Family Involvement in a Child’s Learning Process

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Table of Contents

Issues and Problem
Classroom Management
Curriculum, Assessment and Pedagogy
Assessment and Scaffolding
Specific Strategies
Outer Issue
References

Issues and Problem

The issue of education and diversity has become an issue of focus in contemporary society. Family involvement in a child’s learning process has been found to yield a positive impact, as discussed in this paper. A reference to the case study, Tim’s mother manages to attend school while bringing her children there but does not have any form of engagement with the teachers. There is a presumption that the family micro-system is not conducive because Tim always arrives at school late and always appears worn out. Also, the books he takes home to read usually come back damaged. Tim does not engage in local home activities such as local sporting clubs, yet he enjoys sport at school. He has a good relationship with his peers. Basing on this case study, the main problem with Tim is stemming from his family. Whereas he is comfortable in school, the same does not seem to stand true about his home micro-system. The fact that there is no interaction between his family and school shows there is an issue with his mesosystem, as indicated in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological models of human development (Bronfenbrenner, 2004). Bronfenbrenner states that the impact of the family and school processes is a success compared to those as a result of socioeconomic status or race. Therefore, in the case of Tim, when proper strategies are put in place to ensure family engagement and school processes are made more accommodating, better outcomes will be achieved.

Classroom Management

As a means towards achievement and acceptance of cultural diversity within the class, I will alter the sitting arrangement. Students from different racial and economic backgrounds will be put together; that is, no two desk mates will have the same social or ethnic orientation. The feeling of belonging to a low socioeconomic class is an issue to Tim. Tim precludes his mother from engaging in the school’s activities due to her low academic achievement. I intend to create harmony by ensuring that students of different social backgrounds sit together as desk mates. In the computer age, we are in today, a traditional mode of teaching and a routine in teaching is not associated with success (Knapp, Shields & Turnbull, 1995). Thompson and Fleming (2003) indicated in a study that students, who were able to use computers at home and school achieved greater scores in science compared to those who only got the chance to use the computer only at school. I may not have the power to install computers in the class, but I will make the class interesting by using radio lessons and videos. Learning through illustration, especially technology-related, is associated with better achievement (Baker, 2009). The videos and radio lessons will be about storytelling and pronunciation of words. This is meant to help the students learn about sentence structure and vocabulary use as well as spelling because the videos will have written words streaming at the bottom of the screen, or as the main centre of focus.

Other than a class arrangement characterized by intermixing, I will ask students to hand in monthly projects concerning what they read and concerning their cultural backgrounds and experiences. The projects will be displayed in the class. These projects will be the child’s initiative: it will stem from their imagination. As a teacher, I will only trigger their initiative through the use of samples from previous related works. The samples, which are in pictorial form, will guide the students on what to think. I will provide the students withdrawing books, pencils and colouring material. These open-ended projects aim to give liberty to the children so that they can think outside the classroom set-up and work on their artistic skills. This will be beneficial for Tim because he is a great artist. The projects are also meant to involve their families because the children might get ideas on what to draw, from their parents and siblings. This becomes very important for the children because the time spent with their families on their learning is very valuable.

I will help the students understand that the different projects they do are a show that we are all different and need to appreciate one another. The ability of each student is not determined by their background, just the same way no one student chooses his or her background. This will take place in the form of class reflection, which will be a time for bonding and trying to understand one another. This is because I second Dewey’s view (cited in Chafel, 1997) that a school should play its role of nurturing the child while inculcating a spirit of community, which in this case is characterized by cultural diversity.

I should assess myself to determine the diverse needs of my students (Bromley, 1998). I should examine my teaching style and evaluate its effectiveness and efficiency concerning the educational needs of my students. Currently, I utilize interaction and encourage students to read texts for enjoyment to help them get a glimpse of the text structure, flow of ideas, vocabulary and different levels of creativity. Frequent continued reading will help the students gain a deeper understanding into language, literacy and literature as per the Australian curriculum for year 5 (ACARA, n. d.). To help Tim, I will make a home visit and talk with his mother about how she could help Tim in his reading. This is likely to help him deal with his comprehension issues. According to Jeynes (2005), parental involvement in the learning process of their children is very beneficial. This is especially true if the involvement entails spending a lot of time reading and conversing with the child. This kind of involvement will help Tim to improve in his reading of comprehensions and word building. My role as a teacher should be to mould the students without any discrimination. This is meant to elevate the esteem and morale of the students towards achieving better grades. The curriculum will be modified to include a special day aimed to create awareness and mobilize resources to assist students who are economically disadvantaged. I intend to name the day “Education to Every Child”. The campaign is meant to bring communities, the school, students and parents together to achieve a great cause of ensuring every child enjoys education without having to worry about his or her socioeconomic background.

Curriculum, Assessment and Pedagogy

Tim’s English needs are spelling, word-building and comprehension. Tim’s artistic skills will help him deal with his spelling and comprehension issues. This is how it will help. I will use his talent through his art projects to help him work on spelling and word building. For example, if it is a drawing, I will ask him to come up with words that will define what he has drawn and this way, he can learn to use different words by internalizing their meaning, of which he cannot do without knowing their correct spelling. The words he will come up with to describe his drawing will be used to generate other words. For example, if he says the drawing is beautiful, I will ask him to mention and spell other words that stem from beautiful like beautifully, beauties, beauty, beautify. Also, the use of these open-ended projects can help the students appreciate each other’s abilities in spite of their shortcomings (low socioeconomic status and minor ethnic groups). I will ask them the students to form groups, think of any word and from that single word, develop as many words as possible. Assessment of this exercise will be done through class presentations so that the other students can learn through interacting with their peers.

Tim’s mathematical issues include dealing with fractions/decimals and mathematics involving time. The illustration will be used to address these problems (discussed in detail later under maths strategies). Mathematics is a practical subject and will require cooperative learning groups. Different students are good at different areas in Mathematics, hence coming together for shared inquiry and discovery is beneficial in solving problems and completing tasks (Winifred, 2001). It is easier for a child to learn from his or her peer than from a teacher because they develop a language that they can understand. To reinforce this habit, I modified the day diary approach by Hayes, Johnston & King (2009). Each group would choose different individuals (at varying times), who would present the activities of their discussions to the teacher.

Because Tim does not have books from which he can do revision and practice, the school can accommodate him and students like him. According to the NSW Department of Education and Training (2005), there is a positive connection between home educational books and student performance. During those times when students like Tim are not doing anything at home and feel the need to study, the school is the best alternative. They will have access to the books they need to study. Also, money obtained from campaign activities to help needy students will be used to get him a small clock, which is meant to guide him as he does his mathematics about time.

Students will learn more from one another, hence creating study groups marked by cultural diversity is very important in bringing about positive learning outcomes. In the case of Tim’s poor spelling ability, practice is what is needed, and a home environment that will reinforce this. The reciprocal questioning strategy by Leu & Kinzer (1999) would be ideal in this case because it entails shared reading, discussion and questioning. To reinforce this, group work assignment should be used as an evaluation tool in every subject. Each group will consist of students of different ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Every group member should have an equal chance of presenting the work of the group to others in the class. The aim is to promote appreciation of different cultures and individuals despite where they come from.

Assessment and Scaffolding

Tim’s is lacking in creativity and depth. The think-aloud method has been proposed by Winifred (2001) as an effective strategy that tries to reach out to the students’ thought processes by helping them gain the skill of identifying gaps in a text. Tim loves to read a lot, and this strength can be used to talk through his thought processes. When Tim requests for some reading materials the next time, I will take this opportunity to guide him through the reading. To achieve this, I will use a book that I am very familiar with. I will ask him to read in chunks of chapters. He will develop his objectives in every chapter, stating why he wishes to read the text. This will help him to have a goal: to get a glimpse of the story, to list down all those words that pique his interest and try to learn more about them or to read fluently without difficulties. Tim’s mother will also help, as described earlier on. I will help Tim select a book that is simple and easy to understand, and I will only give him a more advanced book once I realize that his language, literature and literacy levels are improving.

Specific Strategies

English strategies

Word lists

Tim has a problem with word building; he is not able to change the structure of different words to suit particular contexts. To help him with this, I will prepare word lists with him using different coloured papers (NSW Department of Education and Training, 1998). The difference in colour is to denote differences in word building. The word lists will be different depending on the different parts of speech like adjectives, nouns, verbs and adverbs. Also, the word lists will be prepared based on different contexts: presents verses past, singular versus plural, related words and synonyms. For example in the case of the past, some words will require an addition of the suffixed, others will require a doubling of the final consonant before adding –ed, while others will change their morphemic structure like shrunk. Therefore, depending on this, Tim and I will create different word lists, which he will have to reflect on further by himself or with the help of his family to come up with sentences of the different words in the different word lists. Also, I will ask him to prepare such word lists after reading every chapter of each storybook he reads. This will help him get exposure to the different words in the vocabulary word and how to use them. Also, it will be like using the same bait to catch two mice because as he builds these words, he will also get to learn their spellings (Tim’s other linguistic problem).

Making inferences

This will help Tim deal with his comprehension strategies. Tim loves reading a lot, but he must develop a learning approach. I will develop a set of questions for Tim so that he can conclude the text based on these questions (Texas Education Agency, 2013). His daily life and background experiences will be of importance in this context. Also, during readings in class, I will ask the students to share their life experiences concerning the readings. The sharing of experiences in class and Tim’s own experiences will help him to have a better comprehension of texts and make inferences from them.

Maths Strategies

Illustrative Strategy

As earlier mentioned, the use of practical illustration is associated with great impact on the learning process. Tim has problems solving decimal questions. Assuming there is a question: 0.1 + 0.001 + 1? I will use practical illustrations to solve the question.

To begin with, I will take three rods: one labelled in tenths, another in thousandths and another in whole numbers. I will break down the question and ask him if I add two tenths, what is the likely answer about decimal places? We will answer this practically using the tenths’ rod. Afterwards, I will introduce the thousandths’ rod and then use both the thousandths’ and tenths’ rods to demonstrate how the decimal places of the thousandths influence the addition of tenths and thousandths. This will be reinforced by the concept of aligning the decimal points along the same line as the in the example given below (BBC, 2013). After the arrangement of numbers as guided by the decimal point is clear, Tim and I will proceed to add the numbers in the usual way, which entails carrying forward of numbers where necessary.

Also, using his personal experiences will help reinforce his learning and thinking because they are illustrative (Roes, Smith & Burns, 2011). For example, I will ask him to make use of his daily routines to understand the concept of time. When he leaves his house, how long does he take to reach school? If he had therefore left at a certain time, at what time will he be arriving at school?

Study Groups

Students derive pleasure discussing with one another, and as earlier discussed, they are effective in learning (ACARA, n. d.). These groups help students understand concepts better. I will develop study groups so that the students can discuss and practice more on how to add and subtract mathematical problems of decimals and time.

Outer Issue

Ridge (2002) shows that economic disadvantage and social exclusion are positively correlated. Tim recesses break despite being popular among his peers. Also, he does not engage in local sporting activities in his neighbourhood. Skattebol, Saunders, Redmond, Bedford & Cass (2012) indicate that low socioeconomic status does not prevail alone but is accompanied by an array of issues like unsafe neighbourhoods and out-of-school activities. Tim arrived at school late and tired, an indicator that he may be engaging in out-of-school activities. A campaign activity “Education to Every Child” meant to assist needy students will help to buy school uniform and books for Tim as a way of improving his self-image. This way, he can become more social and participate in school activities like sports if the unsafe neighbourhood is the reason why he does not take part in local sports activities. However, if the reason is social, motivation to take part in school sports activities might lead to his change in attitude and perception, hence have the will to engage in local sports activities as well.

References

ACARA. (n. d.). Australian curriculum: year 5. Web.

Baker, R. (2009). Pedagogies and Digital Content in the Australian School Sector. Web.

BBC. (2013). Adding and subtracting time. Web.

Bromley, K. D. (1998). Language art: Exploring connections. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn &Bacon.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (2004). Making Human Beings Human: Bioecological Perspectives on Human Development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Chafel, J. (1997). Schooling, the Hidden Curriculum, and Children’s Conceptions of Poverty. University of Michigan: Society for research in child Development.

Hayes, D., Johnston, K., & King, A. (2009). Creating enabling classroom practices in high poverty contexts: the disruptive possibilities of looking in classrooms. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 17 (3), 251-264.

Knapp, M., Shields, P., & Turnbull, B. (1995). Academic challenge in high poverty classrooms. Phi Delta Kappan, 76, 770–6.

Jeynes, W. H. (2005). Parental involvement and student achievement: A meta-analysis. Web.

Leu, D. J., & Kinzer, C. K. (1999). Effective literacy instruction. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Merrill.

NSW Department of Education and Training. (2005). Review of the Recent Literature Socio-economic Status and Learning. Gladesville: Erebus International.

NSW Department of Education and Training. (1998). Teaching spelling K-6. Web.

Ridge, T. (2002). Childhood Poverty and Social Exclusion: From a Child’s Perspective. Bristol: Policy Press.

Roe, A., Smith, S., & Burns. (2011). Teaching Reading in Today’s Elementary Schools (11^th ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing.

Skattebol, J., Saunders, P., Redmond, G., Bedford, M., & Cass, B. (2012). Making a difference: building on young people’s experiences of economic adversity. University of New South Wales: Social Policy Research Center.

Texas Education Agency. (2013). Key Comprehensive Strategies to Teach. Web.

Thompson, S., & Fleming, N. (2003). Summing it up: Mathematics achievement in Australian schools in TIMSS 2002 (TIMSS Australia Monograph no. 6). ACER: Camberwell, Vic.

Winifred, M. (2001). Creating culturally responsive, inclusive classrooms. Teaching Exceptional Children, 33 (4), 4-10.

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