on staff, so the office would go get another little girl out of class to interpret for them to help the parents fill out forms, communicate with the office, ect. ML: We have some Spanish speaking families in our district, but I have not directly dealt with them. It seems like we could teach the parent along with the student by providing picture representations, concrete models, and motor imaging activities to build vocabulary. Bilingual staff would be helpful. RV: I agree that bilingual staff are important to help the transition from their language to English. I also think that helping the parents learn English will help to ensure success for the children as well.

LJ: How can parent who has low language skills themselves be instrumental in developing literacy skills in their children?*

RESEARCH PROVES THE AMOUNT OF VERBAL INTERCHANGE IN THE HOME BETWEEN PARENTS AND STUDENTS DIRECTLY AFFECT THE QUALITY OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN SCHOOL. WE ALSO KNOW THE QUALITY OF LANGUAGE DIRECTLY AFFECTS THE QUALITY OF READING ABILITY.

THUS, THE HOME WITH LOW LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT NEEDS TO READ TO THE CHILDREN AT LEAST 20 MINUTES A DAY, HAVE A DISCUSSION TIME ABOUT EVENTS OF THE DAY (PREFERABLY AT THE DINNER TABLE), GO TO THE LIBRARY AND CHECK OUT AUDIO BOOKS, PLAY WORD AND OTHER GAMES AND TALK ALONG THE WAY, TURN OFF TELEVISION AND VIDEO GAMES AND HAVE OTHER ACTIVITIES, GO ON FIELD TRIPS AND TALK, AUTHENTIC READING AND WRITING ACTIVITIES. AND MORE.

TEACHERS CAN PROVIDE SUGGESTIONS TO THE PARENTS BY FEATURING A SPECIAL ACTIVITY FOR THE WEEK IN A NEWSLETTER AND ENCOURAGE THE PARENT TO CONTINUE THE ACTIVITY. THE LANGUAGE ACTIVITY CAN BE IN THE HOME LANGUAGE. THE VALUE IS IN THE EXPOSURE TO A VARIETY OF WORDS IN DIFFERENT CONTEXTS.

LJ: What types of partnerships have been developed in your home schools? ML: Literacy night and open house is all we do at the present time. RV: My grade level has parent bags that students take home once a month that encourages learning between students and parents. We also have open house, parent night, and literacy fairs.

LJ: Besides reading aloud to a child, what is another way a parent can develop literacy skills? ML: Discussing or responding to the books they read through writing or drawing can develop literacy skills as well. LH: Playing rhyming games, saying nursery rhymes out loud, noticing environmental print and encouraging your child to notice and read environmental print

LH: What can be done specifically in the area of literacy to educate parents, particularly lower socio-economic parents on the importance of literacy developmen and what to do in the home, in the early years to ensure literacy/language development? RV: It is important to show them WHY it is important first. They often believe that they didnt do well in school so that is ok for their child as well. Another important thing to keep in mind is resources. They will have to have a way for resources to be provided or loaned to them.

ML: 1. What are some cost effective ways to get parents to show up to a literacy project? Besides food.... 2. Is a survey effective for getting to know the family if they can not read it? 3. How do you deal with parents that work at night and sleep during the day?*

MS: THE OPEN HOUSES AT OUR SCHOOL WERE AT ALL HOURS. THE TEACHERS WOULD SEND HOME A SURVEY ASKING THE BEST TIMES FOR THE PARENTS TO COME TO SCHOOL. IT WAS CALLED A DROP IN AND TALK TIME.

IF THEY SAID DURING THE DAY, THE STUDENTS WERE THERE AND WHEN THE PARENT CAME IN, THE PRINCIPAL OR ANOTHER PERSON WOULD TAKE THE TEACHER'S CLASS, AND A CONFERENCE COULD HAPPEN. MANY TIMES WHEN THE PARENT DROPPED OFF THE STUDENT OR PICKED UP THE STUDENT WAS A GREAT TIME TO HAVE A "TALK" THIS DROP IN AND TALK TIME HAD A COUPLE OF EVENINGS AND A COUPLE OF EARLY HOURS AS WELL. THEN BY CONTRACT WE HAD ANOTHER DAY OFF.

IN THE SURVEY WOULD BE A SUGGESTED TIME THAT WOULD BE BEST FOR THE TEACHER TO CALL THE HOME. THAT WAY NO INTERRUPTIONS COULD HAPPEN DURING SLEEP TIME.

RV: What are some ways to get parents who did not do well in school excited about their child's education?