School Community Relations

I am beginning my 3rd week of School Community Relations. So I will work on catching up on what I've learned in the first two weeks of this course.

According to Joyce L. Epstein, Ph.D., there are six types of of involvement. 

• Type 1
• Parenting
• Help all families establish home environments to support children as students,

• Type 2
• Communicating
• Design effective forms of school-to-home and home-to-school communications about school programs.

• Type 3
• Volunteering
• Recruit and organize parent help and support.

• Type 4
• Learning at Home
• Provide information and ideas to families about how to help students at home with homework and other curriculum-related activities, decisions, and planning.

• Type 5
• Decision Making
• Include parents in school decisions, developing parent leaders and representatives.

• Type 6
• Collaborating with Community
• Identify and integrate resources and services from the community to strengthen school programs, family practices, and student learning and development.

For additional elaboration on each of these types of involvement please click on the link below.

http://www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/sixtypes.htm

This and That - Update

Things have been moving right along in regards to my Internship Plan and Action Research Plan.  My principal and assistant principal have been very supportive. First, I need to say to anyone who is considering an online Masters program. Lamar University by far has provided the best online education and customer service, at least in my opinion.  Believe me when I say, I was enrolled in another online university and I dropped out in the first semester. It was so frustrating, there was no direct communication with the professors and the graduate assistants couldn't give you an answer because they had to check with the professor first. I know some of you may not feel the same way, I respect your feelings, but Lamar University has an outstanding online education program. No! They are not paying me to say this, I have experienced the worst and can compare the performance.

Internship Plan

Wow!! I've have been doing so many things that are geared towards the competencies. Here goes:

• I planned and conducted a professional development after school for all teachers. The subject matter was ELPS.
• On Saturday, the science teacher and I are taking our students (the ones who sign up) to a mock surgery at an Austin area hospital. 
• In December, my principal called me in to meet with her and a couple of students from a nearby high school. These students were wanting to find out if they could tutor our students (preferably on Saturdays).  In January, they contacted the principal and the principal put me in charge of creating a letter (English and Spanish) to parents of prospective students that need that extra boost of help. This Saturday (Feb. 9) will be our first. They will tutor two times a month.

• Today (Feb. 6) at the request of my principal, attended a professional development entitled: Race: The Power of An Illusion. It was a film series regarding race in America. It was a very intense PD. It was also an eye opener for many!Here's their website if your interested. http://www.centerhealingracism.org/home0.aspx

 Action Research Plan

 Another big WOW!  Things are going well.  I have started my ARP which is working with ELLs in Science.  The science teacher and I tutor the students twice a week and on Fridays assess them.  Snacks are provided by the school district.  We conduct various activities including experiments, vocabulary, and videos...oh and we play Jeopardy!! It's been lots of work but lots of fun too!!