Neighborhood Map and Family Involvement

order Instructions

Neighborhood Map and Family Involvement:

Locate and digest at least two research-based readings that suggest ways middle school teachers are

to work with families and communities. Using the readings you find related to working with

families, especially families that do not reflect your own background, present a map of the

neighborhood of a student(s) from the school where you are teaching. If you are not currently

teaching in a classroom, it is ok to use the neighborhood of a student that you may know. It is up to

you to interpret what constitutes “a neighborhood”. The map should not pan in on one individual

house but instead, provide an aerial satellite view of the selected neighborhood (use a 5 – 20 mile

radius). No student names or specific addresses should be used in this assignment. You may

use Google Maps for this assignment.

Along with the map, include a reflective response to the experience that includes inferences and

judgments you made initially when seeing the neighborhood AND other possible interpretations of

your observations. Also include specific ways to address how you would learn about the families of

children in your classroom and how you would facilitate family involvement in your classroom

based on what you discover from researching the neighborhood of the children you teach. For

instance, if you saw a well-manicured lawn you might initially believe the family to be wealthy and

this it employs a gardener. But a second possible interpretation is that the family really enjoys being

out-of-doors and so spends time on the lawn.

This reflection should also include clear and specific citations from articles you find and read for

this assignment that have to do with parental/family/community involvement. These citations and

the reference list will follow the guidelines of the style manual of the American Psychological

Association (APA).