Parent - Teacher Partnerships

What do the politicians below believe is the key to students educational success?

Learning Leaders. (2011, March 11). Family engagement = student success. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwEPv2ob_QI

 

            Throughout my educational career, I have been alone when participating in extra curricular events. When I was in primary grades, many parents came into the class to take part in weekly art programs, and I always wished my parents would have participated as well. When my parents were busy at work, I felt discouraged and less motivated to take part in school events because I wanted them to be there as well. In school settings today, parental involvement  is important, however; teachers are individuals who need to use their skills in order to obtain successful parent-teacher partnerships. Most parents are not involved when teachers send out notices about school events (Auerbach, 2010). Parents are more likely to be involved if the school and teachers make them feel welcomed into a safe environment  (Henderson, et al., 2007). Not only is it important for parents to be involved so they know what is happening in their children's classes, but I believe students will feel more comfortable within their school if they see their parents comfort and involvement. Teacher’s actions are the motivation for parents to become involved (Auerbach, 2010). Because parental involvement is extremely beneficial in the development and learning of a child, then why don’t schools promote a welcoming environment to heighten parental involvement? Below are a few tips that teachers can use to increase parental engagement within the class.

 

Morrow, J. (2010). [Graphic illustration October 22, 2015]. Forming Partnerships With Parents. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/jim1035/presentationforming-partnerships-with-parents

 

           Not only are there parents who do not put effort into their children’s education, but it is surprising that there are many aspects needed in the process of parent partnership with school. As Auerbach (2010) states, partnership needs to involve parent’s commitment and social justice, which is the understanding, acceptance, and promotion of all cultures and types of family. I agree that parents need to be motivated in participating within their child’s schooling, but also on a community-based level of different children, cultures and families within the school. I believe that the best way to get parents involved is through communication and formation of belongingness, which could occur through family centers, phones calls and event (Henderson, et al. 2007). I believe that teachers should use great efforts to try and motivate parents into becoming involved in the school community, no matter their race, social status, or culture. Check out the 66 ways to improve parental engagement from teachers perspectives.
 

              The most successful way to develop parental involvement within the school is to carry out education in the home as it increase student’s achievement (Shumon, ND). When education is carried out in the home, students are constantly learning and developing in stages. Not only does home education scaffold the child’s learning, it motivates children to do better and parents to develop interest in the class. Homework is the number one tool that teachers use to keep parents involved in the child’s education (Shumon, ND). Not only does homework allow parents to help their children, but it also gives parents a insight on the class content. In addition to homework, there are take home packs. These take home packs give parents a voice as they could comment on the parent logs and express their individual concerns. Not only is this take home pack worthy for parents to voice their opinions, but it is an efficient way to have successful parent-teacher communication. There are tools that teachers need to follow in order to gain parental engagement. These tools will  welcome family communication, support students, speak up for students, share power and collaborate with community (Hammack, 2012).

 PTO Today. (2013, July 26). Parent involvement matters! Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOhZ6U5yaXA

 

 

 

 References

Auerbach, S. (2010). Beyond coffee with the principle: Towards leadership for authentic school- family
            partnership. Journal of school leadership.

Hammack, B., Foote, M., Garretson, S, & Thompson, J. (2012). Family literacy packs: Engaging teachers, families, and  
              young children in quality activities to promote partnerships for learning.

Henderson, T., Mappy, L., Jhonson, R., & Davies, D. (2007). Beyond the bakesale.

            The essential guide to family- school partnership.
Shumon, L. (ND). Parental involvement at home.

 

A Teacher Candidates View On An Educational Flaw?

Doench, L. (2014). [Graphic illustration September 28 2015]. Grounded Parents. Retrieved from http://groundedparents.com/2014/04/12/internet-meme-  
             demolition-derby-childhood-is-not-a-disease/

             I have gone through many years of education and was always labelled as the bad student. I was the bad student because I took longer to understand concepts being taught. I was the bad student because I did not contribute a lot as I was shy. In my opinion, the education system has a great distinction between good and bad students. Though I see the education system as making a positive change in letting students grow and learn individually, I am writing this blog with my thoughts before I came to university. Even though I do feel that schools in Ontario are changing for the better, I still believe this issue of “good” and “bad” students should be discussed, as it is an ongoing dispute in other schools. I believe schools overlook the fact that the education system influences student’s behaviours through repetition in the curriculum (MacLure, et al, 2012). The education system has great influence on “good” and “normal” children, through social and institutional ideals, which could cause children to become someone they are not. I feel that these ideas of good and normal children are potentially not normal or natural, causing students who are not receiving teacher’s approval to be “othered” (MacLure, et al, 2012). In elementary school, I was placed into an alternative class with students who were struggling. I have not received a diagnosis for any learning disabilities, but teachers judged me as being below average. From kindergarten to grade 8, teachers tied to put a diagnosis on me because I was not at my grade level. However, teacher never gave me or tested me on any content that was my grade level, so how was I supposed to show them that I was at an average development? Just because I did not learn as fast as other students, I was othered and it had a toll on my high school educational experience as well. The clip below is an example from students of ways in which teachers categories them as good or bad.

Shark. (2014, February 16). Good students vs. bad students. Retrieved from  https://www.youtube.com/watch?     
            v=pxGccO2PnRw

                Now as a teacher candidate, I believe it is important for students to develop their own identities rather than schools building the identities for children. I question the education system when looking at ideas of “good” students because unnatural approvals and evaluations become highlighted (MacLure, et al, 2012). If education is causing students to be less sincere and built unnaturally, should schools give educational freedom to children? I think that childhood is not a specific kind as it is produced through many societal conditions as children are viewed as becoming (Walkerdine, 1993). I question if children can truly become whom they want to be if the education system marginalizes them based on approval and assessment? In my eyes, there is some problem with the education system because it places children in the good or bad category based on false beliefs. An example of this is teachers giving feedback from assessments or showing the class evaluation criterion. By giving strict feedback and evaluation criterion, students are more likely to give less sincere opinions and feelings (MacLure, et al, 2012). In addition, many students learn in different ways; by giving strict criterion, teachers are automatically placing students who lack those strengths into the “bad” student category.  As being a teacher candidate and seeing this problem in the education system, I will practice student centred learning in order to allow freedom and individuality to all my students. Rather than discovering children for their individuality, is the education system a way to corrupt and produce children for society? To find out steps on how to positively correct difficult behaviours, check out the video below.

1 Millerville. (2015, February 9). 6 steps to positively correcting students behaviours. Retrieved from  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT-
            pUHgVNs4


The two links below provide you with more information on this idea of "good" and "bad" students.
https://raniblogsaboutcausation.wordpress.com/2015/07/29/good-or-bad-students/
http://www.alternet.org/story/39/school_testing%3A_good_for_textbook_publishers,_bad_for_students


                                                                   References

MacLure, M., Jones, L., Holmes, R., and MacRae, C. (2012). Becoming a problem: Behaviour

              and reputation in the early years classroom. British Educational Research Journal.
Walkerdine, V. (1993). Beyond developmentalism? Theory and Psychology.

To Know, Do and Be

      Education is a complex system that has many instructions, which are ignored. As a teacher candidate and student, I  had faced many struggles throughout my educational years. When I was in elementary school I was not allowed to voice my opinions and teachers would constantly put me down. As I advanced in my education, I realized that education should be in the best interest of the child, but how many children are truly receiving education in their best interest? I knew that there were many other children who were faced with negative educational experiences, so I decided to become a teacher to help as many students as I can.
       One thing that I learned within my four years of the concurrent education program is that students need to learn in steps such as, knowing their knowledge, which involves understanding. Doing, which involves using appropriate learned skills to problem solve. And being, which involves using the knowledge learned to become active citizens of society. Students should care about what they are learning and  apply their knowledge in everyday life (Blankstein & Huston, 2011). Education exists for a purpose and I believe that everyone should absorb information and use it in ways to benefit their individual success. The curriculum is universally homogenous throughout North America, and it is not created for everyone to have the same outcomes. I believe that it is important for students to use their values, and attitudes (be) with the 21st century skills to form questions (do), which leads to understanding and bigger ideas (know) (Drake, Reid & Kolohon, 2014).The figure below summarizes the know, do, be theory and compares it to real life situation for greater understanding.

Taylor, Monica. 'KDB Umberella (5P42)'. Unfolding Educational Philosophies and        
       Research- Brock University, Ontario 2014. Web. 17 Sept. 2015.

       As a teacher candidate the three aspects of know, do and be (KDB) are in my opinion the most influential aspect of the curriculum and they are the capstone to children's future success. This is the process by which students use integration of knowledge to develop learned initiatives (Rodriquez, 2011). Capstone is the leading factor in the KDB theory as it emphasizes the steps of learning and taking all learned information to form a bigger picture. I feel strongly on allowing students to express their own opinions and beliefs, thus I provided  videos below with students views and a teachers tips on the capstone/KDB curriculum.

 

Advanced Placement. (2015, Feburary 25). AP capstone: A student perspective. Retrieved
       from  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aoEXEIQKTM

GP Strategies Corp. (2014, April 10). Key pointers on creating engaging curriculum
        design. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAZzHG-Zt3E


The links below provide more information and KDB curriculum examples:
http://kdbps.in/pages/curriculum.html
https://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/WW_Integrated_Curriculum.pdf

Ending with an influential quote regarding the curriculum, "the changes schools make in students cannot and should not be limited to the intellectual and academic: rather, they will and should encompass the moral and civic development  of students" (Blakstein & Huston, 2011, P. 95).





                                                              References
Blankstein, A., & Huston, P. (2011). Leadership for social justice and democracy in our 
       schools. Corwin Press.
Drake, S., Reid, J., & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving curriculum and classroom
       assessment. OXFORD University Press.
Rodriquez. (2011). Capstone experience general education initiatives. University of
       Delaware.