Kristen Borge November 21, 2011 READ 6421 Home/School Partnership, Part B In Home-School Partnerships in Literacy Education: From

Rhetoric to Reality, Padak and Rasinski (2006) discuss the value of expanding literacy instruction to include programs designed for parents to teach children at home. The authors point out that, in order to be effective, home instruction should follow particular guidelines (Padak & Rasinski, 2006, p. 292). Attributes of effective at-home literacy programs include ongoing training, communication, and support for parents, authentic reading materials provided by schools, routine activities that can be completed in 10-15 minutes, and documentation of progress (Padak & Rasinski, 2006, pp. 292-293). One such program, Fast Start, involves a daily lesson in which parents read a brief text to and with their children repeatedly (Dowhower, 1994); actively listen to their child read the text to them; and engage in a brief developmentally appropriate word-study activity with their child (Padak & Rasinski, 2006, p. 293). Likewise, in Models of Parent Involvement, Kindervater (2010) spells out a routine she uses to excite students about word study, and she discusses how that enthusiasm goes home with the children. Kindervater (2010) expresses the importance of giving students something to take with them to share with their families. She developed an approach to word study similar to Fast Start in that early concepts of print are supported through repeated readings of a poem. While reading, words are indicated, and teachers encourage students to recite the poem, point to the words while reading, and find particular letters in the text (Kindervater, 2010, p. 610). Moreover, kinesthetic motions are assigned to particular sounds, and students perform these motions while reading. A determining factor in the success of these home involvement programs is how easy they are to implement. With Fast Start, parents are provided lessons, along with the

appropriate texts, that take 10-15 minutes to complete. Kindervaters method was driven by the students enthusiasm for what they were learning. For my presentation, I decided to focus on the significance and simplicity of building such a home-school partnership at my school. I delivered my presentation at a faculty meeting in the media center of Northern Granville Middle School on Monday, November 21. There were 28 people in attendance, including teachers, guidance counselors, and administrators. My presentation was geared toward the teachers; however, it was useful to have the input of support staff as well. I was given a very limited amount of time, so I opened with my Prezi presentation (http://prezi.com/jxrguatvrbx/homeschool-partnership/) and posed two questions as my objective: how can we involve parents in students learning, and what tools do we have at our disposal that we can use to provide resources for parents? One of the points I emphasized is that many of the parents in our district do want to help, but they may not know how without some guidance from the school and teachers. I used the Fast Start reading program as an example of a successful home involvement program. My handout included design characteristics of the program that make it work. We discussed teacher websites as a potential delivery method for resources and lessons tailored for parents. Questions were raised about homes that dont have access to the Internet, so we talked about sending parent homework with the students. This segued nicely into my audience participation activity. Teachers grouped themselves by subject area in order to brainstorm potential lesson plans and activities that could be posted online or sent home for students to complete with parents. Using Fast Start as a model, lessons were supposed to include an appropriate text connection and take about 10-15 minutes to complete. I believe this activity was successful in getting teachers thinking about how they can reach out to parents to create an effective partnership. I also think it helped us address some of

the issues we have at our school about parent involvement. There were several teachers who were of the mindset that parents in this county just dont care. However, I believe they saw how, as teachers, we are in a position to take on the role of a leader in the community. Our principal pointed out that when it comes to education, were the specialists in our particular fields, so we need to take that initial step in creating that partnership. Characteristics of an Effective Home-School Partnership

Identify key goals and effective strategies Provide ongoing training, communication, and support (Most parents are not teachers!) If possible, lesson plans should include demonstrations and opportunities for discussion. Communication and support through newsletters, meetings, and personal contact is essential.

Provide authentic reading texts When parents and children read together, children grow as readers.

Make activities easy, enjoyable, and consistent At-home activities should be relatively brief (10-15 minutes). Activities should have a sense of informality and playfulness in order to foster long-term involvement.

Provide ways to document activities e.g. Log sheets that can be posted in a prominent place in the home as a reminder to do the activity

Source: Padak, N., & Rasinski, T. (2006). Home-school partnerships in literacy education: From rhetoric to reality. The Reading Teacher, 60, 292-296.

An effective home-school partnership is immensely beneficial for all involved. The learning concepts reinforced at home along with parent role modeling have the power to make an enormous impact on student achievement. Moreover, I have learned the necessity of teachers reaching out and inviting parents to take an active role in their childs learning. I received similar comments from fellow faculty members after my presentation. My goal was to begin a conversation about ways we could be reaching out to parents and to demonstrate how simple home involvement lessons can be. I created my handout to give teachers a few crucial aspects to focus on, and many used those as guidelines to create lessons in their content areas designed for parents. Several teachers admitted to making assumptions before attempting to share some of the responsibility of teaching with parents. In this way, I believe I was successful in prompting further discussion on the topic, and our principal even talked about setting a goal for the group to post an activity parents can complete with students on our teacher web pages by our next meeting. My team has been discussing a newsletter to send home with progress reports to initiate additional contact with parents as well. This was the first time I have formally presented anything to my colleagues in my two years working at Northern Granville Middle, and the positive reaction boosted my confidence in my professional role at the school.

References: Kindervater, R. (2010). Models of parent involvement, The Reading Teacher, 63, 610-612. Padak, N., & Rasinski, T. (2006). Home-school partnerships in literacy education: From rhetoric to reality. The Reading Teacher, 60, 292-296.