Getting to Know Your Students and Their Parents
Cowhey, Ch. 11 - Building Trust with Families, in Black Ants and Buddhists
Jonathan Kozol - Establishing the Chemistry (Ch.2) & Reaching Out to Get to Know the Parents of Our Children (Ch. 3) in Letters to a Young Teacher
Warren Hynes (2014) Meet the Family published in Teaching Tolerance
Nick Faber (2015) Connecting with Students and Families through Home Visits
published in American Educator
Jonathan Kozol - Establishing the Chemistry (Ch.2) & Reaching Out to Get to Know the Parents of Our Children (Ch. 3) in Letters to a Young Teacher
Warren Hynes (2014) Meet the Family published in Teaching Tolerance
Nick Faber (2015) Connecting with Students and Families through Home Visits
published in American Educator
Questions to guide the discussion of Chapter 11 of Cowhey:
- Would you visit the children you will be teaching and their families? What issues do you think of if you were asked to visit the homes of children in your classroom?
- How might these visits be beneficial? Reflect on Samuel's story, the adopted child with the two mothers or other stories that you might already know. Also consider the topics on p. 198, third paragraph.
- Meena, an adopted child from India, wanted to share aspects of her life prior to adoption. What elements of her story stood out for you?
- Sharing upbringing details might be painful for other children. What should we keep an eye on?
- How can bulletin boards be used to empower children and their families?
- How can weekly letters engage the parents or guardians in the education of their child?
- Inviting a parent to volunteer "takes humility." Why might that be true? What can you glean from the opening vignette about this statement?
- What suggestions does Cowhey give for communicating upcoming field trips, curriculum activities, or topics learned in class?
- When does Cowhey contact families? Give examples of how thoughtful she is when approaching single-parent families?
- Teaching about the horrors the Spaniards had surrounded the Tainos with, Cowehy was faced by two challenges? What was her resolution?
- Cowhey ends the chapter with a list of 5 rules that govern how she overcome miscommunications. What do you think about the rules? Do you think that you can apply them?
- Read the opening vignette of chapter 9, pp. 165-166. How do the two chapters connect?
The Parent-Teacher Home Visit Project
Home Works! The Teacher Home Visit Program
There is No Place Like Home: Visits with Parents
Home Works! The Teacher Home Visit Program
There is No Place Like Home: Visits with Parents
Results - Parent-Teacher Home Visit Project
The increased communication, trust and support between families and teachers via home visits result in:
Video | Information Packet
The increased communication, trust and support between families and teachers via home visits result in:
- Increased student attendance rates.
- Increased student test scores.
- Decreased suspension and expulsion rates.
- Decreased vandalism at school site.
Video | Information Packet
St. Louis Post-Dispatch has an article on the topic! Teacher home visit program persists despite barriers
Illinois State Standards for Teacher Preparation
- 8P) develops professional relationships with parents and guardians that result in fair and equitable treatment of each student to support growth and learning;
- 8Q) establishes respectful and productive relationships with parents or guardians and seeks to develop cooperative partnerships to promote student learning and well-being;
- 8T) identifies and utilizes community resources to enhance student learning and to provide opportunities for students to explore career opportunities.
- 9Q) proactively serves all students and their families with equity and honor and advocates on their behalf, ensuring the learning and well-being of each child in the classroom;
Home Visit Assignment
Know your students and their parents
Ask your cooperating teacher about the students in your classroom. With her or his assistant, identify two students who need further support. For each student, pay careful attention to the child in the classroom; identify two positive attributes this child has and identify areas of growth; the attributes and aspects of growth can cover a variety of social, personal, and/or academic qualities.
Write a profile of the school describing the population of students it serves. Drive through different neighborhoods in the community and have a sense of the different social and economic status they represent.
After making arrangements with your cooperating teacher, attend a parent-teacher conference. Discuss with the parents the positive qualities that their child expresses in class. Strike a friendly conversation and know the assets that the family and the child both have. Focus on the strengths of the child congratulating the family for their help in honing these qualities in their child. Invite the adult family member to celebrate those successes at home. Ask the family member about other positive attributes that you might not be aware of but are worthwhile recognizing. Discuss with the family members the areas of growth and ways of helping the child build the capacities to practice and hone them.
If attending a parent-teacher conference is not possible, join any school activity that parents are invited to, talk with the parents over the phone, meet with the parents in a park or any other public place, visit the neighborhood to know more about it, or talk with others to know as much as possible about the child you are trying to celebrate his or her strengths.
No students names or identities are expected to be shared with anyone in this assignment; it is expected that you respect the utmost confidentiality standards that anyone who works with people and especially children should abide by. You may use pseudonyms to preserve the human aspect of the interaction.
Write a reflection indicating the grade level of the students, a brief description of community and school and then the initial impressions you had about the child and how the home visit or conversation with the family might have impacted your initial thoughts. Explain how you would plan to use this new knowledge to assist you in providing a better and more suitable learning experiences to this child and others who might share similar home environments. Indicate factors in the neighborhood that empower the child. How does the school demographics explain part of your observations? Use Cowehy, Ch. 11 and others, to connect your dots!
Know your students and their parents
Ask your cooperating teacher about the students in your classroom. With her or his assistant, identify two students who need further support. For each student, pay careful attention to the child in the classroom; identify two positive attributes this child has and identify areas of growth; the attributes and aspects of growth can cover a variety of social, personal, and/or academic qualities.
Write a profile of the school describing the population of students it serves. Drive through different neighborhoods in the community and have a sense of the different social and economic status they represent.
After making arrangements with your cooperating teacher, attend a parent-teacher conference. Discuss with the parents the positive qualities that their child expresses in class. Strike a friendly conversation and know the assets that the family and the child both have. Focus on the strengths of the child congratulating the family for their help in honing these qualities in their child. Invite the adult family member to celebrate those successes at home. Ask the family member about other positive attributes that you might not be aware of but are worthwhile recognizing. Discuss with the family members the areas of growth and ways of helping the child build the capacities to practice and hone them.
If attending a parent-teacher conference is not possible, join any school activity that parents are invited to, talk with the parents over the phone, meet with the parents in a park or any other public place, visit the neighborhood to know more about it, or talk with others to know as much as possible about the child you are trying to celebrate his or her strengths.
No students names or identities are expected to be shared with anyone in this assignment; it is expected that you respect the utmost confidentiality standards that anyone who works with people and especially children should abide by. You may use pseudonyms to preserve the human aspect of the interaction.
Write a reflection indicating the grade level of the students, a brief description of community and school and then the initial impressions you had about the child and how the home visit or conversation with the family might have impacted your initial thoughts. Explain how you would plan to use this new knowledge to assist you in providing a better and more suitable learning experiences to this child and others who might share similar home environments. Indicate factors in the neighborhood that empower the child. How does the school demographics explain part of your observations? Use Cowehy, Ch. 11 and others, to connect your dots!
We need to do whatever we can to make meaningful interaction with the parents, even if this means that we chat with them as they drop or pick up their child to or from school. You might start with “Good morning” or “Have a good day” on day one. On day two or four you might say with “Emily solved two math questions correctly today [positive attributes of the child whether is social, cognitive, or emotional]; I’m proud of her [supportive feedback].” Try small steps, these do not need to be out of the ordinary. If your attempts stops there, we will go with this; if the parent expresses interest in talking further, we will embrace the idea and talk further with the parent advocating for the child and what can make their accomplishments even better.
If you can talk with the parents during a parent-teacher conference, we’ll go with that. If the teacher can share with you interactions she or he has had with the parents we can work with that as well. We are simply trying to find ways to know the children beyond their physical presence in the classroom by expanding the parameters of our comfort zone.
If you are unable to chat or briefly talk with the parents, try to know as much as you can about the community and the students. Draw an image of the town by talking with people in the school (other teachers, custodians, staff members) or in the community (coffee shop, local library, small businesses, restaurants). Make sure to check out Illinois Interactive Report Card as well to know about the school.
I hope this helps, if you still find it difficult to find more about the school, community, children and their parents, you can talk about your general understanding of the experience. The only thing that needs to be clear, is that you attempted to expand your parameters but you felt restricted due to factors beyond your control. Make this assignment yours, recreate it in a way that shows what you are passionate about and what you were able to accomplish.
Please don’t make this assignment a distraction, it is aimed to help you see the big picture and how schooling and education are housed in the communities that children come from. The assignment also aims to help us see that without collaboration and mutual understanding and respect, it is hard to extend bridges to see the world beyond our shores. School is not a factory that produces children with knowledge, it is an oasis that attracts people to grow and nurture what they have.
Wish you all a fantastic experience :) Brighten your day and the day of EVERYONE around you with a BIG warm SMILE :D Spread your compassion and kindness around © this might make all the difference after all.
If you can talk with the parents during a parent-teacher conference, we’ll go with that. If the teacher can share with you interactions she or he has had with the parents we can work with that as well. We are simply trying to find ways to know the children beyond their physical presence in the classroom by expanding the parameters of our comfort zone.
If you are unable to chat or briefly talk with the parents, try to know as much as you can about the community and the students. Draw an image of the town by talking with people in the school (other teachers, custodians, staff members) or in the community (coffee shop, local library, small businesses, restaurants). Make sure to check out Illinois Interactive Report Card as well to know about the school.
I hope this helps, if you still find it difficult to find more about the school, community, children and their parents, you can talk about your general understanding of the experience. The only thing that needs to be clear, is that you attempted to expand your parameters but you felt restricted due to factors beyond your control. Make this assignment yours, recreate it in a way that shows what you are passionate about and what you were able to accomplish.
Please don’t make this assignment a distraction, it is aimed to help you see the big picture and how schooling and education are housed in the communities that children come from. The assignment also aims to help us see that without collaboration and mutual understanding and respect, it is hard to extend bridges to see the world beyond our shores. School is not a factory that produces children with knowledge, it is an oasis that attracts people to grow and nurture what they have.
Wish you all a fantastic experience :) Brighten your day and the day of EVERYONE around you with a BIG warm SMILE :D Spread your compassion and kindness around © this might make all the difference after all.