Category: Teachers

Fun Ways to Increase Parental Involvement in the Classroom

For most teachers out there, if it hasn’t already, the summer is coming to a close and that means it’s time to go back to school.  You’ve probably been planning what your Welcome Back bulletin board will look like, the way your classroom will be set up, and what you will do with students that first day back but have you given much thought to the parents?Parental Involvement

Meet the Teacher night is often within the first week or two back to school.  This is the time you get to express the standards you will hold your students to but also importantly, this the time to engage parents in the classroom that will continue throughout the year.

There is a huge importance to parental involvement that often goes understated.  Meet the Teacher night is the perfect opportunity to highlight to parents that learning isn’t something that takes place strictly outside of them.  Their involvement is one of the most important components of student achievement and success.

Here is a list of 10 events and activities that will encourage parental involvement in the classroom:

  • Host a “Discovery Night” where parents, students, and teachers learn together, in an interactive way, about a topic that is of universal interest
  • Hold a “Family Reading Night”
  • Have PTA meetings that include students so parents and students can learn together
  • Organize book sales and other fundraisers
  • Arrange an “International Day” where students and parents showcase their culture through food, facts, and/or dress together
  • Offer parent mentoring programs to students including events like career days
  • Organize a “Community Day” which families volunteer their time together
  • Have a “Parent of the Month Club” as well as a “Student of the Month” club to recognize those parents and students who contribute to the school community
  • Host parent workshops on how to support student learning in specific subject areas
  • Invite parents into the classroom to read to classes, be guest speakers, chaperone field trips, and work with students to help plan extracurricular and curriculum-related events.

Meet the Teacher night is not only a great night to stress the important role that parents must take in the class but it’s an opportunity to have parents sign up and commit to events lined up for the early fall.  Have sign-up sheets laid out on a table or desks that give parents a place to pencil in their choice ways of participating.  Of course, there needs to be an understanding that while parents are signing up, they cannot foresee the future.  Situations may arise whether it involves work, another child home sick, or some other unforeseeable event that the parent cannot attend as they would like.  Flexibility and understanding needs to be a part of parental involvement.  Make sure you are covered for each event by requesting a couple more parents than you will actually need.  The possibilities are endless to get parents involved and if you haven’t done many integrated activities with parents and students in the past, you will see how truly enjoyable and educationally rewarding they can be!

Aug 20, 2013 | 0 comments | View Post

National Parental Involvement Day

Cycle of EducationFrom Tiger moms, to helicopter parenting, to the idea “it takes a village,” no matter the parenting style or ideology, parents play the biggest role in their child’s life.  Far spread across every phase and area in life, parental influence will impact physical, emotional, and intellectual development.  As teachers, it should be no surprise to you that an education fosters the same kind of development in kids.  That is why there are so many reasons why it is important that parents be involved in their child’s education.
Parental involvement in a child’s education both in and out of the classroom offers additional support for the good that you as teachers do for your students and their children.  For National Parental Involvement Day here is a list of a few ways a parent can get involved in the classroom:
For Younger Students
  • Be a class reader:  Story time for younger students is one of the most looked forward to time of day.  Bring in a parent to read to students whether as a group or with select students who may be struggling.  Parents reading in the classroom will reinforce reading skills and encourage students to read at home with their own parent.
  •  Be a parent tutor:  If available in the afternoons, even if it’s not their own child, encourage parents to spend some time tutoring students in the library for a little extra hands-on help.  While most teachers offer extra help themself, sometimes it takes a different perspective for students to understand a lesson.
  • Work as a “specials class” helper:  If a parent has a particular interest in music or art, or is a soccer coach looking to help during that unit in gym class, allowing parents to come in to help in these classes not only assists the teacher but also shows the students that what they are learning can turn into a hobby and passion to last a lifetime.  It’s more of a life lesson than an immediate pencil sketching or lesson on the recorder.
  • Volunteer as class parent:  Generally, class parents can be as involved as their schedules make them available to be.  Whether it is planning classroom parties, chaperoning field trips, organizing special classroom events like speaker presentations, plays, or book fairs, parents can help bring additional learning resources into the classroom.
For Older Students
  • Lead a Special Interest Group:  Teachers are spread thin enough with most having over 20 students per class and having lesson plans  to create and papers to grade with fewer resources than in the past.  Parents taking on the after school extracurricular activities such as the drama club, SADD program, or science club could keep many of these beneficial programs running in the schools.
  • Sign up for Career Day:  Parents coming into the classroom to share with students about their career broadens student’s horizons beyond what their mom and dad, aunt and uncle do for a living.  Opening their eyes to different careers they may not have otherwise been exposed to offers the endless possibilities for a successful career in something they have a real interest in.  A parent sharing with students how they got to be successful at what they do is reinforcement and inspiration for the hard work a student needs to put in to be successful too.
  • Coach a sports team:  Athleticism is a talent but also a critical part to physical and emotional health.  Parents with the ability to lead a sports team can help students develop their own skills and offers a safe healthy environment for them to thrive in.
  • Work as a library assistant:  Similar to career day, parents can help students discover and learn about their interests by helping them do research on areas that spark an interest.

How do you get parents involved in their student’s education at home AND in the classroom?  Share your ideas with us on our Facebook page or leave a comment below.

Nov 15, 2012 | 0 comments | View Post

What is a good teacher made of?

What makes a good teacher?

In today’s education system, most evaluations of students are standardized.  Whether students perform well on tests like the SATs or graduate on time are largely depending on one influence – teachers.   More than schools and curriculum, teachers matter most.

Take for example two students – same age, same socio-economic status, same reading levels, only thing different is the teacher.  By the end of the year, one student makes huge improvements in their skills while the other remains the same.  Looking at factors, the difference in the end result comes from teaching.  So what makes a teacher effective at taking a struggling student to an academic success?

According to the in-house professor at Teach for America, an organization that places teachers in low-income schools for two years with the hopes of raising academic levels, there are certain traits that great teachers possess.  Here are the traits he has determined to be the most profound with raising children’s test scores:

  • Set big goals for students:   Just getting by is not enough, they want their students to achieve at a high standard.
  • Perpetually looking to improve effectiveness:   They are continually reevaluating their teaching strategy and adjust things that aren’t proving successful.
  • Recruited student and family involvement:  They made the learning process all inclusive.
  • Maintain focus:  They concentrated on making sure everything they did contributed to student learning.
  • Planned:  They strategized exhaustively and purposefully for the next day or the year ahead working backward from the desired outcome.
  • Persistence:  They work relentlessly, refusing to surrender to the combined perils of poverty, bureaucracy, and budgetary shortages.

So back to the example given earlier; what would bring a student down in the ranks up?  The mind-set of the teacher would.  A great teacher will persevere even when faced with challenges in the classroom for their students to succeed.

Teacher & Student
Aug 31, 2012 | 0 comments | View Post