Community Engaged Parent Education principles can be woven into the tone and environment through the following specific skills: relationship building, teaching rituals, visual displays, and community announcements. Consistently using these skills will set the stage for participatory democracy in the classroom.

Relationship Building:  Community engaged parent educators expand their relationships with parents to include being citizens together in communities, both inside and outside of ECFE. This involves expanding interest in individual parenting concerns to their public dimensions, discussing topics that range from community to global issues as well as civic activities, and participating side by side with parents in making changes. (Click on "Group Guidelines" for more information on the characteristics of a Community Engaged Parent Education group interaction).

Teaching Rituals:  Repeated rituals are another important way to create a community engaged tone and environment.

Opening Scripts: The "Opening Script" ritual allows the parent educator to share personal goals for incorporating Community Engaged Parent Education at the beginning of each parent education semester. It can be used in conjunction with the "Getting to Know You" activity to introduce Community Engaged Parent Education to parent education classes. 

Check-In Questions: Check in questions at the beginning or ending of each class can be used to seamlessly incorporate the community dimension by asking: "What are the celebrations, concerns, or thoughts on your mind about the community this week?" (For more ideas click on "Discovering Community Dimensions").

Educator's Personal Sharing: Parent educators might also share about a community project they are involved in, or highlights from a news article about an issue impacting children and families. As they share personal thoughts about community issues, parents in the class will also want to share.

Visual Displays: Posters, bulletin boards, signs, and other visual displays throughout the class site can help convey that the public dimensions of parenting concerns are a fundamental part of parent education. Many creative bulletin boards have been used by community engaged parent educators. Interactive bulletin boards are especially effective. Other visual displays have included a table where flyers and business cards from community businesses are displayed and a file box of information on school board, District Councils, or other local government bodies. (For more ideas see "Bulletin Board Ideas").

Community Announcements: A place for displaying community announcements is also helpful for enabling parents to share resource information, requests and announcements regarding community issues with all of their classes. Community announcements may also be shared through a "Community Announcements Binder", a loose leaf binder in which teachers and parents put information on key issues affecting children, parents, and/or families in the community. The binder is kept current by the educator and passed around the group as a part of the opening to each class. (For more ideas click on "Community Announcements").