Your final blog post will be about parent involvement in schools. After our discussion in class and your reading of chapter 6 you should have a good understanding of how important this connection is for the success of a child. Do you have an interesting story from your schooling about your parent or a classmate's parent being involved in school? How important do you think it is? What can you do as a first year teacher to help parents become more involved? Pick one of the questions above as a springboard for your post.
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I haven't had any parent problems in the class that i am observing, but when i was in high school we had a student in the school whose parent thought the school was being ran the wrong way. He made it to the point of trying to get administrators fired. His efforts failed, but he then tried running for the school board. He didn't get elected, but it makes me think that some parents try to get involved in the wrong way.
ReplyDeleteI believe parent involvment in education is very important,for many reasons. The parents as well as the home environment is always the child's first social group and learning environment. So where they come from and how involved their parents are make a big difference because it can be the difference of if that student is dedicated and hardworking or lazy and make bad grades and not very literate. no matter how much some children may act like they are nothing like their parents or value their parents opinion parents make a big difference because sometimes consciously or unconsciously children copy their parents behavior and acts especially if that is all they know. so if they see their parents involved and hard working that could transfer to how they act in school and learning which in turn could help them learn alot, make good grades and become more well rounded than students without that parental involvment and dedication.
ReplyDeleteMatthew I agree with you when you say some parents try and get involved in the wrong, inappropriate way.
ReplyDeleteParents can also be helpful in their students education. A parents support is very important.
ReplyDeleteTraneika- I totally agree with your post. I especially liked when you made the point that if a child sees their parent become more involved, he or she will be more willing to become involved and work harder at school too.
ReplyDeleteI belive parent involvement is imperitive for a student to succeed in school. My parents have always been very involved in my school work. They would always help me with my homework and make sure I am doing my best to produce good grades. I always felt very encouraged by my parents and they were open to all of my questions and concerns as a student. I can remember my elementary school days, my mom would be at every class party and she loved to chaperone field trips. She wasnt overly involved like some parents can be so I always enjoyed when she came in my classroom. Even through high school my parents stayed very involved. They came to every concert, play, and awards ceremony. Their invovlement in my life as a student helped me succeed throughout all of my years of schooling. As a teacher, I hope to encourage this kind of involvement in all parents. I will do this by keeping a constant source of communication open, by email or phone. I will update the parents about each student's progress and everything that is going on in the classroom. I want all parents to feel that I am a resource in their child's success.
ReplyDeleteI dont really have an intresting story about when I was going to school and my parents getting involved. They made sure my assassignments were in on time and were curious about my grades, but other than that they didn't really get that involved, I guess.
ReplyDeleteThe only issue I have seen with parent involvement is with a child whose parents are divorced. When he stays with his dad, the child seems to act out more and misbehave. I also know that my teacher tries to get parents involved because she does home visits. They are required in the district, but I think it is a great idea. At least the parent will know what is going on once a week when the teacher goes and visits at the house. The teacher gives the parents ideas and tips they can use at home so that their child will succeed in school.
ReplyDeleteTraneika, I agree with you that the environment students come from can effect how they act in school. I think this is shown with my example above. I feel if a child's parents do not care how they do in school, then the child will not care how they do in school. If they have no support from home, then they will see no need to do well in school.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I have not had any issues with parents in the class I was in, but I came in after one and was told about it. A parent had a problem with her student that was involved in the JETT program. She was unhappy because her daughter was having to make up all the homework missed during the time she was allowed to join other students who had also earned the privelage of being in JETT. She then let the principal (not the teacher) know of all the other extra curricular activities that her daugher was involved in and that she (her daughter) was just overwhelmed. My teacher was more that willing to accomodate the homework issue (JETT kids are intelligent enough to catch up on their own) but she was upset that this parent didn't even try to address the issue with her, she went straight to the principal.
ReplyDeleteIn answer to all of the comments made above about parent involvement, I completely agree that it is important and imperative to a students (my childs) education to be as involved and dedicated to their learning. I also agree that a pushy parent can do more harm than good at times, then again "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" in the right situations (running for school board is a little extreme though). As a single mother, I have always been thankful for the opportunities I have had to have open communication with my girls teachers: face-to-face, email, phone calls, notes sent home, news letters, etc. I have lunch with my girls occationally and their teachers have pulled me aside to let me know things, good things mostly. I am hoping to do the same for the students I will teach.
ReplyDeleteIn order to get parents involved, as a first year teacher, I think I would try keeping parents informed of what the kids are learning in class with maybe weekly e-mails just showing the content covered, encouraging parents to ask they children about homework and maybe spending some time each day reviewing what has been taught in class, helping them out with homework, or just reading together. Parent involvement can influence student achievement greatly, I think we would all agree on that, and the more we, as teachers, do to make sure parents are getting involved, the more the students will reflect it on their grades.
ReplyDeletein the class that i was observing there was this one boy who i think his parents were too involved. his dad would do everything for him. the dad would email or call the teacher if his son had a question, he would do his homework, and take him on school trips. i think its very important for parents to be involoved but not that involved.
ReplyDeletenicole- i agree with your post. my parents were always involved in my education, but not overly involoved. i hope when i become a teacher i can help incourage parental involvement.
ReplyDeleteThere are quite a few things that can be done to increase parental involvement. I think that one of the best ways would be to use the internet. The internet is a great tool for staying connected with people, just as we have done with this blog. For example, a teacher could make a blog that both parents and students could access, and that way the parents would know what is going on in the class. Letting the parents know what is going on is essential. If a student is struggling, chances are that parental involvement could help the situation.
ReplyDeleteras631- Thats really a shame that that happens, and its not a rare occurance. Many parents get too involved in thier childrens schoolwork. By doing that, they are only helping the kids short term. How can they possibly expect thier children to learn and think for themselves when they are constantly hovering over them. There is definently a point when parental involvement can harm a student's education.
ReplyDeleteAs a student, I did not realize how important parent involvement in school is. My parents have instilled in me that school comes first, education is important. As long as we try our hardest, our grades should reflect our effort. If we struggled in one area though, there was no consequence as long as it was obvious we tried did our best. I realize now that because my parents were involved in pushing me to try my best at everything I did, I achieved, so in teaching, I think asking the parents to push their kids at home, motivating them to learn is a major role in productive education. However, I think there is a point where parent involvement is too much. For instance, at my high school there was a girl's parent who would come to watch all her presentations to make sure she did well and was graded fairly. Students need to learn how to achieve on their own by the parents and teacher helping them to find what motivates them.
ReplyDeleteras636 and Michael-I agree that the parent's involvement was too much, but I know as teachers we will most likely have to deal with such a situation. This whole topic seems to be how teachers can work with parents in their differing involvement levels. Its parent-child relationship reflected in the classroom. How does a teacher help a parent realize they are too involved or not involved enough in their child's academic life? It is like telling them they don't know how to be an adequate parent. In such a case, maybe different teachers or a principal will need to talk with the parent as well. Most of the time, one teacher's opinion means nothing to the parent and other people need to get involved. Even having a conference with the student and parent could help situations to get the student's perspective. I am curious as to how the student feels about this parent's involvement.
ReplyDeletei think that parent involvement in a school is very important. My parents have always been very involved with my education. When i was younger my mom would check my homework for me when i was done with it. Also they would quiz me on different subjects before tests. Now that I am living away from home my mom still asks me how my classes are going and she always makes sure i know that if i need help shes always there. This is very helpful for me especially when im stressed. One way to get more parent involvement is to email the parents of students who arent keeping up and filling them in on what is going on in the classroom and each of the subjects. Give them ideas to help their child with homework and how to study for tests and quizzes.
ReplyDeleteMichael Belaska- I think that your blogging idea for students and teachers is a great idea. I think it is a very creative and different way to get parents more involved with their childs learning
ReplyDeleteAlly, you're completely right, just having parents have higher expectations from their children and having them provide constant encouragement can make a big difference in the performance of children at school. Even if parents don't have much time to spend with their children doing homework, just with some encouragement, kids can achieve more things than on the contrary.
ReplyDeleteI think that parent involvement is very important for any child. kids always need help in order to success and parents should be able to help them.
ReplyDeleteas a teacher I think that we should look for different ways to help parents follow what we are doing in classes. emails with information about the class is a good idea.
Michael, I am agree with you. hopefully we have internet today. Parents and Teachers have to work together in order to help the students, and internet could be a great option to make that team work and reach learning in their kids
ReplyDeleteI feel that a healthy amount of parent involvement is very important. My parents were always very involved all throughout my schooling. They were always there to help and if I was strugling in an area they weren't able to help in, they would find someone who could. I feel that if maybe my parents weren't so involved it would have sometimes been easier to give up or make excuses for doing poorly but I was never able to do this because my parents held me accountable. They knew that I was aware of their willingness to do anything to help me. I feel teachers should give parents this same awareness of willingness. I think teachers should make sure parents know of their willingness to go above and beyond with helping their child and focusing on the child's needs. I feel like this will usually result in the parent being more dedicated to helping as well. Teachers need to let parents know they are definitely working with the child but that a team effort will make all the difference.
ReplyDeleteAnna- I agree with you on e-mailing the parents with helpful tips on studying, homework and etc. I also always found it very helpful to study with mom and be quizzed. And I still enjoy her occasional calls asking if I need help with school!
ReplyDeleteFrom past experiences in school, I have come to realize that it is very important for parents to be involved in the childrens education. This allows the parents to see on a first hand basis materials covered during class. This also allows them to ask their children questions about stuff covered in class for example paintings, or pictures on the wall. I really don't have a story I can remember from my schooling that deal with parents other than the fact that we always had parents there and it allowed us as students to be motivated for classwork for a different reason. As a first year teacher you could keep good communication with your partents by keeping a blog, or constant email dialog going, and encourage them to stop by the classroom on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteAlly I totally agree with your statement about sometimes parents involvement being too much. If the parents are too involved the student doesn't get everything out of their educational experience. There is a point where the parent needs to let their child learn and achieve on their own, but still give support and help where needed.
ReplyDeleteParent involvement is very important to students at home because when some may feel that there parents dont care how they may do in there classes or they may feel like they can behave any way they want. To me if you know what your parents expect out of you in class they usually support you outside of class.
ReplyDeleteAs a first year teacher I would send home maybe homework that the student may need to get signed or have the parents sign there quizes for extra credit like I had to. An if the parent saw that he or she was doing bad maybe they would get more involved and push there kid to succeed>
ReplyDeleteParental involvement is extremely important in our schools today. As a first year teacher i would send bad tests home so parents can take a look at them and sign. It is critical in children's development to have the parents involved in school work. I would talk to the teachers and conferences and make sure they are staying active in the involvement of their kids success.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with andrew and ally in the fact that parents being overly involved is a bad thing. Students should be able to make the decisions themselves whether or not they want to succeed in school. Parents should help with projects and studying for test (and making sure their kids homework is being completed). Simply asking their kid how their day was is sometimes good too if you know and trust your kid is completing everything.
ReplyDeletethere was a group of parents in my high school that always where stirring up things by always try to be the most difficult people about anything. by the way most of those people's children went to a private school. those group tried to do away with our prom my senior yr of high school they failed, they did not like the students to do much extracurricular actives.
ReplyDeletei agree with paul that parent invovlement is very important. if parnents help tell there children what they expect of them, they will do there best to do what there parents ask of them. my parents always told me what they expected of me
ReplyDeleteParents are role models, and kids learn their basics from them. If they see their mom or dad treating school like a joke or disliking it, then the child might not want to take school seriously. I know in my high school the better students all had parents who were involved, whether it was just at home or at school or both. My high school used Edline to foster communication between parents, students, and teachers. Parents could see their chid's grades as well as contact the teacher. I've seen a little bit of parental involvment in the class I'm observing. Band parents at my grade school were always involved in fundraisers and other activities, and it seems that has not changed.
ReplyDeleteJack, Ally, and Andrew, I agree with you all. Parents being overly involved can be really harmful sometimes. I think most of us have heard the term "helicopter parent"? As teachers, I think it's up to us to help a parent realize when what they're doing is overkill. It definitely won't help their child later in life, as he or she will learn to depend on their parent to step in and take care of all obstacles. They'll be much less prepared for the world than most of their peers.
ReplyDeleteI didn't actually see any parental involvement in my classroom, but I noticed one of the kids in the class who had behavioral problem had a paper to give to his mom every night on which his mom and the teacher corresponded about his behavior that day. I know this was somewhat of a hassle for the teacher and the mom was often overbearing and a bit annoying. I think parents should be involved in their child's schoolwork at home, but they shouldn't extend their involvement too much into the school and classroom unless the teacher isn't doing his/her job well. If the teacher is doing a good job teaching a class, personal issues parents may have shouldn't disrupt or distract the teacher from doing his/her job.
ReplyDeleteI believe there are some instances where a child has intrinsic motivation, and just does well in school, even if their parents don't help and motivate. However, that being said it is not something to be expected; it should be considered a rarity. Children need a role model of some kind to help them be better students by mainly just being there to discipline and encourage. As teachers we need to help strengthen our teacher/parent relationship to ensure that they are involved. One way that we could do this is to have an open blog such as this one to allow parents and myself to voice concerns. Teachers should make themselves available and reach out as well.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the pushy parent can definitely be detrimental to the learning experience. I remember in high school there were some girls who would receive, what seemed to me to be rightful discipline, and they would pull the parent card. "I'll have my mom come up here and she will get me out of it." type thing.
ReplyDeleteMatthew-At my high school we had a student whose parent was the exact same way. His mom was the school board president and if there was ever an issue up for discussion by the board affecting her son in any way she would make sure the decision went in his favor. She even went so far as to convince the school board to fire a PE teacher who her son didn't like because he was getting a bad grade in the class for not participating. I definitely agree that many parents get involved in their child's education in the wrong way, and many manipulate positions of power, such as school board seats, to make things easier for their kids.
ReplyDeleteI have not seen any problems with parents being involved. Twice a week a parent will come in and do some type of activity. This can be helping the teacher with a project or taking a few students in a small group for a reading exercise. It's only 30 min. long and parents sign up for when they want to come. However, I did see one mother who was dressed a little trashy. She looked like she should have been going to a bar instead of reading with a bunch of 3rd graders. I think parent involvement is extrememly important and as a first year teacher I will send notes home and have the parents sign them. I will also send out weekly e-mails on updates and any concerns or improvements I have seen.
ReplyDeleteJohn, I really liked your idea of having a parent/teacher blog. It quick and easy, yet effective and allows both parties to say in touch.
ReplyDelete