Communicating with parents was the big key of this chapter. It focused on working to get parents involved in the education of their children. Teachers need to stay in contact with parents, and they can do that in a variety of ways: letters sent home, bulletin boards with important dates posted on it, instituting a parents' nook, calling or emailing, sending home portfolios, or hosting a conference with them. Getting parents involved has shown to help the students perform better academically, give the students a better attitude about learning, help the students be better adjusted socially and emotionally, and also produce better physical well-being of the child. If the students see the parents taking an active interest in what they are doing at school, they will want to perform better. It has also been found that parents that get involved are apt to be much less critical of the teacher and the school.
The chapter mentioned the teacher getting involved in community events so parents can see she takes an interest in what's going on in the community. I do think this is important. And I might add another things - while it takes time, I also feel it's important to take an interest in the students' activities outside of the classroom. I realize it's impossible to go to every activity that every child is involved in. But if several kids play on a soccer team together, try to go to a game. If you can't go in person, ask them about it and how their record is. If a child plays a musical instrument, try to go to a recital. Or again, ask them about it. While it's important to get involved in the community, I also feel it's important to get personally involved with our students so they know we care.
I loved the idea of Traveling Tales in the classroom. I want to keep this idea in my files and hope to implement it next year in student teaching!
Jenny, I love the idea about attending extra-curricular activities that your students are involved in. It does take time out of your day, but I also know that it does make a different in the lives of your student. My dad has been a principal for many years, and there are many times that he has traveled to both non-school and school events that he doesn't have to attend to see a student perform - the kids love it! Even at the high school level! It is a major WOW factor for the younger ones, and it is great to see their faces light up! I do believe this suggestions is worthy to be in the chapter and for us to remember to implement in our own classroom in the future!
I always attend events of my students. I usually send out an email in the fall and spring and ask parents to email me several dates to choose from. Most likely you will be able to attend an event of several students at one time. Not only do the kids get so excited, but the parents really appreicate your extra effort. I work in a big district and it is definately something you can do. I love seeing how excited the students get that you are coming to see them outside of school.
You make a great point with regards to a teacher making an effort to go and see their students in activities outside of school. This really lets the students know that their teacher cares, and not just about their academics, but about the other important things in their lives. I concur with everything else you mentioned about getting parents involved. I feel this is common sense in that if students know their parents really care enough to be involved, as well as their teachers, it will give them the confidence and encouragement to succeed.
I think it is extremely important to be involved in your students' lives. I've attended the events of several of my students and this really does form a near-permanent bond with them. They will remember it for years to come - when you no longer recognize them, they'll walk up and say "Hey! Mrs. Otto!! Remember when you came to my basketball game? Man, I sucked that night!" For anyone to remember such a seemingly unimportant detail is fantastic, and for it to be a student - it just proves that it truly touched the heart of that child.
I agree with you that one of most vital parts being successful as a teacher is parental involvement. There are studnets who have parents that don't have the time and sometimes lack the inclination to be active in their childs education but I think it is worth every second of the time invested in insuring that a techer does everything in their power to try and get everyone involved at some level. It will make all of the difference in the world to the students educational journey!
It always amazes me when there is something that deep inside, we know, but on the surface it does not connect until it is put into words. Stacy, you mentioned that the kids love it when a teacher takes an interest in the students extracurricular activities and that even the high schooler's do, as well. This is something I have seen and understand, but I have also seen that students do crave acceptance from adults other than their parents (parents too, but other adults as well) no matter what they say or how they act. But taking an interest in their successes, school activities, outside school activities, and them as individuals, they do seem to excel. Good post
I think that the idea of attending events for your students is great in theory, but I am not sure that if in a big district if this is something that is as easy to do. I think that if you ask them about their sports, music, etc is a way to find out more about their likes and dislikes and you can use this in your classroom when selecting your reading materials. If you know there is a group of your students playing a sport then you can read a story about that sport.
I do agree that keeping in touch with parents is a great way to help your students succeed.
This chapter focuses on getting parents involved in your classroom to ensure student success. I think that this is a great idea. As a parent of a kindergarten student I love getting the notes home that lets me know how his day went. His teacher has chosen to make his note sheet more one sided and I wish she would write a little more. My son acted up last week in P.E., and he told me about it and my husband and I dealt with it. I never heard anything about it from the teacher.
I think that as a teachers of students in the 21st century we have to take advantage of technology as a way to keep the parents involved. In the district I will be student teaching in I will have access to the teachers page for my classroom. I will make sure to keep it up to date so that the parents can go there and see what is going on each week and what home work is due. I will check emails as much as I can each day. I will send home a communication sheet and I will fill it out on my end if I need to each day.
I want to make sure that the parents know they are always welcome in my classroom. I want them to be involved as much as possible. The students get excited to learn when their parents are involved. The students always want to share the success with some one and their parents are the first people they want to talk to at the end of the day.
Kasey, I am like you and love to have correspondence with my children's teachers. It is nice to know what is going on with them in school and learn about different things that we can do to help them at home. Technology is such a great resource and makes staying in contact very easy. My school district also has a site where we can see all assignments due, grades on work completed, attendance, lunch money balances etc. This has been a positive addition to the school and makes it easy to stay involved. As a teacher I want to be very approachable and have a good relationship with all of my student's parents. I want them to feel welcome to visit with me about their concerns and feel as though they are always welcome in my classroom. I hope to be a positive influence on the parents who are not so interested in being involved and help them to see the importance of working with their children at home and the benefits the students receive from this type of involvement.
I saw a teachers blog used in one of the technology courses I took, and I thought it had great potential. I love your idea of using it to communicate with parents. I think there are so many ways it can be used, and it helps us as teachers give information to parents in a simple way. As you suggested, it can be used to give due dates, test dates, or to write details about what is happening in the classroom. A great idea!
This chapter discusses the responsibilities of the school: scheduling regular communication between home and school, supporting parenting skills and involving parents in major decision and the responsibilities of the parents: assisting in their child’s learning, volunteering at school and collaborating with the community to provide resources to the schools. I have thought a lot about the school’s responsibilities and as a parent have been involved in the parent end of this spectrum but had not thought about how it is a parent’s job to collaborate with the community. So many of the teachers I talk to have discussed the problem of parents thinking that once their child is home from school, learning is over for the day. Some parents are not interested in working with their children as far as academics are concerned and this is can be a real problem for the students and teachers. It is our job as future educators to involve the parents but what do we do if they refuse to be involved? Teachers must get to know their students and their backgrounds in order to help them in the best way possible. Ideally every parent would be involved since this benefits the child but realistically this does not always happen. This chapter gives a lot of examples of how to communicate with the parents and/or guardians and encourage them to become involved and ways to become involved with their child’s education. Many of the ideas discussed in this chapter I have seen implemented throughout my children’s education and for parents who are interested they work well. My question is how do we reach parent who do not want to be reached? This chapter also gives some ideas about dealing with these parents such as: sending home happy grams to help them see education in a positive light and just trying to change their attitude about school in general. I think this topic may be one of the most frustrating ones as a teacher. Even if we are not seeing the results we are hoping for it is our job to continue to encourage these parents to become involved for the good of our students. Try and try again.
Kara, It is absolutely beyond me to why a parent would not want to be a part of their child's education and be proud of their achievements. By getting to know about the home life of each of our students, will help us understand the challenges ahead of us and maybe we can find the creative ways to help intrigue the parents to become involved. But unfortunately that will not always happen, so we will have to come up with other avenues. This will be one of the biggest challenges we will be faced with.
I have five grandchildren (and 1 on the way I just found out! Yea! Grandma-in-waiting here) I try to encourage my kids to work with their children, ask how their day goes, and if they just say 'fine' or they learned 'nothing', to ask questions, what did you do in math, today. I also try to encourage them to visit the classroom, and have lunch now and then with them. Even this is difficult to get them to do because of their busy lives. But I believe if we are involved with the kids and catch the parents at games and activities, even just at the store, and mention something good about the child it helps. I did this to one parent who told me it was wonderful to hear something good, because all she ever heard from the school and teachers is the bad. Maybe we can encourage the parents by simply doing what we do to encourage the students. What do you think?
Chapter 14 was full of incredible ideas on how to collaborate with teachers, caregivers and other members of the community. There are some responsibilities that are required by both the school and the parents. First, the schools must provide regular communication from school to home, support parenting skills and involve parents in major decisions. Secondly, parents need to assist with students learning, volunteer in the school if possible, and collaborate with the community to help provide resources, if possible. Besides volunteering, there are other ways that a parent can be involved with their school, such as joining PTO, school board or chaperoning field trips. As a teacher I need to get to know my students and their home lives. This will allow me a chance to get to know my students the best that I can, hopefully get their parents involved with their child’s education, and understand the trials of their everyday life. The chapter gave several suggestions to find ways to involve the parents: share successes, attend community events, hold workshops to demonstrate how they can help at home, and warmly greet parents whenever and wherever you see them. Research shows that having a parent involved truly benefits the students. If parents are involved, you will see that the student is well fed, well groomed, has good sleep habits, is socially well-adjusted, and usually is a high level performer. The chapter also talks about a bunch of ways to communicate with the parents. Ranging from newsletters, telephone calls, emails, to portfolios and daily welcome routines. My favorite was that of sending Happy Grams - this is a positive reinforcement that shows exactly what the student is doing correct in school and recognizing them for their hard work. I also really liked the home-school literacy connection that was discussed on page 367. Making this connection is huge with the success the student has in reading during school. I liked the suggestions of sending home different strategies to keep the parents and student motivated, recommend they read 10-20 minutes a night and that all reading does not need to come from a book. I would like to send home a list of multiple areas that the reading could come from on any given day. I am a true believer in a summer reading program as well. The summer between my son’s first and second grade year, he was required to not only read, but the calendar gave a variety of tasks for him to complete throughout the summer. It was an amazing tool and fun for all of us to do. The teacher set a goal of 12 out of 20 days of the month needed to be completed, and the student received a reward for returning it at the beginning of the school year. The other idea, traveling tales, is a great way to involve the parents. I have seen a third grade class that utilizes this strategy by sending Rhonda the Reindeer for the girls, and Rodney the Reindeer for the boys. The student brings home a plastic container that has the reindeer stuffed animal and a notebook for the students to use in the 48 hours that they have the project at their home. You are to incorporate either Rhonda or Rodney into your daily lives. When my daughter brought her home, we had to set a place at the table for her, make a bed for her to sleep in, and if we went for a car ride, she buckled up like the rest of us. Then the night before we were to return her to the classroom, we wrote in the books about the adventures that Rhonda had while visiting our home. The class compiles an entire document of her and Rodney’s adventures throughout the school year. They get to share the adventure with their class as well. I feel that this information in this chapter will be really useful once I have a classroom of my own. Valuable tools, strategies and ideas to hold onto for many years!
Stacy, I also like the home-literacy information! Sending home these strategies that parents could do with their children will benefit all involved, especially the child!! I also love the idea of the traveling tales! That's so neat what your child's teacher did with the reindeer. I love it! Good information!!
I have several friends who are teachers and have been for several years, they have told me over and over, if they only had to deal with the students their life would be easy, it is the parents that is the hard part. Keeping open communication and letting parents know what is going on in the classroom is important. The chapter talks about starting and ending conversations with parents with positive information about the student. It is the up to the teacher to understand what type of home life a student may have. Knowing this information will help explain why the student may struggle or may not get homework done. Some of the students I have worked with, teachers will not send homework home with the student because the teacher knows the student will not receive the help needed, or the home life is such that the student will not have time for different reasons. Sending home positive notes or weekly updates will help keep parents or guardians aware of the activities in the classroom. One thing that really stuck our to me was having the administrator send home “Good Parenting Tips”, and not the teacher. It would be an ideal world if parents and teachers work together, but there are those parents whom are difficult. More times than not, parents only want what is best for their child and having a teacher who is kind and yet knows what they are doing will provide that security they need.
I had the same feeling about dealing with kids when I did child daycare in my home. I LOVED the kids.... the parents not so much. It got to the point where I made a parent handbook the parents had to read, sign that they had read it and then take a short quiz so I could be sure they DID in fact read it and not just sign it. I actually had one family that refused to abide by my expectations so I did not accept their enrollment in my daycare and they were so angry. They said I was "just a babysitter" so why did it need to be so formal. What they didn't realize was my structured, preschool-type setting that would have helped their child tremendously. I take pride in what I do darn it!!! I liked the "good parenting tips" thing you were talking about in your post.
I am a firm believer in having an effective communication system with parents. It is so important that parents feel they can open up to their child's teacher about concerns and vice versa. Not only do I use a weekly newsletter, but I also send out many brief emails about upcoming events, assignments and homework. Also, I use parents as guest readers on Fridays. This is somethign the kids LOVE! It's super easy to manage, too. At back to school night, I hang up a sign up sheet and then I send a reminder the week of. Last year, I did it as a mystery and parents would send clues that I read to the class. We also try to get people from the community to come and speak to the classes. This year, we had Teal Bunbury from Sporting KC and the kids were so excited! Involving the community in your students' learnig is such a positive experience for everyone involved. Another thing I like to do is to send positive emails home with each student a few times a year, it also builds a great rapport with parents.
I really like your idea about parents as guest readers. I believe kids would really love this. I set up a guest speaker, an Eagle/Master Scout to come and talk to a 1st grade class about flag etiquette and the kids really enjoyed having a special guest. We must include our parents and people in the community in the classroom.
There was a ton of useful information in this chapter and I feel that your communication with parents is a vital component to the student's success. I believe a teacher should do all they can to keep an open communication line between themselves and their students' parents/guardians. This allows you to keep parents abreast of what their child is working on, short and long-term goals, and any concerns that need to be addressed. The school, community, and student's home are all important to a child learning successfully. Teachers need to encourage parents to be a big part of their child's school work at home and at school. Teachers should do all they can to entice parents/guardians into helping out in the classroom, during PTA/PTO meetings, on field trips,and special events. When the parents are involved their student's academics, research shows that these students perform better. It is a great idea to really get to know your students and their home lives. By knowing a student to this degree, you can better understand how students may act in certain situations, their performance level, and the level of parental involvement. I like the idea of keeping parents involved with the classroom and individual goals as well as letting them know the positives of their child,and not just negatives. There are many things effective teachers can do to engage parents, even those that may be critical of your teaching methods. I also like the idea of calling or emailing a parent when their child does well with something and not just when it is a bad scenario. I'm not quite sure what possesses people to openly criticize teachers in their jobs? I can't see myself being very patient with openly critical parents especially if they are not professionals in this field. I will have to work on my understanding and patience. I do plan on implementing ideas such as the introductory letter when I become a teacher to make sure I'm taking the necessary steps to be a good communicator.
Robert, I also believe that communication lines are vitally important. That is a part of life, in any scenario! Developing ways to engage the parents into their child's education is important, much like engaging the students in the content to begin with! Parents are the child's first "teachers" thus, having their full support is very important! Good information!
I knew a teacher that was really into the positive reinforcement but felt so overwhelmed that she never bothered to send anything home except for the "you're kid has been naughty" notes. It was really frustrating to have my daughter in her room - when my daughter did well, she received nothing but the second she acted up (usually talking), there was immediate punishment and a note home. I truly hope that those who want to use the positive approach actually do it! The teacher my daughter has now has through-and-through a positive approach and she has really benefited from it - her grades are higher, she loves school again, and even she has commented on how much more "fair" this system is. So even at 3rd grade - students realize that they'd rather be recognized for being good than punished for making bad choices.
Devries Chapter 14 Teachers, caregivers and the community working in collaboration
What came to mind when I began reading the chapter is the old saying that it takes a village to raise a child and that seems to be so true more and more in our society. We have grandparents raising their grandchildren or aunts and uncles or even just a kind-hearted neighbor helping out a single mother who struggles. I didn’t know there was even such a thing as national standards for parental involvement programs! I know from experience in working at the school that parent involvement is limited in many families, both at home and at school. Most of the parents who come to parent teacher conferences are not the parents you truly need to see or visit with about their child; they tend to be the parents of the “good” kids. Don’t get me wrong, their presence and involvement in their child’s lives are important and worth of time with the teacher but it is so hard to get the parents of the “other” kids to come to any events at school. Our school even tried an incentive to get parents to come to conferences at school by having a free sign up for season sports passes for the family that won the drawing. We had a small increase in turn out, but only for that particular session. It really is unfortunate that it turns out that way. Parents will be more engaged when they believe their involvement will affect their child’s education, they are important in their child’s development, their school wants their help, they feel comfortable helping at school, and they can be successful in helping with their child’s learning. The parents that do get more involved ten to be ones that have more ties with other adults in the same school. There are ways teachers and schools can get parents more involved and that is by keeping them informed through introductory letters, newsletters, bulletin boards, telephone calls, emails, personal note portfolios, daily welcomes and family-teacher conferences. There will always be “those” parents – the dreaded ones that complain about everything, who think you are picking on their child and who generally don’t seem to value education or the emotional investment teachers have in their students. The suggestions offered on page 369 and 370 are a good starting place for dealing with difficult parents. I think that is going to be one of the hardest things for me to deal with. I want to be a teacher to help kids so parents who interfere with that really frustrate me and I know I have to be appropriate and tactful but I have seen some real doosies in my time working at the school so I hope I have what it takes to handle those situations tactfully!
I think that keeping the parents informed plays a huge role in how active they are. Many parens want to be involved in the classroom but they simply dont know where or how to tart. Once that ice has been broken, they then become active members of the classroom and the students performance will just continue to increase. I think that deep down most parents want to help, they just feel like they dont have a lot to offer. I also think that the reason most parents dont participate in the classroom is due to timing. It seems that most schools put everything at the most inappropriate times.
What a great post...I completely can relate to the insight you added in your parents to the struggle to get parents involved. However, as you point out it is an essential part of reinforcing learning concepts at home and also providing additional support for students. I agree with you that one of the biggest challenges as a new classroom teacher, especially in a low socio-economic school is going to get parents/guardians involved and supporting their students in the learning experience. However, we have to do everything to try which I believe begins with being extremely transparent and accessible for example classroom web-site, weekly e-mails to parents, quick response to phone calls and e-mails, just to name a few.
Chapter 14 in our textbook reading for this week covered communication and collaboration between and amongst parents, students, community, etc. It is such a vital component of a child's educational success, that is necessary for teachers to be fully aware and engaged in this communication effort. The involvement on the parents end doesn't just end with the students' school efforts, but their home life as well. This is just as important for educators to be aware of, especially various cultures and value systems that might differ from their own. The first section of the chapter talked a lot about this particular importance in relation to how cultural environments are often different than your own norm.
The next part of the chapter discussed parent involvement in regards to their child's education and the positives of engaged parents. These types of parents want and do all possible to have a positive and effective influence on their child's life and educational endeavors. I noted a great deal of information in the section following this that discussed ways to communicate with the parents, effective ways. I found some beneficial ways discussed hear that might be helpful even if the parents weren't as "engaged" as some others. Conferences, newsletters, bulletin boards, etc. were a few great examples. All of the sections in this chapter provided great information about various types of parents that situations that one might encounter including parents who don't seem to value education, parents who are highly critical, parents who don't seem to accept their child's academic difficulties, etc. These situations would be difficult to handle if not prepared for them, luckily this chapter provided great suggestions in regards to collaboration with these parents that would be effective and beneficial.
I agree, this chapter will be a good resource in communicating with parents. It is important to help the child be successful in school, and that is much easier to do if you communicate with their parents.
I agree, that this chapter provided excellent suggestions. One of my favorite was the happy gram, that said what the student did right. A child would be proud to show their parent this.
The final chapter of the text looks at the importance of collaboration within a community to benefit the learning experiences children can engage in. Specifically this text looks that the importance of caregivers/parents collaboration with students and teachers. The text identifies and emphasizes the importance in understanding student’s home lives, which works hand in hand with collaborating with parents. Parent collaboration and engagement is a vital tool in maximizing the learning experiences can have in and outside of the classroom. One of the portions that caught my attention was the discussion of parent engagement and parents become engaged when, “they can affect their child’s development, they are important in their child’s development, their school wants their help, they feel comfortable helping at school and they can be successful in helping with their child’s learning.” The factor that stood out to me was parents become engaged when they feel ‘comfortable’ helping at school. For many parents (including myself) taking your child to school, knowing where to drop them off, knowing who they will be interacting with can be an overwhelming experience, but imagine what that experience is like for ELL parents. Therefore, I think it’s essential to try to openly communicate and create opportunities that encourage and allow students and parents alike to explore and feel comfortable at school.
As the text points out, communication is key and is something I plan to try to promote and utilize frequently in my future classroom. Communication is something that can benefit you and the parents alike, once you are able to realize you are on the same team. E-mail, classroom web-site, weekly/monthly newsletters and the happy grams are great ways to promote communication. As a parent myself I appreciate the ‘happy gram’ type note I receive from my child’s pre-school every day he attends, it’s a simple snapshot of his day. While communication is vital, I do think especially as a first year teacher it may be difficult to manage everything all at once, therefore building into a open communication system may be more practical.
Furthermore, one thing I think is essential to remember, is it’s not the student’s fault. I realize that sounds so clique, but I have seen teacher’s jump to conclusions time and time about a student, simply based on the student’s parent. In our future classrooms we will deal with a wide spectrum of parents, but regardless of how overly involved or completely uninvolved the parents choose to be, it is essential to remember it isn’t the students fault and to not take out or inadvertently punish the student. For example if reading recovery is a program your classroom is utilizing and the student doesn’t have anyone to read with, modifying that program to enable that student to have the opportunity to be successful is essential. It may mean having that student come in early or spend time after school or working with a sponsor at their latchkey program, but it’s important (regardless of their parent) to provide opportunities for the student to be successful.
Chapter 14 of the text covered communication with and among parents, teachers, and community resources. Parental involvement is vital to a student's success in school. If a parent is involved in their child's school and learning, then the child benefits academically, socially, emotionally, and physically. Teachers also need to understand their students' home lives and take into account their backgrounds and the engagement of the parents. Parental engagement can be that they do not seem to value education, those who seem highly critical, parents who do not accept that their child has academic difficulties, and involved. For students who do not have engaged parents, it is important as a teacher to provide as much enrichment at school as possible. Students with involved parents benefit most because they receive that extra instruction at home. From the text, I see that it is important to keep that line of communication between teacher and parent open. If the parents feel involved and invited, then they are more likely to do more with their child academically. I like the idea of sending home 'happy grams' to parents about their child. As a parent, it seems that the only things my children willingly tell is if someone did something bad. I think it is a great idea to incorporate positive messages, even within the classroom. It seems that praising positive behavior is overlooked because we expect the correct and appropriate behavior. Also from this chapter, the importance of reading at home and literacy activities; without this the child will struggle.
I also really liked the idea of happy grams. Our art teacher at our school has a "star student" each art period, where she sends home a similar type note.
You can see such a drastic difference in the child that has parents which engage with them at home and show an active interest in their performance. The children that dont have that support often times seem lost, not interested, and have no desire in performing. I think working hand in hand with the parents and the child is essential to creating the environment that they need in order to function in college and in life in general.
Chapter 14 was about collaborating with parents. I found this chapter to be very intersting. I loved the idea of a happy gram. I also really liked the idea of a weekly portfolio that goes home with sample work. I would love to see one in action. I thought the area that discussed the family background senerios for teachers to remember was very interesting.
I agree, that parental involvement can make such a critical difference in a child's life. If we, as educators, find a way to reach the parent and bring them into their child's life, the student will benefit.
I also liked a happy gram. There are many different ideas teachers can communicate with parents. Its good to have parents on board so they know what to work on with their kids when they get home. Communication is key in successful school year.
Parent involvement is important in a child's educational future. I agree with you that we have to find a way to reach the parent on some level to keep them in the loop.
To create a successful school year communicitation between parents is a must. It is important for the parents to be aware of what is going on in their child's school life. With technology emerging, teachers can send emails, create an Edmodo page, and even Skype with parents. Teachers can send home classroom letters, notebooks, and make phone calls. There are many different ways of communicating with parents, and teachers certainly can utilize different ways that work for different families. When the teacher and parent are on the same page, student success will be higher.
Along with parent communication, teachers need to be involved in the community. I work in a small community right now, so I see my students on a regular basis in the community. They get so excited, because the young students think we live at the school :) It is good to be involved in community activities to set an example for the students.
This Chapter focused on bringing parents and other safe community members into the classroom. For parents, the focus is involvement at home as well as involvement in the school. Having involvement in both places will benefit the students tremendously! Sometimes it is hard to get parental involvement of any kind but there are many ways that the teacher can encourage and scaffold growth in that department. I really liked the idea of bulletin boards that are for parents too. Somehow, I've always envisioned these for students but, clearly, one with upcoming events, etc for the parents to see would also be helpful. Using technology to reach parents is another good thought. I know many parents who just need a reminder; texting would be perfect for these individuals. There are many auto-texting web-based programs out there. Many of these programs are free and you can set it up to text out different messages to different people at different times, which saves you the hassle of texting folks all night long their specific reminders. Involving the community provides a symbiotic relationship between the school, students, and community. As the community becomes stronger, it can provide more support for the schools, which helps the students, and as the students become stronger, they are able to bring, create, or perform higher quality services/jobs in the area, thereby further strengthening the community.
Chapter 14 was titled teachers, caregivers, and the community working in collaboration. It talked about the benfits of parental involvement, engaged parents, ways to communicate to the parents, various things like family-teacher conference, daily welcomes, portfolios with personal notes, and giving suggestions to the parents. I think this is probably the most important chapter that we covered. I think that getting parents involved in the classroom is something that is paramount to a child's success. I think that often times we have parents that believe we are the teachers and it is therefore our job to teach their students, but there is so much more to a child's development then academic teachings. I think with the parents taking an interest with their children, it really enhances the child's desire and they get so much more out of the school.
I agree it is truly important that parents be involved in the child's schooling. Students learn so much from their parents at home and that is who a child looks up to so therefore a parent should be involved. It is important that a child sees their parents being involved in their school and life. I agree with this being one of the most important chapters in this book.
Chapter 14 talks about teachers, caregivers, and the community working in collaboration to make a child's education successful. Parental involvement is one of the most important ingredients in a child's education. It is important for teachers to know about their children's home life's because it makes a difference in a child's values and ways they communicate. A student benefits in so many ways from their parents being involved such as: academically, physically, socially, and emotionally. There are many ways for the school to communicate with the parents such as introductory letters, parent-teacher conferences, newsletters, and bulletin boards. Talks about how to work with difficult parents who don't value education or think everything you do as a teacher critically. Using the community is also a good resource for teachers to use. One question I have is what if you have a parent that likes to come and sit in class frequently with their child? Would that be an okay thing becomes it is allowing the parent to involved or can that get to be a distraction. If it turns into a distraction how do you approach this? I continue to look at the issue of involving parents as extremely important in a child's education. This chapter helps to give some insight into why you need to involve them. I work with some parents that aren't involved in their child's education and could care less about it. I think it truly does affect a child and their approach to school. In my own experience I had parents that were always involved in my education and helped out with many things that went on at the school. Now after reading this chapter and other things I realize how lucky I am to have parents that care. I also had teachers that were good and I felt like they knew me as an individual.
One of the most important aspect of a child's education that this book presents is the importance of parental involvement. This can come in many different forms and to varying extents but the fact that it is there in one way, shape or form it key to success. When a student has no adult involved in their educational journey, why would the students care. While I think it is vital for a parent of the student to be involved I think that if neither are it is necessary for another adult in that student's life stand and be counted.
It is vital on so many levels. It provides support to the teacher when homework is sent home or studying is required and there is an adult that ensures that it happens. It is vital for parents to show up to extracurricular events that happen with the students to show them love and support.
I believe it is important for teachers to show interest in their students outside of the classroom with the understanding that many teachers have families at home themselves with children who deserve their time and attention on the parental level.
It makes sense that if we want parents to be involved in the student's education that teachers can be involved in the student's extracurricular activities. I don''t mean following them to away games or anything but even something as simple as finding out how the away game went, or attending the home game, etc.
This chapter discusses the importance of the relationship between teachers and parents, and their involvement with their child’s education. It discusses all of the benefits of parental involvement and how parents become engaged. There are many ways we as teachers can communicate with parents. The use of letters, conferences, newsletters, bulletin boards, telephone calls, e-mails, personal notes or a daily welcome when they drop their child off for school. It is amazing to think about the difference you can see in a child’s education when the parent is involved. From extremely involved, to very little involvement I have seen it all with the student athletes I have coached the last 5 years. The athletes who has their parents at every game, never seem to have problems in school. On the other hand the ones who never come to the games, or meetings seem to be the same kids who I have to have discussions with teachers about their poor grades. There is a direct correlation between good students and their parent’s involvement. The chapter also discusses the parents who are very critical of their child and the ones who just don’t seem to care about their child’s education. There will always be that parent, and we have to make sure we treat the student with respect and we must let them know we care about their education and future.
You do make a good point. I am not a coach but a parent who attends as many games as I can and also I work at the school. So I can see how the ones whose parents go to the games are involved with their education more and have fewer problems with grades.
For the most part, I agree with your post. I do agree that there is a correlation between good students and parent involvement in many cases. However, we can not assume that a student preforming below average on a sports team is due to lack of parental involvement. Many times the problem can be due to a learning issue that needs to be addressed. Parental involvement makes a huge difference in a child's life. But that is not the only factor that affects their success in school. Just because parents are involved doesn't mean there aren't other issues going on at home that no one sees.
Chapter 14 Discusses the collaboration of everyone involved in a student’s education including parents, teachers, and the community. When parents are involved they have a positive effect on the student academically, physically, socially, and emotionally. Some ways a teacher can collaborate with a parent are to send newsletters, calls and letters, have conferences, and also through bulletin boards. Occasionally a teacher may have a student whose parents are not involved or seem critical of the classroom. With these parents a teacher must still welcome them as much as possible, be consistent, and politely let the parent know the teacher is an expert if need be. One of the most important things a teacher should do is listen to the parent. The community can also be involved in the education of students by volunteering in the classroom.
I have no questions with this chapter.
I find it interesting that here in Kansas I do not see many volunteers in the classroom. I don’t know if the classrooms discourage it but when we lived in Wisconsin the teachers encouraged volunteering and used the volunteers successfully throughout the school, not just in the classroom.
I hope in my classroom I can use volunteers somehow. I don’t know if it would be different with the special education classroom because of confidentiality but I think it is important to involve the parent in their child’s education.
I think the use of volunteers in the classroom is great. My son's school does a program called "Watch Dog Dad's". This is where fathers, step-fathers, grandpa's, uncles, or any father- type figure can come and spend the day at the school. They move around the school and are not only in their child's room. This is a way for children to have a positive male role model around when some of them do not have that at home.
I also think it is a great idea to have volunteers in the classroom. I know in my district. To even be a class mom you have to go through a background check, I do realize the safety of the students, but a lot of parents don't want to go down to the district building and complete it. So there are very few parents who do volunteer in the school because of that reason. I wish they could find an easy medium to where the students are safe and get more parent volunteers.
Chapter 14 discusses the importance of communication and collaboration between teachers, parents, and the community. I think this chapter has a lot of good information in it. We have learned in all of our classes how important it is to keep the parents or guardians of our students involved in their child's education. When the parents are engaged, the students are more likely to be engaged as well. One thing that really stuck out to me in this chapter was the section titled "The importance of teachers understanding their student’s home lives". There were several things in here I already knew, but some I had never thought of before. Every household is different, and we may not realize everything that goes in in their home. Things are not always how they appear to be on the outside. Therefore it is extremely important to get to know your students, their families, and their belief systems. There were a lot of ideas on how to communicate with parents. My son's school this year started a home-school literacy program. Every child in the school (almost 800 students) got the same book. We read a chapter a night, and my son answered two comprehension questions each night. My son absolutely loved it, and couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next with Humphrey. This type of program not only gets families involved, but the whole school involved. Another great section of this chapter was "working with difficult parents". This is hard, and I appreciate the ideas that were given. Technology ideas for home use are good, but I would not want any student to feel left out if they do not have the internet at home. One website I am going to check out is www.afterschool.gov. I like the fact it has links to other reputable websites. I did not have any questions on this chapter, but I am so thankful I bought this book. I think it will come in very handy during student teaching!
Julia I agree that communication and collaboration with parents is so important. As teachers, it can be a very frustrating and rewarding aspect of teaching all at the same time. I was also interested in understanding the student’s home life. I think that sometimes we are not even aware of how our own cultural expectations can affect how we approach our students. We need to work hard to be aware of ourselves and try not to expect a behavior that may go against a student’s family expectations. The home school literacy program at your son’s school sound like a great way to get families involved. I hope to use methods such as those to increase communication and involvement in my classroom.
This chapter represents the hardest topic for me to feel prepared to deal with when teaching. Parents come in all types and obviously, as it points out in our text, it is helpful to understand the family expectations, culture, and background in order to effectively teach a student. I am always amazed at the cultural differences that a teacher needs to be aware of so that they do not misjudge their students. I want to be aware of these issues so that I do not, for instance, repeated call on a student who is always stressed about giving the correct answer because their cultural expectation is to always have the correct answer.
The other aspect of the chapter that stood out to me was the variety of parents that we will have to deal with. Working as a sub and being a mom, I have seen many of these types of parents from the uninvolved to the highly critical. I liked that the textbook made suggestions on how to deal with different types of parents because it is not always clear how to handle different situations. I think that dealing with the different types of parents as a teacher is one aspect of teaching that we will have to learn on the job because every student and their family situation is different so there is no one way to deal with everyone.
I agree Ellen. You never know about parents. Some may be understanding and some might expect you to do everything for their child including babying them. I have been involved in several types. I find it easier to deal with parents that are supportive rather than negative.
I also stress about parents. I don't even want to think about my first parent-teacher conferences. I like to avoid confrontation and parents can be very defensive so it is not something that I am looking forward to. I can only hope to start off with a good relationship with the parents of my students from day one.
Chapter 14 focuses on communication. Communication with students, parents, faculty, board members and the community as a whole is an important part of the school. I feel that communication needs to be critical.
For example: in my district for prom there is a policy about the age of the dates. They can not be older 20. I does not say anything about the escort up to the red carpet. This year, a girl wanted her brother who was a LHS graduate, in the Air Force just home from Afghanistan to walk her down the red carpet. Well he was 22 and so she asked for permission. The assistant principal said shouldn't be a problem, but the principal said no, because of his age. Well to make a long story short, this created national attention, because this young man was in the military. There were videos sent to CNN and Fox news and you tube. Well because of this national news the principal was forced to make a public announcement. And then the girl was. He did not deny the man because he was in the military he denied him because of his age. Well because of the media attention focusing on his military status the district was forced to change their prom policy. So now the parents and the board and the principal has changed the policy that the principal, superintendent, and board may make exceptions that are legitimate.
My personal opinion on this is: the principal did what he had to do, he had to turn down other students not just this family. Secondly, this would have not made national news if the young man was not military. And now the new policy doesn't state about the red carpet and that is what the big mess was all about.
So this is example has to do with communication. The district as a whole needed to communicate better instead of assuming the denial was because of this military man. And the principal and the assistant principal should have communicated and talked to the board and superintendent instead of one saying one thing and the other another.
I think this chapter does show how everyone can communicate and try and avoid situations like what has just occurred in my district.
I am really impressed with this chapter. It is full of really good information and suggestions. I hope to establish a positive relationship with my parents from the get go. I have seen some home-school communication folders that I think do a great job of keep the communication opinion between teachers and parents and they really don't take a lot of time to read and fill out each day. As a parent I would love for my children's teachers to do something like this. I would love to develop something like this for my own use. I also hope to maintain a website or blog that keeps parents informed. I want something simple that won't take up a lot of my time, but I also want something that will be kept current. I am hoping that I can put it in my regular routine because I see way too many of these that just don't stay up to date. I am going to say it again - I really loved this chapter! There are so many great ideas!
I too really enjoyed this chapter. I think this is one of the best chapters in the class because it will pertain to all of us 100% of the time. I have seen some really effective practices this semester as well and I have seen how much it truly does benefit the students. Plus, it makes it a much smoother year for you as the teacher. Who doesn’t love that? I too would like to have a website for my classroom. I think the folders are a good idea too, but I think it is easy for them to get lost in the shuffle. I think that the website is such a great idea because most parents surf the internet, and this would be a great way to connect them to what is going on.
I also really enjoyed this chapter. I really want to establish great parent relationships and open communication in my classroom. I would love to incorporate the community into my room atleast once a month. I would love to have a website for my class, it'd just be another way where parents, students, community members could go and see what is going on in my room.
Chapter 14 is about the connection that needs to be made the teachers, parents, and the community. Having the families involved with the students learning is incredibly important and will greatly help the child. The parents can be involved at the school with things like conferences, chaperoning a class field trip, attending PTA meetings, volunteering in the classroom, and many other things. The parents can also be involved at home by monitoring their homework, reading and writing with them, and so on. it also talks about why it is important for teachers to understand the home life of their students, the benefit of parental involvement, the attributes of engaged parents, how to communicate with parents, initiating parental involvement that will make a difference, working with those difficult parents that I know that we are all going to have, and parental involvement and technology. Though I knew that it is very important to understand the student’s home lives, this chapter outlined some that I never really would have thought of. One of them was the one that said that in some cultures children bring disgrace to the family if they complete a task incorrectly and this can result in students not handing in their work or responding to a question if they don’t know that the answers are correct. Knowing this could really change the outlook of a child when looking at the work that they complete and hand in. the effective principles that were listed to overcome some of these issues were great and could easily be followed. I thought that one of the most important parts was the section on dealing with parents that might be difficult. This is something that I greatly fear when I am in my own classroom. The fate of their child’s future is in my hands for a year and most parents don’t take that too lightly. The ideas that were given were useful and I think could help in most situations with difficult parents. I also thought that the technology part was interesting and also had some great ideas.
My internship this semester I have seen such a great deal of parental involvement with the school and the classroom as well as the connection back home. the mentor teacher was constantly contacting parents for more than just bad things that happen with their child. Many of the parents would come into the classroom to drop off their student and you could always tell that the parents felt very comfortable talking to her and they often would report some of the things that they saw and/or did with their student at home. She also had a lot of parents coming into the classroom to volunteer. I felt like I saw a very model example of how communication and involvement should exist between parents and teachers. At the school that I am at, they do not require them to do parent teacher conferences for the second half of the year. So she schedules her own time before and after school, during specials times, and even lunch. She would meet with them face to face, which is what she preferred, or she would also Skype them if that was something that was more covenant for the parent.
Brenna, You mentioned how the text discussed a student's home life affecting their progress in the classroom or lack thereof; this is definitely something so important for teachers to keep in mind. There are sometimes a host of outside factors that can contribute to a child's learning capabilities. I also really appreciated hearing about the parental communication occurring in your internship; your mentor teacher has provided a great example of this to you. I was impressed that she was using the Skype option for parents; a lot of the teachers I've dealt with so far are not even familiar with Skype.
Chapter 14 is, is, cool. When I read the section titled WORKING WITH DIFFICULT PARENTS, I thought "ooo, deja vu!" The text discusses three types of parents 1) those who do not seem to value education, 2) those who seem too critical of everything the teacher does, and 3) parents who don't seem to accept that their child has reading or writing problems. (pg 369) I have seen all three of these. Students whose parents never return calls, don't come to P/T meetings, act 'put out' when I talk to them about homework. I had an especially difficult time with a parent (who is also a substitute teacher) whose child I worked with one on one in math. He daughter was in fourth grade but could not add without manipulatives. Her mother spent the whole year arguing that her daughter did NOT need one on one help, she just needed someone to sit in the class "just in case" I documented everything we did and how she worked and still she complained. She was denying her daughter had a disability. Then there are the parents that are so worried that we are over challenging and that their child needs to be basically given the answers. I even had a parent who did the students homework for him! I would try to get him to do his work in school but he wouldn't and insisted his mom helps him a lot better than school does. (He was in high school) (Well, hu!) The text suggests idea's that help, idea's such as letting the parent know that their help (real help not answers) at home along with the in class time will help the child to succeed. and to be consistent. Getting the parents to be involved can be so difficult. But I was especially interested in the idea of weekly portfolios with personal notes that also include compliments. Parents need to hear more than bad yet for many parent, that's all they hear. I believe that if they hear good, they may become more involved, not always, but even one would be worth it. I did not always understand the impact of parent involvement. But since being in education I am understanding a lot more. Unfortunately, I did not understand that reading to kids from very young helps them to become better readers! That I am very sorry about. You can't go back. But we can go forward and help those who come to us now.
This chapter elaborated on the significance of parental involvement in children’s education and how important it is for teachers, parents, and those in the community to collaborate for the benefit of our students. All of us, together, can contribute essential components to the educational process for our children. I appreciated DeVries listing key responsibilities of the educator, as well as the parents; each plays a role in education. I frequently hear other parents complain about things their child’s teacher requests of them; they “have to sign this and that”, or “we have to make sure they read and practice math facts for 15 minutes every night”. So often they see it as the teacher’s responsibility alone, to educate their child and make sure they learn it all well. It’s a proven fact that children make substantially more progress with parental involvement in the picture; it makes a huge difference! Parental involvement, both at home and in the school, makes a very positive impact on their student’s accomplishments with school work and the student’s attitude towards school. There are multiple ways to communicate with parents. It’s nice to send out a letter of introduction to the students and their parents. Classroom newletters can be sent home with the students or emailed to the parents. Parent-teacher conferences can be a great opportunity to communicate with parents about positives and any negatives occurring in the classroom. I appreciated the sections which dealt with establishing a home-school literacy connection and working with difficult parents My most favorite mode of parental communication has to be the classroom blog. My daughter’s 1st grade teacher maintained a fabulous blog, in which she shared each week what the students were doing in the classroom, included many pictures each week of the children interacting and working on projects, and posted additional links for parents and students. The pictures provided a great way to actually see my daughter in her classroom with the other students.
I love the idea of a classroom blog! My only worry is, what does she do for the parents who don't have a computer or internet access? Does she also send home a newsletter as well? I think at the beginning of the year I would ask my parents how they would like to receive news about what is going on in the classroom If they would like to be able to access the class blog or if they would like a newsletter sent home or even both. Also to let them know that this can change any time throughout the year, just in case things change for the family.
I loved reading chapter 14 and found it to be an easy/quick read. It discussed the different variety of parents all teachers will come across at one point or another, if not all in the same year. Thankfully I had the parents who were involved in my learning and were connected with my school. Last semester when I was observing in the kindergarten classroom, I witnessed the type of parent who is aggressive and blames the teacher for everything. There were a couple times this parent just marched into the classroom like they owned the place and it could be for something as simple as dropping off the kid's lunch or coat, or picking their child up. Things that should have been done when the child left for school in the morning or something that the office could have handle, but I'm assuming they demanded that they went to the classroom themselves. Then when they were there, not only was their walking in disruptive enough, they would say hi and talk to their child....interrupting class even more. After the first instance I observed, the teacher explained to me what the parent was like and how they were always doing this, bet yet blaming the student's behavior and failure on her. This teacher has been teaching for 14 years so it didn't really phase her too much, but I could still tell how frustrated she got with this parent. I'm nervous on how to handle parents like this because to be honest, I don't ever remember having any classmates with parents like this. But I guess that happens when you got to schools in small towns where just about everybody in the community supports everything the schools do.
The chapter also had suggestions on what to do in about every situation with parents that could happen. One of my favorite suggestions of this chapter was to bring in volunteers from the community to read with the students. I say this is my favorite because my school did this, except all of the students got the chance to do it because the school was small enough. The elderly lady who came in every day to read with students was actually one of my classmate's grandmother and she was the sweetest lady. I think just about every single one of us looked forward to our turn to read the story of our choice to Mrs. Byle every week. It definitely made for some good elementary school memories and is something I will never forget!
I really liked the suggestions that the book offered when it came to parental situations. I also enjoyed the "ways to communicate with parents." This chapter offered some great resources for us to utilize.
I really enjoyed reading Chapter 14, "Teachers, Caregivers, and the Community working in Collaboration." Before I go into the chapter, the name of it speaks for itself. I highly believe that when everyone works together, the result is just tremendous. I agree that Parental involvement is an important ingredient when it comes to a child's education, but I also believe that a supporting community and a great teacher are equally important. In a few experiences that I have had with parent/teacher conferences or phone calls to parents, I have found that there are some parents that simply do not care. This makes my heart so sad, and it is hard for me to not play a favor to that child because of the lack of parental involvement. In the experiences that I have observed, these students tend to act the same way as their parents seem to rub off. With that being said, I have also came across some absolutely amazing parents who are so supportive of their child, the school, and the community. The part of this chapter that I like the most, is the part where it goes into the importance of teachers understanding their student's home lives. There are so many situations and things that our students have to go through that were never considered in the past. The way they are treated at home really shows at school. I think that it is vitally important to learn about each of your students so you know how to reach each one of them so that you become an effective teacher. This was a great read for me and I felt like it put alot of things in perspective.
Understanding a students home life, will help explain a lot about the students and parents as well. There are so many unexplainable things that students will be going through with no explanation, especially when it comes out at school.
Chapter 14 was a great chapter discussing how teachers, caregivers, parents, and the community can all work together. We have all learned that it is important to get the parents involved in their students learning. There are many strategies as well as some problems that teachers will encounter when it comes to parent involvement. Some parents are, sadly, just not interested in helping their students at home or even coming to the school to volunteer as well. I have seen this multiple times through work as well as through some of my internships and this internship. This chapter gives some great strategies to communicate with the parents. This can be accomplished with newsletters, parent-teacher conferences, phone calls or emails, and parent signatures on students work to let the teachers know they are looking at discussing it with their students. Students are always so eager to have their parents come into their classroom or even be able to share their work with their parents as well. At work I have seen how excited they are to run and show their parents something great they did during the day at school. It is important for all of us to remember that we will always have difficult parents that who may not want to be involved in the classroom and learning. Like the book says "A teacher needs to remember the child when dealing with these parents. Every child deserves a fair education." The student is the most important part of the teaching process.
Communicating with parents was the big key of this chapter. It focused on working to get parents involved in the education of their children. Teachers need to stay in contact with parents, and they can do that in a variety of ways: letters sent home, bulletin boards with important dates posted on it, instituting a parents' nook, calling or emailing, sending home portfolios, or hosting a conference with them. Getting parents involved has shown to help the students perform better academically, give the students a better attitude about learning, help the students be better adjusted socially and emotionally, and also produce better physical well-being of the child. If the students see the parents taking an active interest in what they are doing at school, they will want to perform better. It has also been found that parents that get involved are apt to be much less critical of the teacher and the school.
ReplyDeleteThe chapter mentioned the teacher getting involved in community events so parents can see she takes an interest in what's going on in the community. I do think this is important. And I might add another things - while it takes time, I also feel it's important to take an interest in the students' activities outside of the classroom. I realize it's impossible to go to every activity that every child is involved in. But if several kids play on a soccer team together, try to go to a game. If you can't go in person, ask them about it and how their record is. If a child plays a musical instrument, try to go to a recital. Or again, ask them about it. While it's important to get involved in the community, I also feel it's important to get personally involved with our students so they know we care.
I loved the idea of Traveling Tales in the classroom. I want to keep this idea in my files and hope to implement it next year in student teaching!
Jenny, I love the idea about attending extra-curricular activities that your students are involved in. It does take time out of your day, but I also know that it does make a different in the lives of your student. My dad has been a principal for many years, and there are many times that he has traveled to both non-school and school events that he doesn't have to attend to see a student perform - the kids love it! Even at the high school level! It is a major WOW factor for the younger ones, and it is great to see their faces light up! I do believe this suggestions is worthy to be in the chapter and for us to remember to implement in our own classroom in the future!
DeleteI always attend events of my students. I usually send out an email in the fall and spring and ask parents to email me several dates to choose from. Most likely you will be able to attend an event of several students at one time. Not only do the kids get so excited, but the parents really appreicate your extra effort. I work in a big district and it is definately something you can do. I love seeing how excited the students get that you are coming to see them outside of school.
DeleteJenny,
DeleteYou make a great point with regards to a teacher making an effort to go and see their students in activities outside of school. This really lets the students know that their teacher cares, and not just about their academics, but about the other important things in their lives. I concur with everything else you mentioned about getting parents involved. I feel this is common sense in that if students know their parents really care enough to be involved, as well as their teachers, it will give them the confidence and encouragement to succeed.
I think it is extremely important to be involved in your students' lives. I've attended the events of several of my students and this really does form a near-permanent bond with them. They will remember it for years to come - when you no longer recognize them, they'll walk up and say "Hey! Mrs. Otto!! Remember when you came to my basketball game? Man, I sucked that night!" For anyone to remember such a seemingly unimportant detail is fantastic, and for it to be a student - it just proves that it truly touched the heart of that child.
DeleteI agree with you that one of most vital parts being successful as a teacher is parental involvement. There are studnets who have parents that don't have the time and sometimes lack the inclination to be active in their childs education but I think it is worth every second of the time invested in insuring that a techer does everything in their power to try and get everyone involved at some level. It will make all of the difference in the world to the students educational journey!
DeleteIt always amazes me when there is something that deep inside, we know, but on the surface it does not connect until it is put into words. Stacy, you mentioned that the kids love it when a teacher takes an interest in the students extracurricular activities and that even the high schooler's do, as well. This is something I have seen and understand, but I have also seen that students do crave acceptance from adults other than their parents (parents too, but other adults as well) no matter what they say or how they act. But taking an interest in their successes, school activities, outside school activities, and them as individuals, they do seem to excel. Good post
DeleteI think that the idea of attending events for your students is great in theory, but I am not sure that if in a big district if this is something that is as easy to do. I think that if you ask them about their sports, music, etc is a way to find out more about their likes and dislikes and you can use this in your classroom when selecting your reading materials. If you know there is a group of your students playing a sport then you can read a story about that sport.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that keeping in touch with parents is a great way to help your students succeed.
This chapter focuses on getting parents involved in your classroom to ensure student success. I think that this is a great idea. As a parent of a kindergarten student I love getting the notes home that lets me know how his day went. His teacher has chosen to make his note sheet more one sided and I wish she would write a little more. My son acted up last week in P.E., and he told me about it and my husband and I dealt with it. I never heard anything about it from the teacher.
ReplyDeleteI think that as a teachers of students in the 21st century we have to take advantage of technology as a way to keep the parents involved. In the district I will be student teaching in I will have access to the teachers page for my classroom. I will make sure to keep it up to date so that the parents can go there and see what is going on each week and what home work is due. I will check emails as much as I can each day. I will send home a communication sheet and I will fill it out on my end if I need to each day.
I want to make sure that the parents know they are always welcome in my classroom. I want them to be involved as much as possible. The students get excited to learn when their parents are involved. The students always want to share the success with some one and their parents are the first people they want to talk to at the end of the day.
Kasey,
DeleteI am like you and love to have correspondence with my children's teachers. It is nice to know what is going on with them in school and learn about different things that we can do to help them at home. Technology is such a great resource and makes staying in contact very easy. My school district also has a site where we can see all assignments due, grades on work completed, attendance, lunch money balances etc. This has been a positive addition to the school and makes it easy to stay involved. As a teacher I want to be very approachable and have a good relationship with all of my student's parents. I want them to feel welcome to visit with me about their concerns and feel as though they are always welcome in my classroom. I hope to be a positive influence on the parents who are not so interested in being involved and help them to see the importance of working with their children at home and the benefits the students receive from this type of involvement.
I saw a teachers blog used in one of the technology courses I took, and I thought it had great potential. I love your idea of using it to communicate with parents. I think there are so many ways it can be used, and it helps us as teachers give information to parents in a simple way. As you suggested, it can be used to give due dates, test dates, or to write details about what is happening in the classroom. A great idea!
ReplyDeleteThis chapter discusses the responsibilities of the school: scheduling regular communication between home and school, supporting parenting skills and involving parents in major decision and the responsibilities of the parents: assisting in their child’s learning, volunteering at school and collaborating with the community to provide resources to the schools. I have thought a lot about the school’s responsibilities and as a parent have been involved in the parent end of this spectrum but had not thought about how it is a parent’s job to collaborate with the community. So many of the teachers I talk to have discussed the problem of parents thinking that once their child is home from school, learning is over for the day. Some parents are not interested in working with their children as far as academics are concerned and this is can be a real problem for the students and teachers. It is our job as future educators to involve the parents but what do we do if they refuse to be involved? Teachers must get to know their students and their backgrounds in order to help them in the best way possible. Ideally every parent would be involved since this benefits the child but realistically this does not always happen. This chapter gives a lot of examples of how to communicate with the parents and/or guardians and encourage them to become involved and ways to become involved with their child’s education. Many of the ideas discussed in this chapter I have seen implemented throughout my children’s education and for parents who are interested they work well. My question is how do we reach parent who do not want to be reached? This chapter also gives some ideas about dealing with these parents such as: sending home happy grams to help them see education in a positive light and just trying to change their attitude about school in general. I think this topic may be one of the most frustrating ones as a teacher. Even if we are not seeing the results we are hoping for it is our job to continue to encourage these parents to become involved for the good of our students. Try and try again.
ReplyDeleteKara, It is absolutely beyond me to why a parent would not want to be a part of their child's education and be proud of their achievements. By getting to know about the home life of each of our students, will help us understand the challenges ahead of us and maybe we can find the creative ways to help intrigue the parents to become involved. But unfortunately that will not always happen, so we will have to come up with other avenues. This will be one of the biggest challenges we will be faced with.
DeleteI have five grandchildren (and 1 on the way I just found out! Yea! Grandma-in-waiting here) I try to encourage my kids to work with their children, ask how their day goes, and if they just say 'fine' or they learned 'nothing', to ask questions, what did you do in math, today. I also try to encourage them to visit the classroom, and have lunch now and then with them. Even this is difficult to get them to do because of their busy lives. But I believe if we are involved with the kids and catch the parents at games and activities, even just at the store, and mention something good about the child it helps. I did this to one parent who told me it was wonderful to hear something good, because all she ever heard from the school and teachers is the bad. Maybe we can encourage the parents by simply doing what we do to encourage the students. What do you think?
DeleteChapter 14 was full of incredible ideas on how to collaborate with teachers, caregivers and other members of the community. There are some responsibilities that are required by both the school and the parents. First, the schools must provide regular communication from school to home, support parenting skills and involve parents in major decisions. Secondly, parents need to assist with students learning, volunteer in the school if possible, and collaborate with the community to help provide resources, if possible. Besides volunteering, there are other ways that a parent can be involved with their school, such as joining PTO, school board or chaperoning field trips. As a teacher I need to get to know my students and their home lives. This will allow me a chance to get to know my students the best that I can, hopefully get their parents involved with their child’s education, and understand the trials of their everyday life. The chapter gave several suggestions to find ways to involve the parents: share successes, attend community events, hold workshops to demonstrate how they can help at home, and warmly greet parents whenever and wherever you see them. Research shows that having a parent involved truly benefits the students. If parents are involved, you will see that the student is well fed, well groomed, has good sleep habits, is socially well-adjusted, and usually is a high level performer. The chapter also talks about a bunch of ways to communicate with the parents. Ranging from newsletters, telephone calls, emails, to portfolios and daily welcome routines. My favorite was that of sending Happy Grams - this is a positive reinforcement that shows exactly what the student is doing correct in school and recognizing them for their hard work. I also really liked the home-school literacy connection that was discussed on page 367. Making this connection is huge with the success the student has in reading during school. I liked the suggestions of sending home different strategies to keep the parents and student motivated, recommend they read 10-20 minutes a night and that all reading does not need to come from a book. I would like to send home a list of multiple areas that the reading could come from on any given day. I am a true believer in a summer reading program as well. The summer between my son’s first and second grade year, he was required to not only read, but the calendar gave a variety of tasks for him to complete throughout the summer. It was an amazing tool and fun for all of us to do. The teacher set a goal of 12 out of 20 days of the month needed to be completed, and the student received a reward for returning it at the beginning of the school year. The other idea, traveling tales, is a great way to involve the parents. I have seen a third grade class that utilizes this strategy by sending Rhonda the Reindeer for the girls, and Rodney the Reindeer for the boys. The student brings home a plastic container that has the reindeer stuffed animal and a notebook for the students to use in the 48 hours that they have the project at their home. You are to incorporate either Rhonda or Rodney into your daily lives. When my daughter brought her home, we had to set a place at the table for her, make a bed for her to sleep in, and if we went for a car ride, she buckled up like the rest of us. Then the night before we were to return her to the classroom, we wrote in the books about the adventures that Rhonda had while visiting our home. The class compiles an entire document of her and Rodney’s adventures throughout the school year. They get to share the adventure with their class as well. I feel that this information in this chapter will be really useful once I have a classroom of my own. Valuable tools, strategies and ideas to hold onto for many years!
ReplyDeleteStacy,
DeleteI also like the home-literacy information! Sending home these strategies that parents could do with their children will benefit all involved, especially the child!! I also love the idea of the traveling tales! That's so neat what your child's teacher did with the reindeer. I love it! Good information!!
I have several friends who are teachers and have been for several years, they have told me over and over, if they only had to deal with the students their life would be easy, it is the parents that is the hard part. Keeping open communication and letting parents know what is going on in the classroom is important. The chapter talks about starting and ending conversations with parents with positive information about the student. It is the up to the teacher to understand what type of home life a student may have. Knowing this information will help explain why the student may struggle or may not get homework done. Some of the students I have worked with, teachers will not send homework home with the student because the teacher knows the student will not receive the help needed, or the home life is such that the student will not have time for different reasons. Sending home positive notes or weekly updates will help keep parents or guardians aware of the activities in the classroom. One thing that really stuck our to me was having the administrator send home “Good Parenting Tips”, and not the teacher. It would be an ideal world if parents and teachers work together, but there are those parents whom are difficult. More times than not, parents only want what is best for their child and having a teacher who is kind and yet knows what they are doing will provide that security they need.
ReplyDeleteI had the same feeling about dealing with kids when I did child daycare in my home. I LOVED the kids.... the parents not so much. It got to the point where I made a parent handbook the parents had to read, sign that they had read it and then take a short quiz so I could be sure they DID in fact read it and not just sign it. I actually had one family that refused to abide by my expectations so I did not accept their enrollment in my daycare and they were so angry. They said I was "just a babysitter" so why did it need to be so formal. What they didn't realize was my structured, preschool-type setting that would have helped their child tremendously. I take pride in what I do darn it!!! I liked the "good parenting tips" thing you were talking about in your post.
DeleteI am a firm believer in having an effective communication system with parents. It is so important that parents feel they can open up to their child's teacher about concerns and vice versa. Not only do I use a weekly newsletter, but I also send out many brief emails about upcoming events, assignments and homework. Also, I use parents as guest readers on Fridays. This is somethign the kids LOVE! It's super easy to manage, too. At back to school night, I hang up a sign up sheet and then I send a reminder the week of. Last year, I did it as a mystery and parents would send clues that I read to the class. We also try to get people from the community to come and speak to the classes. This year, we had Teal Bunbury from Sporting KC and the kids were so excited! Involving the community in your students' learnig is such a positive experience for everyone involved. Another thing I like to do is to send positive emails home with each student a few times a year, it also builds a great rapport with parents.
ReplyDeleteLisa,
DeleteI really like your idea about parents as guest readers. I believe kids would really love this. I set up a guest speaker, an Eagle/Master Scout to come and talk to a 1st grade class about flag etiquette and the kids really enjoyed having a special guest. We must include our parents and people in the community in the classroom.
There was a ton of useful information in this chapter and I feel that your communication with parents is a vital component to the student's success. I believe a teacher should do all they can to keep an open communication line between themselves and their students' parents/guardians. This allows you to keep parents abreast of what their child is working on, short and long-term goals, and any concerns that need to be addressed. The school, community, and student's home are all important to a child learning successfully. Teachers need to encourage parents to be a big part of their child's school work at home and at school. Teachers should do all they can to entice parents/guardians into helping out in the classroom, during PTA/PTO meetings, on field trips,and special events. When the parents are involved their student's academics, research shows that these students perform better. It is a great idea to really get to know your students and their home lives. By knowing a student to this degree, you can better understand how students may act in certain situations, their performance level, and the level of parental involvement. I like the idea of keeping parents involved with the classroom and individual goals as well as letting them know the positives of their child,and not just negatives. There are many things effective teachers can do to engage parents, even those that may be critical of your teaching methods. I also like the idea of calling or emailing a parent when their child does well with something and not just when it is a bad scenario. I'm not quite sure what possesses people to openly criticize teachers in their jobs? I can't see myself being very patient with openly critical parents especially if they are not professionals in this field. I will have to work on my understanding and patience. I do plan on implementing ideas such as the introductory letter when I become a teacher to make sure I'm taking the necessary steps to be a good communicator.
ReplyDeleteRobert, I also believe that communication lines are vitally important. That is a part of life, in any scenario! Developing ways to engage the parents into their child's education is important, much like engaging the students in the content to begin with! Parents are the child's first "teachers" thus, having their full support is very important! Good information!
DeleteI knew a teacher that was really into the positive reinforcement but felt so overwhelmed that she never bothered to send anything home except for the "you're kid has been naughty" notes. It was really frustrating to have my daughter in her room - when my daughter did well, she received nothing but the second she acted up (usually talking), there was immediate punishment and a note home. I truly hope that those who want to use the positive approach actually do it! The teacher my daughter has now has through-and-through a positive approach and she has really benefited from it - her grades are higher, she loves school again, and even she has commented on how much more "fair" this system is. So even at 3rd grade - students realize that they'd rather be recognized for being good than punished for making bad choices.
DeleteDevries Chapter 14
ReplyDeleteTeachers, caregivers and the community working in collaboration
What came to mind when I began reading the chapter is the old saying that it takes a village to raise a child and that seems to be so true more and more in our society. We have grandparents raising their grandchildren or aunts and uncles or even just a kind-hearted neighbor helping out a single mother who struggles. I didn’t know there was even such a thing as national standards for parental involvement programs! I know from experience in working at the school that parent involvement is limited in many families, both at home and at school. Most of the parents who come to parent teacher conferences are not the parents you truly need to see or visit with about their child; they tend to be the parents of the “good” kids. Don’t get me wrong, their presence and involvement in their child’s lives are important and worth of time with the teacher but it is so hard to get the parents of the “other” kids to come to any events at school. Our school even tried an incentive to get parents to come to conferences at school by having a free sign up for season sports passes for the family that won the drawing. We had a small increase in turn out, but only for that particular session. It really is unfortunate that it turns out that way. Parents will be more engaged when they believe their involvement will affect their child’s education, they are important in their child’s development, their school wants their help, they feel comfortable helping at school, and they can be successful in helping with their child’s learning. The parents that do get more involved ten to be ones that have more ties with other adults in the same school. There are ways teachers and schools can get parents more involved and that is by keeping them informed through introductory letters, newsletters, bulletin boards, telephone calls, emails, personal note portfolios, daily welcomes and family-teacher conferences. There will always be “those” parents – the dreaded ones that complain about everything, who think you are picking on their child and who generally don’t seem to value education or the emotional investment teachers have in their students. The suggestions offered on page 369 and 370 are a good starting place for dealing with difficult parents. I think that is going to be one of the hardest things for me to deal with. I want to be a teacher to help kids so parents who interfere with that really frustrate me and I know I have to be appropriate and tactful but I have seen some real doosies in my time working at the school so I hope I have what it takes to handle those situations tactfully!
I think that keeping the parents informed plays a huge role in how active they are. Many parens want to be involved in the classroom but they simply dont know where or how to tart. Once that ice has been broken, they then become active members of the classroom and the students performance will just continue to increase. I think that deep down most parents want to help, they just feel like they dont have a lot to offer. I also think that the reason most parents dont participate in the classroom is due to timing. It seems that most schools put everything at the most inappropriate times.
Deletethanks,
Julie Copeland
What a great post...I completely can relate to the insight you added in your parents to the struggle to get parents involved. However, as you point out it is an essential part of reinforcing learning concepts at home and also providing additional support for students. I agree with you that one of the biggest challenges as a new classroom teacher, especially in a low socio-economic school is going to get parents/guardians involved and supporting their students in the learning experience. However, we have to do everything to try which I believe begins with being extremely transparent and accessible for example classroom web-site, weekly e-mails to parents, quick response to phone calls and e-mails, just to name a few.
ReplyDeleteChapter 14 in our textbook reading for this week covered communication and collaboration between and amongst parents, students, community, etc. It is such a vital component of a child's educational success, that is necessary for teachers to be fully aware and engaged in this communication effort. The involvement on the parents end doesn't just end with the students' school efforts, but their home life as well. This is just as important for educators to be aware of, especially various cultures and value systems that might differ from their own. The first section of the chapter talked a lot about this particular importance in relation to how cultural environments are often different than your own norm.
ReplyDeleteThe next part of the chapter discussed parent involvement in regards to their child's education and the positives of engaged parents. These types of parents want and do all possible to have a positive and effective influence on their child's life and educational endeavors. I noted a great deal of information in the section following this that discussed ways to communicate with the parents, effective ways. I found some beneficial ways discussed hear that might be helpful even if the parents weren't as "engaged" as some others. Conferences, newsletters, bulletin boards, etc. were a few great examples. All of the sections in this chapter provided great information about various types of parents that situations that one might encounter including parents who don't seem to value education, parents who are highly critical, parents who don't seem to accept their child's academic difficulties, etc. These situations would be difficult to handle if not prepared for them, luckily this chapter provided great suggestions in regards to collaboration with these parents that would be effective and beneficial.
I agree, this chapter will be a good resource in communicating with parents. It is important to help the child be successful in school, and that is much easier to do if you communicate with their parents.
DeleteI agree, that this chapter provided excellent suggestions. One of my favorite was the happy gram, that said what the student did right. A child would be proud to show their parent this.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe final chapter of the text looks at the importance of collaboration within a community to benefit the learning experiences children can engage in. Specifically this text looks that the importance of caregivers/parents collaboration with students and teachers. The text identifies and emphasizes the importance in understanding student’s home lives, which works hand in hand with collaborating with parents. Parent collaboration and engagement is a vital tool in maximizing the learning experiences can have in and outside of the classroom. One of the portions that caught my attention was the discussion of parent engagement and parents become engaged when, “they can affect their child’s development, they are important in their child’s development, their school wants their help, they feel comfortable helping at school and they can be successful in helping with their child’s learning.” The factor that stood out to me was parents become engaged when they feel ‘comfortable’ helping at school. For many parents (including myself) taking your child to school, knowing where to drop them off, knowing who they will be interacting with can be an overwhelming experience, but imagine what that experience is like for ELL parents. Therefore, I think it’s essential to try to openly communicate and create opportunities that encourage and allow students and parents alike to explore and feel comfortable at school.
ReplyDeleteAs the text points out, communication is key and is something I plan to try to promote and utilize frequently in my future classroom. Communication is something that can benefit you and the parents alike, once you are able to realize you are on the same team. E-mail, classroom web-site, weekly/monthly newsletters and the happy grams are great ways to promote communication. As a parent myself I appreciate the ‘happy gram’ type note I receive from my child’s pre-school every day he attends, it’s a simple snapshot of his day. While communication is vital, I do think especially as a first year teacher it may be difficult to manage everything all at once, therefore building into a open communication system may be more practical.
Furthermore, one thing I think is essential to remember, is it’s not the student’s fault. I realize that sounds so clique, but I have seen teacher’s jump to conclusions time and time about a student, simply based on the student’s parent. In our future classrooms we will deal with a wide spectrum of parents, but regardless of how overly involved or completely uninvolved the parents choose to be, it is essential to remember it isn’t the students fault and to not take out or inadvertently punish the student. For example if reading recovery is a program your classroom is utilizing and the student doesn’t have anyone to read with, modifying that program to enable that student to have the opportunity to be successful is essential. It may mean having that student come in early or spend time after school or working with a sponsor at their latchkey program, but it’s important (regardless of their parent) to provide opportunities for the student to be successful.
Chapter 14 of the text covered communication with and among parents, teachers, and community resources. Parental involvement is vital to a student's success in school. If a parent is involved in their child's school and learning, then the child benefits academically, socially, emotionally, and physically. Teachers also need to understand their students' home lives and take into account their backgrounds and the engagement of the parents. Parental engagement can be that they do not seem to value education, those who seem highly critical, parents who do not accept that their child has academic difficulties, and involved. For students who do not have engaged parents, it is important as a teacher to provide as much enrichment at school as possible. Students with involved parents benefit most because they receive that extra instruction at home.
ReplyDeleteFrom the text, I see that it is important to keep that line of communication between teacher and parent open. If the parents feel involved and invited, then they are more likely to do more with their child academically. I like the idea of sending home 'happy grams' to parents about their child. As a parent, it seems that the only things my children willingly tell is if someone did something bad. I think it is a great idea to incorporate positive messages, even within the classroom. It seems that praising positive behavior is overlooked because we expect the correct and appropriate behavior.
Also from this chapter, the importance of reading at home and literacy activities; without this the child will struggle.
I also really liked the idea of happy grams. Our art teacher at our school has a "star student" each art period, where she sends home a similar type note.
DeleteYou can see such a drastic difference in the child that has parents which engage with them at home and show an active interest in their performance. The children that dont have that support often times seem lost, not interested, and have no desire in performing. I think working hand in hand with the parents and the child is essential to creating the environment that they need in order to function in college and in life in general.
Deletethanks,
Julie Copeland
Chapter 14 was about collaborating with parents. I found this chapter to be very intersting. I loved the idea of a happy gram. I also really liked the idea of a weekly portfolio that goes home with sample work. I would love to see one in action. I thought the area that discussed the family background senerios for teachers to remember was very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI agree, that parental involvement can make such a critical difference in a child's life. If we, as educators, find a way to reach the parent and bring them into their child's life, the student will benefit.
I also liked a happy gram. There are many different ideas teachers can communicate with parents. Its good to have parents on board so they know what to work on with their kids when they get home. Communication is key in successful school year.
DeleteParent involvement is important in a child's educational future. I agree with you that we have to find a way to reach the parent on some level to keep them in the loop.
DeleteTo create a successful school year communicitation between parents is a must. It is important for the parents to be aware of what is going on in their child's school life. With technology emerging, teachers can send emails, create an Edmodo page, and even Skype with parents. Teachers can send home classroom letters, notebooks, and make phone calls. There are many different ways of communicating with parents, and teachers certainly can utilize different ways that work for different families. When the teacher and parent are on the same page, student success will be higher.
ReplyDeleteAlong with parent communication, teachers need to be involved in the community. I work in a small community right now, so I see my students on a regular basis in the community. They get so excited, because the young students think we live at the school :) It is good to be involved in community activities to set an example for the students.
This Chapter focused on bringing parents and other safe community members into the classroom. For parents, the focus is involvement at home as well as involvement in the school. Having involvement in both places will benefit the students tremendously! Sometimes it is hard to get parental involvement of any kind but there are many ways that the teacher can encourage and scaffold growth in that department. I really liked the idea of bulletin boards that are for parents too. Somehow, I've always envisioned these for students but, clearly, one with upcoming events, etc for the parents to see would also be helpful. Using technology to reach parents is another good thought. I know many parents who just need a reminder; texting would be perfect for these individuals. There are many auto-texting web-based programs out there. Many of these programs are free and you can set it up to text out different messages to different people at different times, which saves you the hassle of texting folks all night long their specific reminders. Involving the community provides a symbiotic relationship between the school, students, and community. As the community becomes stronger, it can provide more support for the schools, which helps the students, and as the students become stronger, they are able to bring, create, or perform higher quality services/jobs in the area, thereby further strengthening the community.
ReplyDeleteChapter 14 was titled teachers, caregivers, and the community working in collaboration. It talked about the benfits of parental involvement, engaged parents, ways to communicate to the parents, various things like family-teacher conference, daily welcomes, portfolios with personal notes, and giving suggestions to the parents. I think this is probably the most important chapter that we covered. I think that getting parents involved in the classroom is something that is paramount to a child's success. I think that often times we have parents that believe we are the teachers and it is therefore our job to teach their students, but there is so much more to a child's development then academic teachings. I think with the parents taking an interest with their children, it really enhances the child's desire and they get so much more out of the school.
ReplyDeletethanks,
Julie Copeland
I agree it is truly important that parents be involved in the child's schooling. Students learn so much from their parents at home and that is who a child looks up to so therefore a parent should be involved. It is important that a child sees their parents being involved in their school and life. I agree with this being one of the most important chapters in this book.
DeleteChapter 14 talks about teachers, caregivers, and the community working in collaboration to make a child's education successful. Parental involvement is one of the most important ingredients in a child's education. It is important for teachers to know about their children's home life's because it makes a difference in a child's values and ways they communicate. A student benefits in so many ways from their parents being involved such as: academically, physically, socially, and emotionally. There are many ways for the school to communicate with the parents such as introductory letters, parent-teacher conferences, newsletters, and bulletin boards. Talks about how to work with difficult parents who don't value education or think everything you do as a teacher critically. Using the community is also a good resource for teachers to use.
ReplyDeleteOne question I have is what if you have a parent that likes to come and sit in class frequently with their child? Would that be an okay thing becomes it is allowing the parent to involved or can that get to be a distraction. If it turns into a distraction how do you approach this?
I continue to look at the issue of involving parents as extremely important in a child's education. This chapter helps to give some insight into why you need to involve them. I work with some parents that aren't involved in their child's education and could care less about it. I think it truly does affect a child and their approach to school.
In my own experience I had parents that were always involved in my education and helped out with many things that went on at the school. Now after reading this chapter and other things I realize how lucky I am to have parents that care. I also had teachers that were good and I felt like they knew me as an individual.
One of the most important aspect of a child's education that this book presents is the importance of parental involvement. This can come in many different forms and to varying extents but the fact that it is there in one way, shape or form it key to success. When a student has no adult involved in their educational journey, why would the students care. While I think it is vital for a parent of the student to be involved I think that if neither are it is necessary for another adult in that student's life stand and be counted.
ReplyDeleteIt is vital on so many levels. It provides support to the teacher when homework is sent home or studying is required and there is an adult that ensures that it happens. It is vital for parents to show up to extracurricular events that happen with the students to show them love and support.
I believe it is important for teachers to show interest in their students outside of the classroom with the understanding that many teachers have families at home themselves with children who deserve their time and attention on the parental level.
It makes sense that if we want parents to be involved in the student's education that teachers can be involved in the student's extracurricular activities. I don''t mean following them to away games or anything but even something as simple as finding out how the away game went, or attending the home game, etc.
DeleteThis chapter discusses the importance of the relationship between teachers and parents, and their involvement with their child’s education. It discusses all of the benefits of parental involvement and how parents become engaged. There are many ways we as teachers can communicate with parents. The use of letters, conferences, newsletters, bulletin boards, telephone calls, e-mails, personal notes or a daily welcome when they drop their child off for school. It is amazing to think about the difference you can see in a child’s education when the parent is involved. From extremely involved, to very little involvement I have seen it all with the student athletes I have coached the last 5 years. The athletes who has their parents at every game, never seem to have problems in school. On the other hand the ones who never come to the games, or meetings seem to be the same kids who I have to have discussions with teachers about their poor grades. There is a direct correlation between good students and their parent’s involvement.
ReplyDeleteThe chapter also discusses the parents who are very critical of their child and the ones who just don’t seem to care about their child’s education. There will always be that parent, and we have to make sure we treat the student with respect and we must let them know we care about their education and future.
You do make a good point. I am not a coach but a parent who attends as many games as I can and also I work at the school. So I can see how the ones whose parents go to the games are involved with their education more and have fewer problems with grades.
DeleteFor the most part, I agree with your post. I do agree that there is a correlation between good students and parent involvement in many cases. However, we can not assume that a student preforming below average on a sports team is due to lack of parental involvement. Many times the problem can be due to a learning issue that needs to be addressed. Parental involvement makes a huge difference in a child's life. But that is not the only factor that affects their success in school. Just because parents are involved doesn't mean there aren't other issues going on at home that no one sees.
DeleteChapter 14 Discusses the collaboration of everyone involved in a student’s education including parents, teachers, and the community. When parents are involved they have a positive effect on the student academically, physically, socially, and emotionally. Some ways a teacher can collaborate with a parent are to send newsletters, calls and letters, have conferences, and also through bulletin boards. Occasionally a teacher may have a student whose parents are not involved or seem critical of the classroom. With these parents a teacher must still welcome them as much as possible, be consistent, and politely let the parent know the teacher is an expert if need be. One of the most important things a teacher should do is listen to the parent. The community can also be involved in the education of students by volunteering in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI have no questions with this chapter.
I find it interesting that here in Kansas I do not see many volunteers in the classroom. I don’t know if the classrooms discourage it but when we lived in Wisconsin the teachers encouraged volunteering and used the volunteers successfully throughout the school, not just in the classroom.
I hope in my classroom I can use volunteers somehow. I don’t know if it would be different with the special education classroom because of confidentiality but I think it is important to involve the parent in their child’s education.
I think the use of volunteers in the classroom is great. My son's school does a program called "Watch Dog Dad's". This is where fathers, step-fathers, grandpa's, uncles, or any father- type figure can come and spend the day at the school. They move around the school and are not only in their child's room. This is a way for children to have a positive male role model around when some of them do not have that at home.
DeleteI also think it is a great idea to have volunteers in the classroom. I know in my district. To even be a class mom you have to go through a background check, I do realize the safety of the students, but a lot of parents don't want to go down to the district building and complete it. So there are very few parents who do volunteer in the school because of that reason. I wish they could find an easy medium to where the students are safe and get more parent volunteers.
DeleteChapter 14 discusses the importance of communication and collaboration between teachers, parents, and the community. I think this chapter has a lot of good information in it. We have learned in all of our classes how important it is to keep the parents or guardians of our students involved in their child's education. When the parents are engaged, the students are more likely to be engaged as well. One thing that really stuck out to me in this chapter was the section titled "The importance of teachers understanding their student’s home lives". There were several things in here I already knew, but some I had never thought of before. Every household is different, and we may not realize everything that goes in in their home. Things are not always how they appear to be on the outside. Therefore it is extremely important to get to know your students, their families, and their belief systems. There were a lot of ideas on how to communicate with parents. My son's school this year started a home-school literacy program. Every child in the school (almost 800 students) got the same book. We read a chapter a night, and my son answered two comprehension questions each night. My son absolutely loved it, and couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next with Humphrey. This type of program not only gets families involved, but the whole school involved. Another great section of this chapter was "working with difficult parents". This is hard, and I appreciate the ideas that were given. Technology ideas for home use are good, but I would not want any student to feel left out if they do not have the internet at home. One website I am going to check out is www.afterschool.gov. I like the fact it has links to other reputable websites. I did not have any questions on this chapter, but I am so thankful I bought this book. I think it will come in very handy during student teaching!
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DeleteI agree that communication and collaboration with parents is so important. As teachers, it can be a very frustrating and rewarding aspect of teaching all at the same time. I was also interested in understanding the student’s home life. I think that sometimes we are not even aware of how our own cultural expectations can affect how we approach our students. We need to work hard to be aware of ourselves and try not to expect a behavior that may go against a student’s family expectations. The home school literacy program at your son’s school sound like a great way to get families involved. I hope to use methods such as those to increase communication and involvement in my classroom.
This chapter represents the hardest topic for me to feel prepared to deal with when teaching. Parents come in all types and obviously, as it points out in our text, it is helpful to understand the family expectations, culture, and background in order to effectively teach a student. I am always amazed at the cultural differences that a teacher needs to be aware of so that they do not misjudge their students. I want to be aware of these issues so that I do not, for instance, repeated call on a student who is always stressed about giving the correct answer because their cultural expectation is to always have the correct answer.
ReplyDeleteThe other aspect of the chapter that stood out to me was the variety of parents that we will have to deal with. Working as a sub and being a mom, I have seen many of these types of parents from the uninvolved to the highly critical. I liked that the textbook made suggestions on how to deal with different types of parents because it is not always clear how to handle different situations. I think that dealing with the different types of parents as a teacher is one aspect of teaching that we will have to learn on the job because every student and their family situation is different so there is no one way to deal with everyone.
I agree Ellen. You never know about parents. Some may be understanding and some might expect you to do everything for their child including babying them. I have been involved in several types. I find it easier to deal with parents that are supportive rather than negative.
DeleteI also stress about parents. I don't even want to think about my first parent-teacher conferences. I like to avoid confrontation and parents can be very defensive so it is not something that I am looking forward to. I can only hope to start off with a good relationship with the parents of my students from day one.
DeleteChapter 14 focuses on communication. Communication with students, parents, faculty, board members and the community as a whole is an important part of the school. I feel that communication needs to be critical.
ReplyDeleteFor example: in my district for prom there is a policy about the age of the dates. They can not be older 20. I does not say anything about the escort up to the red carpet. This year, a girl wanted her brother who was a LHS graduate, in the Air Force just home from Afghanistan to walk her down the red carpet. Well he was 22 and so she asked for permission. The assistant principal said shouldn't be a problem, but the principal said no, because of his age. Well to make a long story short, this created national attention, because this young man was in the military. There were videos sent to CNN and Fox news and you tube. Well because of this national news the principal was forced to make a public announcement. And then the girl was. He did not deny the man because he was in the military he denied him because of his age. Well because of the media attention focusing on his military status the district was forced to change their prom policy. So now the parents and the board and the principal has changed the policy that the principal, superintendent, and board may make exceptions that are legitimate.
My personal opinion on this is: the principal did what he had to do, he had to turn down other students not just this family. Secondly, this would have not made national news if the young man was not military. And now the new policy doesn't state about the red carpet and that is what the big mess was all about.
So this is example has to do with communication. The district as a whole needed to communicate better instead of assuming the denial was because of this military man. And the principal and the assistant principal should have communicated and talked to the board and superintendent instead of one saying one thing and the other another.
I think this chapter does show how everyone can communicate and try and avoid situations like what has just occurred in my district.
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ReplyDeleteI am really impressed with this chapter. It is full of really good information and suggestions. I hope to establish a positive relationship with my parents from the get go. I have seen some home-school communication folders that I think do a great job of keep the communication opinion between teachers and parents and they really don't take a lot of time to read and fill out each day. As a parent I would love for my children's teachers to do something like this. I would love to develop something like this for my own use. I also hope to maintain a website or blog that keeps parents informed. I want something simple that won't take up a lot of my time, but I also want something that will be kept current. I am hoping that I can put it in my regular routine because I see way too many of these that just don't stay up to date. I am going to say it again - I really loved this chapter! There are so many great ideas!
ReplyDeleteI too really enjoyed this chapter. I think this is one of the best chapters in the class because it will pertain to all of us 100% of the time. I have seen some really effective practices this semester as well and I have seen how much it truly does benefit the students. Plus, it makes it a much smoother year for you as the teacher. Who doesn’t love that? I too would like to have a website for my classroom. I think the folders are a good idea too, but I think it is easy for them to get lost in the shuffle. I think that the website is such a great idea because most parents surf the internet, and this would be a great way to connect them to what is going on.
DeleteI also really enjoyed this chapter. I really want to establish great parent relationships and open communication in my classroom. I would love to incorporate the community into my room atleast once a month. I would love to have a website for my class, it'd just be another way where parents, students, community members could go and see what is going on in my room.
DeleteChapter 14 is about the connection that needs to be made the teachers, parents, and the community. Having the families involved with the students learning is incredibly important and will greatly help the child. The parents can be involved at the school with things like conferences, chaperoning a class field trip, attending PTA meetings, volunteering in the classroom, and many other things. The parents can also be involved at home by monitoring their homework, reading and writing with them, and so on. it also talks about why it is important for teachers to understand the home life of their students, the benefit of parental involvement, the attributes of engaged parents, how to communicate with parents, initiating parental involvement that will make a difference, working with those difficult parents that I know that we are all going to have, and parental involvement and technology.
ReplyDeleteThough I knew that it is very important to understand the student’s home lives, this chapter outlined some that I never really would have thought of. One of them was the one that said that in some cultures children bring disgrace to the family if they complete a task incorrectly and this can result in students not handing in their work or responding to a question if they don’t know that the answers are correct. Knowing this could really change the outlook of a child when looking at the work that they complete and hand in. the effective principles that were listed to overcome some of these issues were great and could easily be followed. I thought that one of the most important parts was the section on dealing with parents that might be difficult. This is something that I greatly fear when I am in my own classroom. The fate of their child’s future is in my hands for a year and most parents don’t take that too lightly. The ideas that were given were useful and I think could help in most situations with difficult parents. I also thought that the technology part was interesting and also had some great ideas.
My internship this semester I have seen such a great deal of parental involvement with the school and the classroom as well as the connection back home. the mentor teacher was constantly contacting parents for more than just bad things that happen with their child. Many of the parents would come into the classroom to drop off their student and you could always tell that the parents felt very comfortable talking to her and they often would report some of the things that they saw and/or did with their student at home. She also had a lot of parents coming into the classroom to volunteer. I felt like I saw a very model example of how communication and involvement should exist between parents and teachers. At the school that I am at, they do not require them to do parent teacher conferences for the second half of the year. So she schedules her own time before and after school, during specials times, and even lunch. She would meet with them face to face, which is what she preferred, or she would also Skype them if that was something that was more covenant for the parent.
Brenna,
DeleteYou mentioned how the text discussed a student's home life affecting their progress in the classroom or lack thereof; this is definitely something so important for teachers to keep in mind. There are sometimes a host of outside factors that can contribute to a child's learning capabilities.
I also really appreciated hearing about the parental communication occurring in your internship; your mentor teacher has provided a great example of this to you. I was impressed that she was using the Skype option for parents; a lot of the teachers I've dealt with so far are not even familiar with Skype.
Chapter 14 is, is, cool. When I read the section titled WORKING WITH DIFFICULT PARENTS, I thought "ooo, deja vu!" The text discusses three types of parents 1) those who do not seem to value education, 2) those who seem too critical of everything the teacher does, and 3) parents who don't seem to accept that their child has reading or writing problems. (pg 369) I have seen all three of these. Students whose parents never return calls, don't come to P/T meetings, act 'put out' when I talk to them about homework. I had an especially difficult time with a parent (who is also a substitute teacher) whose child I worked with one on one in math. He daughter was in fourth grade but could not add without manipulatives. Her mother spent the whole year arguing that her daughter did NOT need one on one help, she just needed someone to sit in the class "just in case" I documented everything we did and how she worked and still she complained. She was denying her daughter had a disability. Then there are the parents that are so worried that we are over challenging and that their child needs to be basically given the answers. I even had a parent who did the students homework for him! I would try to get him to do his work in school but he wouldn't and insisted his mom helps him a lot better than school does. (He was in high school) (Well, hu!)
ReplyDeleteThe text suggests idea's that help, idea's such as letting the parent know that their help (real help not answers) at home along with the in class time will help the child to succeed. and to be consistent.
Getting the parents to be involved can be so difficult. But I was especially interested in the idea of weekly portfolios with personal notes that also include compliments. Parents need to hear more than bad yet for many parent, that's all they hear. I believe that if they hear good, they may become more involved, not always, but even one would be worth it.
I did not always understand the impact of parent involvement. But since being in education I am understanding a lot more. Unfortunately, I did not understand that reading to kids from very young helps them to become better readers! That I am very sorry about. You can't go back. But we can go forward and help those who come to us now.
This chapter elaborated on the significance of parental involvement in children’s education and how important it is for teachers, parents, and those in the community to collaborate for the benefit of our students. All of us, together, can contribute essential components to the educational process for our children. I appreciated DeVries listing key responsibilities of the educator, as well as the parents; each plays a role in education. I frequently hear other parents complain about things their child’s teacher requests of them; they “have to sign this and that”, or “we have to make sure they read and practice math facts for 15 minutes every night”. So often they see it as the teacher’s responsibility alone, to educate their child and make sure they learn it all well. It’s a proven fact that children make substantially more progress with parental involvement in the picture; it makes a huge difference! Parental involvement, both at home and in the school, makes a very positive impact on their student’s accomplishments with school work and the student’s attitude towards school. There are multiple ways to communicate with parents. It’s nice to send out a letter of introduction to the students and their parents. Classroom newletters can be sent home with the students or emailed to the parents. Parent-teacher conferences can be a great opportunity to communicate with parents about positives and any negatives occurring in the classroom. I appreciated the sections which dealt with establishing a home-school literacy connection and working with difficult parents
ReplyDeleteMy most favorite mode of parental communication has to be the classroom blog. My daughter’s 1st grade teacher maintained a fabulous blog, in which she shared each week what the students were doing in the classroom, included many pictures each week of the children interacting and working on projects, and posted additional links for parents and students. The pictures provided a great way to actually see my daughter in her classroom with the other students.
I love the idea of a classroom blog! My only worry is, what does she do for the parents who don't have a computer or internet access? Does she also send home a newsletter as well? I think at the beginning of the year I would ask my parents how they would like to receive news about what is going on in the classroom If they would like to be able to access the class blog or if they would like a newsletter sent home or even both. Also to let them know that this can change any time throughout the year, just in case things change for the family.
DeleteI loved reading chapter 14 and found it to be an easy/quick read. It discussed the different variety of parents all teachers will come across at one point or another, if not all in the same year. Thankfully I had the parents who were involved in my learning and were connected with my school. Last semester when I was observing in the kindergarten classroom, I witnessed the type of parent who is aggressive and blames the teacher for everything. There were a couple times this parent just marched into the classroom like they owned the place and it could be for something as simple as dropping off the kid's lunch or coat, or picking their child up. Things that should have been done when the child left for school in the morning or something that the office could have handle, but I'm assuming they demanded that they went to the classroom themselves. Then when they were there, not only was their walking in disruptive enough, they would say hi and talk to their child....interrupting class even more. After the first instance I observed, the teacher explained to me what the parent was like and how they were always doing this, bet yet blaming the student's behavior and failure on her. This teacher has been teaching for 14 years so it didn't really phase her too much, but I could still tell how frustrated she got with this parent. I'm nervous on how to handle parents like this because to be honest, I don't ever remember having any classmates with parents like this. But I guess that happens when you got to schools in small towns where just about everybody in the community supports everything the schools do.
ReplyDeleteThe chapter also had suggestions on what to do in about every situation with parents that could happen. One of my favorite suggestions of this chapter was to bring in volunteers from the community to read with the students. I say this is my favorite because my school did this, except all of the students got the chance to do it because the school was small enough. The elderly lady who came in every day to read with students was actually one of my classmate's grandmother and she was the sweetest lady. I think just about every single one of us looked forward to our turn to read the story of our choice to Mrs. Byle every week. It definitely made for some good elementary school memories and is something I will never forget!
I really liked the suggestions that the book offered when it came to parental situations. I also enjoyed the "ways to communicate with parents." This chapter offered some great resources for us to utilize.
DeleteI really enjoyed reading Chapter 14, "Teachers, Caregivers, and the Community working in Collaboration." Before I go into the chapter, the name of it speaks for itself. I highly believe that when everyone works together, the result is just tremendous.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Parental involvement is an important ingredient when it comes to a child's education, but I also believe that a supporting community and a great teacher are equally important. In a few experiences that I have had with parent/teacher conferences or phone calls to parents, I have found that there are some parents that simply do not care. This makes my heart so sad, and it is hard for me to not play a favor to that child because of the lack of parental involvement. In the experiences that I have observed, these students tend to act the same way as their parents seem to rub off. With that being said, I have also came across some absolutely amazing parents who are so supportive of their child, the school, and the community.
The part of this chapter that I like the most, is the part where it goes into the importance of teachers understanding their student's home lives. There are so many situations and things that our students have to go through that were never considered in the past. The way they are treated at home really shows at school. I think that it is vitally important to learn about each of your students so you know how to reach each one of them so that you become an effective teacher.
This was a great read for me and I felt like it put alot of things in perspective.
Understanding a students home life, will help explain a lot about the students and parents as well. There are so many unexplainable things that students will be going through with no explanation, especially when it comes out at school.
DeleteChapter 14 was a great chapter discussing how teachers, caregivers, parents, and the community can all work together. We have all learned that it is important to get the parents involved in their students learning. There are many strategies as well as some problems that teachers will encounter when it comes to parent involvement. Some parents are, sadly, just not interested in helping their students at home or even coming to the school to volunteer as well. I have seen this multiple times through work as well as through some of my internships and this internship. This chapter gives some great strategies to communicate with the parents. This can be accomplished with newsletters, parent-teacher conferences, phone calls or emails, and parent signatures on students work to let the teachers know they are looking at discussing it with their students. Students are always so eager to have their parents come into their classroom or even be able to share their work with their parents as well. At work I have seen how excited they are to run and show their parents something great they did during the day at school. It is important for all of us to remember that we will always have difficult parents that who may not want to be involved in the classroom and learning. Like the book says "A teacher needs to remember the child when dealing with these parents. Every child deserves a fair education." The student is the most important part of the teaching process.
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