Ece625 Week 2 Family And Community Engagement

Upon conducting insightful research throughout the previous weeks of the course ECE625: Family and Community Engagement, I have discovered how other educators in my field share similar perspectives on the critical need for connecting schools, families, and communities. According to Scully, Barbour, and Roberts (2015) “as professionals who advocate for children, we need the support of all parents to promote the best outcomes for children” (p. 58). One may ask, how do we achieve such a challenging task of gaining the support of all parents? Our classrooms today are filled with diverse learners that come from a wide range of different cultural backgrounds. How do we create inclusive learning environments that meet the needs and provide support

Villa, I noticed several themes that ran through her responses. At Deluz Child Development Center (CDC), the early childhood professionals use a variety of themes and strategies to engage their families and community. Mrs. Villa drove the point of using communication, collaboration, and meaningful interactions to build strong connections between her school, families, and their community. The CDC developing a family and community engagement planning committee provides a great opportunity for families and community members to collaborate and plan experiences that are relevant to their everyday lives. Such strategy enables families and community members to feel a sense of value and respect as their ideas are implemented in their children’s learning environments. This also enables children to take on a positive attitude and approach to their school and learning. When young children witness their school, families, and community working together, they tend to be more successful. Such strategy is also supported by my research findings as Halgunseth, Peterson, Stark, and Moodie (2009) notes “early childhood education programs encourage and validate family participation in decision making related to their children’s education (p.

Villa’s interview. Scully, Barbour, and Roberts themes for connecting schools, families, and communities also demonstrate the critical need for using communication and collaboration strategies to bridge the gap between classrooms and children’s home-life. The authors state “to succeed as a teacher, you must develop skills in working with families and discover how to connect with the larger community” (Scully, Barbour, & Roberts, 2015, p. 3). Based on what we know about how children learn, as efficient educators, we must learn about children’s cultural identities to ensure their academic success. According to Halgunseth, Peterson, Stark, and Moodie (2009) “family engagement occurs when there is an on-going, reciprocal, strengths-based on partnership between families and their children’s early childhood education programs” (p. 3). Mrs. Villa’s responses align with findings from the text as she also states how she uses daily routines and meaningful interactions to connect with diverse learners and their families. Mrs. Villa notes “each morning families are greeted at the front desk and when they enter their classrooms”. She also states “we ask families how the children’s night were”. The CDC’s strategies of using different means of communication are great tools for planning learning environments that support all children and plan differentiated instruction. Using such