This week, you will continue developing your Children, Families, and Communities Guidebook by completing the Community Resource section. This week’s required readings include Chapters 11 and 12 of our Gestwicki course text. Additionally, the recommended resources may be helpful in the development of your assignment.
Effectively working with children and families often requires collaborating with organizations in the community that can assist in meeting the needs of the child, within the context of their family.
This often extends beyond academic needs and can include support services that go beyond the programs or school’s capabilities. In previous weeks, you have explained the importance of promoting community involvement. This week, you will identify resources that will help your program implement these potential partnerships. You might think of this as a community resource scavenger hunt! For this section of your Guidebook, you will collect artifacts (resources, materials, and information) from potential community partners. As you prepare for this assignment, you may want to consider the following:
What is your desired work environment (Daycare, Pre-k Program, Head Start etc.)?
The geographical location of your desired environment.
The demographics of the children, families, and communities with whom you will work.
Access (either physically or virtually) the community in which your desired work environment is located,
Collect artifacts (resources, materials, and information) that you can share with the children and families who need them.
Include a minimum of three resources.
Using the Ideas for Teachers: Creating Resource Files, located in Chapter 12 of the course text, as a guide:
List the internal and external stakeholders (key players).
Provide a rational for the inclusion of your stakeholders, including a description of
how the children and families you work with can benefit from the talents and/or resources of the stakeholder.
Provide one artifact for each of your selected community agencies (pamphlets, referral information, etc.),
Explain the types of services or support each agency provides.
Include a family and community involvement plan, explaining how you will get families and the community involved in your efforts.