1. Consider your own experience(s) as a student or parent within the framework of “parents as partners”.  How have you personally experienced parent involvement within a school context (either as a student and/or parent)?  

     Parent partnership is something that I am quite familiar with, especially while doing practicums in my undergrad for Early Childhood Studies. One of my practicums dealt with community collaboration and communicating with families. Parents are something that will always be a factor when considering the students. Parents are the people who guide the learning and education of the student before they ever enter the classroom and continue that education every single day when they go home from school. Working with parents is a necessity if you want your students to succeed and developing a strong and trusting relationship with parents can make all of the difference. I have seen parents come in to help with school events, work in the school and join on field trips. I have also seen parents create and teach within the school community by helping with paint projects or be a guest speaker. Most importantly, I have seen parents be cheerleaders and a support system for their kids. Parents are truly the partners of the school and help make it run smoothly. Without the parents, we lose a major portion of the community, and parents are a valuable asset to everyone.  

 

2. How might your prior experiences influence your own perceptions about parent engagement to help their children succeed? 

     I think that it is always important to see yourself as a teacher on the parents side at all times. This is true because you are both rooting for the same person, the child. Seeing a parent as a partner is the best approach when considering the needs of the student. If you can form a positive relationship with the parents, then maybe you can work together to create a learning environment that makes the student feel most comfortable and play to their strengths. In the end the parent is the expert on the student and gaining knowledge from them will only help to better your understanding of the student and help them to succeed.  Being a team with parents is also fantastic since you can work together to help the student grow inside and outside the classroom. It is sort of like having a united front as a married couple. Both partners set the rules and structure. In this sort of environment, a student can thrive and succeed.

 

3. How will you work on challenging your own assumptions about parents as partners? 
 

     Although I do value parents as partners, there of course has been the odd time where it has been hard to create a team with a family. Although this is the case, I think that it is always important to try and never give up on the parents. You have to have the mindset that it is the student, which is the most important thing so not talking to parents is not an option. I want to also work on acknowledging who the keepers of knowledge are in the parent/teacher relationship. It can be sometimes hard to give up that title as an educator and it is important to step back and reflect on who truly knows what is best. You have to work together with the parent to compromise.
 

4. After reading the parent-related materials, in what areas do you feel capable and/or confident? In what areas will you require further development? How will you work to develop further your identified areas?

 

     After completing the readings, I feel as though I am confident when talking with parents about students in the classroom. Although it is not always ideal to deal with difficult conversations, I feel as though I have had experiences, which have helped to prepare me for these kinds of conversations. Something, which was very useful for me in my undergrad, was having actors come in to an interpersonal communications class and acting as parents while we discussed very difficult topics. It helped me to build my confidence and realize that I had strategies that I could use. An area which I feel needs further development is the collection of proof and documentation on students. Going through this program, I feel as though I have heard many times about the importance of proof when talking with parents and I have seen it being used many times in my practicum. As a teacher, you always need to back up what you say or have seen. I want to continue to improve on making notes, keeping student work and taking pictures in the classroom so that I am always prepared. To further develop this, I will make sure to keep documentation in my next practicum and act as though I was going to have parent teacher interviews at the end of each week. I want to get into these kinds of good habits for the future and make sure that I can justify things like the grades and assessments that I give my students.