Being a teacher in the third grade classroom that I do my service learning in, would be far from a “piece of cake.” One of the major setbacks would be collaborating with the parents of the students. Most of the students in the classroom have poor home lives, where either both or one parent is not around, or the parents let them have a care-free lifestyle with no discipline. This makes it difficult as a teacher because the parents need to be around to help the students with their homework, take home test, and to sign permission slips for field trips or activities at the school.
As a teacher i would have to address this problem by making phone calls to the students’ homes asking parents to sign their child’s homework, when they have checked that it is all done. Also, I will ask the parents to work with their children on weekly spelling bees that will be sent home to do. As a teacher in this classroom it is difficult to attend to every student daily since the class size is so big. This classroom reminds me of one of the classrooms that Jonathan Kozol spoke about during his speech at Rhode Island College. He spoke about classroom sizes being too large in urban areas such as the school I do my service learning in. Jonathan Kozol talked about how these large class sizes make it difficult for the students to learn and receive the proper education. By being in Ms. Amy’s* class, I help her work one on one with the students that need it most, and I think by her having a teacher’s aid at all times would take the relief off of her, and also allow the students to get a proper education.
I would show respect for the concerns and contributions of the parents, by sending thank you cards home to them because their child is making a noticeable improvement. Also, I would have the students take home their excellent work they did in class, and have them write a note to their parents thanking them for their help.
Ashley,
ReplyDeleteI love your great ideas; having the parent, do spelling bees, and sending home thank you cards. The thank you cards would really show, on your behalf, that you are interested and eager for them to help and be an active participant in their child’s education. But I feel as if though there is a problem, you mentioned early on in your entry that most students have just one parent at home and in other cases some students don’t have any parents to help at all. I can see the effort you are making as a teacher to reel those parents in but what about those who just can’t due to some sort of limitation. For example; a single mother /father with a full time job and more than one child, or the parent facing a language barrier that doesn’t allow them to support their child in ways they wish they could. how will you cater to those families? There will be times when you, the teacher, are as close to a parent that it gets for that child. I think you have great potential in making that child feel special and valuable even if all the odds are against them based on your blog. The theorist Ira Shore speaks about an empowering education, and a democratic pedagogy for self and social change. Your ideas seem to be working towards that exactly. Whether you are empowering a student and his/her parents or just the student them self, remember our job is to educate but to be empowering as well and I believe you will be great at it.
i love the thought of asking students parents to sign there children's homework after they have checked it. that is a very intelligent and creative way to enforce the importance and the meaning of parents truly being involved in their children's schooling. i believe that strategy is a great way to engage parents in the value and support of their children's educational system. i believe that technique also shows students that they to have the power to cause change in their own life with their parents/family system back at home. a lot of students, although it is sad to say, do not have parents who either care, or have the time to participate in their children's learning. this activity teaches the students that they always have choices and a voice and must sometimes enforce that choice and voice not only upon their parents, but upon the people of society who will portray to them that they do not care.
ReplyDeletethe only thing i find a little difficult to digest is the spelling bee method of parents aiding or assisting their children with. this is something that might consume too much for some parents and id a little demanding. other than that i believe it will be an awesome idea to thank the parents for their help by sending them gift cards and having the students write the a letter of appreciation. that is significantly important and strong to have the students show their appreciation, because if parents see and hear it from their own children then i believe it tuly shows parents that their effort, support, and time truly does help and make a difference.
While I believe that signing the student's homework is a great idea I would hope that the parent isn't signing and not looking. However, I think that it would be a rare occurrence. This could really be a great tool to help get the parent's involvement up. However I have to agree with Steven on the spelling bee. I feel that many parents do not have the time. They might even really want to help but that just isn't in the cards because there is so much to be done. Perhaps instead of having them on a weekly basis they could be more spread out and mixed in with other review activities which could prove less daunting for the parents.
ReplyDelete(sorry I bumped the post button so here is the rest :)
ReplyDeleteAlso, by sending thank you notes, there is a positive message sent out that could stimulate more involvement. I believe sometimes there is alot going on and receiving a thank you note could really stand out. This could further a parent's desire to find out what the child is learning and perhaps even aid them in this venture.