Scenario:
You are a first-year teacher in a preschool in a low-income community that prides itself on high-quality staff professional development. Your director asks you to give a presentation at an upcoming staff development event. The topic is understanding today’s families, with special attention paid to families in poverty. You decide you also want to raise staff awareness of the sources of stress that families are coping with (e.g., moving to a new job). To end on a hopeful note, you want to provide links to national agencies that provide helpful information (e.g., the Children’s Defense Fund and the Vanier Institute of the Family in Canada). Above all, you want to provide an objective and respectful summary of some of the challenges faced by many American families today.

Focus Assignment

1. Create PowerPoint slides, at least three of those slides should shed light on children living in poverty, and three of which focus more specifically on the various sources of stress for today’s families. Another three slides should focus on links to agencies that provide helpful resources. Take advantage of the “notes” capabilities of PowerPoint to write important notes (e.g., statistical information) to refer to during your presentation.

2. Be sure to read the SELF-EVALUATION section below to guide your thinking. Write your self-evaluation after you have completed your presentation.

Self-Evaluation

1. For each slide in your presentation:
     a. Explain how this slide addresses the issues in the scenario.

2. Describe and justify how your presentation would improve teaching and learning in the scenario.