Blog #4

Blog #4

This module I worked with one of the many supervisors for this preschool program.  This program services 10 different centers.  Each center has a direct center supervisor, and they answer to one of the 4 area managers, and they answer to the program director. The person that I worked with was an area manager.  Her role is to manage 3 different center supervisors.  Each center is different, and each center is located in a different county.  The area manager that I worked with is in a very unique position.  She is truly a middle man when it comes to problems.  Not only does this wonderful woman have to manage 3 different center supervisors, she is also the Family Engagement Specialist.  She is the only Family Engagement Specialist for the whole program, and she is in charge of educating all the staff on family frame work, family engagement, and family and community partnerships.  I have been truly amazed on how much this woman does.  She is passionate about the families that we serve, and she always has a big smile on her face.  I have been blessed to work with a wonderful person.

Because the area manager that I worked with is a specialist in Family Engagement, I was able to learn a lot of wonderful ways to get parents and families involved in their child’s education, and in their child’s classroom.  She was able to help me come up with unique ways to get parents to be more comfortable and more trusting with their child’s teachers.  I was able to have a better understanding of how important it is to have families create family goals.  Family goals can be as simple as creating a family night, or they can be more of a long term goal like going to college.  Helping families create goals, and steps for those goals is crucial.  Because my paper is about family engagement, I was able to truly observe how an organization helps parents to become more engaged in their child’s education, and even their own education.

This organization has gone above and beyond with parent engagement.  This program has even designed a male involvement night once a month.   When walking into the office board room there are photos of parents and family members receiving awards.  One of the photos was of a father who received the father of the year award.  This father achieved this great award through his countless hours volunteering in his child’s classroom, participating in family events, and serving on the policy council, and even the board of this program.  When I left the board room I walked away with a huge smile, and I knew that this program was truly there to help children and their families succeed.  These observations were exactly what I needed to help create a stronger research paper about family involvement.  Hearing about these great success stories have helped to validate why I am writing my paper.

3rd Observation

is a director of a multi age preschool program.

 

This program services children who are 3 and 4 years of age.  This program is an inclusive program that serves children with disabilities along with children who are normal functioning.  This is a large program that serves children in ten different counties.  Some of the centers have mixed age preschool rooms, where as other centers has a specific 3 year old room and a 4 year old room.  (They follow the cut of date the school district does.)

 

This program services a wide range of cultures, and those different cultures are represented throughout the classrooms.  There were family posters that were posted in the classroom that represent each child’s family.  When children are able to understand and take pride in their culture, they will be able to more understand in cultures that are different then their own.  It is wonderful to see preschools that respect families, and their home language, and their home cultures.

 

Talking to the supervisor I can hear and feel the passion she has with the children and the families that she serves.  This program works very closely with each family to get to know them, understand their cultures.  This program has each family create a family goal, and educational goals.  These goals help to get the families involved in the child’s educational career, and help to build fabulous relationships with the educators and the families.  This observation helped me to see how important it is for parent involvement.

 

I was starting to struggle a little bit with my research paper, and being able to see and witness the importance of parent involvement. Throughout my observations I was able to realize how important it is to value each family’s culture.  When families feel like they are valued, they will be able to confide more in the teacher, and will be more willing to get more involved in their child’s education. I needed this inspiration to help me have a better understanding of what parental insolvent in education really looks like.