Infant and Toddler Parent Awareness Workshop
Workshop Development Instructions:
Below you will find a time framework for a 2-day workshop. Drawing from you understanding of infant and toddler development concerns and suggestions from the text and any online resources you want to research, indicate the activity you would place in the time slot, the goals for the activity (what you want the workshop parents to get out participating in it), what materials would be necessary and why you chose the particular activity (how would it support your goals; is it something parents can relate to and easily learn from, etc.). Do this for each time-slot. You can combine up to two time slots per topic if you have an idea that needs more than an hour. Remember also that participants need a brief break in the morning and afternoon and lunch! (
Before beginning this assignment, here are some important things to consider. This workshop is for PARENTS of infants and toddlers. It is not a workshop for children and they do not participate. The workshop is not in conjunction with any day care or child care facility. While one of your workshop outline sessions may focus on what to look for in quality child care, the workshop should not include a tour of a care facility.
This assignment comprises 30% of your final grade. Your workshop must be substantive, have depth and contain detail. Your goals should be written in concrete and behavioral terms. What specific materials are appropriate for each scheduled workshop session? The must be described with adequate detail rather than simply stating, “I will use a handout.” If you use one, and it should not be listed as a material for every session on the outline, you must say what it contains and why you are using it. If you have a guest speaker, and again, you cannot use one for every session scheduled on the outline, you must describe that person’s expertise and what you plan to have him/her address. If you use a video, describe its content and why you plan to use it. Reasons for using materials should always be directly related to what you want the participants to experience and learn.
The workshop must be hands-on and interactive. Partipants must not spend hour after hour watching videos, listening to guest speakers and/or sharing in group discussion sesions. Being mindful of how children best learn, even though the workshop isn’t for them, is a good way to keep the workshop experience interactive. For example, if one of your hours on the outline will focus on child safety concerns, consider having the parent participants get down on hands and knees for a child’s eye view of a room which you have staged to represent a non-safe environment. Such a setup might have electrical outlets without protective child guard covers, cabinets lacking child safety locks that contain household chemicals and a 5 gallon bucket with 6 inches of water in the bottom of it. This would be a hands-on, interactive learning experience much more engaging and informative than being given a handout on child-proofing a home.
One or two sentences per session on the workshop outline is not sufficient for this assignment. Be prepared to spend time researching resources that can help parents of infants and toddlers become better parents and describing their purpose. Use concepts from the course text as well as other topics that you think would be of interest to parents of this age group, drawing on what you have learned from the class. The best suggestion for this assignment is to start early and ask questions if you need guidance. This assignment requires a cover page and References page, each in APA format, but not an abstract as this is not an essay writing assignment .