H4 – Honor family/community involvement in the learning process. Honoring family and community involvement in the learning process begins at the very beginning of the school year. Interaction is a vital aspect to involvement, as the family of each student should be provided with continual two-way communication. Family and community involvement should not end there however, as each group should be continuously involved with each student’s educational process including information about student cultural identity. Lawton Elementary World Cultures Night is a perfect example of family and community involvement. Each classroom is provided with a country or continent to study about a month in advance. With this information, teachers and students collaborate in order to express the given country with words, pictures, artistic representations, and informational presentations among many other chosen outlets. The slideshow of pictures from the World Cultures Night, shows various countries and expressions of the country made by students. The night takes weeks to prepare for before the community is invited inside to experience cultural identity as well as student’s educational process. Within this project, students are given flexibility with their assignment in order to express their heritage. For example, a fourth grade student whose classroom was given the continent of Europe was able to create a poster with regards to Russia, where she was born and raised for a part of her life. Through this experience, she is able to share her identity with her classmates, other families, and the community. Working with the students in my class and assisting in World Cultures Night made it possible for me to honor family and community involvement. I have indicated competency of this standard through the commitment and involvement to this night that brings everyone together to learn about the world as well as Lawton Elementary. As a result of this experience I have learned the importance of bringing students, families, and the community together. Authentic learning and collaboration was seen through this night and the weeks leading up to the event. Students were able to gain a greater appreciation for the world, cultures, and people all around the world as they worked to participate in a night that was greater than what any one classroom could achieve by itself. In the future, I hope to collaborate with the families of my students as well as the community in order to have both involved with the learning process.
Mar2
Melanie, your understanding of H4 was very clear and helped me follow the rest of your meta-reflection. You provided some excellect documentation of your developing competency on this Principle and criteria. You also provided a good variety of lesson artifacts. I especially liked how you learned that your students were able to “gain a greater appreciation for the world, cultures and people all around the world as they worked to participate in a night that was greater than what any one classroom could achieve by itself.” You seem very committed to this ‘criteria’.
WOW! Thanks Melanie for sending these fabulous slides! Strong evidence of student learning!