Summer Conference Day 3

The morning started off with keynote speakers Dr. Phil Ferguson and Dr. Diane Ferguson from Chapman University. Their presentation was called Circles, Squares, and Triangles: The geometry of Family/Professional Relationships. Their session started off with some visuals of where they live in Orange, California. We continued with a group activity. We were asked to list three adjectives that described parents of children with disabilities. The three adjectives our group came up with were: protective, passionate, hopeful. We followed up with a whole group share. I enjoyed the approach they took to their presentation. The visuals grabbed people's attention and they involved everyone right from the beginning.  The activity allowed us to engage in professional conversations as a whole group.

Their presentation focused on the importance of communication and involvement between families, schools and communities. It is very important to involve parents/guardians in the school community. Asking parents how they would like to be involved allows them to take on tasks that they feel comfortable doing, as mentioned, creating a compost.

One quote that stayed with me from this presentation is, "We think of parents as a resource or in need of resources." This is so true! When parents are actively involved in their child's education, we think of them as a great resource. When parents are not involved, we automatically jump to conclusions and imply that they are in need of resources. We often don't consider the outside factors that might contribute to them not being involved in their child's education: finances, travel, emotions, etc.

The theme of families continued into the second presentation with Karen Dyke as well. She is the Principal at Aldershot Elementary. Her presentations was called, What's Home Got To Do With It? She began her presentation with some visuals as well, similar to the first presentation. Her visuals presented some comparisons of urban and rural school settings. The presentation focused on the importance of creating strong relationships between home and school. Her school closed and they were moved to another building a few kilometres away. Due to this move, the amount of parent involvement diminished. The parents who were actively involved were no longer visible in the new location. These relationships are sometimes difficult to maintain in rural school settings due to the distance between home and school, amount of time it takes to get there and unfamiliarity with the building. I was able to connect to the rural school setting that was discussed. I grew up in a small community in Newfoundland and there were eleven people in my class from grade primary to three. When I started grade four we moved to a new school where several schools amalgamated. This new school was now a twenty five minute drive from my community as opposed to the five minute drive before. This twenty minute commute really made a difference in the amount of parent volunteers that remained the same from our old school. This parental involvement is essential in a school community.