Easy As 1,2,3: Parents + Contributions = Child Success

Ever since I made the decision to become a teacher, everyone reminds me that it will not just be the kids I am working with, but also their parents. I have been babysitting for almost 9 years and I have been nannying for 3 years. I have been exposed to the concerned parents for years. I know that throughout my teaching career I will come across parents who care more than others and who are easier to talk to than others. If I can acknowledge how students parents will be a big part of my career before I start teaching, I will be more comfortable with parents when I do become a teacher.

From my grade school years and also this tutoring experience, I recognized many teachers who struggle with parents. I have witnessed students in Mrs. Autumn's class who bring their folders back the next day with everything that was put in it the day before. The parents are responsible for keeping up with their child's school work and looking at their folders and sometimes some parents miss that. I have also witnessed teachers trying to call the parents of students and were not able to contact with them. Sadly, I have also seen students waiting for minutes and hours after school is over for their parents to pick them up and their parents are nowhere in sight. Aside from the lack of parents duties, I have also seen great contributions. Parents who email their child's teacher every week to keep track of their progress in school. Parents who come after school to talk to their child's teacher. Parents who question the students assignments. The other day, Mrs. Autumn was talking to me about a girl in her class who is very temperamental. She said that her mother is the sweetest most caring woman and she came to school the other day to talk to Mrs. Autumn about her behavior in class. The mother said that she has no desire to do any school work when she gets home and she is very snappy toward everyone. Mrs. Autumn assured the mother that that was not just her behavior at home. She acts like that during class as well. The mother asked for suggestions of what she should do in order to make her child focus and be more calm and collective. As I said in my previous post, it is important not to generalize. Especially parents. If we generalize about parents based on their child before we meet them, then we will not have an accurate impression of who they really are. As a teacher, there are many ways to deal with a variety of parents.

At my high school, parents had an account on the school website in which they could view our attendance records and our grades at any point in time. Although I despised this idea when I was in school, now I can now appreciate the benefit of this tool. Back to school nights are a great way to meet parents and get a feel on what their parenting style is like. This gives the opportunity for teachers to meet parents before teachers can stereotype these parents based on their students. If teachers can initially meet parents and tell them what the year entails, parents will be aware of what their child will be doing in class. With technology these days, I think emailing is also a great way of getting in touch with parents. A note in a folder can only go so far, but many people have an email address and that seems like an easy way to keep in contact with parents. If emailing does not work, an occasional phone call is always the best bet. No matter what, parents participation is key in having a student who wants to succeed. Most importantly,
I would encourage parents to speak with me regarding their concerns and to know that their concerns are important to me. I would also encourage parents to get involved. Any contributions that parents make will always be greatly appreciated. If students know their parents are involved they will take more pride in their academic achievement.

School is a safe place. As Megan Boler said, classrooms provide space where marginalized and silenced voices can be heard. School should feel like a comfortable place where all voices are heard. If parents can understand what school really is, they can inform their children. Parents nor students should be frightened to speak up in school. When students are aware that their parents care about their progress and efforts in school, this builds the students' confidence. Then their confidence will allow them to exceed boundaries they never thought they could cross.