Key Concepts
Parent Teacher Conferences
Home Visits
Family Literacy and Head Start
Parent-Teacher Conferences
Planning for Parent-Teacher Conferences
Planning Home Visits Together
A Five-Step Planning Process
Supporting Family Literacy
Literacy Building Activities
Next Steps: Ideas to Extend Practice
Key Concepts
- Head Start, through such formal activities as home visits, parent-teacher
conferences, and family literacy activities, can extend and support the
learning that occurs within families.
- Parents' goals can and should shape the way programs deliver services
to support family learning.
- Good observation and listening skills are necessary in order to provide
the individualized services that best support family learning.
Background Information
The purpose of [these activities are] ... to encourage participants to examine common
practices that link home and classroom learning environments. Specifically,
[these activities] ... examine parent-teacher conferences, home visits, and family literacy
activities. These three strategies have been mainstays of most Head Start
programs and can be used to extend and support learning that occurs in the
classroom. However, these program elements also can extend and support the
learning that occurs within the family. For this to happen, services
must be tailored to the interests and needs of each family.
Parent-teacher conferences are important tools for building
strong bridges between [the] culture of home and that of Head Start. Some parent-teacher
conferences are approached as a means to present information to parents
on how their children are doing in the classroom. However, parent-teacher
conferences can be more productive if they are approached as an opportunity
for parents and teachers to exchange information. As teachers and parents
better understand one another's expectations, they can better support children's
learning across settings.
Parents can usually give examples of their interests and describe the approach
a child takes to solving a problem. With that knowledge, teachers can individualize
within the classroom. When teachers show interest in hearing about parents'
observations, motivation to share observations continues to grow. Curiosity
often sparks more curiosity. A "let's learn more about how your child learns"
joint venture between parent and teacher will yield far more positive long-term
effects than an approach based on reporting weaknesses or problem areas.
Home visits are a tradition in Head Start and this opportunity offers
Head Start families the special advantage of one-to-one relationships with
staff. Over time, home visits can help staff build a strong relationship with
a family and obtain a more intimate understanding of their goals and needs.
Home visits can be held for many different reasons, for example: to exchange
information with a family, to recognize and build on family strengths, or
to address issues facing the family. Whatever the reason for the visit, home
visits are an ideal way for staff to individualize services for families in
a partnership approach.
... [The] focus [of these activities] is on jointly planning home visits where the purpose
is to try out activities which extend learning through everyday activities
that occur in the home. [These] activities ... are designed for staff
who routinely make this type of home visit. However, the
process of involving parents as co-planners of home visits could be adapted
to meet the needs of other staff as well.
Home visits are most successful when:
- They build on activities that already occur in the home.
- Activities are tailored to each family.
- Parents are senior partners in the planning process.
To develop successful visits, staff conducting home visits make observations,
support parents as they make observations, and talk with family members to
determine interests, concerns, and goals. In partnership with parents, they
select activities that support the educational goals of family members.
Family literacy is based upon the philosophy that parents and children
can learn and succeed together. By working with parents and children as a
family, rather than focusing on them exclusively as individuals, programs
can better reinforce the motivation both parents and children have to succeed together.
In many ways, Head Start is in a natural position to provide family literacy
services. Like Head Start, family literacy begins with a family strengths
perspective. That is, the primary role of staff is to help families identify
and build upon their own strengths in order to achieve the goals they themselves
identify. And like Head Start, family literacy views parents as the child's
first and most important teacher.
In the 1998 Reauthorization of Head Start, family literacy was defined
as services that are of sufficient intensity and duration to make sustainable
changes in a family. Family literacy services integrate all of the following
activities:
- Interactive literacy activities between parents and their children.
- Training for parents regarding how to be the primary teacher for their
children and full partners in the education of their children.
- Parent literacy training that leads to economic self sufficiency.
- An age-appropriate education to prepare children for success in school
and life experiences.
What makes family literacy programs unique is that core services are integrated
into a holistic approach to serving families rather than each being planned
and implemented separately. For example, in some family literacy programs
parenting materials are used as the basis for adult literacy instruction;
parents observe children in their early childhood setting in order to co-plan
parent/child activities; and adult and early childhood educators meet together
with families to plan strategies to meet family learning goals. In short,
family literacy programs wrap services around the interest and needs of
families to provide a coordinated approach.
While comprehensive family literacy programs offer all three services, the
way in which they provide services may vary. For example,
some programs provide all three services within a single agency while others
offer services through the collaborative efforts of several community agencies.
Some programs provide entirely home-based services, while others are center-based
or a combination of the two. Most programs that are family-centered also address
the need for flexible hours, family supports (e.g., child care while adults
are in adult education, transportation, etc.) and referrals for additional
services to community resources.
Most Head Start grantees already offer some family literacy activities.
The challenge for Head Start programs is to take stock of the types of activities
they already offer and decide if the range of activities is sufficient to
meet the diverse needs of families and the requirements of the Performance
Standards.
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Parent-Teacher Conferences
Purpose: Participants will practice planning for parent-teacher conferences that support family learning.
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Materials
Handout 15: Lara's
Point of View; Handout
16: Mary Ellin's Point of View, Handout
17: Discussion Questions; pen or pencils.
Process
Begin by stating that parent-teacher conferences can help build strong
bridges between the learning that goes on at home and at Head Start. For
this to happen, parents and teachers need to share information with each
other. They need to know what is going on in the other's setting, the teaching
strategies that each uses, and each other's concerns and goals.
Divide participants into two groups. One group will focus on the parent's
perspective. Distribute Handout
15: Lara's Point of View to this group. The other group will
focus on the teacher's perspective and should be given Handout
16: Mary Ellin's Point of View.
Ask each group to select a volunteer to read the handout to their group.
Then direct each group to begin a discussion of the questions at the bottom
of the handout. Allow 20-25 minutes for reading and discussion.
Have the first group recruit a volunteer to play the role
of the parent, and have the second group recruit a volunteer to play the role
of the teacher. The rest of the participants will watch and observe the
role-play. Allow 5-6 minutes for a role-play of the parent-teacher conference.
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Trainer Preparation Notes:
If you have a large number of participants, divide them into an even
number of smaller groups that can be paired for the role-play.
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Discuss the role-play using the following questions:
- Did the parent communicate to the teacher what she wanted her to know
(and vice versa)?
- Did the parent get the information she wanted from the teacher (and
vice versa)?
- What facilitated the sharing of information? What got in the way?
- What concerns were of importance to both Lara and Mary Ellin?
- How did this conference help build bridges between the learning that
goes on at home and at Head Start?
- Was there any way to make this conference even more successful?
- What can teachers and other staff do to prepare for a conference?
Debriefing
In summarizing this activity, make the following points:
- Parent-teacher conferences are opportunities where both parents and
teachers can share information and concerns.
- Parent-teacher conferences can be used to build bridges between the
learning that goes on at home and at school.
- Successful parent-teacher conferences require preparation, planning,
and follow-up.
Conclude the activity by leading a discussion of the following question:
How do our parent-teacher conferences support both the agenda of the
parents and the agenda of the teachers?
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Planning for Parent-Teacher Conferences
Purpose: Participants will prepare for an actual parent-teacher conference in order to be active participants.
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Materials
Handout 14:
Summary of Observations ... filled out; Handout
18: Planning for Your Conference with the Teacher; pens or
pencils.
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Coach Preparation Notes:
This activity was designed to be done by a parent who is actually attending
a parent-teacher conference and a trusted staff person (or other parent)
who has volunteered to help them prepare for it. Begin by stating that an
important way parents advocate for their children is by actively participating
in parent-teacher conferences. Doing this successfully, however, requires
preparation.
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Process
As a first step in this preparation, have participants review Handout
14: Summary of Observations , on which they recorded their
findings and impressions from [these] activities. Have participants reflect on
what they have observed in terms of their children's skills, interests,
and needs. Also have them reflect on the teaching and parenting strategies
they have observed to work with their children.
Distribute Handout
18: Planning for Your Conference With the Teacher. With
you or with a partner, have participants talk through each item on the
handout. If participants are comfortable, role-play the conference, with you or another
partner taking on the teacher's role.
Provide any assistance that participants need to arrange for an actual
parent-teacher conference. Set a time and place to meet again after the
conference.
Debriefing
Ask participants to describe how the conference went. Then discuss the
following:
- How can you talk about what you learned in the conference with your
child in a positive way?
- What goals did you decide on with the teacher?
- How do you plan to work together with your child on these goals?
- How do you plan to communicate with the teacher about progress toward
the goals?
- What can you do that will help you be consistent in following through
on this plan?
Remind participants that they should feel free at any time to talk with the
teacher or ask for another conference.
In summarizing this activity, make the following points:
- Parent-teacher conferences are opportunities where everyone's agenda
can be met.
- Successful parent-teacher conferences require planning and follow up.
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Planning Home Visits Together
Purpose: Participants will use observations as a basis for co-planning instructional home visits.
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Materials
Handout 19:
Planning Home Visits Together, Head Start video, Our Stories
Keep Us Connected; VCR and monitor.
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Trainer Preparation Notes:
This activity on planning home visits may be most appropriate to use with
staff in home-based Head Start programs who make regularly scheduled home
visits. However, the activity could be used in training center-based staff
to improve their skills in observing how parents impact children's learning.
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Process
Begin by stating that home visits are not all the same. Some home
visits are held to exchange information between families and programs. At
some home visits, staff and parents address problems facing [the] family. Home visits
also can be a strategy for introducing learning activities parents can do
at home with their children.
Home visits work best when both parents and staff are focused on the same
goals, the activities are tailored to the family, and the activities build
on the family's interests and strengths.
Introduce the Head Start video. Our Stories Keep Us Connected. Select
one or two families from the film to show participants. Divide participants
into small groups. Distribute Handout
19: Planning Home Visits Together, and review the observation
tips from the first page. Ask participants to observe as though they were
a staff person making a home visit with the families. Then show the video.
After the video is over, ask groups to discuss the questions on the handout.
Remind each group to select someone to take notes. Allow 20-30 minutes for
discussion. Replay segments of the video as necessary.
Bring the entire group back together. Ask a spokesperson from each group
to report on their discussion.
After each group has had an opportunity to report their findings, note some
of the similarities and differences between each group's responses. Continue
by stating that home visits work best when they build upon activities families
already do within the context of their daily lives. Therefore, they must be
individualized and family-centered.
Debriefing
Summarize the activity by making the following points:
- All parents want their children to learn.
- Because parents plan and oversee the daily routines at home through
which their children learn, they need to be involved in planning the activities
used in home visits.
- Home visits work best when they build upon activities families already
do in the context of their daily lives. Therefore, they must be individualized.
- Home visits can create or strengthen bridges to and from home and Head
Start.
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A Five-Step Planning Process
Purpose: Participants will learn and practice a five-step process for developing individualized, family-centered plans for home visits.
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Materials
Handouts 20:
James and David; Handout
21: The Stories Found in Playtime; Handout
22: Planning Home Visits ; materials with parent/child activities
such as Head Start's Our Stories Keep Us Connected or Fun and
Learning for Parents and Children.
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Coach Preparation Notes:
This activity is most appropriate for staff who make regular, ongoing home
visits. This could be home-based staff working with children or staff providing
individualized parenting education opportunities to parents.
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Process
Begin by explaining that this activity focuses on planning home visits that
are used to try out activities which extend learning through the everyday
activities that occur in the home. These visits might be pan of a home-based
Head Start or a strategy for providing individualized parenting educational
opportunities. These home visits are most successful when:
- They build on activities that already occur in the home.
- Activities are tailored to each family.
- Parents are used as key resources in planning.
Provide participants with a copy of Handout
20: James and David and Handout
21: The Stories Found in Playtime. Explain that you will be
using the examples on the handouts to explore a five-step process for jointly
planning home visits. Read through these handouts together using the questions
listed to guide the discussion.
Debriefing
When you have completed the questions on Handout
20, discuss the following question:
What can we learn from this exercise about the importance of co-planning
for the success of home visits?
When participants have completed the discussion, conclude the activity
by providing them a copy of Handout
22: Planning Home Visits. Explain that they may want to extend
this activity by actually co-planning their own home visit, using Handout
22 as a guide.
Note that, depending on the family, staff person, and how well they know
each other, it may take one or more initial home visits just to accomplish
Steps 1 and 2. (For example, in order to identify goals, the parent and
staff person making the home visit may want to spend one or more home visits
looking through publications for suitable family learning activities.)
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Supporting Family Literacy
Purpose: In this activity, participants will identify what their program already does to support family literacy. |
Materials
Overhead 1:
Supporting Family Literacy; Handout
23: How Well Do We Support Family Literacy?; overhead projector
and screen; Post-It™ notes or 3" x 5" cards; chart paper;
markers; tape.
Process
Use the information in the background section to introduce the concept
of family literacy. Then use Overhead 1 (or write the information on chart
paper) to emphasize that family literacy programs focus on the family as
a learning unit. Central to the services offered in family literacy programs
are those that:
- Help children acquire the skills they need to become literate.
- Help parents advance their own literacy skills.
- Help parents learn how their children learn and how they can support
their children's literacy efforts.
Continue by stating that family literacy activities are already an important
part of many Head Start programs. The challenge for Head Start programs
is to examine if the activities they offer meet the needs of the families
they serve.
Provide participants with a stack of 3" x 5" cards or a pad
of Post- It™ notes. Explain that in this activity they will be asked
to answer the following question:
Do we offer a range of family literacy activities to meet the needs
of all the families we serve?
As a first step, ask participants to reflect for a moment on all the different
ways — big and small — that their Head Start program supports
literacy. For example:
- We offer parenting workshops on how to read to young children.
- We help parents get involved with the local GED program,
- The children make “All About Me" books in the classroom.
Ask participants to write each activity they think of on a separate 3"
x 5" card or Post-It™ note.
Allow 5-7 minutes for this brainstorming exercise.
While participants are brainstorming, post chart paper in three different
areas of the room. Label the chart paper in area 1: Helping children acquire
the skills they need to become literate. Label the chart paper in area
2: Helping parents advance their own literacy skills. Label the chart
paper in area 3: Helping parents learn about how their children learn
and how to support their children's literacy efforts.
When participants have finished brainstorming, call their attention to
the chart paper posted around the room. State that one useful way to assess
the range of a program's family literacy activities is to begin by categorizing
them.
Ask participants
to review each activity they listed on cards or Post-It™notes
[and] then ask them to go around the room and attach the cards
or Post-Its™ to the appropriate chart paper. Continue this process
until all cards or Post-Its™ have been categorized. Ask the group to
review each list to eliminate any duplicates or make any changes they
feel are necessary.
Next, divide participants into small groups. Ask each group to consider the
information on the chart paper while using Handout
23: How Well Do We Support Family Literacy to rate (from their
own perspective) their program's family literacy efforts. Allow 20-25 minutes
for discussion.
Bring the whole group back together and ask for volunteers from each of
the small groups to report on how they rated the program (in terms of total
number of stars) and to give a brief summary of how they came to this rating.
Continue discussing using the following questions as a guide:
- Based on the diverse literacy needs of the families in your Head Start
program, is there a need to expand the activities in any particular area?
Why?
- What can you do within the Head Start program to provide services in
this area?
- Who or what community groups can Head Start work with to provide some
of these services?
Debriefing
Conclude this activity by stating that all Head Start programs offer some
types of family literacy activities. The challenge is to ensure that a range
of activities are offered to match the diverse interests and needs of the
families being served.
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Literacy Building Activities
Purpose: Participants will examine how Head Start staff can support families' use of literacy activities in everyday experiences. |
Materials
Handout 24:
Literacy Building Activities; two different colors of pens.
Process
Begin by stating that what happens in the home significantly influences
a child's learning. Parents support their children's literacy development
in many ways including:
- Creating a home that is rich in reading and writing materials.
- Reading, telling, or writing stories with their children.
- Modeling everyday uses of reading and writing.
- Talking to their infants/toddlers about what they are doing while they
are doing it.
- Listening to talking books borrowed from the public library.
- Holding positive attitudes toward education.
Distribute Handout
24: Literacy Building Activities. Ask them to reflect on their
experiences with their child, their experiences as a parent, and/or their
experiences at Head Start, in order to answer the four questions on the
handout. Encourage them to come up with at least five responses to each
question using one of the colored pens. Participants may work individually
or in pairs.
When they are finished, ask them to use a different color of pen to jot
down next to each response ideas they have for how Head Start can help parents
accomplish this literacy building activity. Using the four examples from
the handout, here are some possible ideas:
- They have books in the home — hold a book giveaway.
- They create a family storybook — organize a “lend a camera"
program.
- They use bus schedules — hold a learning session on schedule reading
(bus schedules and also TV schedules, class schedules, etc.).
- They attend a class themselves. Give certificates and frames
to display their achievement when parents complete a class.
Debriefing
Ask participants:
- What more can you, as an individual, be doing to support the literacy
building activities of families?
- What more could the program be doing to support the literacy building
activities of families?
Next Steps: Ideas to Extend Practice
- Have a discussion about the quality of the home visits your program
provides. Use the information sheet on quality considerations for home
visits contained in the appendix as a guide for the discussion.
- Review materials in your Head Start library or resource room and those
available in your community for ideas of learning activities parents and
children can do together. Create a directory or index of activities that
can be used by staff for instructional home visits, newsletter topics,
or responses to parent requests. Be sure to extend beyond reading and
writing literacy activities and include activities in hands-on math and
science.
- Activities in materials such as Exploring Parenting address
common parental concerns but are designed as workshop activities. Adapt
a workshop activity to one that parents and children can do together at
home during a home visit.
- Create a committee of parents and staff to look for new ways to connect
classroom and family learning environments. For example, publish a monthly
calendar that gives parents suggestions of activities they can do at home
that connect with topics or events that are happening in the classroom;
create a series of storybook kits for a lending library that contain a
book, a sample activity, and all the materials needed to carry out the
activity at home; as [part] of every parent/teacher conference provide parents
with sample activities, books, and materials that they can use at home
to support their children's learning in specific skill areas.
- As a follow-up to a parent-teacher conference, develop a solution-focused
plan for building and sustaining bridges between the classroom and home
environments. The Head Start guide Supporting Families in Crisis
contains a process for developing such plans.
- Have staff and/or parents use the process in [the] activity ... [A Five-Step Planning Process] to prepare
for a parent-teacher conference for a school-aged child.
- Review your program's family partnership agreements process and identify
family and adult literacy goals that are common across families. Use this
information as a springboard for program planning, especially when designing
parenting education opportunities. Or, look for ways to create volunteer
opportunities that connect with parent's own literacy or employment goals.
- Organize regular visits to your local library and consider holding
parent workshops on how to select a book for your child (or for themselves)
and how to read a book to children at different ages. As part of the workshops,
provide opportunities for everyone to get a library card. Use the Library-Head
Start Partnership Project materials to generate more ideas.
