Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Working With Families and Communities

Chapter 12 / Planning and Administering Early Childhood Program

Aloha Everyone!

While reading this chapter I realized that working with families and communities can be a big benefit for the children especially in early childhood care. Early childhood care and family program involvement goes back to the early 1900’s one of the first pioneering programs that recognized the family is the first teacher in that child’s life. (pg. 308)

Benefits for Children: “Children are at a tremendous advantage when families and teachers agree on what they expect children will learn and be able to do.” (pg. 310)

Benefits for Families: “Parents benefit when they take advantage of opportunities to participate in their children’s early childhood educational experiences.” (pg. 310)

Working with families and communities could be very challenging for administrators and teachers. I can only speak for myself as a teacher, like I said in my last blog “I’m in it for the children” I will work with the families and the communities even if it’s very difficult. There are so many resources out there for administrators and teachers that nothing is impossible. That’s what I believe. ;-D!


ExchangeEveryDay

Spanking Lowers IQ / October 13, 2009

This article was very interesting to me, “Spanking lower children IQ?” CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton said:

“Among children ages 2 to 4, there was a five point difference between children who were spanked and those that weren't. And among children from 5 to 9 years old, there was a 2.8 point difference between the two groups. Also, the study controlled socioeconomic factors, Ashton said, such as the educational level of parents and income. However, Ashton pointed out, the study found this was just an association -- not a cause-and-effect finding.”

They must say that socioeconomic factors, educational level of parents, family income, and spanking too may lower children IQ. This I might believe. I was spank a lot of times when I was a child, but my Mother and Father also explains to me why I was being spank and 80% of the time I deserve it. Bottom line I think I came out “Okay?”
;-D

5 comments:

  1. Well, you're not the only one who is in the business for the children, as oppose to their families (those intimidating, opinionated, stubborn families of theirs, j/k). I am curious because you said that it can be difficult for administrators and teachers to work with families. What are some of the ways that you manage the role of communicating and working with parents? I personally take it one day at a time AND one parent at a time. I am just beginning to get comfortable talking to parents and I will admit that I just finally started to memorize their names :-).

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  2. I've been a teacher for over 10 years and when I first started I was deathly afraid of working with parents. At the time I thought when I became a teacher I would only work with the children, never the parents/families. Other teachers could do that job. However, after taking education classes I learned that, that would never happen. If your a teacher you not only take on the child but their whole family. Let me tell you, over all it has been one of my favorite things to do as a teacher. While teaching and nurturing the child in my classroom I am also doing the same with the parents. Some parents are brand new and don't know what to do - especially when it comes to disipline. While other parents want to help and be a part of the classroom can be a great benifit. There are parents who want nothing to do with the problems that their child is having at school or be asked to do something. This can be a learning experience and with time and patience most parents see that we are helping their child and not complaining. The positive experience I've had with families far out weighs the negative. Even with some families you can have life long friends. As for memorizing names I continue to use a cheat sheet in my office. I write down the children's names in one column and in the next column their parents or family members who most of the time pick up or drop of the child. In the beginning of the new year I would put the paper in my pocket and when a family member that I didn't know dropped off or picked up their child I would look at the paper. This continues to help me with my memory problem. I hope this helps.

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  3. Hi Gary,
    I also wonder how the grandparents article might be part of your discussion.

    In my experiences, in kindergarten classrooms, parents/families are often told to not enter the classroom when their children begin school. Children often cry, parents/families have a hard time with the separation. Yet, many teachers feel this is a necessity. How do actions like this (and other similar actions in elementary schools) create a relationship between the family and school? What do these actions imply about these relationships? Who has the power?

    I wonder how an administrator might respond to these situations. What do you think?

    Jeanne

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  4. Hi Gary, I always find it somewhat intimidating to talk to parents. One thing that has helped me with this is my job as a waitress and bartender, I am more relaxed when I talk to parents and learned how to just "talk story". I also think that I am sometimes intimidated because I assume that they think that I am too young or can't relate because I do not have any children of my own. Having a friendly and laid back relationship with these families are a good foundation for me because it will be easier to talk about other concerns later or when they need to be discussed. I think that they would also respect what I had to say if I were friendly and positive with them on a regular basis.

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  5. How would you encourage working parents to participate in a full-time program? How can teachers incorporate the community with their classroom?
    Personally, I don't believe in spanking. I remember as a child getting spanking from my parents. I believe that spanking is often an act out of frustration. I think that if you stop, think about the impact on the child, and maybe just take a time out. Too often I see parents spanking children because they did something wrong. But was it so wrong that the child needed to be hit? At times, hitting is a learn behavior. So if you spank a child, what happens when they go to school and don't have their way, cannot explain themselves, or are frustrated? They will hit.

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