Okay, I am discovering that I am more than a bit of an iealist. My question was: How will positive, consistent parent contact impact student behavior and academic performance? When I decided to research this question, I was sure that all the data I collected would be positive and productive and that all my future teaching years would be filled with rainbows and unicorns, because I had discovered a key that would motivate all my students.
Reality strikes however, as I am discovering that some parents don't care about positive contacts (some don't even answer their phone or respond in anyway to notes, certificates or anything else for that matter.) Thus the uplifting contact is never relayed to the student and the motivation I thought I would be wallowing in never makes it to the classroom. How do I make these parents recognize the efforts and victorys (however small) their children are making and encourage them to strive even more? I brought these woes to Holly and she reminded me of the sad truth; I can't make parents do anything, I can only control what I do at school. Soooo as I sat facing this dilemma of nonparticipant parents, and seriously considering dumping my entire TIC and starting over, Holly suggested finding celebration partners for my students who did not have positve support at home. Iv'e set that process into motion but because not all contact is based off of parent response I feel I need to reword my question to make it more accurate, I'm not really sure what direction to go with this. Any suggestions?
This sounds lilke a great inquiry. I ran into the same problem you did last school year. I wanted to get the parents of my students more involved in what is happening to them, educationally, while incarcerated. I sent letters home with my e-mail address and phone number asking parents to call with questions or concerns. The class created a monthly news letter that was also sent home, and I never once got a response. It seems that the only time I hear from a parent is if there is a problem with transcripts, so your idea of having outside celebrators for students sounds really interesting. I'm sure their are various community members that would be more than willing to take on this role. I'll be interested to watch your progress as my project is somewhat similar, providing mentors for released students to decrease recidivism rates. Talk to you soon. Cherié Baker
ReplyDeleteDon't dump it! It is such a worth-while and family friendly project. What are you thoughts on home visits? I am wondering if you were to visit the parents in their homes, then maybe they would understand just how much you care about their child's education. Positive contacts home may be new to some parents....school was a very scary and negative place for a lot of parents. It may just take some time for parents to get used to positive comments coming home.
ReplyDeleteYou could do some celebrations in class as well. When I student taught we had a "responsibility party" every month where the students who turned in their homework were able to have lunch with the teacher. You could see what the kids would like to earn and then have them work towards it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Lisa added too. So many parents have had such negative experiences with school it is hard for them to understand that this is different. Keep trying because once one parent jumps on board, word of mouth will spread and you will have more parents start to participate.
Adding in an outside person to celebrate with the kids is great too! You could do that for all students even the ones who do have a strong home support system and see how this affects them.
Hope this helps!
We have a "celebrate" poster at my school. Students can put their successes on it or I can put things on it. One idea. We can't change what parents value. Celebrate partners might work. Seems that you are trying to find ways to improve internal motivation using praise for accomplishments. We (teachers) hope that helps, but does it? Would make a good TIC question.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Lisa said, do not dump the project. We all face the situation where we are making contact with a parent who does not care, and I would like some alternatives to turn to when this happens. I think that by carrying on with your research you will open the doors for several of us. So, I am assuming that a celebration partner could be an adult or child who positively supports the student, is that right?
ReplyDeleteDo you have access to the Family Friend materials that the district provided? If not, I think I can find mine. It might help you identify things that have worked other places.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the group, do not dump your project. Having someone for the student, who will support them is very important. We always hope that it will be a parent,but the sad truth is a lot of the time it is not. I would really like to see the results of this project. Keep going.
ReplyDelete