Single Parent Families
By Madison Spurlock
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Image created with Google Gemini
By the end of this lesson the reader will be able to:
By the end of this lesson the reader will be able to:
Describe 2 common challenges faced by students of single parent families.
Identify 2 effective tactics for supporting students of single parent families in school.
Explain strategies that create a classroom that is inclusive of diverse family structures.
What are two common challenges faced by students of single parent families?
While there are many different ways a student can be part of a single parent family, most of the common challenges faced are the same. The main ones being time constraints, and low monetary resources. According to Pong et al. (2003) time is a factor that affects students as they spend more of their home hours with less supervision than students in two parent households. While parents can’t be in two places at once, there are more people to provide help to students on homework in two parent households than in single parent households as most of the single parent’s time is spent working to support their family. According to Guzman et al. (2024) Single mother households make less than half than that of a married household. Seeing these differences leads into the next challenge that single parent households face. Low monetary resources leads to a disparity in educational resources like books being available in the household and a gap in education support (Pong et al., 2003).
Bar Graph made with Canvas
What are some tactics that can be used to support students of single parents in school?
As discussed by Pong et al. (2003), the building of a supportive educational relationship for the student involves clear communication between the parents and the educators. This contact needs to be kind and considerate for the parent as this will allow the parent to feel open to talking about all issues that might affect the student (Lynch, 2023). This allows the student to be supported more effectively in academics as it is coming from both sides and is consistent. This may mean texting instead of calling or virtual meetings for parents who are working during typical school hours (Lynch, 2023; Bower, 2021). Another way to support the student is providing a time for assignments like homework to be completed in class. This would allow the student to receive supervision and help for the work that takes some of the burden off of parents.
What are ways to create a classroom that is inclusive of diverse family structures?
While there are still students who live in traditional two parent households, Bower (2021) cites that by the age of 18, 50% of students will have spent some time in a non-traditional family dynamic. This creates a need for inclusive language, diverse models, and assorted books that show the differing family models in a positive way. Leavy & Ford (2017) discuss a time where the simple changing of a title made a school event’s attendance go from a few students to almost the entire school. This simple change made the event inclusive to varied family dynamics instead of exclusionary. Getting families involved is important to the academic success of the student as it makes the student and family feel included in the school setting (Bower, 2021;Lynch, 2023). Most classrooms have some sort of class library and making the options available show a variety of families can normalize and destigmatize the single parent family model (Bower, 2021; Leavy et al., 2017).
Reflection & Conclusion
Based on the sources I reviewed, I see that education is steadily headed in a more diverse and inclusive direction as family models change and so does the way to connect with the students. According to Milne et al. (1986) the amount of children in single parent families increased 7.8 percent between 1970 and 1980, landing at 19.7 percent. Bower (2021) now puts that number closer to 50 percent. In my research, I discovered that even though I was in a single parent household my entire childhood it could’ve been worse. I am very privileged in the fact that I am getting a college education as Pong et al. (2003) discusses the fact that children in single parent families are more likely to have low academic achievement and more likely to drop out of school.
How I Used AI
I used Google Gemini to help brainstorm learning topics, and I took what it gave me as a basis to then refine it into concise topics that could be assessed and worked more with the flow of my lesson. I also used it to create the images to go along with my lesson. I did the AI assisted lesson feedback but didn't change my writing based on the feedback I got.
I only used AI to create 3 images and for brainstorming my learning targets. It made the process easier, harder, and mostly the same time or slightly shorter. I kept my writing the same as I like my writing's flow better than the alternatives than I got during the AI assisted lesson feedback. I don't believe it helped me understand my topic any better but I believe the images AI was used to create helped add to the readers understanding of my lesson.
I currently don't like to use AI as a general rule for myself. I know that usually I can do something better or quicker so I just feel it's easier to do it right the first time instead of asking AI for changes multiple times and settling for a product that is less than perfect. I believe that AI should not be used by those still learning to critically think as AI will impede their learning. It should be used responsibly and people who aren't able to critically think can't use it that way.
References
Bower, K. (2021, April 27). Supporting single parents. TeachersFirst Blog. https://teachersfirst.com/blog/2021/04/supporting-single-parents/
Guzman, G., & Kollar, M. (2024, September). Income in the United States: 2023 current population reports. https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2024/demo/p60-282.pdf
Leavy, P., & Ford, D. (2017, January 29). A conversation about single parenting: Advice on how teachers and others can help make a difference. HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/a-conversation-about-sing_b_9102756
Lynch, M. (2023, December 3). 10 things schools can do to support single-parent families. Pedagogue. https://pedagogue.app/10-things-schools-can-do-to-support-single-parent-families/
Milne, A. M., Myers, D. E., Rosenthal, A. S., & Ginsburg, A. (1986). Single parents, working mothers, and the educational achievement of school children. Sociology of Education, 125-139. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2112335
Pong, S. L., Dronkers, J., & Hampden‐Thompson, G. (2003). Family policies and children's school achievement in single‐versus two‐parent families. Journal of Marriage and Family, 65(3), 681-699. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2003.00681.x
Quiz Answers: 1. D. Low moneytary resources 2. C. Parental time constraints
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