Parental+involvement+project

Partners: There is a rubric for this (and the modules) on BlackBoard. I have printed it. I will work on trying to organize the below information to coincide with the rubric points. PJ 6/13/10

AC - This is from an e-mail I sent. I don't if you guys have had a chance to read your e-mail or not. But, I thought we could post our ideas here.

I asked Dr. Swanson about our project. This is what she wrote back to me: "The cover letter will be part of your portfolio. The audience for this parent involvement will be parents. YOu are trying to get parents involved in the education of their child.  Please look at the list of ideas and come up with something maybe unique and enjoyable.  We know that many of the tried and true activities are not lasting.  They are "a splash in the mud" so what can you do to help parents start and maintain involvement?" Basically, we need to come up with something fresh if we want to do Parents' Nights (or we could choose something else). I think the first thing we need to do is come up with our topic/design for parent involvement. If we are to make a brochure, I think we should break it up into the following components (other suggestions are quite welcome): Introduction/Explanation of Program Upcoming Activities Reasons for Attending How this will help your child? After we make a plan, each person can pick one of the above (or any others we think of) and write about it. Then, one person can copy and paste it into a brochure. What are your ideas? I'm thinking it should definitely involve food. I like the idea of doing center-like activities where parents and their children can learn/make different games and learn strategies to use at home to increase students' success in literacy. Let me know what you guys are thinking.

Parental Involvement Project:

Place: The community building at the government housing When: The second Thursday of each month for the 2010-2011 school year @ 6:30 pm What: Dinner and a Story (or Two) Guest: Library personnel to give Library Cards

Notes: 1. Resource: Cook-Cottone, C. (2004) Constructivism in family literacy practices: Parents as mentors. //The Reading Teacher, 41//(4), p. 208-216. 2. Resource: Fredericks, A. D., and Rasinski, T. V. (1990) Working with Parents: Involving the uninvolved: How to. //The Reading Teacher//, p. 424-425.
 * "the family is mentored in the use of literacy tools and provided the necessary scaffolding for effective transmission of knowledge from parent to child. In other words, the literacy program functions as a Vygotskian mentor to the family"
 * "Evidence gathered via participant observatin, parent survey, and informal outcome assessments will be discussed as it relates to each theoretical construct'
 * "Parents, school personnel, and teacher educators collaborated to write the funding proposal and program curriculum. Community business and granting foundations provided materials and capital for activity costs. Teacher education students volunteered to assist with family literacy sessions, child assessments, and parent surveys. Overall, the the program was implemented by representatives from each of the contributing partners."
 * First Phase: Recruitment
 * Second Phase: Parent mentors and participants were trained in read alouds, decoding and phonics, sight words, and creative expression during 2 two-hour trainings by a certified reading specialist and a faculty member specializing in reading instruction and intervention.
 * Third: Recruited families and parent mentors met for 10 sequential sessions to explore literacy through story telling, read alouds, decoding strategies, sight word strategies, story telling language experience approach, and creative expression. Another session was developed for bilingual families.
 * Finally, the literacy groups celebrated reading with a party, reading games, and reader's theater.
 * "The ideas, some of which follow, are not the only suggestions possible; however, they were part of many schools' successful parent involvement efforts within and beyond the reading curriculum.
 * 1. Flood parents with lots of written and visual information over an extended time.
 * 2. Make parent participation a schoolwide effort. . . . It must be a concern for the entire school community.
 * 3. Be sure to provide for a healthy does of recognition (e.g. prizes, awards, certificates) for both the students and the parents. . . Be sure all parents are commended frequently for their efforts in the reading program.
 * 4. Involve students wholeheartedly in recruiting their parents. Have students write invitations or design special awards to be sent to their own parents or others throughout the classroom or community.
 * 5. Encourage participatory projects that involve the entire family. .. . The family atmosphere enhances and guarantees a successful project.
 * 6. At the same time, don't focus all of your outreach efforts on school parents. Recruit othe community members and solicit community support.
 * 7. Make your classroom and your school a very comfortable place; the more comfortable it is, the more you will be able to get the support you desire. . . . consider moving beyond the safety of the classroom or school. Plan to meet with parents in their homes, at the shopping mall, or in other community locations.
 * 8. Use the telephone as an instrument of good news.
 * 9. Take time to find out why parents who are not involved choose to distance themselves from the program.
 * 10. In scheduling any participatory activities, consider a host of potential plans. Provide a number of scheduling options for parents. Make it convenient for the parents.
 * 11. Considering establishing a parent hot-line offering parents an opportunity to contact each other about mutual concerns or just to relay information.. . Many successful parent projects have used such a telephone tree system in order to keep parents up to date and informed throughout the year.
 * 12. Use community members, mayor, city council members, and business people, to endorse your reading program.
 * 13. Whenever possible, videotape some of your special programs and make these tapes available to parents. Busy schedules predominate in today's families and parents don't always have the time to attend all classroom or school functions.
 * 14. Whenever you hold a special event, consider offering special services that encourage parent attendance. These services might include babysitting, driving, or escort services prior to or during the actual program.

Okay, partners, we need to develop a curricula and/or a brochure to advertise our program? Please advise, PJ