How Family Structure Have Changed Over a Period of Time

American families have undergone dramatic transformations in the past fewdecades and those changes affect the climate in our classrooms. The make up of familymembers is different. The main financial contributor is not to be taken for granted anymore. Social activities for children – athletics, musical, social, religious, and their travelopportunities have expanded. Parental activities and social events have increased. Moreacceptance is given of single parents, same sex parents, and step-parents. Increasedincome, the education level of parents, computers, internet access in the home, advancedtechnologies in the home, have all changed the way we do things.

As a result of all thesechanges, teacher expectations, parental expectations, and the accountability of who is toeducate/socialize the child, changes in its focus. I do not plan on teaching this subject matter as a subject, but rather include the mainelements into how I manage my class, relate to my students and what expectations arereasonable and appropriate, and my accountability in the scheme of things. Also, usingthe content and expanding the research to include data and statistics from the US CensusBureau, I will develop lessons using this data, and how it can be used to understandchange. Another way I plan to use the information from this seminar is to make more informeddecisions in how I set up my classroom. Should I put them in rows of desks, tables, or amixture of both?

What types of activities are most effective for the lesson – whole groupinstruction, or small group? How much time on homework can I reasonably expect themto spend, and who should all be accountable for its being completed? What types ofhomework assignments are most beneficial in their academic pursuits? Looking at our society and the family and how it has evolved, does have an impact onour students and how they learn, so we as educators must adapt to the changes, or riskbecoming ineffective, doing the same things in the same way.