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In what practical ways do you and/or your school currently support parents? What benefits have you seen from this?
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This is a subject that is very close to my heart. My church teaches that we each have God-given vocations that we can use to serve our neighbor. Since training up a child falls under the vocation of the parent, I view my role of teacher as the parents entrusting me to do it in their stead. This philosophy sets the environment for my classroom. From day one I thank them for their trust in allowing me to teach their child. Every newsletter or correspondence invites them to join us when ever they are able. I try to respond to their communication as quickly as possible and always professionally and respectfully. As much as I am a “talker,” I fight myself as much as possible and try to listen first. I feel like doing these things has helped to alleviate tense situations, led to parents coming to the situation from a positive place- even when the situation was not positive, and has allowed me to show Christ’s love and forgiveness with parents and students alike.
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Jolean,
I appreciate how you invite parents to join as they are able. I am not always sure how I can invite parents into my classroom, but I have found a few simple ways, such as organizing a closet in our classroom or speaking on a topic they have been studying during their Bible study. How do you think I could encourage parents to be involved in the classroom if they work full-time? This is an area I am continuing to look into. I think some ways may include helping their child study and complete homework – what else?-
It was a just simply inviting them. They didn’t always come, and some never made it in, but I just wanted them to know they were welcome. I know I mentioned it before, but every newsletter had a blurb about joining us any time. If a parent dropped their child off late and apologized for being in course I say that it was no problem and they could come any time. I tried to do little reader’s theater or activities that drew them in every few months. One way that might work for you, if your school allows, is to invite them to have lunch with their child. Sometimes that is a time parents can leave work. I think just saying the words, “You’re welcome to come in any time” says a lot – even if they don’t take you up on it.
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As a Christian teacher, the schools I have worked at in the past, because of resources on private, Christian education, have not been able to offer special education programs such as reading specialists, dyslexia specialists, etc. With my knowledge and training to support these students, we have found ways to support these students that could be helped by our limited resources. One of the beliefs behind this was that ALL students can find SOME resources from a Christian school. We would help parents with observation reports where we identify what we see in the classroom. We would document things done along with things that worked and those that did not. We would help them find testing and assessment resources outside the school (sometimes through the public school system). Then we would finally come up with a plan to clearly outline what we CAN and what we CANNOT do to support that student. This gave power back to parents AND was honest in what they can expect from our school programs. This has been positive for our parents and helps them know we are paying attention even when we don’t have a program for them.
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Some ways that my school supports parents is I try to have clear communication with them weekly about what we will be learn about in the course. We try to build a partnership with them. A simple way to support parents is to pray for them. At my school we also have different events throughout the year that the parents can be involved in. Like Family fun night. We also have a parent’s night out. Some benefits I have seen from this are the parents open up and share things with you about their child that maybe you didn’t know. They ask questions that maybe they were not comfortable asking before.
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The principal sends weekly messages about the teachings in school and asks the parents to help with reiterating those teachings at home. They ask for parent and family help around the school, let them serve with their God given talents. I am looking forward to hopefully proving some healthy meals throughout the week as an option for the children since we do not have a lunch program
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Our school has a prayer meeting once a month for parents to discuss life’s concerns and to celebrate the victories. I have newsletters with helpful tips, offer ideas during conferences, and reply to emails as quickly as possible.