Observing and Interacting with Professionals, Children, and Families in an Early Childhood Setting

I explained to Ms. Magee, my purpose of observing her classroom. I learned that, Ms. Magee chose the profession of Early Childhood Education because working with children while they are young, has the greatest impact and influence. She stated that parents are encouraged and welcome to become involved. She also stated the most urgent problem faces by today’s teacher is the lack of parental involvement, student drop-out and parental support.      

 During my observation that morning, I noticed a few parents dropping off their child, without talking to the teachers and had no concerns about their child progress.Throughout the day, I noticed three parents that volunteered their time to visit the center. The classroom has twenty children and two teachers. I spoke with one parent and I ask the parent why is parental involvement important. The parent explained thathe believes that he should be involved in his child education and by being involved will help his child to be more effective in his learning. The other two parents came to help with lunch and story time, which I thought was great.

I observed that each individual child has a secure and caring atmosphere in which they can grow. I know from working in a Pre-K setting that the room has to be set up in a specific order. The order around them creates a sense of order inside them. I noticed that the children were comfortable because the room is setup with learning centers to promote learning through play. The teacher explains that young children learn by actively engaging in the world around them.        

 

I noticed that the teacher has a very unique way of teaching strategies to interact with the individual child.  I also noticed that each child learned more when they were directly involved in activities. I observed that the teacher encouraged the children to use their senses in exploring the world around them and provide them time and space to use the materials. The teacher was individually interacting with the children and she also looks at and listens to the children to learn about them and begin to build a relationship with them. 

 

I learned that the teachers, would like to have more parents involved but most parent just don’t make the effort to volunteer. I also learned that they do ask parents to be more active in their child education and that it’s always the same parents that volunteer.

The insight that I gained from the observation is that parent involvement is essential in student achievement. Teachers want parents to be involved in all aspects of their children’s learning. According to Ms. Magee, if parents cannot come out to volunteer, there are indicated activities within the home that will play a major role in the academic achievement in children.  I also learned that schools are making an effort to encourage parental involvement in a number of ways to enhance parent outcomes. 

Parental Involvement

Parental Involvement

I chose to interview an early childhood education teacher and license Family Service Worker about Parental involvement.

What I gained from my interviews is that parental involvement is important because it helps strengthen the child and teacher relationship. I learned that the most challenging thing is getting parents to attend meetings and set up time that will work for them is challenging. I learned that parental involvement impact early childhood education because they are setting the foundation for this collaboration. I learned that Head Start program identify parents and community involvement as one strategy to promote and provide quality services to children and families. I learned that parents are reluctant and many of them feel guilty and ashamed. I also learned that many parents are low socioeconomically and they don’t have high expectation for their children because of their present conditions. I learned that many parent feel that their child will possibly fail, regardless. The ECE and Family Service worker is trying to come up with strategies to change these beliefs so that they may be able to eliminate these barriers.

The interviews have helped me understand more about why is it important for parental involvement. I know that communication will be the key to get parents involved. The interviews have influenced me to learn more about parental involvement and the barriers that prevent parental involvement.

Three related topics that I would like to focus my research paper on would be why is parental involvement important, what are some of the parents feeling and beliefs that will make them feel reluctant to be involved and the barriers that would prevent parental involvement. I will also like to talk about how parental involvement impact’s early childhood education.

Questions to colleagues:

How can teachers make parental involvement positive and productive?