Synopses & Reviews
This practical, comprehensive book is an indispensable guide for home-school-community collaborations. HOME, SCHOOL, and COMMUNITY RELATIONS, 9th Edition, meets the needs of teachers and administrators who desire to create effective, culturally-competent partnerships with families, and helps to prepare future teachers for their careers. It provides an overview of modern families and their complex roles and beliefs to sensitize teachers to the diversity and needs of families they will encounter, including multilingual, multiethnic, multigenerational, and gender-diverse families from different socioeconomic backgrounds. The book fully discusses both the benefits of creating productive partnerships and the barriers that teachers must overcome. Abundant examples clarify the book's practical and effective communication strategies. Current developments in the field of early childhood education are emphasized, including brain research and development, legislative mandates in education, professional standards of the field, and strategies for working with families of students with diverse learning needs.
Review
"Great coverage of topics, supporting research, and helpful examples/scenarios."
Review
"The text provides the teacher the perspective of a parent and the importance of respecting the elements and indicators of developmentally appropriate practices to meet the goal for the child, not personal bias. Teachers are challenged to work with parents who come from hostile to undernurtured home settings or lack positive interpersonal skills. The text directs the readers' attention to not only developmentally appropriate practices according to the NAEYC code of ethics, but also to websites to link different resources related to the subject matter."
About the Author
Carol Gestwicki was an instructor in the early childhood education program at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, North Carolina, for over 30 years. Her teaching responsibilities have included supervising students in classroom situations as they work with families. Earlier in her career, she worked with children and families in a variety of community agencies and schools in Toronto, New York, New Jersey, and Namibia (South West Africa). She received her MA from Drew University. She has been an active member of the NAEYC for many years, including making numerous presentations at state and national conferences. She has been a Fellow in the Early Childhood Leadership Development Project at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and she has been associated with the T.E.A.C.H. Model/Mentor program. Her other publications include more than two dozen articles about child development and family issues and scripts and design for 14 audiovisual instructional programs. She has three other books on topics in early education published by Delmar Learning: Developmentally Appropriate Practice: Curriculum and Development in Early Education, Fifth edition (2013); Essentials of Early Education (1997); and Authentic Childhood: Exploring Reggio Emilia in the Classroom (2002). Currently, she writes a regular column titled "Grandma Says" for Growing Child.
Table of Contents
Preface. Section I: INTRODUCTION TO FAMILIES. 1. A Day with Two Families: Diversity of Experience. 2. Families Today. 3. Parenting. Section II: TEACHER-FAMILY PARTNERSHIPS IN EARLY EDUCATION. 4. What Is Family Involvement? 5. Benefits and Barriers in Teacher-Family Partnerships. 6. Foundations of a Successful Partnership. Section III: METHODS FOR DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS. 7. Good Beginnings with Parents and Children. 8. Informal Communication with Families. 9. Parent-Teacher Conferences. 10. Families in the Classroom. 11. Parent Education. 12. It Takes a Village: Teachers, Families, and Communities. Section IV: MAKING A PARTNERSHIP WORK. 13. Working with Families from Diverse Backgrounds. 14. Working with Families in Particular Circumstances. 15. Working to Resolve Challenging Attitudes and Behaviors. Appendix: Home Visits to Families and Children. Glossary. References. Index.