知道

Communicating with others can be both simple and complex at the same time. Have you ever been surprised that someone misunderstood a message you thought you had communicated quite clearly?

教师和家庭之间的沟通在日常Hellos和再见期间发生，以及家庭会议等更正式的活动。所有这些机会都要求您了解许多家庭的特征，包括语气，单词的选择和非语言通信，例如面部表情和肢体语言。当您意识到这些特征时，您可以更好地以最支持的方式沟通和尊重家庭。家庭将渴望知道他们的孩子是如何做的，并且如果没有理解某些事情，您可以通过提供鼓励的回复并要求澄清舒适的沟通。

与家庭沟通的重要性

Positive communication is perhaps the most powerful tool that you can use with families. Good communication helps to inform, reassure, and engage families. A single conversation, positive or negative, can set the tone for a family’s opinion of preschool staff, so it is essential to develop effective communication skills.

Positive communication and relationships with families help to build trust. Trust is an important part of helping to make sure that you (a) maintain partnership with families and (b) work as a team with families to help children meet their goals. Trust between you and families makes parents feel good about the program and its ability to meet their child’s needs.

A strong partnership between staff and families is built on positive communication. Positive communication skills help to make sure that (a) accurate information is shared, (b) expectations are shared, and (c) trust is established.

Ways of Communicating With Families

计划使用对他们所服务的家庭的不同语言和文化背景敏感的通信实践至关重要。每个家庭都教他们的幼儿如何在自己的文化中取得成功。

Communication preferences may be related to cultural or community values, priorities and commitments. For example, Sohn and Wang (2006) found that Korean-born mothers, even those who spoke English well, had difficulty communicating with teachers face-to-face. Their preference was to communicate with teachers through email or program letters. When communicating with families, it is also important to understand and consider:

• Different forms of greetings and use of titles that may be preferred
• Male and female roles defined within various cultures
• Non-verbal communication and body language (e.g. eye contact, use of touching, use of physical space)

您可以提出问题，以了解家庭如何沟通孩子的日子。有些家庭可能更喜欢面对面的对话，而其他家庭则更喜欢电话或常规（每日）票据。与家庭沟通的其他方式包括：

• 节目网站
• 电子邮件
• Family meetings or conferences
• 新闻稿
• 兴趣的文章

Families will also help set the pace for their communication with you. It is important to acknowledge it can take time for families to feel safe, comfortable and friendly. Different forms of communication can play an important role in easing the process. Using a combination of communication styles with families might work best for their needs to be met. Other ideas may be to translate written communication into the home languages of the families supported in the program and consider having translators that are regularly available for face-to-face or phone communication.

Having Difficult Conversations with Families

Conversations with families can be difficult for a number of reasons. Sometimes, you might worry that families will be upset by something you share and even decide to enroll their child in a different setting. You may also worry the family will stop communicating with you altogether. While conversations with families about concerns may be difficult, they can provide you an opportunity to express your care for a family, as well as the preschooler’s development and learning, in a thoughtful way.

误区也可以作为您的观点和对某种情况的理解可能与家庭成员的观点不同。在这些实例中，考虑到某种情况是有助于考虑的多个视角。例如：

As a teacher, you want to provide the best care possible for the children in your program and you have an opportunity to consistently observe and learn about their development. Your observations, notes, screenings and assessments are helpful for identifying strengths and possible areas of need that might arise during the preschool years. Sharing these concerns with families is a first step to a supportive planning process.

看the handout,与家庭分享顾虑额外的想法和资源。

Collecting Family and Child Information

想想你被要求的情况provide自己或家人的信息。你可能recall experiences that made you feel comfortable and at ease, and others that made you feel nervous, anxious, or uncomfortable. What was it about these different instances that made you feel either comfortable or uncomfortable? Maybe it was the particular way or tone in which certain questions were asked or the content or nature of information you were asked to provide? Perhaps it was the available time you had to respond, the environment or space in which this information was shared, or maybe the opportunity to know ahead of time the kind of information you would be asked to provide?

Now think about instances when you as a professional are the one collecting this information. How do you make sure that you are asking questions in ways that makes families feel respected and at ease? Generating family and child information is a critical piece of your work in preschool. As children and families join your program, establishing strong and meaningful relationships with them starts with getting to know them. Learn about their interests, their heritage, their needs and their hopes and dreams for their children in a respectful way and use this input to enhance the quality of your work in preschool. As you continue to engage with families, think about how you want to be treated with dignity and respect and assume the families of children in your care want to be treated the same way. During this time, it is critical to maintain confidentiality and respect families’ right to privacy.

与家庭共享信息

Now, think about the ‘reverse’ scenario from the one described in the previous section: Situations in which you were the onereceiving信息。例如，在访问您的医生办公室时，让您觉得与您的医生或护士与您分享信息的事情是有效的？那个经历是好的还是不太好？是什么让你觉得这个人以尊重的方式与你分享信息？信息是否以帮助您理解的方式提供？你有机会提问吗？你觉得与你交谈的人有你的最佳兴趣吗？

就像你必须要小心和体贴gatheringinformation from families, it is critical that you do the same whensharinginformation with families. As a preschool teacher, you must help families understand their child’s development and share with them information that you have gathered about their child. This information should be shared in a respectful way, considering families’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Always use family-friendly language and avoid jargon, including terms, acronyms, or terminology that families may not understand.

According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC, 2009), one of the most salient issues in early childhood policy and practice is ensuring that children are ready for successful school experiences. As children grow and approach the school-age years, families and professionals often talk about school readiness. In your work at preschool, families may ask you to share information about whether or not you think their child is “ready” for kindergarten.

Despite the fact that often school districts or communities develop screening programs or processes to help teachers and families determine if a child is “ready” to transition to kindergarten, school readiness must be flexibly and broadly defined. It should involve more than just children and their abilities or developmental milestones. NAEYC believes that schools are responsible for meeting the needs of children and for providing them with the services they need to reach their fullest potential. Specifically, NAEYC supports that promoting school readiness requires: (a) giving all children access to opportunities that promote school success, (b) being responsive to children’s individual differences, and (c) establishing appropriate expectations about what children should be able to do when they enter school.

这是你的responsibility to help children learn and develop at their own level and to provide developmentally appropriate services and activities that meet each child’s needs. It is not the responsibility of children to meet school expectations upon entering school. As you meaningfully plan and implement your work, you are setting the foundation for children’s school success.

Considering that children in your care have varying abilities, cultural backgrounds, and diverse personal experiences, while also keeping in mind that children learn different skills at different rates, it is inappropriate and unrealistic to expect that all children will demonstrate skill mastery at the same time. As you read in the Cognitive course, even though there are universal patterns of development that children follow, there are individual differences among children that need to be acknowledged. You should assume this way of thinking when considering school readiness, and when sharing information with families about kindergarten readiness.

When talking with families of children in your care, consider sharing the following about what they can do to foster their children’s development and to support your work at preschool:

• Spend time playing with, talking to, and engaging with your child!
• Create routines at home that children follow (e.g., mealtimes or bedtimes).
• Invite and answer questions from your child.
• Engage in book-reading with your child.
• Familiarize your child with symbols in their environment (e.g., letters, numbers).
• Talk to your child and encourage him or her to talk to you about the world around them.
• 为您的孩子提供学校以外的社交互动的机会。
• Involve children in activities that include planning and carrying out tasks (e.g., making a list and going to the grocery store, following a recipe to cook or bake something).

看

Do

When collecting information from families, Banks, Santos, and Roof (2003) highlight the following:

• 考虑using ongoing informal opportunities to engage in conversations with families.
• Establish rapport with families before attempting to gather information from them.
• Use a variety of open-ended and close-ended questions.
• Be respectful of families’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds when asking questions.
• If possible, try to gather information from several family members about a child.

Whenever possible, use specific examples (e.g., classroom observations, examples of children’s work) to convey information about children to families. Data can help family members understand that the information you are sharing with them is based on instances where you observed or collected information in an organized manner, as opposed to sharing things based on your personal views and opinion. As part of your work in preschool, it is likely that you collect developmental information on children through assessments, and it is critical that families have access to that information. This also enables families to follow their child’s progress over time.

A great starting point in sharing information with families about their children’s development is by inviting them to observe their children in the classroom. Schedule some time after the observation to talk about what family members noticed and address any questions they may have. If families are unable to observe during classroom hours, you might ask for their permission to video record a portion of the child’s day so that the family has an opportunity to see the child engaged in the classroom environment.

这是very important to offer families various opportunities to understand their children’s development. Try some of these ideas:

• Weekly or monthly newsletters：
  This is a great way to share information not only about what’s happening in the classroom, but also about child development, activities that promote child growth, themes explored in your classroom, or community resources. Newsletters are a fantastic way to share information without families feeling singled out.
• Weekly emails：
  Preschool classrooms are very busy places! You can share information on some of the wonderful learning and discovery that takes place in your classroom in emails to families. These emails can be brief and may include information about activities children were engaged in in your different learning centers.
• One-on-one conferences with families：
  这些可以在设定时间安排（例如，根据您的计划政策每年一次或两次）。如果Families请求它们，则可以安排其他会议。咨询您的培训师或计划主管，了解您的计划关于与家庭会议的政策。
• Phone calls to families：
  这是与可能无法在学校会议或可能更喜欢这种沟通方式的家庭沟通的另一个好方法。
• Communication journals：
  这些通常与孩子一起送回家并返回第二天。教师可以共享值得注意的观察或活动，家庭可以响应这些或分享自己的新闻或反思。
• 发展图表：
  这些可能会在您的课堂内发布或显示在您的计划建设中的一般区域，以便在方便的时候进行审查。
• Portfolios：
  These are visual representations of a child’s work and progress. In a child’s portfolio you can include photos or artifacts from a child’s work, writing samples, and other examples that demonstrate a child’s development across time. Included within the portfolio can be notes on milestones the child has met.