Comenius-Project 134018-LLP-1-2007-1-CY-COMENIUS-CMP

Teacher In-Service Training for Roma Inclusion (INSETRom)

Curriculum

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A.GENERAL OUTLINE

1. Module9:European University-Cyprus (Eleni Roussounidou, Chrystalla Kalogirou, Stavroula Philippou, Loizos Symeou & Yiasemina Karagiorgi) /

Teacher-Parent Communication and Parental Involvement

2. Session Title and Order / Session I: Lifting the Barriers
Session II: Organising the Communication Context
Session III: Communication Skills
3. Duration of session: / 3 x 2 hour sessions
4. Goals (please outline the general goals of the session): / The module aimsat enhancing teachers’ ability to enhance Roma parental involvement in school and to prepare and organise the context for a conference or meeting with Roma parents and to effectively use communication skills when they meet Roma family members.
Session 1 aims to enable teachers to effectively collaborate with their Roma-pupils’ parents
Session 2 aims to train teachers in organising a safe greeting context for Roma parents as such that:
-would promote neutrality
-assure confidentiality
-encourage communication
Session 3 aims at enabling teachers to:
-be able to define communication
-understand the effects of the practice of communication skills on the teaching process
-communicate effectively with parents
- learn how to listen actively
-use the communication skills that constitute attentive/active listening
- enhance empathic understanding
5. Teaching arrangementsforplace (e.g. Circle, Seats in Line, Groups etc.) / The teaching methodology will be constituted by both a theoretical and an interactive component. A spacious room with teaching facilities and a sitting arrangement in a circle will be needed for the execution of all three sessions.
6. Reading materials (such as book chapters, journal articles, newspaper articles etc. for reading prior or during the session) / 3 handout presentations(accompanying this module).
7. Structure of module and session (please specify Major activities and time in parenthesis e.g. Introduction (10 minutes) / Session I: Lifting the Barriers (120 minutes)
Introductions and Expectations: (15 minutes)
Activity 1: Theoretical component: (35 minutes)
-The different ways of involving parents in their children’s education
-What the effects of active parental involvement are
-Theoretical approaches of School-Family relationships
-The factors affecting the School-Family relationship in general and as it applies to the case of Roma
-What is the purpose of School-Family communication
-Suggestions for oral communication and how it could be applied to Roma culture
-What the end effects of School-Family communication are
Activity 2: “Trying to lift the Barriers” (35 minutes)
Activity 3: “Proposals of Good Practice” (25 minutes)
Closure-Evaluation: (10 minutes)
Session II: Organising the Communication Context (120 minutes)
Expectations: (10 minutes)
Activity 1: “My usual practice” (15 minutes)
Activity 2: Theoretical component: (35 minutes)
-The importance of non-verbal communication
-What constitutes non-verbal communication
-How we organise a setting to promote communication
-Reading nonverbal communication cues
Activity 3: “The use of meaningful non-verbal communication” (25 minutes)
Activity 4: “Organising my context” (25 minutes)
Closure-Evaluation: (10 minutes)
Session III: Communication Skills (120 minutes)
Expectations: (10 minutes)
Activity 1: “An experience” (15 minutes)
Activity 2: Theoretical component: (35 minutes)
-defining communication and indicating the effects of its good practice on the teaching process
-distinction between the use of communication skills and that of counselling skills
-factors underlying an effective teacher-parent communication before and during an interview
-factors that facilitate and impede an interview with a Roma parent
-steps that could be followed in successfully accomplishing an interview
-what is the active/attentive listening comprised of and what it takes to fulfil it
-the use of closed and open-ended questions, how the teacher could paraphrase the Roma parent, the use of verbal and non-verbal prompts to encourage parents expression of thoughts and feelings, how to listen for and reflect feelings, how empathic understanding is achieved and how a session might come to closure or/and opening by the use of summarising of what was told and agreed by the two parties
Activity 3: “Attentive Listening” (25 minutes)
Activity 4: “Executing a Teacher-Roma Parent meeting” (25 minutes)
Closure-Evaluation: (10 minutes)

B.ANALYTIC DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES (OUTLINED IN A6 ABOVE)

SESSION 1

/ Objectives: / Teaching process: / Teaching material: (e.g. Leaflets, Worksheets, Photos, etc) / Evaluation: (if appropriate)
Introductions and Expectations:
(15 minutes) / The introduction is aiming at enabling the participants to get to know each other and express to the presenters their expectations from the session / Participants will be asked to introduce each other to the person sitting next to them. Following this, each of them will introduce his/her partner to the rest of the group. / The Introduction will be successful if the “ice-breaking” is achieved and everyone of the participants feel as being part of a safe learning environment
Activity 1: Theoretical component:
(35 minutes) / This activity aims at enabling participants to understand the theory behind the effectiveness of School-Family communication and how this may apply to Roma culture. / The presenters present information with regards to:
-The different ways of involving parents in their children’s education
-What the effects of active parental involvement are
-Theoretical approaches of School-Family relationships
-The factors affecting the School-Family relationship in general and as it applies to the Roma culture
-What the purposes of School-Family communication are
-Suggestions for oral communication and how it could be applied to Roma culture
-What the end effects of School- Family communication are / Handouts of the presentation, reading list. / Participants by the end of Activity 1 will be able to implement Activity 2.
Activity 2: “Trying to lift the Barriers”
(35 minutes) / The aim of this activity is to help participants to plan ahead, based on the culture of Roma parents, ways of lifting the barriers between School and Family / This activity will be approached by enabling the participants to work in small groups and suggest possible ways of communicating information, as well as getting the Roma parents involved in their children’s education / Flip-charts and writing material will be provided in order to enable each group to present their suggestions / Participants by the end of Activity 2 will be able to implement Activity 3.
Activity 3: “Proposals of Good Practice”
(25 minutes) / The aim of this activity is to give the opportunity to each group of participants to present their proposals of possible ways to communicate with and involve the Roma parents to their children’s education / Participants will present a plan of possible ways to communicate with and involve the Roma parents to their children’s education based on their experiences of working with the Roma culture and by using the information taught. / Success of the activity will be indicated by the extent to which the participants will appropriately use their knowledge and experience from Roma culture and the material taught in order to design a possible intervention
Closing-Evaluation: (10 minutes) / The aim of this activity is to provide the presenters with feedback as to what has been successful and what not during the session. / Participants are asked to give to presenters and colleagues feedback from the session experience. / The closure phase of Session I will be considered successful if substantial feedback for the content and the process of the session is given by most of the trainees.

SESSION 2

/ Objectives: / Teaching process: / Teaching material: (eg. Leaflets, Worksheets, Photos, etc) / Evaluation: (if appropriate)

Introduction

(10 minutes) / The introduction is aiming at summarising material from Session I and at allowing the participants to express their expectations from the session / Summarising Session I will be realised by the use of The Socratic method. Expectations from Session II will be expressed by trainees in a free discussion. / By the end of the introductory part of this session the participants should express expectations based on the knowledge gained from Session I.
Activity 1: “My usual practice”
(15 minutes) / This activity aims at :
-enabling participants to understand and realise what facilitates and what impedes teacher-parent communication in their usual practice / Participants are asked to interact between each other and exchange information on their usual practice during meetings with parents, starting from the invitation to the actual meeting. They are further asked to role-play in order to share with and demonstrate to their colleagues the arrangement of the greeting context of an actual experience with a parent. / Information from their every day experience will be exchanged. / By the end of Activity 1 participants should be able to identify and enact the pros and cons of their encounters with parents. They will further be able to discuss practices that their colleagues use and which either facilitate or impede communication.
Activity 2: Theoretical component
(35 minutes) / The aim of this activity is to support participants in understanding the theoretical underpinnings of non-verbal communication skills as well as the importance of the contextual arrangement in the promotion of communication. / The presenters present information with regards to:
- The importance of non-verbal communication
- What constitutes non-verbal communication
-How we organise a setting to promote communication
-Reading non-verbal
communication cues / Handouts of the presentation, reading list. Video snapshots, showing the contextual arrangement during professional meetings in helping professions. / Participants by the end of Activity 2 will be able to theoretically argue a case about the purpose of using meaningful non-verbal communication during a teacher-parent meeting and the meaning of specifically arranging the greeting context.
Activity 3:
“The use of meaningful non-verbal communication”
(25 minutes) / The aim of this activity is to enable teachers to work interactively in order to use the non-verbal communication cues learned in Activity 2. / Trainees are asked to use the non-verbal cues during a “teacher-parent meeting” playin order to exchange the experience of the impact of meaningful non-verbal communication has on both the parent and the teacher. This activity will also enable them to compare and find the differences of the impact that their usual practice, as demonstrated in Activity 1, had on both the parent and the teacher. / Participants will be producing scenarios from their every day experiences in schools with parents in order to carry out the role-play activity. / By the end of Activity 3 the teachers should be able to use and understand the reason for using the non-verbal cues to facilitate communication in the meetings.

Activity 4

“Organising my context”
(25 minutes) / The aim of this activity is to help the participant to plan and organise the greeting context well before a Roma parent visits the school. / Participants will work in groups and each group will produce and present to the rest a proposal of good practice. / The trainees in order to decide on the proposal they have to provide to each other information from their everyday practice and contexts. Given their realities in schools, the proposal will be composed. / Success of the Activity will be based on the production of well-organised proposals based on the session’s material as well as the school’s real situations.

Closing-Evaluation

(10 minutes) / The aim of this activity is to provide the presenters with feedback as what has been successful and what not during the session, in order to consider it in the next session / Participants are asked to give to presenters and colleagues feedback from the session experience. / The closure phase of Session I will be considered successful if substantial feedback for the content and the process of the session is given by most of the trainees.

SESSION 3

/ Objectives: / Teaching process: / Teaching material: (e.g. Leaflets, Worksheets, Photos, etc) / Evaluation: (if appropriate)

Introduction

(10 minutes) / The introduction is aiming at summarising material from Session II and at letting the participants to express their expectations from the session / Summarising Session II will be realised by the use of The Socratic method. Expectations from Session II will be expressed by trainees in a free discussion. / By the end of the introductory part of this session the participants should express expectations based on the knowledge gained from Sessions I and II.
Activity 1: “An experience”
(15 minutes) / This activity aims at :
-enabling participants to share information about their every day practice
-helping participants to realise what facilitates and impedes teacher-parent communication in their usual practice / Participants are asked to recall in detail a meeting they have recently had with a parent and write it down. They will further be asked to role-play and use the actual words used during the meeting by both the teacher and the parent. Participants are further asked to give feedback to each other of what went well or wrong to this meeting.
Activity 2: Theoretical component
(35 minutes) / The aim of this activity is to support participants in understanding the theoretical underpinnings of the Attentive Listening skills / This activity will be approached by:
-defining communication and indicating the effects of its good practice on the teaching process
-distinction between the use of communication skills and that of counselling skills
-factors underlying an effective teacher-parent communication before and during the application of an interview
-factors that facilitate and impede an interview
-steps that could be followed in successfully accomplishing an interview
-what is the active/attentive listening comprised of and what it takes to fulfil it
-the use of closed and open-ended questions, how the teacher could paraphrase the Roma parent, the use of verbal and non-verbal prompts to encourage parents’ expression of thoughts and feelings, how to listen for and reflect feelings, how the empathetic understanding is achieved and how a session might come to closure or/and opening by the use of summarising what was told and agreed by the twoparties
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-and feelings, how to listen for and reflect feelings, how the empathic understanding is achieved and how a session might come to closure or/and opening by the use of summarising what was told and agreed by the two parties / Handouts of the presentation with aspects of the theoretical component will be distributed to trainees. / Participants by the end of Activity 2 will be able to use theoretical arguments to justify and explain the use of the Attentive Listening skills during the teacher-parent meeting.
Activity 3: “Attentive Listening”
(25 minutes) / The aim of this activity is to put into practice the theoretical component of the session. / Participants will use a scenario from their every day practice for role-play in order to use each communication skill after it is presented. / Success of the activity will be indicated by the extent to which the participants will appropriately use each of the skills during role-play.
Activity 4: “Executing a Teacher-Parent meeting”
(25 minutes) / This activity aims at supporting participants to use the material taught in Session I and II in order to organise and mobilise the communication skills to a meeting with parents. / Participants will recall a scenario from their every day practice and they will be asked to use what they have learned from Session I and II in order to execute a Teacher-Parent meeting from the beginning to the end. / The appropriateness of use of each learned skill and the good organisation of the context for a Teacher-Parent meeting will define the success of the activity.

Closing-Evaluation

(10 minutes) / The aim of this activity is to provide the presenters with feedback as what has been successful and what not during the session. / Participants are asked to give to presenters and colleagues feedback from the session experience. / The closure phase of Session II will be considered successful if substantial feedback for the content and the process of the session is given by most of the trainees.