Involving Families in Education: Using Diverse Teaching and Assessment Strategies To Prepare Teachers for This Role.

This paper summarizes three presentations on the diverse teaching and assessment strategies used in a course designed to prepare preservice teachers for involving families and the community in the education of children. The course is required for early childhood and elementary teacher education majors at the University of Memphis (Tennessee). The first presentation described the rationale for the course and how it fits into the overall curriculum for preservice teachers. The second presentation focused on teaching strategies used to meet the course objectives. These include: collaborative learning activities, reflective thinking experiences, introduction to the World Wide Web, field experiences with parents, workshops and simulated parent conferences, and panel discussions by parents and professionals. The third presentation discussed the assessment strategies used. Some of these are: significant questions developed and used as a barometer of progress, reflective thinking feedback sessions, workshop feedback sheets, pre-post assessments on students' perceptions of their ability to plan and implement programs for parents and families, and post semester reflective statements. Six examples of assignments, three examples of assessment strategies, and the course evaluation form are included. (Contains 17 references.) (ND) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** Involving Families 1 Involving Families in Education: Using Diverse Teaching and Assessment Strategies to Prepare Teachers for This Role Vivian Gunn Morris, Ph.D. Satomi Izumi Taylor, Ph.D. Janie Knight, Ph.D. The University of Memphis College of Education Department of Instruction & Curriculum Leadership Memphis, TN 38152 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction Quality. Points of new or opinions stated in thrS document do not necessarily represent official 0E141 position or policy. PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY