|
Communicating With Teachers
Reading Instruction Terms
PSA Campaign
Great Idea Bank
...and More!
Parental involvement influences a child's academic success, especially when parents and teachers develop constructive partnerships, according to Natalie Schwartz, author of The Teacher Chronicles: Confronting the Demands of Students, Parents, Administrators and Society. To support your child effectively this year, Schwartz suggests using a three-pronged approach to develop a cooperative relationship with his or her teacher.
Schwartz, an Our Children contributor, has appeared on the Oprah Radio Network to discuss how parents and teachers can develop productive relationships. Her three-step strategy starts with clearing the pathways to communication:
1) Open the Lines of Communication
- Give the teacher your contact information at the beginning of the school year, and welcome the teacher to contact you for any reason. If you don't have a chance to meet the teacher at parent orientation, send a brief note or e-mail.
- Find out how the teacher prefers to communicate, whether by written note, e-mail or phone, so you can ensure a quick response to your future questions and concerns.
- Volunteer your time. Offer to come into the class to share information about your culture, career or interests if they are relevant to the curriculum. Offer to assist the teacher with administrative duties, project preparation or other useful tasks.
2) Maintain the Home-School Connection
- Get involved. Volunteer with your school's PTA to support your child's teacher and school.
- Stay informed. Set aside time to read the notices, newsletters, and progress reports the teacher sends home. Visit the teacher's website and the school's website regularly.
- Communicate with your child. Ask your child if he or she handed in yesterday's homework assignments and studied for upcoming tests. Look over the homework to make sure it's high quality.
3) Tackle Problems Constructively
- Approach the teacher as soon as you detect a problem. If you have a concern, your child's teacher will want to know about it so he or she can address the issue.
- Don't contact the principal or another administrator instead of the teacher. This approach conveys to the teacher that you don't respect him or her as a professional, which will damage your relationship going forward. In addition, the principal is probably going to refer you to the teacher or get the teacher involved.
- Adopt the right attitude. In a professional and respectful manner, explain your point of view and ask the teacher for his or her perspective. For example, you can say, "This is what I'm noticing... What's your take on the situation."
- Listen to the teacher's viewpoint. The teacher offers an important perspective because he or she observes and interacts with your child in an academic setting.
- Give the teacher your input. Tell the teacher what you know about your child's past academic experiences and behavior that will help the teacher serve your child better.
- Value the teacher's recommendation. Parents are experts on their children, but teachers are experts in the field of education.
- Offer to be part of the solution. Ask the teacher what you can do at home to help support what the teacher is doing in the classroom.
- Remember, the teacher is your ally, not your adversary. Your child's teacher is on your side and shares your goal: the academic success of your child.
For more information, visit http://parentteacherpartnerships.blogspot.com/ or e-mail natalie@laureltonmedia.com.
When the back-to-school bell starts ringing, parents might encounter school-related terms unfamiliar to them. Reading Rockets can help you better understand what's happening in your child's classroom related to reading instruction and what it means for your young learner.
Screening
Benjamin Franklin famously said, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." In the classroom, this quote translates to the use of reading screening for all kids. Screenings usually take place within the first few weeks of school. Rather than waiting for kids to fail at school, screenings give teachers a chance to identify kids who are at risk of having difficulty. Scores on screenings help teachers identify kids who may need extra help through small group or one-on-one instruction. For example, most kindergarten screenings include measures of alphabet and letter-sound knowledge.
Differentiated reading instruction
A teacher who provides differentiated reading instruction is one who meets the instructional needs of all the students in the class by planning different instruction based on the results of an assessment she's given. For example, while all the students in the class may be working to develop their fluency skills, kids may be working with different books, and some may still be working on their sight words. Some students may be working in pairs, others working one-on-one with the teacher.
Leveled text
Many teachers use leveled texts in their classrooms. Most of the books used in elementary classrooms are leveled, or placed in a certain category, based on certain criteria such as number of words and sentence length. There are several common leveling systems; some use letters to indicate levels and others use numbers. The levels correspond to different grade level materials. For example, if a school is using a Guided Reading leveling system, levels E-I typically refer to books written at a first-grade level. If your school uses leveled texts, ask your teacher what leveling system they use.
As a parent, it can be tough to keep up with the language of schools. These three terms are just a few of the many reading-related words you'll hear this year. Work closely with teachers and ask lots of questions.
For more resources, visit ReadingRockets.org/calendar/backtoschool.
Keep an eye and an ear out for PTA's Gateway Public Service Announcements (PSAs)—and be ready for people to ask you about your PTA experience and the work PTA does.
The Gateway PSAs include television and radio spots, as well as web banners, that emphasize how PTA helps parents enrich their children's learning and lives. The PSAs were delivered to select markets across the nation in July, and now, your PTA can send them out as well. Learn more about the campaign at PTA.org/GatewayPSAs.
Go to http://www.ptagreatideabank.org/ for more ideas and discussion.
Each year, National PTA supports student-centered arts education programs with the Mary Lou Anderson Reflections Arts Enhancement Grants. Matching grants of up to $1,000 are awarded to local PTAs to enhance arts education in the classroom or other learning environments. Special consideration is given to programs that target children whose environmental, familial, and/or socioeconomic situation may affect their academic success or ability to learn.
Here's what two of this year's award recipients have planned:
- Salmen High PTSA in Slidell, Louisiana, plans to form an after-school arts club that will host an arts workshop each month on a particular discipline. The year will culminate in an end-of-year arts expo.
- New Scotland Elementary School PTA in Albany, New York, will be organizing the creation of a student-designed AIDS memorial quilt. Once finished, the quilt will be on display for the local school and community, then at the New York State Museum with other AIDS quilts as part of World AIDS Day.
Join us in celebrating all 11 of this year's grant recipients—selected from more than 260 applications. A press release about the grant recipients will be available shortly at the PTA Newsroom.
- Read National PTA President Chuck Saylors' blog post on the U.S. Department of Education's briefing to the educational community on the plan to combat flu this season.
- Do you prefer to use Facebook? Then keep up with PTA on its fan page.
- Want to know all that PTA offers you as a parent and a member? Read the online Back to PTA Handbook, a comprehensive directory of PTA's programs, services and resources.
There are many ways that you can help your child succeed! A few small activities each week will pay huge dividends over the course of the year. Here are a few that you can do this week:
- Participate in informal opportunities to talk with and get to know school administrators, teachers, and other staff. - Participe en oportunidades informales para conversar y conocer al personal administrativo, los docentes y demás integrantes del cuerpo educativo.
- Attend PTA or parent meetings regularly. - Asista a las reuniones de la PTA o de padres con regularidad.
|
