2020-21 Family Engagement Community of Practice
The Family Engagement Community of Practice is a collaborative effort between MDE, PACER, and UM-Extension. It is designed to be an informal, unstructured time and space for family professionals to meet together virtually to:
- Learn from each other
- Network and share experiences
- Share ideas, strategies, resources, etc.
- Provide collegial support and guidance
- Develop personally/professionally, and advance the practice of family engagement
The FE Community of Practice is an informal group comprised of those interested in the practice of family engagement. The focus is on making connections between educators, advancing our knowledge and practice, and building and advancing family engagement work. We rely on participants to determine topics with the goal of having resources and/or specialists/experts available to help us dive deeper into the work.
Click Here for FE CoP flyer
Meeting Dates & Times
Dates and Times
There are five days scheduled for the 2020-21 school year. In order to build community and momentum, it is ideal if practitioners are able to participate in all five, but please know that this is not required.
- Friday, Oct. 2, from 1:00 to 2:30
- Friday, November 13, from 1:00 to 2:30
- Friday, January 8, from 1:00 to 2:30
- Friday, February 26, from 1:00 to 2:30
- Friday, April 23, from 1:00 to 2:30
The same Zoom link is used for each session: Click Here
Participants
Those who work with families in an educational setting or provide education (formal or informal) to parents/families. Participants may hold a variety of titles, like parenting educator, family life educator, family service worker, family support specialist, family liaison, and so on. Participants may come from a variety of organizations and programs, like school districts (early childhood programs and K-12), Head Start, child care, community-based organizations, etc.
Agendas
April 23, 2021
Click Here
February 26, 2021
Click Here
January 8, 2021
Click here
November 13, 2020
Click Here
Presentations
April 23, 2021
Click here
January 8, 2021 Language Access and Family Engagement. Lee Her, MDE Community Engagement Specialist
Click here
October 2, 2020
Click here
Discussions
April 23, 2021
Feelings of Pandemic Apathy may be Defined as "Languishing" – CBS News
Health experts are using the term "languishing" to define feelings of emptiness and stagnation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In our February session, we watched the video, Mental Health: Yours, Mine and Ours, by Cari Michaels at the University of Minnesota. In this video, one of the things discussed was the distinction between mental health and mental illness.
The "languishing" video is included in this session not only because it relates to the pandemic, but also because the expert being interviewed describes it as the space between mental health and mental illness.
Family engagement professional learning modules
Go to Family Engagement page
Click here for list of modules
The Practice of Family Engagement
Small groups. Three rounds of 10-minute discussions. Sample questions below.
Round #1: Strategies
- How do you develop strategies for working with families?
- What has been effective for you? For families?
- What is important when considering strategies?
Round #2: Professional Development
- What are your professional development needs?
- What are professional development needs of the field?
- What sources of professional development are helpful, effective, trustworthy, etc.?
Round #3: Systemic
- What role does/should family engagement play in your organization?
- How do we build comprehensive, system family engagement?
- What are the goals? How do we evaluate?
What is Our Role in Family Engagement?
- What is our role in family engagement work?
- What is the role of others, of our organization?
- What is the role of parents and families? The community?
- What is our curriculum? Or, what do we want parents to know, learn, do? How is it determined? Evaluated?
- What are professional boundaries in our work?
- Is there a distinction between support and advocacy?
Resources to help with this discussion
Reconceptualizing the Domain and Boundaries of Family Life Education, Family Relations journal
Video: A guide to allyship: How to become an ally (clip featuring Dr. Rosemarie Allen)
February 26, 2021
Small groups. Three rounds of 15 minutes. Questions to consider.
Round #1:
- Introduce yourself with one word that describes you in this pandemic season of our lives.
- After watching the video, how has your perception changed about mental health?
- Generally, how has COVID impacted the mental well-being of your community?
Round #2
- What have you noticed about the families that you work with considering the spectrum of mental health and COVID?
- How comfortable are you in engaging in a conversation with families about mental health?
- What are the barriers/challenges to reducing the stigma associated with mental illness?
Round #3
- Do you, as a professional, feel some pressure to show up in optimal health when working with families? What is the role of your own vulnerability in supporting families?
- When families have more control over their lives, mental health improves. Considering COVID as a public health issue, how are you navigating conversations, including about the vaccine?
- The pandemic has put a spotlight on the inequities that have always been with us. What strategies have been successful in working with families with overwhelming needs this year?
November 13, 2020
Discussion #1: How do we learn about needs of ALL families in our communities?
- How does your family engagement work address the needs and wants of families in your community?
- How explicit is family engagement in your organization? (Strategic plans, roles, funding, policies, data. actions, evaluations, etc.)
- What does family engagement look like in your program/organization?
Discussion #2: How do we build and sustain relationships with families?
- In your family engagement work, what is the role of building and sustaining relationships?
- With regard to relationships and families, what have you found to be effective?
- To advance our work/practice, what do we need to do better (with regard to relationships)?
Surveys & Results
Session 1, October 2, 2020
Click here for survey
Click here for Survey Results
Session 2, November 13, 2020
Click here for survey
Click here for Survey Results
Session 3, January 8, 2021
Click here for survey
Click here for Survey Results
Session 4, February 26, 2021
Click here for survey
Session 5, April 23, 2021
Click here for survey
Connected Educators
In their book, What Connected Educators Do Differently, Whitaker, Zoul, and Casas (2015) state that connected educators develop a mindset characterized by some of these examples (p. xxiii):
- Educators become connected “educators” by first becoming connected and constant “learners,” ones who reach out to learn, share, and collaborate with a network of fellow learners interested in education.
- Educators can and should establish networks to share practices, access experts, and solve problems.
- Educators must live not just as readers or viewers, but as active participants in ongoing discussions, planning, and problem solving.
- Educators can have access to a large collective brain trust consisting of diverse ideas and perspectives.
