Educators value the involvement and support of parents, guardians, families and communities in schools.
I am so grateful to my CT for imparting on me one of the values I consider myself most fortunate to have taken from my first practicum in English 8. Specifically, this is the value of recognising the significant contribution it can be to the classroom environment when parents are communicated with regularly. My CT would send an email or make a phone call to almost every one of the guardians of the students in her class at least once a week, and more often when required. By the end of my practicum I was involved in the process, completing many emails and a couple of phone calls during my time there.
What made this task significant to me was that the regular weekly contact was typically in regards to something positive about the students behaviour or work over the past week; something kind they had said, or some other way they had contributed to classroom environment was often mentioned. Contact regarding more serious or negative matters would fall into the “additional if necessary” category, and in this way there was almost always a prior foundation of positive feedback to contrast against any constructive/negative criticism they may need to hear. I noticed very early that my CT rarely (if ever) had a negative interaction with a parent. I recognise that it would be naive to think this was representative of every encounter, however there seemed to be a stark difference between my expectation of parent attitude, and actuality.
With the nature of the pandemic, we also had a few students who were working from home. Because of this, we were in daily contact with their guardians in order to provide copies of new work, and provide explanations for assignments. This was an interesting experience for me, as it was almost like having another adult peer review my lesson plans/handouts to see if they made sense. The back and forth, initially between my CT and parents/guardians, and then also between myself and guardians really emphasised and solidified my understanding of the power that can be brought to the learning space when family is included. Granted, this only begins to scratch the surface of the potentials, however I endeavour to add to my pages of experience and continue to push for ways to create synthesis between school, students, and family.
Thank you.
