Sunday, October 14, 2012
Parent Involvement
Teaching at a lower income school there really isn’t much
parent involvement. We had an open house last month and set a record with I
think 10-15 parents showing up. This really shocked me. A lot of interacting
with parents includes calling home and addressing discipline issues. Sometimes
the phone numbers we have for parents don’t even exist. But just because
parents aren’t actively involved in the school doesn’t mean they don’t care.
Most of them have things going on in their lives that I can’t imagine they
would have time to come up to the school and talk. Some parents are working
multiple jobs. This goes for my students as well. Sometimes they have to stay
home or work instead of coming to school. My mentor and I send home good
letters to parents occasionally to let them know how good of a job their
student is doing in our class. It really brightens their day along with the
student because usually when a teacher contacts home it is negative. There was
a parent group during in-service who provided lunch for our 9th and
10th grade wing! The staff was shocked that this was happening and
was so appreciative. So even if there is not a full blown PTA or parents
volunteering to help out, I think we make do. Teaching at a lower income school
makes the comments like “you’re going to be a good teacher” and “thanks for
helping me” so much more valuable to me.
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That's so sweet! And I love that you guys contact home about the positives in each student. Even if a parent knows that they have a good student, they always love hearing someone else notice it too.
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that you guys send home good letters. I'm sure many of those parents are tired of hearing what a troublemaker their child is.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading about the letters you send home. I do think sending letters is a great way to communicate in a lower income community because email and phone might not be as readily available. I agree that sharing good news (not just bad) will make both the parents and students happy and encourage them to keep up the hard work!
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone else about the positive feedback you all do.
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel with nonexisting phone numbers. My mentor teacher had a student give him his best friend's phone number. Kids think they are sneaky.
ReplyDeleteThe positive letter is a great idea and manageable. If you can make that first contact supportive, it really goes toward building productive communication with parents.
ReplyDeleteCollecting data from parents/students is always helpful in contexts that are new to you as a teacher...are you coming to the family math presentation. Might be useful since the schools contexts are so similar.