Many methods for family and community involvement exist to benefit the learning environment. The professional educator seeks and develops ways to involve the families of students in the classroom. The educator also seeks to involve the community in the school, which can be ignited in several ways. The first way to spark this participation is to communicate. Only a teacher's time, effort, and creativity limit the methods of communication. This article will demonstrate each form of written communication, electronic communication, person-to-person communication, and school-wide program.
Written Communication A newsletter provides information that is not only of interest to us, but also contains important news. Developing a newsletter for one's class is an effective means to convey information to the students' families. Determining the best way to send the newsletter home must be a consideration of the teacher; should it go home in a student's weekly folder or should it be sent to their homes through the marvels of technology email?
A school newsletter must first attract the reader's attention, contain information that the reader needs to know, and information should be stated in a brief and concise manner that is easy to read. A monthly newsletter is an excellent tool to inform students' families of upcoming events, activities, announcements, as well as, spelling or vocabulary words for the upcoming month. For instance, if there is an activity such as beach day,' parents can plan in advance for it. Parents will know when it is, what their children will need to bring, and if volunteers are needed. If possible, the newsletters should contain at least one boast' item, whether it is an accomplishment of the school as a whole or the accomplishment of a single student. Finally, the newsletter should also contain the school's address, telephone number, and email address.
Electronic Communication
F orms of communication vary; but in this day and age, the fastest and probably most effective is through electronic communication. Teachers have the ability to send electronic messages to parents and vice versa, saving time for the teachers and allowing the time to be spent creating and implementing effective lessons plans. Schools have created websites introducing the school and its benefits to the community.
Information on a school website could include the mission statement; curriculum that the school uses by grade level; academic commitment; teachers', administrators', and board members' photographs with a brief interview; information about the school; information about the facilities and the progress of the school building; upcoming school year's calendar of events; lunch menu; dress code; information about Parent Teacher Fellowship (PTF); photographs of school events; and, information about sports for boys and girls. Teachers can create a link from their picture page for class assignments, class schedule, homework, spelling words, etc.
Person-to-Person Communication Of all the ways teachers can communicate with parents, one-on-one communication is probably the most important. The tone and format of the document or conversation are very important. Correct grammar should be used and the communication should be as clear and specific as possible. Team A has chosen two different examples of one-on-one communication.
Parent-teacher conferences are the ultimate personal communication between a teacher and a parent. Below is a list of sample questions that might be discussed during parent-teacher conferences. The teacher should be prepared to discuss the answers to these questions with each parent. The questions that parents may ask about their child are:
What subject does my child seem to like most? Least? What can I do to help my child with subjects he finds difficult?
How can I help him study? Prepare for class? Improve his work?
Is my child trying as hard as he can?
Does he participate in class discussions and activities?
Is my child in different classes or groups for different subjects? Which ones? How are the groups determined?
How well does my child get along with others?
Has my child missed classes?
Have you noticed changes in the way my child acts? For example, have you noticed squinting, tiredness, or moodiness that might be a sign of physical or other problems?
Possible questions parents may ask regarding a teacher's methods are:
How are you measuring my child's progress? Through homework assignments? Tests? Portfolios? Class participation? Projects?
What kinds of tests do you give? What do the tests show about my child's progress? How does my child handle taking tests?
How often do you usually assign homework? What types of homework assignments can I expect to see?
What can I be doing at home with my child to reinforce what you're teaching in class?
How can we work together to help my student"?
The teacher should also be prepared and organized during parent-teacher conferences. Planning an agenda in advance would be beneficial and preparing supplemental worksheets for parents to administer to their child if the student is struggling in specific areas is also helpful. The teacher could also practice or role-play with someone prior to the actual conference.
A second example of person-to-person communication is a welcome letter, which is sent to the student and parents at the beginning of the school year. A sample of that type of letter is below. Since the letter may often be the first contact the teacher has with the students and parents, it is important to make a good first impression. The letter should give the reader a glimpse into the teacher's personality. The tone of the letter should be positive and upbeat.
Hello, my name is Mrs. Mary Ann Graziani. I am honored to enjoy your child as their teacher and am looking forward to an exciting year of learning and growing, not only academically; but emotionally and socially, as well.
I have a Master's Degree in Elementary Education. I plan on teaching curriculum to your child that is engaging and meaningful to them by allowing them to have a certain amount of control over what they learn and how they learn it. Your child's learning experience will be taught in a way that they find engaging and interesting, thus promoting retention of knowledge and also reducing misbehavior. My plans consistently evolve as different students with different needs walk through the door and this year will be no exception. I understand that each child has their own learning style and I will do my best, with your help to meet your child's individual needs.
I have strategies that I use for transitions, misbehavior, routine, and assignments that I will use to lessen class disruptions so that we can spend more time enjoying our learning experience. I use incentives to encourage good behavior and work and use reasonable consequences for misbehavior. I will be teaching your child life skills they will need to create a class community that nurtures each student. We will focus on learning, practicing and implementing these skills in our daily activities. These are skills they will use for the rest of their lives. I would appreciate your support in my efforts to encourage good behavior in the classroom. The life skills we will be learning are:
Caring
Friendship
Cooperation
Effort
Perseverance
Sense of Humor
Curiosity
Organization
Patience
Integrity
Flexibility
Initiative
Pride
Responsibility
Problem Solving
Common Sense
Courage
Resourcefulness
You can expect your child's day to be organized and well planned, where disciplinary issues are usually not a problem. You can also expect your child to be part of a classroom family where I show them I care about their success and we all work together toward attaining common goals. If I can be a positive influence and encourage your child to be the very best that he/she can be, I will have personally succeeded.
If you have any questions or concerns you can reach me at mgrazi@wowway.com
Looking forward to a great year!
Mrs. Mary Ann Graziani
School-wide Program
A school partnership with a business allows the school to go beyond the walls of the school and open up a world of experience, knowledge, and inspiration to improve the quality of students' lives. Junior Achievement is one organization that provides a successful bridge between education and business.
Junior Achievement is a non-profit organization financed by businesses, foundations, and individuals. The purpose of Junior Achievement is to educate and inspire young people to value free enterprise, business, and economics to improve the quality of their lives. Since its founding in 1919, Junior Achievement has contributed to the business and economic education of young people in the United States and throughout the world.
An example of a Junior Achievement program in an elementary school would be the Elementary School Program that provides volunteers to the school to teach students in kindergarten through twelfth grade about economics and business. The volunteers are scheduled to come every year and teach each grade in the school. One volunteer is assigned to each grade in the school, who teach for 45 minutes to one hour for five weeks.
The Elementary School Programs include seven sequential themes for kindergarten through sixth-grade students and two capstone experiences. Students learn the basic concepts of business and economics and how education is relevant to the workplace. The sequential activities build on studies from each preceding grade and prepare students for secondary school and lifelong learning. With a variety of hands-on learning activities delivered by a volunteer role model, students will better understand the relationship between what they learn in school and their successful participation in our economy.
A school relationship with Junior Achievement is beneficial to the students, teachers, and the community. Students learn important lessons to become contributing members of society. A teacher is has a real-life resource to help teach basic business and economic skills and concepts that are appropriate for the grade level. The community benefits by having students who are prepared with the skills needed for successful participation in the free enterprise system.
Professional teachers locate and develop creative ways to involve families and community members in the classroom environment. The first way to spark this participation is to communicate. The methods in this article demonstrate positive and effective forms of written communication, electronic communication, person-to-person communication, and a school-wide program.
Mary Ann Graziani is a Michigan Certified Teacher with a Masters Degree in Elementary Education. She is married and has two sons. She loves to read and write, and enjoys passing on that love to the children that she teaches. Her philosophy is teaching and entertaining children at the same time.
Mary Ann teaches in a public school and provides private tutoring in Language Arts and Math. In her spare time she enjoys writing and illustrating stories for children.
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