What I Learned

Before taking this class I was a very strong believer in family being the most important influence on children's lives. Throughout the class, I really cultivated that belief. I have spent alot of time on the idea that education should beconcentrated on families - when it is too often used as a tool to separate children from their families.
Too often I hear educators making negative comments about families and listing reasons why they cannot better connect to families. Instead, the focus of education needs to be on families. If parents are involved - kids will be successful. This is the way to ensure school reform.
Going forward - my mission will be to educate and include the parents, grandparents, siblings etc. of children in my care. I am going on a basic belief that families love their children and want to be involved - but are, in many cases, left feeling powerless and unneeded when it comes to schooling. I believe parents should be made to feel empowered about their abilities to care for and educate their children - They should be made to feel that they are the most important factor in their children's success (because they are), and children should feel empowered to create partnerships with families rather than feel that they are on their own and solely accountable for childrens lack of success.
I believe that the first step in including families is meeting families where they are - in their homes. A couple of good guides for how to conduct home visits can be found at the following sites:

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Guide_to_Home_Visits_44583_7.

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