Educators value the involvement and support of parents, guardians, families and communities in schools.
Educators understand, respect and encourage the participation of families and communities in student learning and development. Educators consider the perspective of parents/ guardians regarding their children. Educators communicate effectively and in a timely manner with parents/ guardians.
During my practicum at St. Mary’s Elementary School, I designed a lesson where I could involve parents into their child’s learning. In the third lesson for a unit on Addition and Subtraction using Base 10 Blocks for Ones and Tens, I arranged the students into pairs and using iPads (which the students had practiced on in previous lessons) I had one student “teach” his parents how to use found objects representing Base Units of Ones and Tens to solve addition equations. The other student filmed before trading roles and becoming the “teacher.” The video files were uploaded Seesaw App. to a shared file that was visible to their parents. After the lesson, my CT got several texts from parents saying how much they enjoyed the “lesson.” I felt successful in bringing parents into the student’s learning environment. I also felt that I did a good job of encouraging agency in the students. Students felt empowered as they taught their mini-lesson.
During another lesson, I taught the students common Mandarin (Chinese) expressions. One student is of Chinese descent, and when I was giving feedback on his worksheet, I asked, “Do you have a Chinese name? If so, I’d love to learn it!” The next day, the student’s parent messaged me through my CT. The parent was excited to tell me her child’s Chinese names: the full Chinese name, the simplified Chinese name, and the Chinese names of the student’s brother! Although this was a unique experience in that it is isolated to one student and his parent, I think it is a good example of how an educator can connect with parents to build positivity around culture and identity and thus also promote diversity.
One final example occurred during my practicum at Van Bien Elementary School. When discussing the roles of Clans in First Nations families, I asked the aboriginal students to ask their parents, grandparents, and/ or uncles, aunties or other family for information about their Clans. One small, reserved student came the next day excited to relay his Clan as told to him by his relatives the previous evening. He talked about his mother’s Clan, his father’s Clan, and his own Clan. He talked about its significance, and as he talked the other students listened with curiosity. In this discussion, the class learned a lot about the Clans. The student showed confidence and pride in his culture, and the class showed respect and interest in the stories. I felt that I had involved the student’s family in the student’s learning, and I imagine that the student went home and talked about the Clan discussion over the evening meal. I also imagine that the other students went home and asked about their own family histories.
I think that young learners benefit from having their families interested, involved, and invested in their learning. I want to be a teacher who welcomes families into their children’s learning.