Epsteins Framework of Involvement

Epsteins Framework of Involvement includes six ways that the educational environment can be more involved with their outside community. Of the six, there are two that really grab my attention. I think learning at home and collaborating with the community could serve as two phenomenal involvement techniques.

In my team, we discussed giving parents packets at the beginning of each unit with information on what would be covered in the classroom. In addition, a schedule would be attached with the outline of the curriculum and its assignments. The packet would include information that would help educate parents on the subject matter, hopefully in a way that allows the parent to be a resource for their children. Having an "expert" in their house would make learning a lot more individualized and accessible. It could also result in more class time for learning new material, as some questions and concerns that would come up in class could be answered at home.

However, I do think that problems can arise when bringing school to the home. We as teachers cannot always be sure of what students go home to every day. It might be a single parent household, with that parent working multiple jobs to make ends meet. It may be to parents who do not really care too much about their children's achievement, and decide to brush the added responsibility off. Or, it may be a parent who is too enthusiastic about having a teaching role in their child's life to the point that they may become overbearing and have a negative impact on their child's view of education. In any case, we cannot predict what awaits them. Therefore, some may ask is it really a good idea to put this responsibility on the parent? I think that if teachers introduce this role to parents explaining that they are acting more as a resource rather than a teacher, this would help clear confusion. In addition, I think that it would be a good idea to outline what is expected of the parent, so there are no issues with lines being crossed.

As for collaborating with the community, I would really like to offer an after school program with senior citizens someday. When I was in fifth grade, I took a knitting course with a senior citizen living in my town. The school partnered with the council on aging to organize programs like this. Even after finishing the knitting course, I kept in contact with the woman. We wrote letters for awhile, and sometimes I visited her house to have a snack and check in. It was an unexpected friendship, and I was very sad when she passed away. I think we grew so close because of that shared experience in knitting class. It was nice to have someone so skilled to teach me something, and to have someone who wanted to connect. Senior citizens can be so lonely, as they don't have a lot of friends around anymore, so I think giving them a platform to communicate with others is really great. It is also good for the children. They also have something to look forward to, a new skill to learn, and a new friend.

Connecting with senior citizens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1RoUUMkCkk

An issue that I could see arising would be the possibility that there wouldn't be too many activities that senior citizens could engage in. It could be possible that something they used to be very good at is no longer in their capabilities, whether it be from their change in athleticism, or arthritis causing them to be a little more shaky. As a solution, I would offer this interaction with senior citizens to be a two way street. If the senior is no longer able to teach a kid how to play catch, maybe the student could teach them how to play their favorite board game. This would put the student in the leadership position, and they might really enjoy teaching someone about something they like.

As a future teacher, I commit to being openminded in my classroom. I want to hear what students think will be best for their learning, and what programs/activities interest them. I can implement these into the classroom in order to spark engagement and curiosity. I want my students to get the best education possible, and in order to do that, learning needs to be fun.