University joins with Siskin Institute on child engagement

UTC, in partnership with Siskin Children's Institute and other organizations, will host the 2010 Child Engagement Conference at the UC March 5 through 6."This conference is designed for people who work with very young children.to increase their skills in working with young children around a concept which is child engagement," Mary Tanner, dean of the college of health, education and professional studies, said. "This is about teaching teachers how to recognize whether or not they really are engaging children in the learning process."

Speakers, including those from UTC and Siskin Children's Institute, will be speaking on a wide variety of topics surrounding child engagement.

"Cindy Hornsby and I will be presenting a session titled 'Beyond Birthday Parties and Bake Sales: Family Engagement in Early Childhood Programs," Anne Gamble, director for Project Ready for School, said. "We will be sharing strategies to help programs get families involved in their children's early childhood education in meaningful ways - beyond the traditional helping with parties and fundraising."

Gamble said, "We hope that early childhood educators attending will recognize families as true partners in children's education and that doors will open for parents and teachers to support each other as they work together during these very critical years."

Robin McWilliam, director for Siskin Center for Child and Family Research at Siskin Children's Institute, said he expects to discuss the broad topic of children's participation in home, school and community routines.

"I will make the case that early childhood educators and families need to start attending to engagement because a child cannot learn if a child is not engaged," he said.

Tanner said she will be speaking about the concept of child engagement on a community level.

"Engagement is a concept that works not only for the learning of the individual, but also for the learning of the community," she said. "When a community figures out ways to connect institutions and projects and programs, everyone gets better as a result."

According to Tanner, the conference will not be free, but there will be a reduced rate for students.

"We hope a lot of our students will attend," she said.

Jeremy Finch, a Chattanooga senior and future teacher, said the child engagement conference is important.

"It's important for all students to be engaged with learning because if they're not engaged, then they won't learn," he said. "It's also important for a student to relate to what they're learning, [otherwise] they won't be able to retain it."

McWilliam said UTC is a natural location for the Child Engagement Conference.

"[The University] has demonstrated a commitment to meaningful interactions with the city and surrounding areas [as well as] a strong reputation for preparing early childhood educators," he said. "Because 'engagement' is not a typical focus of early childhood education.participants should go back to their homes and workplaces with an awareness they didn't have before the conference."

Dean Tanner said she hopes UTC students will be proud of the conference.

"I hope the students will be proud of the fact that all these people will be on their campus to talk about such an important topic," she said. "The conference will expose people to UTC who [otherwise] have never set foot on the campus."

Gamble said, "This is a wonderful opportunity to bring people from this community as well as around the region onto the UTC campus for two days of informational sessions."

McWilliam said, "This conference has the potential to put Chattanooga on the national map in terms of a center for cutting-edge information on early childhood development and family support. I couldn't be more pleased that my fellow organizers decided to focus this regional conference on engagement, which has been a focus of my research for the past 25 years."

Finch said he thinks the child engagement conference is a great idea.

"I would definitely be interested in finding out what it's all about," he said.

Gamble said, "We are hopeful that this will be the first of what will become an annual event.