(H-4) Honor family/community involvement in the learning process.
Honoring family and community involvement is a vital component in student learning. The community is a wonderful resource that can extend student learning, and a student’s family should be an integral part of the entire process. I believe the H4 standard refers to a teacher’s ability to include family members in their child’s learning, as well as the school’s ability to foster community involvement. Throughout my internship, so far, I have seen my mentor teacher successfully include her students’ families in every step of the learning process. She does this primarily through weekly newsletters, Buzzy’s Business, which share information about the material we covered that week, what we will be studying next week, and how families can help extend their child’s learning at home. Figure 1 shows an example of the Buzzy’s Business newsletter, as well as a resource parents can use to make spelling at home fun and engaging.
Figure 1
Figure 1
Buzzy’s Business and the I Can Spell! resource are great ways to keep parents in the loop in regards to what their child is learning at school, and how they can help at home. I plan to continue both of these resources when I take over in the classroom, and would also like to look for additional tips for parents when working on other subjects.
In addition to the classroom specific resources produced by my mentor teacher, the school sends out weekly updates with information about community related activities. Figure 2 shows an example of these weekly updates, which include links to the various outings taking place in the upcoming weeks. While the community activities may not relate directly to what each student is studying, they can certainly aide in student learning by providing opportunities for students to apply academic skills in real world settings.
Figure 2
Both of these resources, my mentor teacher’s informational newsletters and the school’s weekly updates, have provided me with wonderful examples of how to successfully include families and the community in student learning. I have already seen how parent and community involvement can significantly impact student learning in a positive way, and look forward to promoting this standard through my teaching.
Inspired in Elementary 