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Parent-Teacher Cooperation
I am not an Oprah follower, but I came across a nice article on her website titled 10 Things Teachers Want Parents to Know. I wanted to share it as conferences approach (some of you may be in full conference swing), as a good reminder that teachers and parent's are on the same team. Both have the goal of educating kids, equipping them with the tools for learning throughout life. As I wrote, however, I found myself merely reorganizing the authors words and then feeling like a hypocrite. The three general guidelines listed were: be respectful, be involved, and be organized. I mean, I am respectful, but not nearly as involved with my son's school as I had hoped to be. And my organization has fallen into three piles; one on the kitchen table, one in the living room, and one on the book shelf. Since my son is in first grade this is all fairly new to me. What can we (I) do to be the most effective parent I can be in the parent-teacher relationship? This is what I came up with:
Keep that respect coming! Send to-the-point emails and phone messages. I don't want to wade through paragraphs of explanations and (I'm guessing) neither do teachers. Ask if there's time before launching into a diatribe. I'm thinking about sending an encouraging email to my son's teacher every once in a while, without complaints or requests attached.
Get involved. Do something. Anything (pretty much). It's not as hard as it sounds. I keep psyching myself out by picturing perfect art docent lessons, eradicating illiteracy.......burning out! I tend to forget that pictures need to be stapled to the wall, papers need to be corrected.....hey I can do those!
Be organized. So, I'm thinking of just keeping my piles, but making them official. A tray for each to keep them from sprawling, and making one for homework (no there's not a lot, but enough to lose), one to save, and one to look through. Maybe a label for each, to remind me to not just dump in everything. Think it will work? We shall see!
And for teachers, thank you for your patience! As a parent, I respect the great challenge you have of educating so many kids with limited resources. I do want to be involved, but tend to look at the big picture and get overwhelmed. As for organization, I'm working on it! And please, share your thoughts on this. Am I way off base, does this ring true to you too, or do you have some other helpful insights?
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Ah....I love the smell of autumn in my kitchen. Each little jar on my rack holds a spice that has a unique scent, flavor, and story. McCormick's 