Families Unit. Lesson 1. Home Environment. Guided Notes Packet

ET-ETP-12 Identify practices to promote active parental / community involvement in the school setting.

12.2 Describe the relationship between parental involvement and effective learning.

Families Unit. Lesson 1. Home Environment. Guided Notes Packet.

EQ: What impact do parents and the home environment have on the school success of children?

UrieBronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory of Development (fill in as you watch the video)

1.The Micro System

2.The Mesosystem

3.The Exosystem

4.The Macrosystem

5.The Chronosystem

Social Challenges Come to School

The reality of the family today: Only _____ of children live in 2-parent families.

Research shows that children of single-parent families are more likely to be expelled/suspended from school and less likely to ______.

Families are getting more ______.

______Families: family lifestyles other than a married male and female living with their children.

What types of alternative families can you list?

______Kids: Coined to describe children who carry a key on a cord or chain around their necks to unlock their home door.

•Two-thirds of today’s families have parents ______outside the home.

•There are _____ million latchkey kids in the U.S. today, and they are found in ______racial and *socioeconomic groups.

•The more ______the parents, the more likely they are to have latchkey children.

•Average latchkey kid is left alone ______hours a day with most of that time spent playing video games or watching TV.

•Unsupervised children are more likely to be depressed, smoke cigarettes, experiment with drugs, alcohol and sex. They are also more likely to be victims of crimes.

*A person's position in society as determined by income, wealth, occupation, education, place of residence, and other factors Divorce

Creates financial worries

Children living only with mothers, 5x more likely to live in poverty

Can increase a child’s anxiety

Increases depression and behavior problems in some children

Will go through a grieving period but can overcome the effects

Especially important for both parents to be involved in child’s life

Ways a teacher can help students dealing with divorce:

1.______: provide your students with opportunities to share their feelings.

2.______:encourage the student to share their feelings. If they like to do so in private, be caring and accepting of their views and thoughts. If a student projects feelings like anger, rejection, sadness and worthlessness, encourage them to seek counseling.

3.______: try keeping both parents in the loop over your student's emotional and educational progress. If the non-custodial parent shows an interest in their child's development, cooperate with them.

4.______: because of the divorce, the child has been on an emotional rollercoaster. This can be very tiring and stressful for adults, let alone the children. As a teacher, you need to provide the child some structure and stability by ensuring that schedules are followed and class discipline is maintained at all times.

5.______:divorce is not an excuse for irresponsible behavior. If given too much of a free hand, students can learn to be manipulative. Set limits for the extent to which you can take their bad behavior.

In your groups, based on your own experience or the experience of friends, share three more ways teachers can help students dealing with divorce.

1.

2.

3.

Abuse

How it may affect a child in the classroom:

.

•physical complaints (headaches, stomachaches)

•tiredness

•constant worry about possible danger and/or the safety of loved ones

•sadness and/or withdrawal from others and activities

•low self-esteem and lack of confidence, especially for trying new things (including academic tasks)

•difficulty paying attention in class, concentrating on work and learning new information

•outbursts of anger directed toward teachers, peers or self

•bullying and/or aggression directed toward peers in and/or out of the classroom

•stereotyped beliefs about males as aggressors and females as victims

Source: Children Exposed to Domestic Violence: A Teacher’s Handbook to Increase Understanding and Improve Community Responses

With your group, read pp. 8 and 9 of the Walton County Child Abuse Protocol

Document.

What is the #1 responsibility of a teacher who suspects abuse of any kind?

1.List at least 6 people who are considered mandatory reporters:

2.An oral report of suspicion of abuse must be made within what time frame?

3.On page 9, who is responsible for receiving reports of abuse?

Now read pp. 13-14 of Children Exposed to Domestic Violence: A Teacher’s Handbook to Increase Understanding and Improve Community Responses -us.PDF

List examples of the six strategies that teachers can use to help students exposed to violence at home.

1.Create a safe and low-stress environment that promotes respect toward others.

2.Provide positive experiences and activities to promote security, self-esteem and learning.

3.Let students know what to expect.

4.Increase positive connections to school.

5.Use a variety of teaching strategies.

6.Be aware that some activities or situations may remind students of troubling events associated with the violence in their homes.

Poverty:

In your groups, study the following charts related to poverty. Write by each one how it could affect a child’s schooling.

CHILDREN IN POVERTY AND BOOKS AND SOCIOECONOMIC CLASS

WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

______Children in poverty may not have basic necessities.

More likely to:

______of school

Be involved in ______

Experience sex too early

Experiment with ______

Disadvantages of children of poverty:

•Receive less adult attention

•Have fewer books to read

•Are not read to as often

•Not exposed to complex language or large vocabularies

•Not exposed to cultural aspects

•Higher crime neighborhoods Note: There are always exceptions.

Research Shirley Brice found:

•Verbal interactions vary according to ______level

•Lower-class families interacted ______times than middle-class families Purpose for interactions in lower-class families is information-driven  Middle-class families asked personal questions or read together.

Culture of Poverty: Describes how people in poverty often have their own behavioral norms, communication skills, and even ways of viewing the world.

Ruby Payne’s work:

Driving forces for middle-class: Achievement and career

Driving forces for lower-class:

Safety/survival

Entertainment

Relationships

Soft bias involves teachers dropping their academic expectations for children from poverty.

McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Actwas passed by Congress in 1987 to provide the homeless with emergency food services, adult literacy programs, access to schooling, job training, and other assistance. Has been amended to facilitate the public education of homeless children.

According to the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act 1987, homelessness is defined:

•Sharing housing due to ______(doubling up)

•Living in motels, hotels, trailer/camping parks

•Living in ______shelters

•Living in transitional shelters

•Abandoned in ______

•Awaiting foster care placement

•Sleeping in public places, cars, parks, abandoned buildings

What teachers need to know about the education of homeless children:

•No one needs a permanent address to enroll a child in school.

•The child may remain at the same school he or she attended before becoming homeless or may enroll at the school serving the attendance area where he or she is receiving temporary shelter.

•The homeless child cannot be denied school enrollment just because school records or other enrollment documentation are not immediately available.

•The child has the right to participate in all extracurricular activities and all federal, state, or local programs for which the child is eligible, including food programs, before/after school programs, and vocational education, Title I, and other gifted/talented/exceptional programs.

•The child cannot be isolated or separated from mainstream school environment solely due to homelessness.

•Illegal immigrant children, who are often homeless, have the right to attend public school. (Plyler vs. Doe)

In your groups, revisit the essential question for this lesson, What impact do parents and the home environment have on the school success of children? Create a product that displays your ideas/responses to this question.