Assignment Week Three

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Slide 2 & 3: Hello my name is Marissa Heeter and welcome to the Parent Teacher Organization
meeting, tonight we will be presenting information in regard to the student population at Higley
High School. This meeting will focus on how as a community we can work together to create an
engaging, diverse, and accepting school environment for all students. Throughout this
presentation we will discuss how Bronfenbrenners Ecological system and the different types of
Epsteins Involvement impacts the students that attend Higley High School. Lets begin with
some introduction information and background information on the specific age group whom
attends Higley High School. The age group we will be focused on is the adolescent age group.
First I would like to watch a short video from YouTube that summarizes students in the
adolescent stage of development (Growth and Development Adolescence, n.d.). This video will
summarize and explain a glimpse inside adolescent stage of development and will help us
understand and connect with the information shared throughout this presentation. According to
Stages of Adolescence (n.d.), Adolescence, these years from puberty to adulthood, may be
roughly divided into three stages; early adolescence, generally ages eleven to fourteen; middle
adolescence, ages fifteen to seventeen; and late adolescence, ages eighteen to twenty-one (para.
1). During this stage of life children have a realm of changes occurring on the inside and
outside of their bodies. Adolescents in this age group have or they are in the process of going
through puberty (Stages of Adolescence, n.d.). Adolescents in this age group have usually
reached their maximum height and weight that they will carry into adulthood. On top of the
physical changes that this stage of development experiences their intellectual, emotional, and
social development has a lot of growth to occur in order for the adolescent to move from the
mindset that lacks the ability to understand their behavior could yield to long-term consequences

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(Stages of Adolescence, n.d.). For example, intellectually adolescents arent able to set their
sights or minds that far into the future and they are usually unexperienced in life so they may act
erratic and make choices without thinking (Stages of Adolescence, n.d.). According to Stages of
Adolescence (n.d.), The march toward autonomy can take myriad forms: less overt affection,
more time spent with friends, contentious behavior, pushing the limitsthe list goes on and on
(para. 5). Adolescents emotional development can be thought of as a continuous roller coaster
ride and an unpredictable roller coaster track layout. While the adolescent is attempting to find
themselves they are going to push away their loved ones (Mom, Dad, other close family
members or caregivers), in attempt to find themselves and develop relationships on their own.
According to Stages of Adolescence (n.d.), Adolescence has the effect of a stone dropped in
water, as her social circle ripples outward to include friendships with members of the same sex,
the opposite sex, different social and ethnic groups, and other adults, like a favorite teacher or
coach (para. 6). During this stage of development, the adolescents social circle will increase
and their relationship forming will grow to befriending other adolescents that have similar or
same interests as well as the possibility of forming romantic relationships with adolescents that
they find attractive and see more than a friend. Next, we will take the information that we know
and understand about the students at Higley High School and discuss my role as an education
professional, but first I would like to show you a graph below that displays the population of
students by racial ethnicity at Higley High School.

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Higley High School Student Data

5% 4%
6%
22%
63%

White

Hispanic

Asian

American Indian

Black

After viewing the chart above, can anyone in the audience make a conclusion as to what our
main objective is at Higley High School with our students? (wait for audience members to have
the chance to think and respond). As we can visually conclude our population at Higley High is
predominantly white students with the next highest percent of students being Hispanic and the
other three ethnicities all having extremely close percents that make up our student population.
Our main objective at Higley High is to create a well-rounded and diverse cultured student
population where no one student feels left out or not part of the school body. Furthermore, to
create an environment that we would like to see apparent at Higley High it takes my job as a
Youth Advocate in coordination with the staff assistants, teachers, counselors, and administration
to constantly reinforce the culture in our school, as well as the participation of parents and the
community.
Slide 4: My job at Higley High School as the Youth Advocate means I have the best of both
worlds, the school will identify a specific group of students based on collaboration with staff

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assistants, teachers, counselors, and administration and although that is the identified group of
students that are assigned to my case load I support, engage, and build relationships with all
students throughout the school. I make myself present and visually seen throughout the halls,
cafeteria area, classrooms, outside during transitions, etc. and act as an individual that all
students feel comfortable and secure approaching and having discussions about how their day is
going to any issues that have occurred in their circle of friends or just concerns they have in
general. My position was created to fulfil and meet the needs of the students at Higley and
continue to implement a diverse cultured student population that encompasses the entire student
body. Nevertheless, as my job fulfills a large role in the need for all students to work with an
individual that is understanding and accepting of the stage of development that our students are
in, later in this presentation we will discuss how parents, the community, and the school all work
together to fulfill these roles.
Slide 5: Many of you may be wondering, why were we invited to a presentation that is
discussing what our adolescent is going through and how the school, parents, and the community
can come together to support our students? As I look around and recognize familiar faces,
thoughts race through my mind asking the same question that you are asking. Our school wants
to always have firm and secure relationships between the school, parents, and the community.
According to 1, 2. M (2015), When schools and families work together, children have a far
better chance of not only being successful in school but being successful in life as well (para.
1). There are three pieces that work together to form relationships between the school, parents,
and the community and those are respect, responsibility, and relationships (1, 2. M, 2015). The
point of tonights presentation is to extend, encourage, and engage our relationship from the
school point onto the parents and community. By working together, we can continue to build a

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school culture that supports all students at Higley High School. Nevertheless, I want my job as a
youth advocate at Higley High to facilitate and encourage a culturally diverse dynamic between
the students, parents, staff, and community, on the forefront we have to think about how
theoretical perspectives can influence the students we work with as well.
Slide 6: Bronfenbrenner a well-known Russian ecological theorist that believed that a childs
ecological system plays a large role in the way a student interacts and influences human
development (Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological System, 2013). According to Bronfenbrenner's
Bioecological System (2013), According to this model, we interact with four systems: the
microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem (para. 1). In the microsystem the
individuals include immediate relationships, such as friends, family, and teachers
(Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological System, 2013). The mesosystem are all of the interactions that
you have with individuals within your microsystem (Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological System,
2013). Now we can think of the exosystem as the links within a social setting that an individual
doesnt have ties with (Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological System, 2013). The macrosystem we can
think of as the culture in which the individual lives in, specifically their ethnicity and
socioeconomic status (Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological System, 2013). Parenting plays a huge
role on how a child responds and reacts to their social setting, the way that a child is parented
influences how the student interacts and the human development of the child (Bronfenbrenner's
Bioecological System, 2013). Some examples that correlate with adolescents is the relationship
between the parent and the teacher, they are the students microsystem (Bronfenbrenner's
Bioecological System, 2013). When the parent and the teacher communicate in a conference this
creates a mesosystem and the mesosystem then influences the students human development
(Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological System, 2013). During the conference the teacher and parent

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are discussing the best plan for the student and insuring that the child is getting the same
interventions at home as well as at school (Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological System, 2013). In a
childs development, their exosystem would be their parents working at their job. Even though
the adolescent doesnt specifically play a role in working at their parents jobs the job influences
the childs home life (Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological System, 2013). A parents job helps
support the wants, needs, and desires that the child has. If a parent doesnt have a job, then they
wont have the security that is provided by the job and the student will have a loss of the basics
of food and shelter to have over their head. Therefore, by understanding a theorists and how the
theory connects to the stage of development for the student you can better help the student meet
their personal and educational needs by implementing Epsteins six types of involvement.
Slide 7: Lets first in general discuss the types of involvement that could potentially help a
student succeed in their personal and educational involvement and success. (Speaker reads the
six keys to success: involvement)

Slide 8: Lets dive into the keys to success beginning with how important family can be to the
success of the student. Family involvement is key, although students in this age group want to
portray an adult attitude towards life they still need guidance, understanding, acceptance, and
forgiveness from their parents or other caregiver. If the family of the student isnt involved in
the students day-to-day personal and educational life, then the student will feel unmotivated and
quite possibly like a failure. As a school we want to ensure that we are serving and meeting the
needs of our students, we understand that students come from all walks of life. To connect and
engage with students and their families we will be sending out Family Dynamic and student
questionnaire, climate and family participation surveys, and various opportunities to volunteer

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and become engaged in your childs school. After receiving the information back from the
families we will carefully read through and form plans to best meet the students at Higley High
School. Next, we will discuss the importance of communication when it comes to creating a
culturally diverse school environment for our students.
Slide 9: Here at Higley High communication is the driving force, it keeps staff aware and parents
on board with the events of the school and the students studies as well. By the school
communicating and having an open communication with the school and from home to the
school, it will encourage students to be honest and up front with their parents about what is going
on since the information will arrive either way. In our attempt, we have launched a district-wide
monitoring and communication system called Schoology that we will use to provide up-to-date
and accurate information in regards to what our school is doing, your students attendance, your
students grades, direct communication (kind of like direct messaging on Facebook) to your
students, teachers or other faculty members, and much more. Furthermore, by supporting and
providing a strong communication connection between the school and home we are aiming to
increase the knowledge and understanding of what is going on in our school.
Slide 10: In our school we thoroughly enjoy having volunteers come into our building and bring
their skillsets, knowledge, and education to our students to add to our diver culture throughout
our school. Our volunteers have always brought so much success and leadership to our students
that weve never actually turned down a volunteer. The students see the volunteers as a step in
their education where they can learn and gain knowledge from the volunteer. In order to develop
our culturally diverse school environment we will be starting a Mentor Support volunteer
program. This program will offer tutoring opportunities in a one-on-one or small group style, it
will create job shadowing opportunities for our students, as well as numerous other wonderful

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opportunities. Therefore, by implementing volunteers with our students we are creating a

culturally diverse and well-rounded school environment.
Slide 11: We find value to our students connecting and learning at home. They are in a
classroom setting for 5 or more hours a day and we find that by learning at home our students are
able to dig deeper and engage their family in the activities that they are partaking in during
school. To encourage learning at home to be successful, we dont want the parents to feel
stressed or not able to help their student with what they are attempting to learn. We will be
sending out weekly e-mails that have attachments that will lead you to explanations on
assignments, how-to, quick videos, and additional resources that you may find useful in working
with your student. Nevertheless, we feel that by providing opportunities for our families to
connect and work with their student at home we are encouraging learning to take place and for
our students to gain new perspectives and for families to engage in their students education.
Slide 12: At Higley High School we understand that not only does the decisions that are made
from the staff affect the learning of our students but we see extreme value in our parent
partnerships when it comes to making important decisions. In order to successfully achieve
positive and effective decision making we need the support of our parents. We are starting a
parent decision team for each grade level at Higley High. The teams will meet once to twice a
month, depending on the needs, and discuss, evaluate, and make decisions based on what is
currently going on in the school or grade level. Therefore, we will have parent involvement
throughout each and every grade level and the team will be able to take the thoughts and ideas of
our parents and collaborate with staff to create effective plans for our students to succeed.
Slide 13: Looking out for our families at Higley High is extremely important, we not only are
meeting the needs of our students but we are meeting the needs of our families. In order to

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continue meeting the needs of our families at Higley High we are creating a community
resources position and office within our school to best meet the needs of our students whom are
lacking or searching for food, shelter, employment, daycare, etc.
I would like to thank you for attending tonights parent meeting and I encourage you to join one
or many of the programs that were discussed in tonights presentation. If you have any further
questions or comments I can always be reached by calling the main office or by sending me an
email.

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Reference
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@. (2015). Volunteering in Medical School in-Training, the online magazine for
medical students. Retrieved December 04, 2016, from http://in-training.org/volunteeringmedical-school-9541
Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological System. (2013, October 26). Retrieved December 05,
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CREATIVE COLLABORATION QUOTES. (n.d.). Retrieved December 04, 2016, from
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http://www.coso.biz/2015/03/making-decisions/

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