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parent involvement ’ Category
In reflecting on my practicum experience at the high school level, the one thing that stuck with me above all else did not involve grading, lesson plans, or even classroom management. It was something that went beyond the curriculum and beyond the standards. It was something that even in my relatively brief teaching career will forever change my own perception of myself as an educator. It was a connection. A connection between a teacher and his students, which, in turn, fostered a similar connection between the teacher and his students’ parents—a mutual respect that blossomed through the desire to go above and beyond.
As I sat in the classroom, anxiously awaiting my opportunity to sit-in on my first parent-teacher conference, a myriad of thoughts swirled through my mind. What if they ask me how their son is doing in class? “Why is my daughter scoring so low on your quizzes, and what are you going to do about it?” or “my Johnny is not being challenged in your class.” Granted, I was only observing, but what if? In reality, this was most likely going to be a fairly dull two hours with discussions about absences, missing assignments, and low test scores. I was sure there would also be highlights about aced quizzes, perfect attendance, and “what a joy Lucy is to have in class.”
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Category:
parent involvement, student achievement, student success, teacher appreciation, teacher effectiveness, teaching strategies |
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Tags: Joshua Tabshy, parent teacher conferences
Story #1: I teach International Relations at West Linn High, a course juniors and seniors can take to fulfill a social studies requirement. Part way through the spring semester, I was discouraged to realize that over half my 100 IR students were missing assignments. Considering we’d averaged only one homework assignment per week, and a couple of the assignments were quite easy, I was troubled. It is my goal only to assign homework I believe will benefit students, and when they don’t complete homework it hampers their ability to succeed.
So with complete parental and administrative support, I sprang a surprise on students: If you do not complete every assignment, you will not pass this class. Even if you’re earning a passing grade, if you have even one missing assignment, I will enter “incomplete” in the gradebook and you will not receive a credit. Some were shocked, realizing that no credit could mean not graduating.
I was nervous about the new policy. I wondered whether all students would pull through, and if they didn’t, if I’d be willing to be the one obstacle that stood between them and graduation. I wondered whether at crunch time a parent would challenge the policy.
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parent involvement, student achievement, student success, teacher effectiveness, teaching strategies |
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Tags: at risk students, reflection, student achievement, student engagement, teacher effectiveness, teaching strategies
Jennifer Singleton is an elementary school music teacher with seven years of teaching experience in Portland metro area schools. She was born, raised, and educated in Oregon, and loves nothing more than connecting with kids through music. We’re excited to have her joining the conversation about teaching and education reform as the newest member of the ChalkBlogger team.
My seven-year teaching career has taken me to five different schools in the Portland metro area. Most of them, including my current school, have had low socio-economic status (SES), which refers to the income, education and occupation of the students’ parents. While there were definitely some advantages to teaching in a high SES school, I choose to teach in a difficult school because for me, the rewards outweigh the challenges.
Obviously, there were a lot of great things about working in a high SES school. For the most part our students were well cared for physically and emotionally. Classroom management mostly meant controlling chatty kids. My program was adequately funded, and our school had a supportive community with plenty of volunteers for classrooms and school events. In many ways, teaching in a high SES school was a breeze.
The learning environment I’ve just described sounds ideal, but there were also some frustrating problems. I have a few colleagues who, like me, have taught in both kinds of schools. And like me, they prefer to teach in a low SES school. When asked about it, one of my colleagues even exclaimed, “You couldn’t pay me to go back!” The question is: Why? With all of the advantages, why choose a school with so many struggles? The answer for us boils down to a lack of appreciation.
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Category:
career paths for teachers, parent involvement, teacher advocacy, teaching strategies |
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Tags: inspiration, reflection, teacher advocacy, teacher career paths, teacher frustration, teaching strategies
Waiting for Superman is a powerful reminder that children and parents care about their own education. By choosing to focus on several children and their families, the director Davis Guggenheim translates large data sets about school and child failure into personal stories. The two former elementary teachers, present teacher educators, who attended the film with me, were in tears at its end. (Even this hardened secondary teacher’s eyes were moist!) All three of us are familiar with the statistics, with the arguments of the policy makers, with the demands from our own constituency to send them better prepared teachers; those numbers and demands are never as convincing as seeing the effects of bad policies and unresponsive schools.
And it is just that manipulation of our emotions through the struggles of five students and their search for better schools that worries the film’s critics. They know that tugging on heart strings will get a greater response than, for example, Deborah Meier’s argument in the October 27, 2010 Education Week. She says that, instead of blaming “‘lazy’ teachers and power-hungry unions” (p. 12), Guggenheim might rather illustrate the issues between the wealthy and the poor that allow people like him to escape the public schools. Her exposing an obvious, but still extant, problem is important. It does not, however, resonate as much as hearing the story of Bianca whose mother can no longer afford the small tuition of a Catholic school and hopes the public, free charter school is the answer.
I am a great admirer of Meier and certainly agree that our country’s acceptance of the wealth gap is a disgrace. Her own response to that gap was to start her own successful alternative school in Harlem; she is certainly familiar with the stories in the film. Those stories bring us closer to the problem than any kind of lecture on the problem: poverty, systems’ failures, bad teachers, unions. (more…)
Category:
education achievement gap, education reform, parent involvement, teacher advocacy |
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Tags: at risk students, education reform, inspiration, student achievement, teacher advocacy
A parent emailed me and four other of her son’s teachers last week. She was concerned about his low grades and requested a meeting with us. In advance of the meeting I asked my colleagues about their experiences with this student, and one commonality stood out — He often is sleepy in class.
At the meeting I asked the parent if she knew how much sleep her son got each night. She did not know. I asked him when he typically goes to bed, and he would say only “late.” I then asked the parent what kind of electronics he has in his bedroom. “Oh, the usual,” she said. “Phone, laptop computer, iPod, television.”
This is an all too typical story in our high schools. Kids will complain that they’re up until all hours doing homework — and for some that is true — but for many the homework is tucked in between texts, facebook postings, downloads and The Daily Show.
It is recommended that teenagers get 8-9 hours of sleep per night, but a 2007 survey published in the Journal of Adolescent Health reveals only 8% of high school students hit that mark. Most sleep 6-7 hours, with 23% regularly getting only 6 hours, and 10% only 5 hours.
The result? A 2006 study by the National Sleep Foundation reports that 1/4 of high school students fall asleep in class. The Foundation adds that “experts” tie lost sleep to poorer grades.
So parents, you want to help boost student achievement? Please make sure your kids are getting proper rest. How will you know if they’re not? The Sleep Foundation says to watch for these signs: (1) Difficulty waking; (2) Inability to concentrate; (3) Drifting in class; (4) Moodiness or depression.
How can you know for certain whether they’re getting enough sleep? Check on them! You are still the parent. If they’re not getting enough sleep, you and your kids may need to make some changes. You may need to limit their activities so they don’t have to be up until 2 am doing homework. And you certainly may need to limit their access to electronics in the privacy of their bedrooms.
Don’t want to be the bad guy? Blame me, the teacher. I’ll take the heat. For their sake.
Category:
parent involvement, student success, teacher advocacy, teaching strategies |
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Tags: classroom tactics, student engagement, teacher frustration
