Michelle Belanger

Competency #3 Reflection
SEI 650

The products that I have chosen represent my competency in Family
Partnerships.
The first product that I have chosen is a parent/caregiver pamphlet that I
created in SEI 501 in the Summer of 2012. This pamphlet was created to share with
families about their childs language development. It was meant to be a handy guide
for parents to refer to. It explains what typical language development looks like as
well as ways parents can help in their childs language development. The pamphlet
also talks about where parents can turn to if they have concerns and places to bring
their child for some literacy programs. These pamphlets were a great way to think
about how to talk to parents about concerns I as a teacher might have. When
creating them I envisioned having them available for parents on a parent table so
they can look at them or take one home to refer to.
My second product is from SEI 523 completed in the Fall of 2013. I choose
the Routines Based Interview (RBI) to document my competency in family
partnerships. I completed the interview with a fellow student. I choose this product
because it directly shows my ability to work with a family. I also wanted it to
represent everything that we did for the family. The interview was really just the
beginning of the work we did with the family. From the interview we were able to
come up with resources both reading and suggested activities for the family to get
involved in. This assignment really depended on a strong family partnership in
order to be successful. I am happy to report that after following up with the family
the intervention was successful and the suggestions we made really benefited the
family. I am really proud of this project because I really feel that working with a real
family with real concerns, even if it did not have to do with a developmental
concern, gave me real experience using the RBI. The results were something that I
could see and I could see the difference I had made in working with this family.
The third product that I have chosen is from SEI 513 completed in the Spring
of 2014. This product is the write up from a family partnership project that I did for
my Individual Practicum. This project again had m working with families but on a
much broader spectrum. For this project I became the parent/ staff liaison for the
center that I work at. I met with the head of the parent advisory committee and we
came up with a calendar and agenda for future parent advisory meetings and family
fun nights. We talked about some ideas and goals of the parent advisory committee
and ways I could help. I feel that this really created a true partnership with the
families in that they then started seeing me as the bridge between the staff and the
parents. I am still active in this role today and it id working out great, parent
involvement in up across all 5 classrooms.
The last product that I included is a parent teacher conference form that I fill
out for parent teacher conferences, which are held two times a year. The write-ups
are based on observations and assessments made on the child. I then will offer
times to meet with the parent(s) and we can discuss how the child is doing. Part of
the process is also giving the parents a questionnaire to fill out. During the
conference we will talk about any questions or concerns the teachers or the parents
have and ways to work together to help the child be successful in class. Even if the
parent does not sign up for a conference I still will do a write up and give it to the
parents to see if they have any questions or concerns on how their child is doing.