Family Involvement and Epstein's Framework

Epstein's framework for family involvement includes 6 ways for effective involvement to take place with schools. One of the most vital components is communication. Communication can be engaged through conferences with parents, providing clear information through class or team websites, report cards, and other forms and communication established between teachers and parents. Challenges could come from language barriers that would have to be solved, and making sure communication links are clear and direct with parents. By communicating this information, student can be aware of their progress, as can their parents. Parents also can understand school policies and any issues that may come up involving their child. As a future educator, I feel this is incredibly vital to act upon and to insure that good communication is established. A second major component is learning at home. This can be provided through activities that students and families can do outside the classroom to learn more on a subject, or by providing homework pieces to allow students to engage with subject matter outside the classroom. Challenges might include getting students to drive their own learning away from school, and bring in parents to help engage students with the subject as well away from school. However, if done correctly, students could gain more knowledge of the subject and gain interest in it as well, while parents could engage more with their children in their education. This would also allow for teachers to give parents the opportunity to teach their own children and give students multiple outlets for help and resources. Although as a future educator I wouldn't give too much homework to my students, I feel that spending personal time to discover more about a subject would be highly beneficial to students in any classroom.

Middle School Teaming

As I start to learn more about teaming in middle schools, I begin to see learning in a middle school setting from a different perspective. Since this is my first look at teaming as an educational approach to teaching and working with students, I'm curious to see how certain aspects of it work. For instance, how does teaming differ from school to school, and what pieces often remain the same throughout school districts? Obvious changes, such as the ratio of students to teachers, will remain different, but it will be interesting to see how advisory period times during the school day vary and the different ways the time will be used. From the sources I have read, it seems that as long as the main goal of the team is met (creating a sense of community and building academic success as a group), then the means to that end will vary from district to district.