ECED117_Fall'24_W3

ECED 117 - Family, Community, and School Relationships in a Diverse Society

Week 3 Fall'2024

In class activity

INDEX

TEAM

Writing time

chapter 6

break

First reflective essay

In class activity

chapter 2

From Separation to CollaborationThe Changing Paradigms of Family–School Relations

01

Chapter 2

After reading the chapter, how would you explain the concept of a mental model or paradigm?

Let Us discuss...

A paradigm depicts distinctive ways of “ordering experience” or of “constructing reality.” a simple way to understand family–school paradigms is to think of them as “mental maps depicting how our relationship should operate.(Bruner, 1996, p. 11, 15).

The Collaboration Paradigm

03

Remediation paradigm

02

Separation Paradigm

01

02

Activity

Each group has to work on the given scenario in line with the paradigm you all read in chapter 2.Time: Group Discussion and Preparation time : 15 -20 minutesClass Discussion: 20-25 minutes

Group Activity

First Reflective Essay

03

Assignment

Lets Talk about your Assignment.....

This essay will be on your current thinking about family-school relations.You all have to reflect on your current thinking about family-school relations considering the prompts.

Submission Deadline: September 16, 2024

Your paper must be at least 3 pages, double-spaced, 12-point New Times Roman font, and 1” margins throughout. Professional writing style- demonstrate a sound understanding of Standard English writing conventions (e.g., spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar, usage, paragraphing, APA 7th citation).Submit the draft to the Writing Center for feedback and revisions before submission.

3. Set Goals for Improvementl

2. Explore Alternative Perspectives

1. Identify your current beliefs and practices

First Reflective Essay

Equal Access, Unequal Resources:Appreciating Cultural, Social, and Economic Diversity in Families

04

chapter 6

1. How do you define culture?
2. What is your understanding about social class?
3. How do culture and social class affect children’s and families’ experiences of schools and educators?
4. How can educators recognize and appreciate the social, cultural, and economic diversity of their students’ families?

Recall......

Now, does race define culture?

Example: A person can be identified ethnically as Irish, Polish or American but one essentially has to be either black, brown or white.

Race vs. Ethnicity

Ethnicity describes the culture of people in a given geographic region, including their language, heritage, religion and customs.

Race refers to the concept of dividing people into groups based on various sets of physical characteristics and the process of ascribing social meaning to those groups.

• Cultural assimilation places an emphasis on working within the dominant culture to achieve personal and professional goals (Richardson, Bethea, Hayling & Williamson-Taylor, 2010)

• It is expected that culturally diverse children must embrace the norms (i.e., values, beliefs, language, family patterns, and behavioral style of the dominant culture).

• It causes stressful experience in relation to one’s ethnic identity (Identity crises).

Ethnocentric monoculturalism creates a strong belief in the superiority of one group's cultural heritage, history, values, language, beliefs, religion, traditions, and arts and crafts. Those assumptions are structured in such manner to enhance the position of only that narrow segment of the population.

Assimilationvs. Acculturation

It allows one to retain one’s own beliefs and practices while assuming the cultural norms of a new and different culture.

Acculturation

Stereotyping and expectations

Familial stressors

(Multilayered obstacles)

Sociocultural and Familial Stressors

(Culture mismatch)

Cultural stressors

Culturally Responsive Teaching

Teaching through conversation

Teaching complex thinking

Making meaning / connections

Developing language and literacy competence across the curriculums

Joint productivity/facilitation of teacher

Comer School Development Program (1968)

Comite de Padres Latinos (COPLA) (1992)(Latino Parents Committee)

Families and Schools Together (FAST)

Teacher – Parent Partnership Models

Utilization of families in classroom projects

Creation of family space within the school

Instructional activities involving family knowledge

Restructured Back-to-School nights

Family/home visitsFamily surveys

Joint parent-teacher problem solving in parent-teacher conferences

Role for Teachers Partneringwith the Parents

05

Activity

• For the first 20-25 minutes, your group will collaborate on the case study and respond to the assigned questions using a shared Google Doc. (click on your group to get access to your doc)

• After the 15 minutes, we will have a class discussion where each group will be asked to discuss 1 or 2 randomly selected questions from the case study.

Group 6

Group 4

Group 2

Group 3

Group 5

Group 1

Discussion (20 -25 minutes): Class Discussion (15 minutes)Adapted from Building Culturally Responsive Family-School Relationships (2nd ed.) by Amatea, E. (2013).

In class ACTIVity

06

Writing Time

Individual Writing Time (25 minutes)

Writing Prompt # 1

Family stress, child-parent interactions, family conflict, marital functioning have impact on children adjustment and development of externalizing behaviors. Family stressors can influence parental involvement as well as children’s adjustment to school and their overall academic and behavioral functioning.

Objective: Plan a back-to-school orientation using a remediation paradigm,where family-school relationships focus on correcting or addressing gaps in student performance.

Group 2, 5 - Back-to-School Orientation Activity: Remediation Paradigm Approach

• How would you structure your role and that of students’ families?
• Who would be involved in planning and decision making about the orientation?
• What would be the purpose of the orientation?
• What would you do (and have caregivers do) in this activity?
• How does the process of thinking how you would plan such a required activity reveal the advantages and disadvantages of using a remediation paradigm of family–school relating?

Mental models are deeply ingrained beliefs or frameworks that people use to understand and interpret the world. They help individuals make sense of complex situations, predict outcomes, and guide decision-making by simplifying reality. Mental models are often based on past experiences, education, and cultural influences, and they shape how people perceive problems and develop solutions.

Theory of cultural capital –emphasizes that the differences in resources available to families influences their daily living situations. The differences in economic and social resources (not the family attitudes and values) shape the nature of the family's level of class privilege.

Culture of poverty theory-characterizes impoverished individuals in terms of deficits by assuming they have certain attitudes, values, and behaviors that keep them at the bottom of the economic/social hierarchy and these traits are passed on from generation to generation

Social class refers to a division within a society based on economic, social, and occupational factors. It categorizes people according to their wealth, income, education, occupation, and lifestyle. Social class often determines access to resources, opportunities, and privileges, influencing individuals' life experiences and social mobility.

Culture refers to the shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that characterize a group or society. It encompasses everything from language, traditions, and rituals to social norms, art, music, and food. Culture shapes how individuals perceive the world, interact with others, and express their identity.It is passed down from generation to generation through communication, imitation, and teaching. While culture can be deeply rooted in history, it is also dynamic and evolves as societies change. Each culture reflects a unique way of life that influences individuals' views, behavior, and relationships.

Factors that contributed to Paradigm of Collaboration:

• Theories of Child Development: Provide educators with an understanding of how a child’s family, school, and community collectively influence a child’s development by interaction (Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, and Vygotsky theory).
• Researchers: Documented the powerful influence that families have on in-school and out-of-school socialization of children. (empirical studies)

• Federal Policies for Family Involvement. Various laws established began to link families and schools explicitly and encouraged educators to consider how school policies and practices influence their relationships with families.

• Minimizing conflict,
• Maintaining professional autonomy,
• Involve parents only when there are problem.

Justifications:

The absence of children’s cultural beliefs and assumptions in the curricula, instructional dynamics, and classroom environment makes children feel disengaged and stressed.

• With a clear understanding of your current practices and beliefs, it's time to envision a stronger family-school partnership.
• By setting clear objectives and tracking your efforts, you can effectively strengthen the bond between home and school, ultimately benefiting your students.

Establish specific goals for enhancing your interactions with families. Outline actionable steps to achieve these goals and determine how you will measure your progress.

Disadvantages:

• Because of the mindset of preceived parental deficts: Strategies built on this paradigm often reveal an inherent resistance to considering the parents on equal footing with educators
• Parents may not be able to devote suffecient time or energy to the level of parents envolovement expectethe educators (hazardous living conditions , cronic illness, unstable employment, etc. (Parents are told what, when & how to do it)
• Ther’s a danger of determiomg the value and importance the family’s culture in an effort to transmit the values and culture of school.

Advantages:

• Many parents' involvement programs in schools are based on this paradigm.
• Parents receive a very clear message from the school about the social and academic skills that children need to succeed in school and about their role in helping their children succeed.
• It provide a framework for a transition from an isolating separate spheres mentality of the separation paradigm to a co-expert/collaborative paradigm.

- Loud, aggressive, lazy, non complient- Eurocentric behavior norms (Students’ worth and ability based on children’s lack of resources and familirty of middle-class manners).

In scientific contexts, a paradigm is the dominant way of understanding and conducting research until it is challenged or replaced by new findings, leading to a paradigm shift.Outside of science, "paradigm" can refer to any prevailing worldview or model of understanding in a given area, such as business, education, or social norms.

A paradigm is a widely accepted set of beliefs, theories, or practices that define how a particular community, such as scientists or researchers, understand and approach a specific field or discipline. It serves as a framework that guides thinking, research, and problem-solving within that domain. Paradigms shape how questions are asked, what methods are used to investigate them, and how results are interpreted.

• A broad level of values, beliefs and social norms governed and organized by a group of people.
• The elements of culture are based on five main elements: values and beliefs, norms, symbols, language, and artifacts
• Customs, laws, clothing, architectural style, social standards, and traditions are all examples of cultural elements.
• There’s diversity within one culture, In some cultures people might speak different languages, wear different types of clothing, or have different beliefs and value.

• Interactions between people are central to the ways in which individual learning and development occur.
• Vygotsky argued that children internalize the kind of help they receive from others, and eventually use it independently to direct their own problem solving.
• Central to his theory is the belief that children learn best when parents and teachers create instructional activities that use what children already know as resources for learning new knowledge and practices.

Vygotsky’s Theory of Learning and Teaching (1978)

• Educators’ instructional practices were based exclusively on transmitting middle-class funds of knowledge and ignoring the existing low-income children funds of knowledge bring to school.
• Vygotsky studied how children learn and describes learning as a process that involves social as well as cognitive transformations.

• Broaden your understanding of family-school relations by exploring different viewpoints.
• Consider how other educators, researchers, and theorists approach partnerships with families. Compare these perspectives to your own beliefs and practices.
• In this essay, incorporate at least one new perspective that can expand your toolkit for building stronger and more effective family-school collaborations.

Objective: Plan a back-to-school orientation using a collaboration paradigm, where family-school relationships focus on correcting or addressing gaps in student performance.

Group 3, 6 - Back-to-School Orientation Activity: Collaboration Paradigm Approach

• How would you structure your role and that of students’ families?
• Who would be involved in planning and decision making about the orientation?
• What would be the purpose of the orientation?
• What would you do (and have caregivers do) in this activity?
• How does the process of thinking how you would plan such a required activity reveal the advantages and disadvantages of using a collaboration paradigm of family–school relating?

• Educators recognized the impact of family life strongly influences children’s school success.
• Educators believed that their efforts at educating their children are undermined by the problem and pathologies of their families.
• Educators embraced the deficit view of family life promoted by social scientists and mental health professional.
• Educators need students’ families to support the schools’ efforts to succeed in educating students.

• Educators believe that their views of what students must learn to succeed should be dominant, that they know best.
• Educators recognized that social context of the developing child resulted in discrepancies in academic achievement.
• Educators asked parents to support the teacher’s plan or routine and perform tasks at the school for the school (play a subordinate role ).

Objective: Plan a back-to-school orientation using a separation paradigm, where teacher and family roles are distinct.

Group 1,4- Back-to-School Orientation Activity: Separation Paradigm Approach

• How would you structure your role and that of students’ families?
• Who would be involved in planning and decision making about the orientation?
• What would be the purpose of the orientation?
• What would you do (and have caregivers do) in this activity?
• How does the process of thinking how you would plan such a required activity reveal the advantages and disadvantages of using a separation paradigm of family–school relating?

• In separation and remediation paradigms, educators assume unilateral or dominant roles in educational decision making and action.

• In contrast, the collaborative paradigm, educators interact with students and their families to identify together those resources that exist in the family and school for taking action to solve children’s problems or to celebrate their learning.

Differencies

• In collaborative paradigm, the authority (e.g., the teacher) identifies the concern or problem that merits attention, decides what type of solution is necessary, and decides how the clients (student and family) should involved with a philosophy of “doing to” or “doing for” the client.

Parents should:

• Endorse educators’ ideas regarding the importance of schooling,
• Reinforce school expectations at home,
• Provide conditions at home that nurture development, and support school success, and
• Ensure that the child meets minimum academic and social requirements.

Assumptions & Justifications:

• Children’s achievement is fostered by a continuity of expectations between home and school.
• Educators know which values and practices outside the school can contribute to school success, and

1. Teacher’s job is to provide an academic, often social and emotional, education with very limited or no participation from students’ families.
2. Parent involvement in decision making or problem solving is seen as interference with the educator’s job.
3. Educators believe that decisions do not require negotiation and can be made independently of interaction with students’ family.

• Broaden your understanding of family-school relations by exploring different viewpoints.
• Consider how other educators, researchers, and theorists approach partnerships with families.
• Compare these perspectives to your own beliefs and practices.
• To deepen your knowledge, seek out opportunities to learn more about these alternative approaches through professional development, reading, or networking with colleagues.

Incorporate at least one new perspective to expand your toolkit for building stronger and more effective family-school collaborations.

• Begin by examining your perspective on family-school relationships.
• Consider your core beliefs about how these two essential environments should interact to support student success.
• Reflect what will be your typical communication methods with families, the level of involvement you would expect from parents and the challenges and successes you may encounter while building relationships with them.
• This self-assessment will provide a foundation for deeper reflection and goal setting.