Ideas to Increase Family Participation

No matter what level of involvement a family chooses, there are always ways to try to further a family's participation in their child's technology literacy activities.

• Offering an incentive, such as a free book or a picture of their child at the computer, may be a good way to entice families to provide feedback needed at the beginning of the year.
  
  
• At the end of the year families may enjoy a videotape of their child during classroom computer activities. This is another incentive to encourage families to complete a questionnaire to provide feedback on the year's activities at home and at school. If the questionnaire is copied on colored paper, the teacher can ask the children to remind their parents to return the “purple paper” so they can take a copy of the video home. Colored paper makes it easy for the children to identify and for the families to find among the many white papers they receive every day.
  
  
• A videotape can become the child's portfolio to show the year's activities and products at the computer. By using HyperStudio, each child can have his/her own page for photos, drawings, writing, and recorded sounds and voices.
  

A video can be made of the HyperStudio stack so that the children can enjoy reviewing the “computer book” they made over and over again during the summer. One child watched the video so often that the first day of school the next year he could read each page of the book, mimic the children's voices, and predict what was coming next. His language skills and his interest in books and reading increased tremendously during that summer. His mother attributes his progress to the video of computer activities.

As part of the portfolio, children's artistic impressions of the computer activities can be scanned into the computer, videotaped, and enjoyed along with the children's photographs and voices. Families will have a permanent record of their computer work to share at home.

Evaluation Techniques

Family involvement in technology literacy activities can be evaluated in different ways throughout the year.

• Families are asked to provide feedback on literacy activities at home through a  questionnaire, Family Literacy Questionnaire. As an incentive for answering the questions, families may be offered a picture of their child at the computer, or a book which can be kept and shared at home.

• If families attend one of the computer workshops during the year, they are asked for feedback through the Families and Computer.

  View Families, Computers, and Books

• At the end of the year families are asked four questions about their child's use of books and the computer on the form, “Families, Computers and Books.” This type of family feedback provides valuable information on the effectiveness of the technology literacy curriculum.

Children are also asked about their favorite computer software or activity on the form, “What I liked best about the computer”. This form is given to the children along with a bag containing crayons or markers. They can draw a picture of their favorite software and write about it. In many of the classrooms which have used the technology literacy curriculum, the children's drawings have been remarkable.

View “What I Liked Best” About the Computer PDF

Sample Children's Drawings

Children draw pictures from a wide range of software programs, and many of them are remembered from the beginning of the year.

Summary

Family participation comes in many forms and should always be encouraged  in the classroom and school. Remember that there is more to family involvement than attending an open house or PTO meetings. The family is the child's first teacher and an important part of the child's education. Welcome the family members in a variety of ways and stay in touch throughout the school year. Not only will the early childhood program be enriched, but everyone will benefit from ongoing interactions between home and school.

Family Literacy and Technology Websites

Family Resources