Literature Reviews

Carpet-Time Democracy: Digital Photography and Social Consciousness in the Early Childhood Classroom
Bibliographic Information: Author(s) Affiliation: Type of Resource: Summary of information most essential to your study or to your background learning: Serriere, S. C. (2010). Carpet-time democracy: Digital photography and social consciousness in the early childhood classroom. The Social Studies, 101, 60-68. Curriculum and Instruction at Pennsylvania State University Scholarly article presenting a study. Based on a three-year study, this article focuses on the use of digital photography to teach social concepts to preschool children. By using photos that included the children, it became more personal for them and in turn, created higher motivation and interest levels. Rather than using stock photos of social situations from a curriculum or book, this researcher took the photos as they were happening in the classroom. Carpet time was used as an opportunity to discuss these photos and from there, created meaningful discussions among the children. The author of this article demonstrates that by using digital photography young students will be able to develop social consciousness on a deeper level in contrast to using only childrens books and curriculum to teach the same concepts. When children share their photos from the cameras we have given them, this article demonstrates that this time can be used for more than just a simple sharing process. This can be an opportunity for teaching more complex concepts such as acceptance, diversity and other important social-emotional skills.

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Child Voice: How Immigrant Children Enlightened their Teachers with a Camera
Bibliographic Information: Author(s) Affiliation: Type of Resource: Summary of information most essential to your study or to your background learning: Way in which this source influences the field of education or other fields: Potential relevance to your research topic and study: Keat, J. B., Strickland, M. J., & Marinak, B. A. (2009). Child voice: How immigrant children enlightened their teachers with a camera. Early Childhood Education Journal, 37, 13-21. The Pennsylvania State University-Harrisburg Scholarly article presenting a study This study involves giving immigrant preschool children disposable cameras to enhance communication between student and teacher as well as dispel any cultural assumptions that the teachers may have made prior to the project. It shows that immigrant childrens vocabulary and use of the English language was increased through this project. By giving students disposable cameras to take pictures at home, this article demonstrates the success teachers of English Language Learners had in promoting vocabulary and communication between teacher and student. While this article is similar to what were doing, it only provides a basis of where to start. We plan to extend our methodology beyond what was done in this study in order for our research to increase the connection between home and school. The aspect of parent involvement was not included in this study.

The ELL Research Brief and Tool Kit

Bibliographic Information: Author(s) Affiliation: Buenaventura, L. C. (2012). The ELL research brief and tool kit. Retrieved from: http://www.pakeys.org/uploadedContent/Docs/ELinPA/ELL%20Toolkit/Research%20Brief.pdf Dr. Buenaventura has been educator of PreK-12 and higher education for over 30 years. Served as school psychologists, counselor, and central office administrator with ELLs. PA Keys Organization provides link for providers. The ELL tool Kit is an initiative of the Office of Child Development and Early Learning. This is collaborative effort between Pa Dept. of Public Welfare and Pa Dept. of Ed to address the needs of infants through Pre-K English Language Learners in Pa. The ELL Tool Kit provides information about research, policies, and best practices for early childhood providers of ELLs. It specifically offers guidelines and parameters for developing and implementing culturally responsive policies and practices in an ECE system. The most essential information for background learning includes research and best practices for educating and supporting young ELLs and their families. Specifically, Part II, Section A: ELL Family Involvement. Several researchers have identified the importance of understanding the ELL families cultural values and belief systems. Understanding and being knowledgeable of various worldviews and attitudes towards childrearing, education, family relationships, and other cultural practices provide ECE providers with the opportunity to develop and build partnerships with young ELLs and their families. Providing families with culturally diverse activities and events not requiring them to speak in English may increase ELL families responsiveness, engagement, and interest in school. This Tool Kit acknowledges the importance of family involvement in childrens academic achievement by providing many research sources for ECE providers. However, the Tool Kit also presents research that recognizes the limited participation of families from low SES backgrounds and minority populations. In addition, research is presented noting that schools tend to reflect the dominant culture that reinforce power, privilege, resources, and knowledge that secretly or openly exclude certain segments of the population. This resource can influence and help mold ECE providers culturally responsive pedagogy. The Tool Kit provides research based background information for parent involvement importance and effectiveness. The Tool Kit is highly relevant to our research topic and study. Our program is in the initial stage of implementing parent involvement activities to primarily Hispanic ELLs. The strategies for ELL parent involvement activities are aligned to our research project of using cameras to see if it strengthens the bond between home and school.

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Family Engagement, Diverse Families, and Early Childhood Programs: An Integrated Review of the Literature
Bibliographic Information: Halgunseth, L. C., Peterson, A., Stark, D. R., & Moodie, S. (2009). Family engagement, diverse families, and early childhood programs: An integrated review of the literature. National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1-22. NAEYC and Pre-K Now Scholarly article reviewing the literature on family engagement that pertains to young children in ECE programs across ethnic backgrounds. Review of the literature on family engagement is organized according to social exchange and ecological theories. Evidence-based resources that ECE programs and families can benefit from by incorporating into practice. Research findings: One of the most influential indicators of family engagement was how welcoming the program is. Feelings of acceptance and appreciation are also important for promoting partnerships with families. In addition, two-way communication is the basis for strong family engagement practices in ECE programs. Research shows benefit of programs communicating through various modes including newsletters, e-mails, translated materials, videos, and photo albums. The article provided an extensive review of the research on family engagement associated with young children from a wide range of cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Research indicates that in order for teachers, administrators, and policymakers to promote optimal development for all children, ECE programs must be respectful of the cultural and ethnic ideals of the families they serve. Recommendations based on the reviews are provided in order to enhance family engagement in ECE programs. Practice recommendations include the following: Integrate Culture and Community, Provide Welcoming Environment, Strive for Family Partnerships, Make a Commitment to Outreach, Provide Family Resources and Referrals, Set and Reinforce Program Standards. In some cultures, extended family members play an important role in the care of children. Most parent involvement activities fail to incorporate important family members that are active participants in the childs growth and learning. By providing our children with cameras to photograph important individuals in their life, we are including them in the learning process. Recommendations under communication emphasized paying equal attention to listening to families and gathering their feedback instead of only focusing on providing information to parents. This supports our attempt to engage parents with the use of cameras.

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Latino Parental Involvement in Kindergarten: Findings from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study
Bibliographic Information: Author(s) Affiliation: Type of Resource: Summary of information most essential to your study or to your background learning: Durand, T. M. (2011). Latino parental involvement in Kindergarten: Findings from the early childhood longitudinal study. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 33, 469-489. Department of Human Development, Wheelock College. Scholarly article presenting a study. Study focused on the Latino kindergarten children and their families in the United States, examining the relation between parent involvement at home and school and childrens early literacy skills. Also, explores ecological factors associated with parents school involvement and engagement practices. Findings/ Results: Increases in SES associated with higher literacy skills; Lower SES- more likely to speak Spanish at home; Lower SES- presence of language barrier when dealing with school personnel; Average levels of teacher outreach- similar among all quintiles; Involvement increased with SES; Income not factor in ability for parents to be involved at home; Strongest factor associated with school involvement was their social capital- the number of other parents from their childs classroom that they spoke to regularly, and knew well enough to talk to ;Inconvenient times were related to parents school involvement. Findings are important to the study and implementation of family engagement programs among Latino families. Teachers may help facilitate opportunities for Latino parents to engage in authentic activities and dialogue concerning issues related to their childrens growth, learning and school success. Building parents social capital through increased social networks may have enormous potential for parents navigating the school environment and expectations for children as well as transforming it. As educators who value parents as partners in their childrens education, helping to facilitate this should be a priority as we research the use of cameras as a parent engagement activity. These findings should be taken seriously as we implement our parent engagement study. If inconvenient times were related to parents involvement- the use of cameras could be a creative alternative, thus, eliminating at least one factor for low-SES, language-minority parents.

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Picture This: Using Photography as a Learning Tool in Early Childhood Classrooms

Bibliographic Information: Author(s) Affiliation: Byrnes, J., & Wasik, B. A. (2009). Picture this: Using photography as a learning tool in early childhood classrooms. Childhood Education, 85(4), 243-248. Julia Byrnes is a student at Archmere Academy, Claymont, Delaware. Barbara A. Wasik is Associate Professor, Curriculum Instruction and Technology in Education at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Trade article presenting a teaching strategy. This article discusses the importance of using photography for learning in the classroom. The section titled Using Photography to Build Vocabulary is most applicable to our research. It outlines the importance of personalizing pictures. By giving children the opportunity to take pictures outside of school and share them with their classmates, it will help broaden the childrens perceptions and vocabulary (p.245). Provides a variety of ideas for using cameras in and out of the classroom and discusses the significance of each use. It also gives guidelines for making camera use effective and fun. It encourages teachers to allow children to use cameras with adult control being as limited as possible. The reasons why this is important is discussed thoroughly. It helps define the underlying importance of what these cameras can do to enhance learning and family partnerships in the classroom.

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PhOLKS Lore: Learning from Photographs, Families, and Children

Bibliographic Information: Author(s) Affiliation: Allen, J., Fabregas, V., Hankins, K. H., Hull, G., Labbo, L., Lawson, H. S., . . . Urdanivia-English, C. (2002). PhOLKS lore: Learning from photographs, families, and children. Language Arts, 79(4), 312-322. JoBeth Allen teaches Language Education at the University of Georgia, Athens. Vinette Fabregas teaches first grade at Fourth Street Elementary, Athens. Karen Hale Hankins teaches first grade at Whit Davis Elementary, Athens. Gregory Hull teaches pre-kindergarten in the Clarke County School District, Athens. Linda Labbo teaches Reading Education at the University of Georgia, Athens. Hattie Spruill Lawson teaches fifth grade at Fourth Street Elementary, Athens. Barbara Michalove teaches first grade at Fourth Street Elementary, Athens. Steve Piazza is the media specialist at Winterville Elementary, Athens. Cyndy Piha teaches third grade at Barnett Shoals Elementary, Athens. Linda Sprague teaches kindergarten at Whit Davis Elementary, Athens. Sybil Townsend teaches Special Education at South Jackson Elementary, Jackson County, Georgia. Carmen Urdanivia-English teaches ESOL at Myers Elementary, Hall County, Georgia. Scholarly article presenting a study A group of authors/teachers compiles two years of work with incorporating photography as a means to communicate with families. The classroom ages range from Pre-K to 5th grade. Each teacher modified the camera use to meet his or her own curricular needs. The primary focus of this article is to display the deep understanding the teachers developed of their students home-life cultures. This would not have happened without the use of cameras. This article highlighted those incidences where teachers would have made assumptions about a childs situation or of the parents views. By bringing the families into this project, the teachers were able to gain insight into the lives of those children and families that would have been difficult to connect with otherwise. The teachers and other students were exposed to each others lives in a way that promoted understanding, communication and acceptance of everyones differences. Because the majority of our student population for our research is Hispanic, this article reinforces the opportunities available to connect with a culture that is different from our own. It provides inspiration to ensure this research is made meaningful for everyone involved.

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Snap It Up! Using Digital Photography in Early Childhood

Bibliographic Information: Author(s) Affiliation: Type of Resource: Summary of information most essential to your study: Way in which this source influences the field of Early Childhood Education or related fields: Potential relevance to your research topic: Good, L. (Winter 2005/2006). Snap it up! Using digital photography in early childhood. Childhood Education, 82(2), 79-85. Linda Good is Professor, Educational Studeies, Elementary and Early Childhood at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Trade article presenting a teaching strategy In the section, Using Photos to Promote Communication with Parents, it gives a simple explanation as to how and why photos can enhance communication and the bond between home and school. This article is a quick guide outlining various ways to use photos in the classroom. These include using photos to: build self-esteem, promote feelings of security, aid in classroom management, promote communication with parents, document growth and change, promote language and literacy, enhance other areas of curriculum, communication with staff, and for interactive activities. Images are included throughout the article to provide a visual for the ideas presented. It reinforces the concept of using cameras as a way to connect with students and families. It also provides ideas for using the pictures in other ways for future activities.