As I was reading through the many, many choices Dr. Webb provided for us
this week, many topics were of interest to me, but the article about gaining
parent involvement in our schools really sparked my curiosity. This
is a also a major area of concern at my school; our leadership team of which I
am a member is working on ways to increase parent involvement.
In the article,
"Invitation to Families in an Early Literacy Support Program" which
appeared in The Reading Teacher", May,
2006, edition, a program at a southeastern urban school was developed to
increase parent involvement. This school realized that nothing newly
implemented in a school can be done quickly, so it was a program that was
phased into the school over a period of three years. Now, we want more
parent involvement, but I do not know if my administrators have the patience to
see progress for three years! The
Bridges Project, Bridges to Literacy, a project developed to bridge the gap
between school and home, was phased in using three phases – one phase each
school year.
Home
visits were used in kindergarten and first grade; I am a little weary of
this. I think it all depends on the
environment in which you students live.
I lot of my students live in housing projects that I am not sure I am
very comfortable visiting. If I had a
partner to go with me, then I would be willing to make home visits. I would like for someone to comment on how
they feel about home visits. The
advantages of visiting the home are numerous; you get to see what type of home
environment your students live in and this can be an asset in how you view the
child and what type of support the child requires to make progress
academically. Also, like the parent in
the article, some parents would be more willing and at ease for the teacher to
come to their home to teach them strategies to use at home to help their child
with their studies.
Many of my
parents could also use adult literacy classes which I think should be made more
available and possibly even have transportation available. Transportation is a big issue with many of my
parents not being more involved at school.
They have no means of getting to and from school except by taxi and that
just gets too expensive. Maybe we could
have literacy activities at school on one Saturday a month and provide bus
transportation for the students and parents.
We could also have activities planned for the children while the parents
attend literacy classes, as child care is also an issue when trying to attend
classes.
I am a big
believer in parent involvement being crucial for all students to obtain the best
education they can: a good education and
learning experience is dependent on three things: the student, the teacher and the parent.
Charlotte, I enjoyed reading your blog. I also wrote about parental involvement and how we don't give parents enough credit or opportunity. I would like to know how the 3 year program worked out for the school system and is it still in place. I think with anything, implementing something new always takes time. I know many school systems would probably not have the patience to wait it out. I also agree with you about having adult literacy classes offered to parents. I know many school systems have the same issues you discussed (transportation and child care). I think you gave a great example of what schools could do to get parents to these classes. It is so important that we give parents the tools to feel confident about helping and encouraging their children.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how I feel about home visits. I know many parents may feel this is an invasion of privacy and may get defensive in some cases. I know some teachers and parents don't see eye to eye and if a teacher was told to make a home visit, it may make both parties uncomfortable. On the other hand, many parents may find this to be a positive experience. I definitely agree with you about having a partner. I don't know if I would feel comfortable going into a home of someone I did not know. I believe my comfort level might change depending on the school system I was in.
Also, many parents do not want us to see inside their home for a number of reason including being ashamed of the conditions in which they live. Then, of course there are others who could care less if we see how shabbily they live. I would never look down on anyone for anyone who has to live within their means as long as the home is not filthy!! No matter how much money you earn, you can have a clean home! I think this should be an optional thing for parents - send home a letter that states if you would like for your child's teacher to come into your home to speak with you about your child's reading level and give you materials that would help you to help your child at home, please check yes below and give there dates and times that would be good for you! Or something like that!
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher, I made home visits to the families of students that did not visit the school, primarily the growing Latino population. Teachers contacted parents ahead of time, went in groups, and went right after school. Parents were waiting for us and appreciated our visits. Plus, some actually visited the school in return. When I had a cohort team in North Carolina, they also did a home visit as part of their preservice education. Once again, under the safe conditions outlined above. Remember, your students live in these neighborhoods. For parent participation, my schools in the past have sent buses to neighborhoods for parents' nights and also had meetings at local community centers and churches. Sometimes a little outreach is needed to welcome in new parents who may not have had positive experience in their own schooling - OR who are unsure of cultural expectations.
ReplyDeleteI think that home visits are a great idea. Like you stated, it gives you the opportunity to communicate with the families one-on-one in their own territory as well as give you a view of what your student's home-life is. Many teachers are skeptical about home visits because they are afraid of what could happen. But personally I feel that part of the reason why parents do not attend schools is because they have had negative experiences at school growing up. Of course we need to get approval before arriving to someone's home, but I think this offers a way to show parents that teachers are concerned about the nature of their child's education and family. Your blog discussion was very beneficial to my knowledge because it gave me a resource to use for my inquiry project. Great job and thanks!
ReplyDelete