Before the new year began, I tried to figure out ways to pull in parents. I want to get my parents to have a more active role in my classroom and the school. I discovered a great site recently that gives tips and ideas to help increase parent involvement. I am trying to compile a variety of strategies to connect students, families, the school and the the community. The National Network of Partnership Schools provides a framework to help guide me and others in completing this goal.
They have identified 6 keys to successful parental partnerships.
How does this look in my school? my class?
1. Parenting – How can I assist families with parenting skills? Hmm. Can I tell them what to do and what not to do IN THEIR OWN HOME? Not. What I can do is provide electronic resources for the parents to peruse at their own leisure.
2. Communicating – Blogs, Wikis, Newsletters, Progress Reports and Tweets are great ways to facilitate effective communication with parents. Wikis and Blogs allow parents to check into our classroom to see what
3. Volunteering – Volunteering always sound great on paper but is so much harder to make a reality. I would love to have our campus flooded by caring and supportive mothers, fathers, uncles and aunts but that is not really feasible. First, we have to find these caring and supportive people, next, we have to request a police check of said caring and supportive people, and finally, we need a parent liaison to coordinate the activities of these caring and supportive people.
4. Learning at Home – Having parents to sign a homework sheet does not equate to ‘Learning at Home.’ I want to facilitate conversations that lead to oral and written student responses.
- Student/Parent interviews = discussions about social issues relevant to our course
- Sharing family traditions = holidays, customs, regional celebrations, etc…
- Pages of their ePortfolio = Who am I? Where do I come from? What I like to eat?
5. Decision Making – Not much I can do to help create parent leaders but it is a great idea. Parental involvement is essential if we really want to better the school and the students.
6. Collaborating with the Community – I think about this often but am too swamped to put together a plan of action. I hope that this year I can do a better job of this. How can I collaborate with the community?
- We have a bookstore that can benefit from what we do in class. My students can do book talks, help with displays, etc.
- We have a local senior citizen facility that can benefit from our involvement. My students can conduct interviews, read to the elderly, etc.
- My students can create products for the middle school who will be attending our school next year. Posters, digital stories, foldable books, etc.
I am thinking that I have some work to do…..How about you?What have you done to fosters these relationships?
