MOOCS
COURSE TITLE: INTRODUCTION
TO FAMILY ENGAGEMENT IN EDUCATION
INTRODUCTION
Family engagement describes
what families do at home and in the community to support their children’s
learning and development. It also encompasses the shared partnership and
responsibility between home and school. Irrespective of cultural background
family involvement matters in education. Such engagement is essential for
school improvement. It is also increasingly recognized as an integral element
for proficient practice as an educator.
In this education course,
one is taught what family engagement is and why it matters to the success of
students and schools. By exploring the research, linking family engagement to
better educational outcomes the instructor Karen Mapp directly interviewed with
researchers, educators, students, and families about promising practices in the
field.
LEARNING
MATERIALS
The learning materials used
were slides, videos, reading materials, websites for references, earphones, other
downloadable materials. Learning materials were selected based on the mode of
delivery, since it was an online course, the focus to be able to listen clearly
and get the needed resources.
RATIONALE
FOR SELECTING COURSE
1. As a
head teacher, who is keen on impact of involvement of parents and community in
the education of children, I believe this course will enhance my quest.
2. To gain
Awareness of family engagement and its
impact on Parents, educators and the community
3. To
guide preparation of school’s termly curricular and program outline
INSTRUCTOR
PROFILE:
Karen L. Mapp, Ed.D, is a
Senior Lecturer on Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE)
and the Faculty Director of the Education Policy and Management Master’s
Program. Over the past twenty years, Karen’s research and practice focus has
been on the cultivation of partnerships among families, community members and educators
that support student achievement and school improvement. She served as the
co-coordinator with Professor Mark Warren of the Community Organizing and
School Reform Research Project and as a core faculty member in the Doctorate in
Educational Leadership (EDLD) program at HGSE.She is a founding member of the
District Leaders Network on Family and Community Engagement, is a trustee of
the Hyams Foundation in Boston, MA, and is on
the board of the of the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) in Washington,DC.From
2011to 2013,Karen served as a consultant on family engagement to the United
States Department of Education in the Office of Innovation and Improvement. She
currently serves as a consultant to the Family and Community Engagement (FACE)
division of Scholastic, Inc.
INSTITUTION
Harvard University
COURSE
DURATION
The course designed to last
for six weeks, with 2 to 4 Hours per week. The course begun May 15, 2019 and will
end on June 26, 2019. All things being
equal I should complete the course within the stipulated schedule.
SPECIFIC
TASK
Researchers who have domain knowledge
shared videos of various interviews conducted on the topic, and shared more
information enriching the experience.
We were tasked to read more
materials on the topic and given assignments to complete as well review other
peer’s work.
PEER
REVIEW
The peer review offered me
the chance to connect with other course mates from different backgrounds,
sharing ideas on the interesting topics, reviewing each other’s work and debating
on some debatable issues. This segment is helpful and informing, a good
refreshment to the long hours of watching videos.
REFLECTIONS
The course has been a very
interesting one and honestly speaking I have learnt a lot. Lectures have been
so interesting and easy to retain slides and presentation though time
consuming, quiet demanding financially, due to unstable internet connection
,interviewers and interviewees made interaction so interesting with some
diagrams ,home face-to-face interviews, and also relating to practical family
life experiences as well as research findings.
We had assignments, reflections
and discussions, which was interesting. Steve Sheldon (Associate Professor of
John Hopkins School of education) confessed that he is a huge convert on the
home visit piece now and underestimated what home visit could accomplished. It
is believed that, 4000 plus students in D.C. school leaders and teachers talk about what home visit
experiences were like for them and the parents. I heard Steve Sheldon say that
he think home visits are a particularly powerful practice that can really
develop some strong relationships between educators.
I was very much touched by one
parents comment upon interview, he said “
it is sad to have a child going through something that you can’t fight or ,you
want to take any pain from your child to make sure that he doesn’t have to go
through this”. And Stanton
Elementary school took on the role, checking up
on us, making sure we are ok, making sure he still has school work, still
making sure that he was going to get the best education.Having a home school
teacher coming to the hospital, coming to the house. It has been 2 years and Xavier
(i.e. their son) has been cancer-free. The school as I said is there for you.
Karen L. Mapp, Ed.D. My
instructor did quiet awesome with the interviews and summary lectures. The
developmental Psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems was one
work the according to researchers proved powerful on the field. He believed
that teacher and families are not the only people who shaped children but other
systems, he taught about everything as an ecology.
Kristin Ehrgood also touched on
Flamboyan’s Development of Family engagement Strategies to enhance on
strategies to make home visits and family involvement in education successful.
I did enjoy every section of
this course, though not completed the course due to time limit in assignment
submission I have learnt so much, which when implemented will help with
education and educational leaders Ghana. It was surprising how home visits
could improve literacy and school attendance.
The next section, which I just
started but had to take a break from, to submit assignment, is the Home Visit,
Research Implications and Practices with the Middle & High Schools. Karen while introducing made mention
of the fact that people ask why one should Focus on Family engagement important
with teenagers. And that Isn’t this that they would start becoming independent from
their families? But one few young people told her upon interview that ,not only is
family engagement important but it is
more important now than at any other time in their lives.
ACHIEVEMENTS OF STUDIES:
I can confidently say I have
learnt so much especially, on strategies to get attendants and improvement in
academic performance.
I learn that, Academic Parent
Teacher Team (APTT) is an opportunity for a group of families.
So it’s not like the one-on-one style of meeting the parents or meeting
all parents together in the class or on the school premises to discuss
the children and what they need to learn that year in order to be
successful
,to get high grade level. Rather home visit help because the families
have
the relationship with the teachers ahead of time and therefore know that
teachers really does care about them,as compared to the previous style
were most parents become bit nervous to open up and speak their minds.
The key theme through and through is the
importance of building trust and respectful relationships between home and
school.
CHALLENGES:
Although the course was very
interesting, the following challenges were encountered.
1. Poor internet connectivity, hindering the flow of study.
2. The guidelines provided to review the peer-to-peer work
was not enough to conduct a good review.
3. The Hours allocated for each course online, was lengthy
and tiring.
4. Loosing focus and difficulty in relating the course
content to daily situations.
STRATEGIES ADOPTED:
1. In order to deal with the inconsistent internet
connection, I had improvise with alternative hotspot from different Internet
Service Providers.
2. In order to perform my motherly and wifely duties,
while taking the course, I had to strategize get enough time to study.
3. In situations where, staying late was not helpful, I
would have to wake up earlier to undertake the course.
4. To Access my understanding of the course, I took the
liberty of lecturing my husband, and this allowed me to better understand and
relate it to daily situations.
