TECA 1303 WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS
Choose any ten of the following written assignments to submit. Be sure you address each element required in the assignment. Include a reflection statement at the conclusion of each assignment. This element of the assignment requires critical thinking.
Each written assignment should consist of a minimum of three paragraphs. Each paragraph should include three to eight sentences each. At the beginning of each assignment, include the statement given below that describes the assignment you are addressing. I call this the Assignment Statement. It is required on every written assignment.
1. Under the headings HOME, SCHOOL, and COMMUNITY, list the major influences during your high school years. Discuss some of these influences and how they contributed to making you the person you are today.
2. Record the school and out-of-home care experiences that you had between birth and eight years of age. What were the social, economic or political reasons that your parents opted for this particular mode of their early education. Discuss the effects this experience might have had on you and why you think this.
3. List the names of the people whom you consider to be members of your family at present. Next think back to when you were five or six years old and write the names of all the people you consider to be family then. Finally, compare the lists and record the extent of change or constancy.
4. Write a brief reflection about your family composition from birth through the present time and how your experiences within your family have influenced you to this point. To what do you attribute this influence and why?
5. Write about the formal and informal learning opportunities offered to you in your home communities and neighborhoods. To what extent did this affect your social development?
6. Briefly describe your present home neighborhood. Record what you consider to be some of the positive as well as negative learning opportunities offered within that neighborhood. What improvements or changes would you make if you had the opportunity and resources to do so? Include your reason(s) for those changes.
7. Discuss your ethnic background and relate the manner your family celebrates a holiday event. Include such things as the event, when the celebration starts and ends, is a meal involved, is there a religious element to the celebration, is a type of dress expected, is it strictly nuclear family, extended family or may guests be invited? Describe in detail your emotional reactions to this celebration.
8. Think about your home community. Record the formal and informal organizations of their community that could be related to children's educational achievements. Discuss methods of assessing the competent community.
9. What are your feelings concerning working with parents of children with disabilities, ethnically diverse families, homeless parents, or gay and lesbian parents? Choose one of the types of parents given. Include your rationale for your statement.
10. Compose a brief introductory letter to the children who will be entering your class. Be sure you include a statment of the grade level you are teaching. For the lowest grades, remember the parents will probably be reading the letter to the child. Make it grade and developmental level appropriate. After you write your letter, tell why you included the information you did.
11. Write about the contributions you might make as an early childhood teacher toward improving relationships among parents, school staff, and community members. Be specific with your statements. Justify your choices.
12. Interview one of the following: (1) a Head Start teacher, (b) a public school primary teacher, or (c) a child care worker. Determine from the interview the role of parents in the classroom and what value the teacher attaches to parent participation.
13. Interview a parent who has a child in child care and find out the positives and negatives of that parentÕs experiences.Ê Include your analysis and reaction to the information given.
14. Research the child abuse reporting laws in Texas. Discuss the responsibilities teachers and community workers have in regard to recognizing and reporting suspected abuse and neglect. Discuss elements of the law that were new to you. What is your reaction to the responsibilites assigned to teachers?
15. Interview a parent of a single-parent home, a blended family and an intact family. Ask them to identify differences between theirs and their parents' experiences as parents. Write a paper describing what you learned and your reflections on the interview.
16. Interview 3 teachers and/or administrators from a variety of child care through elementary school settings who have been teaching for over twenty years. What changes do they see in the roles of teachers, parents, and children? What are the positive changes? The negative changes? Reflect on what you learned.
17. Interview 4 parents (parents of children in preschool, elementary school, middle school, and high school) and 4 teachers (teachers of preschool, elementary school, middle school, and high school). Ask them about their perspective on relationships between parents and teachers. Compare the responses between parents and teachers and between age groups.
18. Survey schools and centers in your area as to the nature of their parent-involvement programs. Reflect on what you learned.
19. Visit a Head Start program and investigate their parent-involvement program. Reflect on what you learned.
20. Interview a parent of a child with special needs. Ask them to share their experience with child care and/or public school. Describe what you learned.
21. Assume that you are the director of an early childhood program serving infants through school-agers. Which of the family involvement models would you want to implement at your center and why?
22. Determine the income and expenses of a single parent making minimum wage and raising three children. Use your community to determine expenses: housing, food, transportation, health care, etc. What are the effects on the children living in this family?
23. Interview two fathers; one who had children prior to 1960 and one who had children after 1980. How did fathering differ for the two men?