Welcome Honor Connect First in a series of professional learning
opportunities about family and community involvement. Slide 2 As a
result of this presentation, you will: Identify a parent/family
engagement challenge that your school or district faces. Gain an
overview of The Joining Process as a framework to engage
underrepresented parents and families. Reflect on specific
practices schools are using to increase family engagement, and
choose at least one new practice to increase family engagement in
your school or district. Slide 3 Why Are Family-School
Relationships Important? How well schools welcome and engage
families in childrens learning will determine the success of school
improvement efforts. Beyond Random Acts: Family, School and
Community Engagement as an Integral Part of Education Reform.
Harvard Family Research Project Slide 4 What is your biggest family
engagement challenge? Take one minute on your own to jot down a
family engagement challenge your school or district faces. Turn to
a partner at your table, and share the challenge you wrote down.
Discuss why you think this challenge exists for your school or
district. Slide 5 Build trusting collaborative relationships among
teachers, families, and community. Recognize, respect, and address
families needs, as well as class and cultural differences. Embrace
a philosophy of partnership where power and responsibility are
shared. The Joining Process A Family-Centered Approach Welcome
Honor Connect Click Mouse Reveal Next Phrase Researcher Karen Mapp
found that high-performing, low-income schools develop, deepen and
sustain relationships with families in three ways: Slide 6 What
would ideal family engagement look and feel like from your
perspective? Take two minutes on your own to jot down some ideas.
Starting with the person who traveled farthest to be here today,
share out at your table. Slide 7 Welcome families in ways that
develop trusting, collaborative relationships: Slide 8 What method
of welcoming families particularly resonates with you? Record an
idea to use in a later activity. Slide 9 Honor families in ways
that deepen relationships by recognizing, respecting, and
addressing families needs and cultures: Slide 10 What method of
honoring families particularly resonates with you? Record an idea
to use in a later activity. Slide 11 Connect families in ways that
sustain relationships by sharing power and responsibility: Slide 12
What method of connecting with families particularly resonates with
you? Record an idea to use in a later activity. Slide 13 What would
help you feel comfortable at your childs school? What would make
you feel your family and culture are recognized respected? What
information would you need to be a partner in your childs learning?
Joining Process Activity How would you like to be welcomed? How
could the school honor your experiences? How could the school
connect with you? Click Mouse Reveal Next Phrase Pretend that your
family is new to both the United States and Wisconsin. You are
coming in to your childs school for the first time. Use the ideas
you recorded about welcoming, honoring and connecting with families
to reflect upon the following questions. Then, as a table, choose
one to discuss. Slide 14 Must-Do Goal: Each family and each family
member is personally greeted by a staff member. Host a staff-family
basketball/volleyball game. Invite high school families to a Day in
the Life of a student or to a pre-game parent gathering. Invite the
whole family to a school event. Take pictures of the family
enjoying the event together and display the photos in the school.
Decorate a Tree of Learning with leaves on which families describe
how they help children learn. Have families complete an Interest
Inventory. What schools are doing to welcome, honor and connect
with families at the Open House: Slide 15 Post the results of
parent surveys online. Respond to volunteer offers. Host parent
coffees or classroom suppers by grade level. Host a family learning
night with stations focused on students and parents learning
together. Give families weekly updates on what children are
learning and how families can help. What schools are doing to
welcome, honor and connect with families after the Open House:
Slide 16 What is one new practice your school can try this year to
help all families be more engaged in their childrens learning? Take
two minutes on your own to reflect on the practices presented today
and write down some ideas for your school or district. Starting
with the person whose birthday is closest to todays date, share out
at your table. Slide 17 Ive learned that people will forget what
you said. Ive learned that people will forget what you did. But
people will never forget how you make them feel. Maya Angelou Slide
18 Ruth Anne Landsverk Family-School-Community Partnerships
Coordinator DPI Title I Team (608) 266-9757
[email protected] [email protected]
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction P.O. Box 7841 Madison,
WI 53707-7841 Questions? More Information? If you have questions or
would like to share a best practice used by your school, please
contact:
