Tyrah Urie

Practicum 2: Research Connections #1

Field Experience Setting

school setting. School C has 265 children enrolled as is strictly a Pre-K through 2 grade school.

There are 2 preschool classrooms, 4 kindergarten classrooms, 4 1st grade classrooms, and 4 2nd

grade classrooms with each grade holding approximately 19-20 children in each. Each

classroom has the general education teacher but also may have a para educator(s) in the room

as well.

Role of Families in the setting & in special Education Process

The role of families within the setting is very comprehensive. The family involvement

starts off with a kindergarten blitz, where all of the kindergarten teachers go around during the

summer to each upcoming kindergarten child’s home and meet them and their families. This

gives the children and families the ability to feel comfortable and welcome before the official

year even starts and giving the name to face for the teacher/parent. During the blitz the

teachers hand out each child a t-shirt matching to that same color of which their teacher is

wearing on the meet and greet. Each child is then asked to wear the shirts on the first day of

school enabling an immediate sense of belonging.

Besides the Kindergarten blitz, there are several other ways the role of families are

involved/engaged in the setting. During the 1st month of school an open house is held where

the children are showing the families their classroom. There is a scavenger hunt to get the

families familiar with the school building and the classroom, but to also get the children

involved with their families within the school setting. Other role of families is the two parent

teacher conferences that are held a year, not only being a time for the teacher to meet with the
families and that be it, but also a time where a fun music show is put on by the kids/teachers to

show the families.

The role of families in the special Education process is very involved. With almost every

step in the education process, children’s families are involved. There are multiple meetings held

with the educators/specialist when trying to determine, going through the process and

finalizing needs for special education. Within every couple step within the process children’s

families need to give their full permission to further along the process and move onto the next

step. The special education process can’t be done without the consent and approval of the

children’s families making their involvement in the whole thing very big.

Family Involvement comparison

The family involvement in practicum 2 differs from that of practicum in some ways but

in more ways than not they seem to be very similar. The one thing that I can clearly tell a

difference in within the two placements is that the drop off is considerably different. At my

Practicum 1 placement the families were able to come inside and drop their children off

whereas at my practicum 2 placement the families are expected to drop the children off at the

door for the most part. The second difference that I noticed regarding family involvement was

the out of school/in-school involvement. My practicum 2 placement seems to have a lot more

ways for the children and families to engage with the school setting. Things like the open

houses, the school wide dance nights, the class parties the families are invited too, the field

trips the families are able to go on with their children, the parent/child pumpkin carving for

pumpkin festival, etc. have only been at placement for 2 days and may be totally wrong about
my observation however that is the only considerable difference I can see. The similarities

between the two placements are the family involvement pieces like being involved with the

children's classroom. Both placements allow for the families to come in with possible cultural or

any non core related ideas that they want to share with the classroom as a learning objective.

Important as related to families

After reading the NAEYC’s Code of ethics and DEC’s recommended practices documents

they declare the importance of family involvement. “Families are of primary importance in

children’s development. Because the family and the early child-hood practitioner have a

common interest in the child’s well being, we acknowledge a primary responsibility to bring

about communication, cooperation, and collaboration between the home and early childhood

program in ways that enhance the child’s development” (NAEYC, 2011). When specifically

indulging into the special education aspect of things and the importance of families it is

important to develop relationships of mutual trust and create partnerships with the families.

The families are key to the process of special education needs. Families are important sources

of information about what a child can do, likes to do, is interested in, and how well he/she

functions throughout the day (DEC, 2014). Knowing what a child is about and then being able

to share that with a teacher can make the world of a difference in the child themselves and the

teacher, and the classroom a whole.

Thoughts about Family involvement

Family involvement is crucial to the success of a child and the success of a teacher. No

one other than the family knows the child better and for the teachers to try and make that

relationship with the families will make everything that much easier to go through.
Incorporating the little things with the families are what help them gain your trust so that is

easier to talk about the hard things and deal with aspects such as special education needs

whereas if they can’t trust you as an educator or have that relationship they aren’t going to

trust your doing what’s best for their child or that your doing what you can to better them.

Works Cited
 NAEYC. (2011). Position statement: NAEYC code of ethical conduct and statement of

commitment. Rev. ed. Brochure. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

www.naeyc.org/positionstatements/ethical_conduct

Division for Early Childhood. (2014). DEC recommended practices in early

intervention/early childhood special education 2014. Retrieved from http://www.dec-

sped.org/recommendedpractices