Stefanie Camoni
As teachers, our role in the classroom is to provide quality care to contribute to the development of the children. We plan and adjust our lessons, environment, and interactions to meet their needs. We take part in ongoing professional development to not only make ourselves better but to make the classroom better for the children. Yet have we ever stopped to think, do our families know what we do? Families are the experts when it comes to their children, and we want to be able to learn from them but also share what we know with them.
Many of us probably send home classroom or center-wide newsletters, highlighting past and upcoming events, sharing themes, and celebrating birthdays but could we be doing more? What if we shared what we learned at these professional development sessions? Wouldn’t it be great to tell them about your PBIS journey or how your social emotional curriculum really is impacting their children? Educating our families can help strengthen the home-school connection and improve communication to build an even better relationship.
There are a lot of topics that would be beneficial for families to learn about. What comes to mind? Some topics are understanding brain development, understanding, and dealing with challenging behavior, the importance of outdoor play, healthy habits; the possibilities are endless!
How do we create a learning environment for our families? One way to share ideas with families is to post articles within your newsletters. Highlight one training per month, sharing a bit about the research, what may be changing in the center, how it will impact the children, and how they can help. Another way is to host lunch and learns. Plan a one-hour informational session over lunch. You can provide food or snacks and invite families to come learn about a topic that can help their child both at school and at home. Create a lending library where families can borrow books and magazines about child development and other related topics. Record webinars to share via email or your program’s website or social media page. Schedule an educational fair and invite local community members to come and setup stands and share what they can offer the children and the families. You can even host an event where teachers set up booths to talk about different topics.
I challenge you to think about your center and what you could implement. Consider forming a committee that includes both staff and families. Survey your families to find out what they are interested in hearing about and what format would be best for them. Ask families to share their knowledge or expertise for other families at an event or through a handout. Any information that can be shared is one step closer to bridging the gap and partnering with families for the betterment of the children.
Here are some links that can help as you consider family engagement around professional development:
43 Interesting and Kid-friendly Parent Workshop Topic Ideas – Apt Parenting
Parent Education to Strengthen Families and Prevent Child Maltreatment (childwelfare.gov)
