Family and Community Engagement

Part 1: Family and/or Community Assignment

The success or failure of a student depends not just on what goes on in classroom but
also outside of class. In particular, families and communities play an important role in the
intellectual and social development of a student. When the community, family, and schools
work together, children benefit by having greater academic success. This paper examines a
learning activity involving family members and the community, and collaboration of different
stakeholders in the activity leads to better student outcomes.

Learning objective

The proposed learning activity will involve children collaborating with their parents
to prepare social media promotional messages for a local non-governmental organization that
is focused on issues of abused children. The objective of this learning activity is to help
students learn how to prepare social media promotional messages.

Description of the learning activity

In the learning activity, the students will be asked to prepare social media promotional
messages for a local non-governmental organization that is focused on issues of children.
They will have to prepare in collaboration with their parents or other family members at
home. The promotional message can be in the form of a video or short, written statement with
pictures. The students and the parents will then present their work to officials from the local
NGO on a selected day. The officials will choose the best five promotional messages which
they will use on their social media platforms. It is hoped that the competition on will spur the
students and the parents to take the learning activity seriously. Thus, the learning activity will

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involve both the family and the community through officials of the non-governmental
organization.

Involvement of family and community in establishment of positive learning
environment

A positive learning environment is one that provides students with support,
encouragement, challenge, and guidance that are necessary for the success (Epstein, 2018).
Even though teachers play a major role in the establishment of such an environment, they are
not the only ones with the responsibility of creating a positive learning environment for
students; family and community too have a similar responsibility. Families can create a
positive learning environment through providing children with learning resources that they
need, such as books. They can also provide them with guidance and help when doing
assignments (Epstein, 2018). Additionally, they can increase chances of success of their
children by having regular communication with their children’s teachers in order to
effectively monitor the progress of their children.

Like parents, the community too has a role to play in establishing a positive learning
environment for children. One way of providing such an environment is offering children a
chance to have real-life experiences of what they learn in class. For instance, the learning
activity provided, children learn how to prepare promotional materials that are used in real-
life public relations campaigns for organizations.

Whether it is the community or parent involved, creating a positive learning
environment is collaborative work. Parents need to work with teachers to establish areas of
weakness where their efforts at home can help their child to improve. Teachers too should

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work closely with community organizations and local leadership to determine areas of
cooperation that may be beneficial to the learning of the child.

Part 2: Reflection

Communication methods with stakeholders

There are various means that teachers can use to communicate with parents,
community members, and other stakeholders. They include electronic mails, school boards,
television, radio, social media, telephone calls, in-person communication, and text messaging.
Of these methods, the most effective ones are electronic mails, telephone calls, text
messaging, and in-person communication. Text messaging and telephone calls are
instantaneous and private. While not instantaneous as telephone calls and text messaging,
electronic mail allows for more detailed communication as one can attach other documents in
the communication. In-person communications are also encouraged as they allow for greater
connection between the teacher and the parent/community stakeholders (Adams, Harris, &
Jones, 2018).

Challenges teachers face when creating home learning activities

There are various challenges that teachers face when preparing learning activities to
be done at home. One of these challenges is balancing diverse needs of children (Hornby &
Blackwell 2018). For instance, some children come from families where the language spoken
at home is different from the one that is spoken at school. Such a problem can make it
difficult for the teacher to choose an appropriate learning activity to be done at home.
Another challenge is time. Some parents may have very little time to work with their children
at home because of busy schedules. Thus, teachers have to come up with a learning activity

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that is neither too time-consuming nor too easy and short in order to offer children adequate
challenge.

Importance of engaging family and community in student education

Involvement of family and community in a student’s education is associated with
better academic performance of the student (Đurišic & Bunijevac, 2017). Additionally, the
support of family members and the community gives the students more confidence not just in
their academic-related work but also in other aspects of their life (Đurišić & Bunijevac,
2017). Community involvement in student education also provides students with valuable
real-experiences of what they learn in class.

Dealing with concerns of parents

Parents regularly raise issues or concerns about the learning of their children. Any
time such issues are raised, it is important for the teacher to have direct communication with
the parent either in person or through a telephone call. The teacher should listen to the
concerns of the parent and maintain a friendly and respectful demeanor even when they get
irritated (Adams, Harris, & Jones, 2018). The responses they provide should thoughtful,
direct, and honest.

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References

Adams, D., Harris, A., & Jones, M. S. (2018). Teacher-parent collaboration for an inclusive
classroom: Success for every child. MOJES: Malaysian Online Journal of
Educational Sciences, 4(3), 58-72.

Đurišić, M., & Bunijevac, M. (2017). Parental involvement as an important factor for
successful education. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 7(3), 137-153.

Epstein, J. L. (2018). School, family, and community partnerships in teachers’ professional
work. Journal of Education for Teaching, 44(3), 397-406.

Hornby, G., & Blackwell, I. (2018). Barriers to parental involvement in education: an
update. Educational review, 70(1), 109-119.