What are your current school functions that include all families? Are they connected to academic learning? Are they successful?
What are some of the successful things you have done or seen to improve respectful relationships between families and school? Are you aware of any individual classroom practices that are highly successful that engage families in supporting learning at home?
How does your school support address and support cultural differences?
Do you feel that family social events at schools (like the Mardi Gras Carnival mentioned in the article) have merit? Why? Why not?
Prompted by Beth and Diane
I tried thinking of school-wide events at Proctor Elementary that include all families- there are none. We do, however, put together a number of events that try to include all families. I guess the question is, do these events contribute to student learning? Let’s see-
ReplyDelete08/09 school year:
□ Winter and spring concerts
□ Back to school barbecue/classroom visitation
□ Parent/teacher conferences
□ African drumming night
□ “Spotlight on Students”
□ Bingo night
□ Contra dance
□ Awards presentations and promotion ceremonies
□ Math night
I know there are more, but they’re too far back in the recesses right now. I believe that any opportunities for students to present their work and proudly demonstrate the skills that they have acquired are invaluable learning experiences. Concerts and other displays of student work allow for a powerful synthesis of all aspects of learning, even if no “new” learning takes place.
Social and informational events, such as our barbecue and parent conferences, allow for a few precious structured and focused opportunities for teachers to develop at least a rudimentary bond with families, where expectations can be explained, concerns addressed, and an atmosphere of cooperation established. The benefits to student learning from these get-togethers are indirect, thought no less important than other student-centered activities. Think of it as trickle-down education!
Finally, ceremonies for awards presentations and promotions are both necessary and valid, because it is crucially important for children and families to celebrate their achievements. These events help to remind even the most disadvantaged students that hard work will always be rewarded. It might be harder to defend that these gatherings contribute to student learning, but they certainly strengthen a student’s self esteem and confidence, and are often very joyful experiences.
I only wish that these efforts were truly 100% inclusive of all families. It’s an unfortunate shame that even the most highly attended school-sponsored events will seldom draw more than 70% of the student body. That percentage falls significantly for less “traditional” events, like last year’s African Drumming Night. For example, just this past Friday we held a “Fall Hoedown” in lieu of a Halloween specific celebration. The faculty decided to send home letters to parents requesting donations of cider and donuts
I do see merit in activities such as the Mardi Gras Carnival in schools and agree with John that there are other benefits to events such as this even if no new learning is taking place. It is at activities like the PTO pot luck pizza night before open house (I work in a small school) that I am able to get a sense of students and their families and vice versa in a more relaxed, casual atmosphere. It helps build a rapport with families that makes for a nice foundation when discussing more serious, academic type topics that involve their child.
ReplyDeleteI did think though, that the idea mentioned in the article about making a list of activities that your school does and then putting them into categories was a great idea. I thought that would be a great way to sift through a lot of the things that are done for no real reason other than “we’ve always done that.”
I am fortunate to teach in a small school, but ironically enough, parent support and involvement isn’t all that strong. I am not really sure why or how it became that way, but it seems in the three years that I have been at the school, participation seems to fluctuate. It’s so unfortunate, because with such a small student body a strong school/community relationship would be really valuable for everyone! In thinking about that, I was wondering how long it takes to establish such high levels of participation in schools such as the one discussed in the article. I find that sometimes that it is hard to get families/students to return permission slips, homework, etc. let alone come back at night for an activity or event.
My school has many opportunities for families to come to the school such as movie nights, Parent Night/ice cream social, Grocery BINGO fundraiser, concerts. Most of these activities are not academic but they are successful in bringing families together at school and we usually do have a good turn out (we serve food - it helps!) We have unfortunately put aside some of the more academic family nights that we used to do regularly such as math night and the end of the year curriculum night to celebrate student work and after reading this article makes me wonder why??? However, I do feel that the social events do have merit. Many of our parents have had negative school experiences and showing them the positive side of school and learning can’t be a bad thing. Also, I feel it is important for children to see their parents take an interest in their school activities. Social events may not have a direct effect on academic learning but I really believe that there is a positive indirect effect.
ReplyDeleteIn my own classroom, I have tried many ways to involve families at home. I have used special take-home bags with some success. I also try to cater homework assignments to include families such as having the students teach their family a song or poem, retell the story we have been reading, or teach and play a game we have been playing. I like these types of assignments because they help young children share their learning experiences with others and hopefully they will engage their families as well.
Cultural diversity makes a rich environment in the classroom. We look for cultural diversity or personal diversity to enrich the classroom.
ReplyDeleteOne way we address culture differences is by conducting daily classroom meetings using the responsive classroom model. We have greetings using different languages including an African language greeting and lesson taught by a college student who visited the classroom after spending a semester in Botswana.
I strive to build respectful relationships in the classroom with all families as outlined in the article. One way to do this is to make phone calls to keep in touch starting with a welcoming call before school begins in August and period updates. Parents have appreciated these calls to "touch base." Notes home that give personal feedback are also helpful such as awards for oral reading, good listening, and presenting to the class. I look for any chance for children to be proud of their accomplishments by bringing certificates home. A project that brings home to school is to make the big "I." This project teaches children that "I" is a letter and a word. The child takes a construction paper "I" home that is 12 X 18 inches and covers it with photos, magazine pictures, and drawings. They present their projects to the class so we can get to know each other better. The students are proud of their work and interested in each other's projects. We do a similar project later in the year by making a timeline that shows each year in their lives. These projects help the teacher know what is important to each child.
Another partnership that a teacher needs to develop is one that engages families in the classroom work. I have found success by making sure each child has a "take home" folder that contains daily papers to go home and messages from home to school. One paper that stays in the folder every day is the Homework Sheet that outlines the work for the week. This sheet only takes minutes to create each Monday morning, but is a valuable tool to keep parents and teachers organized for the week. There is a column on the sheet for homework assignments. Other columns are for parent comments and teacher comments to report questions or behavior issues. To go along with communication, I send a monthly newsletter that lets parents know what skills we will be working on in the upcoming month. Our math and spelling programs also have newsletter that I send home monthly. I appreciate comments from parents to find out what they are getting out of the information sent home. I realize that If I want feedback, I need to request it.