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50 Strategies for Communicating and Working with Diverse Families
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Description
50 Strategies for Communicating and Working with Diverse Familiesoffers early childhood educators a unique and truly diverse perspective with the most practical strategies for partnering with families to support, enhance, and maximize the quality of care and education of young children. With a plethora of ideas for creating the trust necessary for true collaboration between families and the early childhood professional, the author guides readers on how to develop useful programs that include all families and individuals. Extensively revised, it reflects the most current themes, trends, research and ideas in the field today, making it the most diversity-centered text on the market for courses covering diversity and the relationships between teachers and families in early childhood education classrooms and centers.
Notable updates to this edition include:
· Greater attention to diversity in every chapter
· Expanded descriptions of the many different types of families readers will likely work with, including military families and grandparents raising their grandchildren
· Current information on the growing influence all types of media have on young children–even infants and toddler
· Added attention to the influence of economic hardship on children and families, as more families now live in poverty
· Changes and additions in What Teachers Can Do sections
· Many new stories, examples, and vignettes that apply the information to real life
· More on self-reflection, home visits, and transitions
· Revisions to most of the chapters reflect the most current themes, trends, research, and ideas in the field today.
Also from Janet Gonzalez-Mena:
0132657147 – Child, Family, and Community: Family-Centered Early Care and Education, 6/e – ©2013
50 Strategies for Communicating and Working with Diverse Families, 3rd edition by Janet Gonzalez-Mena is unique in its practical approach to improving teaching skills of early childhood educators by offering the most practical strategies for partnering with families to support, enhance, and maximize the quality of care and education of young children. It presents a plethora of ideas for creating the trust necessary for true collaboration between families and the early childhood professional, and guides on how to develop useful programs that include all families and individuals. Extensively revised, it reflects the most current themes, trends research and ideas in the field today, making it the most diversity-centered text on the market for courses covering diversity and the relationships between teachers and families in early childhood education classrooms and centers.
Janet Gonzalez-Mena is Retired Faculty in Child and Family Studies, Napa Valley College, Napa California, where for 15 years she was on the full-time faculty until her retirement in 1998. Not only has she taught in the California community college system for 36 years, but also Gonzalez-Mena’s career includes being a preschool teacher in a bilingual program, child care director, and coordinator of a pilot program of therapeutic child care for abused and neglected children. A prolific author, her textbook achievements include: Child, Family, and Community, 6th ed. (Pearson, 2013); Infants, Toddlers and Caregivers, 9th ed. (McGraw-Hill, 2012); Foundations of Early Childhood Education: Teaching Children in a Diverse Society, 6th ed., (McGraw-Hill, forthcoming); and Diversity in Early Care and Education: Honoring Differences, 4th ed. (National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2008). Janet also co-authored Basics of Developmentally Appropriate Practice: An Introduction for Teachers of Infants and Toddlers (National Association for Education of Young Children, 2011). Currently self-employed as a consultant in early care and education, she also finds the time to write for Young Children and Exchange, and occasionally for publications in Canada and New Zealand.
For courses that cover Parent/Home-School Relations in Early Childhood Education and/or multicultural education in early childhood.
This targeted text offers practical strategies for partnering with families to support, enhance, and maximise the quality of care and education of young children. It presents a plethora of ideas for creating the trust necessary for true collaboration between families and the early childhood professional, and guides the student how to develop useful programs that include all families and individuals.
50 Strategies for Communicating and Working with Diverse Families, Third Edition presents practical strategies teachers can use to create a positive, family-centered approach to their classrooms. With myriad stories, examples, and vignettes throughout the text to help readers apply the information to real life, this text is based on the idea that a child cannot be separated from the context of the family and its influences, and when programs take a family-centered approach, everyone profits. It honors diversity and emphasises how to make every child and family feel welcomed and respected. Key family communication issues are discussed in research-based, yet highly accessible prose. Useful strategies to facilitate communication and collaboration are presented in brief 2- or 3-page chapters. Many of the strategies in this book address ideas about how to create a climate of trust by communicating in a collaborative way. Teachers will love the fifty short chapters with information they can apply immediately. Practical and easy to use, the goal of the text is to create inclusive programs that respect and honour differences in families and individuals, keeping the welfare of the child at the forefront of all that is said and done.
Section 1: Welcoming Everybody
Chapter 1: Appreciating All Kinds of Families
Chapter 2: Working with Immigrant Families
Chapter 3: Including Families of Children with Special Needs
Chapter 4: Creating an Antibias Environment
Chapter 5: Respecting All Families, Including Those with Same-Sex Parents
Section 2: Partnerships with Families
Chapter 6: Building Partnerships
Chapter 7: Removing Barriers to Partnerships
Chapter 8: Minimizing Competition with Parents
Chapter 9: Supporting Attachments
Chapter 10: Considering Authority
Chapter 11: Focusing on Family Strengths
Chapter 12: Helping Parents to Be Advocates for Their Children
Chapter 13: Encouraging Parents to Become Advocates for All Children
Chapter 14: Creating a Sense of Community
Section 3: Honoring and Working with Diversity
Chapter 15: Understanding and Appreciating Cultural Differences
Chapter 16: Establishing Culturally Responsive Education and Care
Chapter 17: Working with Conflicts Around Education and Care Practices
Chapter 18: Considering Cultural Differences in Guidance and Discipline
Chapter 19: Working with Families Around What You Believe Are Harmful Practices
Chapter 20: Thinking about Differing Ideas Related to How Children Learn
Chapter 21: Managing Conflicts
Section 4: Family Participation and Education
Chapter 22: Considering Family Participation
Chapter 23: Including Families in the Classroom or Center
Chapter 24: Focusing on Fathers and Grandfathers
Chapter 25: Taking a Transformative Approach to Parent Education
Chapter 26: Working With Families Around Holiday Issues
Chapter 27: Exploring Parents’ Role on Decision-Making Boards and Councils
Section 5: Communication
Chapter 28: Creating Environments for Communication
Chapter 29: Empowering Self and Others
Chapter 30: Communicating Through Writing
Chapter 31: Holding Ongoing Conversations with Families
Chapter 32: Looking at Nonverbal Communication Across Cultures
Section 6: Meetings and Conferences
Chapter 33: Meeting with Families for the First Time
Chapter 34: Thinking About Meetings in General
Chapter 35: Holding Conferences
Chapter 36: Considering Cross-Cultural Conferences
Chapter 37: Talking with Families when Concerns Arise
Section 7: Working with Parents around Specific Issues
Chapter 38: Helping teh Child Enter the School or Program
Chapter 39: Maintaining Home Languages
Chapter 40: Easing Children Through Transitions
Chapter 41: Brining Nature into Children’s Lives
Chapter 42: Addressing Obesity with Nutrition
Chapter 43: Dealing with Media Issues
Chapter 44: Maintaining Stability During Divorce
Chapter 45: Coping with a Death in the Family
Chapter 46: Finding Community Resources and Making Referrals
Section 8: Challenging Conversations
Chapter 47: Working with Parents Who Constantly Complain
Chapter 48: Working with Family Members Who Appear Hostile
Chapter 49: Talking with Families About Behavior Changes
Chapter 50: Referring Families for Abuse or Neglect
- Be reminded of the most important aspect of relationships—communication. Throughout, the text stresses the integral components of communication between diverse families and teachers or administrators.
- Discover why it is so important to build and maintain partnerships between teachers and family members, and why partnering truly improves the educational experience for all children by strengthening their identity and increasing the focus on diversity. Most chapters in the text mention the teacher-family partnership, and Chapter 6 is a detailed example, demonstrating some of the benefits of a partnering relationship, offering ideas about how to go about creating these partnerships in a proactive and positive manner.
- Be aware of the importance of respecting the various diversities and cultures that exist in today’s classrooms. Recognise and be validated in your own personal diversity and family, broaden your mind to the differences felt by many students, gain an increased understanding of the perspectives of those students who feel different.
- Gain a broader view of diversity, culture, and equity and how they relate to working with all children and their families. Throughout the text, a practical approach to working with children and families is taken when looking at many strategies to make education fit for all students.
Extensively revised, this third edition has increased and expanded the depth and ideas presented in previous editions, resulting in the most current, diversity-oriented Families book on the market. In direct response to reviewers and new trends in the field, the author has included more attention to diversity in every chapter; expanded the descriptions of the many different types of families readers will likely work with, such as military families and grandparents raising their grandchildren; information on the growing influence all types of media have on young children; more about the influence of economic hardship on children and families, as more families experience poverty; changes and additions in the sections What Teachers Can Do turning negatives into positives; new stories, examples, and vignettes that apply the information to real life; more on self-reflection, home visits; and additions and updates to many of the chapters to reflect the most current themes, trends, research, and ideas in the field today.
- Gather ideas on the right directions to take when faced with classroom dilemmas—either as student teachers or practicum students. This edition features additional clear-cut examples about how to approach conflict, and ways to work through issues that arise when diversity rubs against standard practice, or when families and teachers don’t see eye-to-eye on what children need. See examples in Chapter 4 (working through diverse perspectives on gun play in the classroom) or Chapter 17 (working with conflicts around education and care practices).
- Read and gain a unique perspective on the challenges and possible solutions in early childhood education from the many authentic stories and examples throughout the text that reflect what goes on in real-life classrooms and early education centers. This edition has added new stories throughout the chapters tohelpunderstand the communication practices related to the concepts presented. See some specific examples in Chapter 18 (an example of using a logical consequence approach to discipline), Chapter 26 (a teacher tells a story about a Valentine’s Day celebration that went wrong), and Chapter 30 (the author tells two stories about what it’s like not to understand someone else’s language).
- Benefit from many opportunities for self-reflection. In this new edition, there is an increased emphasis on self-reflection as a means to facilitating partnerships and working through conflicts with families who have diverse experiences. This added focus will translate to a better, increased mental health for teachers and students alike, offering a way to understand what is going on outside the individual, as well as on the inside. See examples in Chapter 16 (suggesting readers reflect on their personal early educational experiences to understand how they did or did not fit culturally), in Chapter 17 (an expanded section on how teachers can use self-reflection to work to solve conflicts around education and care practices), and in Chapter 18 (using self-reflection to discover one’s own biases and reactions to family members who are bothersome).
- Discover ways to make your classroom an inviting and welcoming place for students and their families, with new information on how the environment can be an effective tool in working with diverse families. With concrete examples and suggestions for enhancing learning, self-identity, and the cultural connections of children to their families, new information on how the environment can be just as effective as a diversity strategy is featured in this text. Readers will learn how to be reflective about the diversity of the children and families in their classrooms, enhance children’s self-identities and connections to their families, and facilitate communication with families. Find this content in chapters 9, 16, and 28.
- Relate to a modern text that reflects the real-life world in which you live. Throughout this edition, the author has replaced every instance of the term “parents” with “family members” to better encompass the many different types of families and individuals raising children today. Additionally, Chapter 4 mentions parents in the military, and Chapter 24 has a new title, “Focus on Fathers and Grandfathers” with new information that reflects this topic.
- Learn about the benefits of conducting home visits as a way of creating partnerships between teachers and families. New to this edition, the text features more content on home visits. Chapter 6 suggests instituting home visits when possible, and Chapter 8 includes added material on home visits from previous editions.
Additional information
| Dimensions | 0.50 × 8.50 × 10.70 in |
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| Subjects | early childhood education, higher education, EDU046000, Vocational / Professional Studies, Teacher Education, Home-School Relations in Early Childhood |