“Never say that you can't do something, or that something seems impossible, or that something can't be done, no matter how discouraging or harrowing it may be; human beings are limited only by what we allow ourselves to be limited by: our own minds. We are each the masters of our own reality; when we become self-aware to this: absolutely anything in the world is possible.  ― Mike Norton

The quote above summarizes my overall experiences in this course. As an educator, I am charged to build reciprocal relationships with children, families, and community members in an effort to foster the best growth in every area for children. I have learned that I must be culturally responsive to every child and families and to understand the background or home life of the child.

Issues related to risk factors hit home for me personally, helping me to look at my self and my experiences to create learning experiences for the children I serve. I enjoyed every Laureate Video File. The videos gave me the in-class feel that I needed to deeply understand content information for each Module.

The most applicable to my work as an early childhood professional is learning that I am the catalyst to help children dealing with difficult situations, be resilient and to be the best person that they can be. I am so thankful for Dr. W and my awesome classmates who helped me to deepen my understanding of Influences of family, culture, and society in Early Childhood Education….

Module 6

Educating and supporting the whole child is essential to the well-being of every child. In order to have a positive impact on the whole child, it is imperative that as educators, the family unit is supported as well and parents are given the necessary tools to ensure their child is successful in school and in life. Research has shown that students, whose parents play an active role in their school life, do far better than children who parents do not play an active role in their school life which clearly means that parent involvement is necessary. In education, Parent Involvement consists of parents committing themselves to participate actively academically with their child and or within the school setting. But how does this information relate to single parent households? Not divorced homes, but single parent households due to the death of a parent.

To help me in my study to investigate the impact that parental involvement of single (widowed) parents has on the academic achievement of students, I selected two individuals to interview. I interviewed a Parent/Community Liaison and a single (widowed) parent. Getting two individuals to commit to this process was not hard at all. In fact, the two were very accessible and were willing to give time from their schedules to help with the process, which I assured them would be confidential. Although conducting interviews are very common when doing research investigations, the interviews allowed me to explore the views of the two individuals, get their experiences, beliefs, and motivations about parent involvement and the impact it has on widowed families.             

I thought scheduling and conducting interviews for research purpose would be a challenge. However, everything went well. The interviews allotted me entry into the personal aspects of the challenge of parental involvement initiatives.

An experience expressed by the widowed parent that I connected with and learned from was when she shared how her children’s school informed her parenting and fostered better parenting skills for her. That information compelled me to work towards ensuring that parents are serviced as well as the students when it comes to learning.

I am excited about my Course Project. Currently I am synthesizing literature. It is important for me to hone in on what professional educational gurus in the field of education are saying about parental involvement and the single/widowed parent. I have also completed an outline of the sections that will be incorporated within the project. The interviews will serve as great data to support my research.

As educators striving to support children and their parents, would this research be compelling to you?

Module 3
The challenge that I have selected for my Course Project (Major Assessment) is “The Impact Single Parent Families Have on Parental Involvement”. I selected this challenge because a friend of mine’s husband committed suicide in the garage of their home. His survivors are his wife, 4 sons and 2 children. Four of the children are in school and two have graduated high school. As researchers have suggested, parental involvement has a great positive impact on a child’s academic success. How do schools support families that resemble this one? How can a single widow get or remain actively involved in their child’s school life? How can the school environment help a family like this cope and live a life that society considers normal? I believe that schools should take a stronger interest in families who have lost a parent and offer resources and support. How do schools (educators) begin working with a family such as the one I described?