Chapter 5: Select Materials for Presentations and Workshops
This chapter includes two sections:
-
Presentations and Handouts. This section provides charts, diagrams, and summaries of information for the One-Day Team-Training Workshop outlined in Chapter 4.
-
Group Activities for Workshops. This section provides the hand-on activities to ensure that workshop attendees discuss and understand each topic and can apply the information to their own school(s).
All information and activities in Chapter 5 are on the Handbook CD for easy printing for use in a workshop or in other presentations on family and community engagement. Leaders may select among the resources to match their own workshop agenda, time available, and group needs.
The CD includes the following information and tools from Chapter 5.
Presentations and Handouts
PowerPoint Presentation: One-Day Team Training Workshop
CD ONLY
Developing a Program of School, Family, and Community Partnerships to Increase Student Success: A Research-Based Approach. One-Day Workshop for Schools’ Action Teams for Partnerships. This workshop enables leaders for partnerships to prepare school-based teams to understand the key components of research- based programs of family and community engagement. The content covers the framework of six types of involvement, meeting challenges to reach all families, implementing activities to produce results for students, and forming a well-functioning team. After each segment of the workshop, workshop attendees complete an activity and discussion at their tables with a partner or with their teams, as explained in Chapter 4. The activities enable attendees to process the information presented by the workshop leader and apply ideas and strategies to their own schools.
All handouts and activities for the One-Day Team Training Workshop, including Spanish translations of some team activities, are on the Handbook CD. They are organized to match the chapter in the Handbook where they appear.
School teams leave the workshop with a draft One-Year Action Plan for Partnerships with activities linked to their own School Improvement Plans to ensure a welcoming school climate and to improve student achieve- ment and behavior.
Use this PowerPoint presentation (in full or in part) with the outline and presentation notes in Chapter 4.
Please note the following about the workshop agenda and the PowerPoint slides:
-
The workshop warm-up activity Discussion Dice (p. 174) is not identified on the PowerPoint slides. Workshop leaders may select this or a different warm-up activity to conduct before beginning the official workshop. See Chapter 4 for guidelines.
-
Three introductory slides were added to the PowerPoint presentation for workshop leaders to focus attention on the overarching goals for “healthy” and “excellent” schools and for successful students. These slides are not described in Chapters 4 or 5. Leaders may include or omit the slides, according to their purposes and time available.
If the three introductory slides are presented at the workshop, leaders should note the following for their audiences:
- All schools want to be safe and nurturing places. They want everyone to feel welcome. We call this a “part- nership school.” See Chapter 1.1 for “family-like school” and “school-like family.”
- But, it is not enough to have a safe and nurturing place. These days, schools are expected to produce results for students. See the list of goals for academic success, physical health, and emotional growth that many teachers have for their students. (Or, tailor the slide to reflect local academic and behavioral goals.)
- These two slides raise questions of how schools can reach the desired results. Leaders should use the slide of the “popularized” version of the theoretical model of overlapping spheres of influence to show how more results may be reached by more students when school, home, and community work together for student success, and further note for their audiences:
- They know that all attendees agree that family and community engagement is important, and most know what kinds of activities will engage all families. Today’s workshop addresses the challenging questions of “how.” How can we organize strong and sustainable partnership programs? and How can we customize research-based approaches to meet the unique interests at each school?
Three more slides were added in the section on results to summarize results for students, parents, and teachers. These slides are not described in Chapters 4 or 5. Leaders may include or omit the slides, according to their purposes and time available.
If the three “results” slides are presented at the workshop, leaders may note:
- Studies confirm these academic and behavioral results for students.
- Although the ultimate goal of good partnerships is to increase student success, there are confirmed results for parents.
- There also are confirmed results for teachers.
Ask for one or two reactions to these slides, for example, “Which of the results listed is most important or most interesting to you?”
c. A set of “Bonus Slides” was added after the end of the PowerPoint presentation to help users adjust the content of their workshops to the time available and to the grade levels and school improvement goals of the attendees.
d. Users are welcome to adapt the PowerPoint presentation to add graphics, match vocabulary to terms used in their districts and schools, or customize content in other ways. A reference to the original PowerPoint and Handbook must be included if slides are adapted.
Read Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 to decide which materials on the CD to distribute to workshop attendees.
What Do We Know: Short Summary of Research on Partnerships
Handbook p. 151
Present key results from many studies of school, family, and community partnerships and program development conducted in the United States and other nations.
Theoretical Model of Overlapping Spheres of Influence
Handbook pp. 152–154
Show one or more diagrams of the external and internal structures of the theory of overlapping spheres of influence that guide the development of programs of school, family, and community partnerships. Also see the popular- ized, one-slide diagram of the external structure of the theory on the CD for workshops.
External Structure. The diagram shows the three main contexts that influence children’s learning and devel- opment—home, school, and community. The areas of overlap indicate that educators, parents, and commu- nity partners share responsibility for children’s success in school. Various practices, philosophies, histories, and other forces create more or less overlap—that is, more or fewer connections of individuals in the three contexts. The practices and extent of overlap change over time with age-appropriate activities and with the increasing participation of students in decisions about their education.
Internal Structure. The diagram shows the interactions that may occur when people at school, at home, and in the community communicate and work together. The child at the center of the model is the focus of these interactions and is the main actor in education. Connections of home, school, and community may be at an institutional level—that is, involving all families, children, educators, and the community or defined groups (as in a spring book fair or open house night). Other connections may be at an individual level—that is, involving one teacher, parent, community partner, and child (as in a parent-teacher-student conference or in an e-mail exchange of information and ideas).
Popularized Version of Theoretical Model. This animated slide is appreciated because it shows how the theory of overlapping spheres of influence is dynamic and can be pulled together or pushed apart by forces at home, at school, and in the community. When the spheres move apart, teachers, parents, and community partners do their own jobs and leave students wondering about their commitment to school and learning. When the spheres are drawn to overlap, more students do better in school. This one slide may be used in workshops to present the theory underlying the development of effective and equitable partnership programs in a friendly and familiar way.
Keys to Successful Partnerships
Handbook p. 155
Provide workshop attendees with a clear chart that summarizes the six types of involvement.
Summaries of the Six Types of Involvement, Challenges, and Results
CD 5_5 (5_5a, b, c, d, e, f)
CD 5_5s (5_5as, bs, cs, ds, es, fs – Spanish)
Handbook pp. 156–161
Distribute these six charts to summarize the six types of involvement, challenges that must be met to reach all families, redefinitions needed to modernize approaches, and selected results of the six types of involvement. These summaries, derived from Tables 1.1.1–1.1.3 in Chapter 1.1 and from extensive field work are useful and efficient handouts for workshops. For presentations, use the slides on the CD that focus on the types, challenges, and results of partnerships.
Reaching Results for Students
Handbook p. 162
Use this one-page summary to illustrate how the six types of involvement produce different kinds of results for student success in school.
Elementary School Examples for a One-Year Action Plan
Handbook pp. 163–166
Show how the six types of involvement can be targeted to attain specific goals to improve the school climate and produce results for student success in the elementary grades. Activities may be designed and selected to involve families and community partners in ways that help students improve reading, math, behavior, and other out- comes, and to improve the school’s climate of partnership. Many of the ideas can be adapted for other grade levels. See Chapter 6 for involvement activities for the six types of involvement to help reach specific school improvement goals in the middle grades and in high school.
Action Team Structures
Show how the Action Team for Partnerships (ATP) may be an official committee or work group of the School Improvement Team. As a committee, the ATP gives its full attention to developing and improving a comprehen- sive, goal-linked program of family and community involvement. Subcommittees of the ATP oversee the imple- mentation of involvement activities focused on specific school goals for student success or on the six types of involvement. Choose either Structure G (Goals) or Structure T (Types) to organize the ATP. The ATP may report, periodically, to the School Improvement Team, just as other school committees do. If there is no School Improvement Team, the ATP may be a standing committee to organize and improve the school’s partnership program.
Action Team for Partnerships: Structure G (Focus on Goals)
Handbook p. 167
Action Team for Partnerships: Structure T (Focus on Types)
Handbook p. 168
Members of the ATP
Handbook p. 169
This list shows who must serve on an ATP, including parents, teachers, administrators, students (at the high school level), and others including support staff and community members. The number of team members, leadership roles, and terms of office are flexible, depending on conditions and constraints in each school, but educators and parents must be represented.
How Does an ATP Differ from the School Improvement Team or School Council?
Handbook p. 170
Contrast the responsibilities of the ATP with those of the School Improvement Team (SIT). The ATP is a com- mittee or “action arm” that works to strengthen the school’s partnership program. In contrast, the SIT oversees all aspects of school improvement. There are some important connections of the ATP and SIT. The One-Year Action Plan for Partnerships will include family and community engagement activities linked to goals for stu- dents in the School Improvement Plan. The plan for partnerships may be appended to the School Improvement Plan to show that teachers, parents, and other partners all are working to help students attain important goals for success in school.
Levels of Commitment to Partnerships
CD ONLY
Discuss a hierarchy of commitment to partnerships. The six types of involvement are not “levels.” That is, Type 6 is not “higher” than Type 1, or vice versa. Each type of involvement is important for engaging families and the community in different ways. There are, however, levels of commitment to partnerships that increase from caring to civility, clarity, cooperation, and collaboration. A comprehensive program of partnerships will include all six types of involvement, and partners will work toward the highest level of commitment—true collaboration.
Workshop Activities for Small Groups
Group activities for One-Day Team-Training Workshops are in Chapter 5 and on the CD. The activities help workshop leaders learn whether the members of each school’s ATP understand each segment of the workshop and can discuss how each topic (i.e., types of involvement, challenges, results, team structure, writing a good plan) relates to their own school.
The activities also may be used, selectively, in other professional development activities to ensure that audi- ences understand topics in presentations on partnerships.
Directions for leading the activities are provided in Chapter 4.
Workshop Warm-Up
Handbook p. 174
Discussion Dice is a warm-up activity that helps participants recall positive partnership activities. The activity on the CD is in English and Spanish and may be translated, as needed, for ATPs that include parents who speak other languages. The discussion and exchange of ideas sets the tone for the day. Attendees should see that they are aware of good partnerships and that, with this workshop, they will be able to develop strong and sustain- able programs of family and community engagement at their own schools.
Starting Points
Handbook pp. 175–178
This inventory helps ATPs become familiar with the six types of involvement by checking activities that they already conduct at their schools. At the workshop, there is not enough time to complete the entire inventory. The partnership leader will ask each team, group, or table to focus on one type of involvement and discuss whether they conduct activities for that type and at which grade levels. The ATPs will see that they already conduct some activities for the six types, and that they can use the framework to think about and plan activities to engage all families in different ways and different places.
At the end of the activity, the leader may note that each ATP may use the Starting Points inventory in the afternoon when they write their plan for partnerships. Each ATP also may complete the full inventory at their school at the next ATP meeting.
Jumping Hurdles
Handbook p. 179
Guide ATPs to see that, although they will face many challenges to involve all families, they already have solved some problems in implementing family and community involvement activities at their schools. Educators know that when they resolve one challenge, another invariably appears.
It helps ATPs to see that they have experience in solving problems to engage more families. They have, already, learned that challenges are not barriers that block action, but are challenges that can be addressed with thoughtfully designed activities to reach all families.
Challenge-Go-Round
CD 5_16s (Spanish)
CD ONLY
Use this alternative activity to Jumping Hurdles to identify and solve challenges that the schools are presently facing. Challenge-Go-Round asks teams or partners to identify challenges at their schools and generate ideas for solutions. If Jumping Hurdles is used at the initial One-Day Team Training Workshop, the Challenge-Go-Round may be conducted at a follow-up session or at an End-of-Year Celebration.
Reach a Goal for Student Success Using the Six Types of Involvement
Handbook p. 180
This pictorial “map” asks ATPs to show that they can activate the six types of involvement to address one spe- cific academic or behavioral goal for student success. The activity is a prewriting tool that prepares ATPs for the more comprehensive task of writing a draft One-Year Action Plan for Partnerships in the afternoon.
Two other activities may be used instead of the pictorial map to explore how family and community involvement activities may contribute to results for student success. These two activities are on the Handbook CD ONLY:
Make the Connection
CD 5_18s (Spanish)
CD ONLY
This is a quick partner activity to show that the members of an ATP will be able to select goal-linked engagement activities in the pictorial map activity (above). Partners name an academic or behavioral goal that teachers work on with students, identify a family engagement activity they think will contribute to the attainment of that goal, and tell why. The workshop leader may decide whether this extra step is needed before setting ATPs to work on CD 5_21.
Get Ready for Action
CD 5_19s (Spanish)
CD ONLY
This text-based activity may be used instead of the pictorial map. Each ATP will identify the four goals that it selected for the four pages of its One-Year Action Plan for Partnerships. Then, the ATP will discuss one of the goals for student academic or behavioral success and list activities for the six types of involvement that they
-
already conduct and will continue or (b) want to start as new activities to engage families or community partners in ways that contribute to the attainment of the selected goal.
How to Organize Your Action Team for Partnerships
Handbook p. 181
Guide ATPs to think about three aspects of teamwork: Are more team members needed to complete the team? When will the team meet on a monthly schedule? Which groups at the school need to know about the ATP’s plans for and progress with partnerships? What other questions do the workshop attendees have about the need for a well-functioning ATP?
Good Plan/Bad Plan! Help This Plan!
CD 5_21 and CD 5_22 (answer key for workshop leaders)
CD 5_22
CD ONLY
After learning the components of a good One-Year Action Plan for Partnerships, ATPs may examine one page of a hypothetical plan and identify entries that they believe could be improved. This critique alerts ATPs to common problems as they write their own plan.
One-Year Action Plan for Partnerships (Form G–Goals or Form T–Types)
The final activity at a workshop requires each ATP to draft a One-Year Action Plan for Partnerships for their own school. The workshop leader should select Form G or Form T for all schools’ ATPs to use. If all schools use the same planning form, it will be easier to give directions at the workshop and easier for schools to share ideas over time. See details in Chapter 4 for guidelines on how to select which planning form to use.
The One-Year Action Plan for Partnerships asks for important details that will help ATPs implement the planned activities. Whether using Form G (four pages) or Form T (six pages), the ATP will identify goals for student success, how results will be measured, specific involvement activities, dates for the scheduled activ- ities, targeted participants, preparatory actions needed, and persons responsible for conducting the activities.
One-Year Action Plan for Partnerships (Form G–Goals)
Handbook pp. 182–185
Use Form G–Goals if the ATP will involve families and community partners in ways that contribute to specific academic, behavior, and climate goals. Pages 1–3 focus on student achievement, attitudes, and behavior; page 4 focuses on strengthening the school’s climate of partnerships. The ATP also will note the type(s) of involvement for each activity and other scheduling information.
One-Year Action Plan for Partnerships (Form T–Types)
Handbook pp. 186–191
Use Form T–Types if the ATP will organize activities around the six types of involvement: parenting, communi- cating, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, and collaborating with the community. The ATP also should note how each activity will contribute to an academic or behavioral goal for student success or to improving the school climate, and other scheduling information.
Workshop Evaluations—Two Samples
Handbook pp. 192–193
Collect evaluations of the workshop from all participants. Select the form that will be most helpful with reactions to the workshop in general or to each segment of the day.
The Complete Picture: Family and Community Involvement at THIS School
CD ONLY
An ATP may supplement the One-Year Action Plan for Partnerships with information from individual teachers, grade-level teams, the PTA or PTO, and other school organizations that conduct family and community involve- ment activities. Use this form to collect and collate lists from all teachers and groups to give a full account of the school’s unified program of family and community engagement.