Building Meaningful Relationships with Families (10.6)

Decide which of the following statements differentiating communication from building relationships is CORRECT:

All parents prefer to be called by their formal titles (i.e. Dr. Jones).

Teachers display a “personal touch” in a variety of ways, not simply by smiling.

In the training, Elena Aguilar suggests that teachers state their intentions when reaching out to families. Decide which of the following statements best define this idea:

The 12-minute video described in the training was designed to provide evidence of student performance.

Decide which of the following statements about creating a policy that prohibits parents from visiting the classroom is CORRECT:

Author Steven Covey explains that when people listen, they do so to do what?

Decide which of the following statements about adopting a strengths-based approach to communication is correct:

Effective preschool education has been a national priority since the Great Depression.

The habits that children and families form during preschool quickly fade away as the child grows up.

Case Study: Kate and George are teachers at an early childcare center. Their center administrator has set the center-wide policy banning parental visits. On their first day of work, the center administrator presented the following rationale: “Kids need structure. Kids need boundaries. When parents come to visit our center, it throws off students’ routines. We created this policy to protect teachers and students from distractions; it has served us very well for many years.” Kate and George gave each other sideways glances during the administrator’s speech but thought nothing more of it. Now it is December and both Kate and George are finding that parents are hurried out of the center after drop-off and are reluctant to stay and chat at pick-up time. As both Kate and George have tried to communicate with parents about their children’s growth and progress, parents have been ambivalent and have at other times, been quite rude about how speedily they needed to go. Both Kate and George believe that planning a “parents’ day” would be beneficial for families and for students, but they are unsure of how to approach their staunch administrator about this idea. What are some of the benefits of a parents’ day? How could Kate and George uses these benefits to convince their administrator to let the event take place? As the training discussed, it is important to set limits to parental visitation, but banning such visits outright is often a foolish effort. How might Kate and George plan their “Parents’ Day” so that is doesn’t interfere with classroom learning and doesn’t serve as a “distraction?” Think of a time when you questioned the policy or practice of your early child care setting-- either as a professional or as a parent. What was the policy or procedure you questioned? What were your questions? Did you ever discuss these concerns with somebody in the school setting?