Standard 7. Family, Community, and Professional Partnerships in a Diverse Society.

Educators should view their students’ families as partners in their work. They should
understand that children’s academic success is fostered by strong communication, shared
goals, and mutually reinforcing practices, and that children’s motivation and sense of well-
being in the classroom is supported by the setting’s affirmation of the child’s home and culture.
Educators should define their professional responsibilities to include a commitment to the
continuing growth and development of their colleagues, their settings, their profession, and
their communities. They should be familiar with legal, ethical, and policy issues, and
understand the importance of advocating for children, families, and themselves in a variety of
professional, political, and policymaking contexts.

I have always believed that families and teachers need to work together in order to do

what is best for the student. I have been very fortunate enough to have a parent that is very

involved in my education. But sadly, I know not every student is that lucky. Through my classes

at Wheelock I have learned that the stronger the relationship between the teacher and the

family the better off the student is.

I first learned about the importance the family teacher relationship in Human Growth

and Development (HGD) my freshman year. In HGD we learned about Urie Bronfenbrenner,

who created. the Ecological Systems Theory to explain how the inherent qualities of a child and

his environment interact to influence how he will grow and develop. The model organizes

contexts of development into five levels of external influence. The levels are categorized from

the most intimate level to the broadest. The five levels are microsystem, mesosystem,

exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem. Both families and schools fall under the first level,

microsystem. This is because at this level this is where the student receives the biggest

influences from those around them. Since the individuals in this level interact with the student

the most. (Lightfoot, Cole, & Cole, 2013). I think more teachers and families need to be aware

of the Ecological Systems Theory, so they can understand the impact they really have on a
student. If a student sees the individuals in their life not caring or putting in effort to support

them then they will start to not care about themselves. As teachers and families, we need to be

there to support our students no matter the obstacles they might face.

One interesting way I learned how to bring families and teachers together was through

weekly letters. In class we discussed sending letters home every Friday, which is from the article

“Friday Letters: Connecting Students, Teachers, and Families through Writing,”. In this article

the teacher discusses how she has students write and bring letters home to their families every

week explaining what they did in school that week. I think it is a nice idea because the families

get to hear from their students what happened in school not just the teacher. Plus, if the

families are concerned about something they can write back to the students and/or the

teacher. I think it’s important to have the kids start off writing the letters, so they are a part of

the process as well as in the know about what is actually in the letter. This will be a lot of work,

but it is something I hope to use in my own classroom one day to help build relationships with

families. (Christensen, L. 2012).

Not only does there need to be a strong connection between teachers and families but

there also need to be strong connections between school officials. As a teacher if you are not

close with administrative as well as the other teachers then working well with others can get

complicated. Ideally families, schools, and teachers will all have cohesive relationships that

number one priority is the students. I saw great examples of this through my practicum site at

the Eliot in the North End. Not only did the third grade had at least weekly team meetings

where they made sure everyone was on the same pace as to what they were teaching. But this

was also a time that administration kept them updated on important things like when testing
was and professional development. As well as there was also a strong relationship between the

school and the families. Families came in to celebrate students work at the end of every unit as

well as the fact that the third grade sent weekly letters home. Being at the Eliot showed me the

tools to build those connections with administration and families.

Artifact 1: EDU 306 Social Justice Curriculum Project

For Intro to Elementary Education we had to complete a social justice curriculum project

of a unit we wanted to teach students related to social justice. My partner and I decided to

focus on the topic of families and teaching students to embrace their families because not

every family is the same. I believe this artifact is related to this standard because it allows

students to build a connection with their families and schools. Through these lessons students

learn all about different families and talk about their families in school. Looking back, I think

one way I would enhance this unit is by incorporating a sharing element at the end of the unit

that invited the families to come and view the work their students have created.

Artifact 2: Eliot School Team Meeting Agendas

During my full-time practicum at the Eliot in the North End we had team meetings. The

third-grade team kept track of what they discussed in this running google document. I find the

google document to be very helpful because it allows them to keep track of what they what

discussed during the meeting. If they ran out of time for a certain topic it got moved to the

following meeting. I believe this artifact represents the standard because the agenda shows

how as a third-grade team they kept each other on track. If you look at the agendas you see

that they have some rotating jobs for each meeting so not one person does the same job every
time. Also, they regularly did check ins as to where everyone was in the curriculum, so they

were able to alter the schedule if members of the team were pulling a heard or falling behind.

The Document is also shared with school administration, so they are aware of what is

happening in the third grade. I think weekly team meetings open a lot of communication

between teachers, especially if they all teach the same grade.

Artifact 3: MLE 301 First Observation Paper

For MLE 301 we were paired with a focus child at the Baldwin Early Learning Center. On

our first visit we were there to not really work with the student but to observe the environment

of the school. We explored classrooms and observed interactions with others in the building. I

believe this artifact fits this standard because in the paper we commented on the school

community and how it served their English language learners. Specifically, in my paper I talked

about a lack of print around the classrooms and hallways to help support students identify

elements in their first language and in English. Print elements, like labels, is extremely

important for English language learners because it helps them learn the words to important

things they see and use every day.

From this standard the most important thing I learned is that teachers, families, and

school officials all have to be connected. If one of these areas lack connection it can be

troublesome for the individuals involved to keep in mind what’s important and that is the

students. Moving forward I hope to find a school that communicated with each other just as

well as the example I had set for me by the Eliot. I also cannot wait to have my own classroom

and build my own connections with my future student’s families.

References
Lightfoot, C., Cole, M., & Cole, S. (2013). The development of children. (7th edition). New York,

NY: Worth.

Christensen, L. (2012). Rethinking elementary education. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools.