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How Teachers, Parents and Community Members Can Work Together to Enrich our Classrooms
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | May 11, 2009
In these tough times, parents and community can help … in fact, they must help. And this is a good thing, because the benefits they can bring to our kids are limited only by time, imagination and our willingness to work together.
School/family/community collaborations can take endless forms. Here are some suggestions (suited perfectly to Lesson 6) for ways that schools and community can combine talents and energy so that everybody benefits. This is the list for teachers. Tomorrow I will post a list of ways that parents and community can get involved.
Teachers can:
· Get to know parents and community members. Interview or survey them about their interests, activities, cultural background, languages, careers, skills and accomplishments.
· Enlist parents/community members to work with kids to develop volunteer, mentor and/or community resource files or databases. Make sure to include talents, skills, occupations, etc as categories.
· Schedule regular times for ‘mini-seminars,’ demonstrations or activities run by parents or community volunteers. These can be designed to offer kids a taste of new subjects, cultures or activities. Try to include many interest areas and learning styles. Ideas include: a poetry workshop, gardening, a day of math challenges related to real life, computer graphics demonstrations, a day devoted to a language and culture, an invention convention, a day of service.
· Look to your classroom for talents and skills. Brainstorm ways to provide in-depth and/or one-on-one study opportunities for kids who demonstrate special interests (we sometimes forget that kids with special needs and risks may have intense interests too.) Consider ways in which all the talents, knowledge, resources and abilities in your classroom and community can be used to enrich all its members.
· Organize a career day. Invite parents and community members to meet with students and discuss their work, their methods, their tools, and their challenges. Of course, the more diverse the jobs and the people who do them, the more interesting the day.
· Work with parents, colleagues, after-school programs, senior centers, community volunteers etc., to establish before or after-school clubs, Saturday enrichment opportunities, language programs, computer workshops, gardening clinics, sports clinics, art studios, bands, etc.
· Encourage parents and community members to help you organize internships, mentorships, and other opportunities for students to spend time working with businesses, artisans, craftspeople or professionals, in their special interest areas. Involve parents as liaisons, transporters, supporters and networkers.
Please post you ideas and success stories here … what works for you?
Topics: Community Service, Creating a Positive, How to Help |
June 8th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
The plan of action I’ve designed in order to create a positive change in my community is a Parent/Child After-School Program. This would involve both children and parents, (or other family members), and would improve the child-parent relationship. During one activity, designed to help with homework, children would explain to their parents what their homework’s about and what’s expected of them. Teachers and/or mentors would be on hand if more information was needed. This activity could be at school or at a community center, in which there was a relationship with the school. After getting an understanding of what the homework entailed and what was expected of the child, the parent would then have the ability to help them.
Parents often feel like they don’t know what they’re children are doing in school and have problems helping them with their homework. This can lead to parents feeling helpless and children missing out on much needed help. By pairing up the child and parent, this activity immediately reconnects them and gives the child the opportunity to teach their parents something. As a result, this type of activity gives parents a chance at helping their children and becoming more involved in their education; and children getting to spend time with their parents and getting more out of their learning experience.
The community I live in has a very diverse group of people living in it There are also a number of families coming from low socioeconomic backgrounds. These children tend to be more at risk of dropping out of school because of the lack of support and lack of interest in education. With an after school program like this one, which allows parents and children to work together, education becomes a primary concern and an effective way of bringing families together. Children gain new and hopefully better ways of doing their school work and get the help they need from multiple sources. This not only helps encourage kids to stay in school, but may also help them realize that they may actually enjoy it.
To get this program started I would need to work with people who have community work experience. We would need people who know how to start/run a business, someone who can set up a website, send a list of the program and services to parents in the community, and collaborate with teachers and mentors in the community.
One resource I looked at is called ‘The School-Family-Community Partnerships Team’. Their view is that it takes healthy schools, families, and communities to help make sure youths succeed. Each part requires support and collaboration; and without one, the system will not work. This partnership values diversity, different cultures, personal strengths, developing a sense of responsibility, and empowering youth. By bringing communities together and having parents, teachers, and mentors working together, children will feel more support and encouragement. Many children lack the basic needs required for healthy development, especially those who come from one-parent homes. This is why this after school program would also be open two Saturdays a month, for those parents who don’t have time during the week. These families should not be left out of the experience because of their circumstances.
There aren’t short term goals with a program such as this one. What I would expect out of this are only long term goals. Within this program, I could see myself being a mentor, I would enjoy helping children with their lessons if extra help is needed. However, many children and their families need people who can simply provide the simple things such as support and sympathy; I think that would be an important role to play.