Family Engagement Training
The CLI Solutions Group is available to provide face-to-face training on all CLI’s family engagement topics on a contract basis. The trainings below can also be customized to fit the specific needs of your classrooms. For rates and more information, please contact CLI Solutions Group.
Part 1: Increasing Family Engagement by Building Positive Relationships & Engaging in Effective Conversations (3 hours)
In this session, educators will consider what family engagement is and why it is important to student long-term academic success. Participants will learn strategies for building positive relationships with families, and overcoming barriers, and promoting effective two-way conversations. Participants will also have opportunities to discuss the CIRCLE Progress Monitoring parent reports and learn how to describe student progress in family-friendly ways, and how to connect families to the CIRCLE Activity Collection.
Part 2: Encouraging Play-Based Learning at Home & Hosting Family Events (3 hours)
There is substantial research that concludes that play-based learning, in combination with responsive interactions, is the best way to build academic and executive functioning skills in young children. In this session, participants explore tools and strategies for supporting and encouraging play-based learning and responsive parent-child interactions at home. Hosting family events is an important aspect of connecting with families so they can learn about the tools available to them. An overview of the Teaching Together family workshops is included in this session.
Part 3: Facilitated PLC Follow-up to Part 1 or 2 (1.5 hours)
This Professional Learning Community (PLC) session supports and extends the information presented in the Part 1 and/or Part 2 training sessions. This PLC provides an opportunity for participants to apply what they have learned to their own instructional environment. A CLI facilitator guides discussion and supports members of the group as they discuss and problem solve together.
Teaching Together Facilitator Training (3 hours)
In this 3 hour training session, participants learn how to facilitate each of the six themed 60-minute Teaching Together family workshops. In each workshop, families are presented with two specific strategies that encourage early literacy skills. Children and families engage in an interactive learning experience through a shared book reading, followed by opportunities to participate in hands-on activity stations. The workshops are delivered to meet the school’s and families’ needs. Participants leave this training session knowing how to access videos and materials in order to conduct the Teaching Together family workshops.
Play and Learning Strategies
Play and Learning Strategies is a preventive intervention program to strengthen the bond between parent and child and to stimulate early language, cognitive, and social development. The program was developed to facilitate parents’ mastery of specific skills for interacting with their infants, toddlers, and preschoolers that lead to better child outcomes, particularly in children from families with limited resources.
The program is facilitated by a trained parent educator who presents each session to the parent(s) and coaches the parent(s) in using specific techniques. In coaching sessions, PALS uses videotaped examples of real mothers and children to demonstrate each concept and allows the parent to critique these examples before practicing the new skills with her own child. Guided practice opportunities during each session help parents move from watching listening and talking, to doing.
For more information on training and certification, please visit the CLI Solutions Group or contact them here.
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