Education World: Parents and Teachers Working Together

"The school's best ally in the task of nurturing a student's innate 'urge to learn' is, first and foremost, the parents," says Bernie Poole in his online book Education for an Information Age. "A Nation at Risk (1984) paints a sobering picture when the report states that while parents do have 'an undiminished concern for the well-being of their children,' for the most part they are not culturally encouraged by the education system to intervene in their children's education. Unfortunately, this distancing has not improved in the last 20 years. Working parents, language differences, economic and cultural divisions, and a history of schools regarding parents as intruders and critics rather than partners have built walls.

This is the opening paragraph of  Education World: Parents and Teachers Working Together, an article written in October 2005 with many terrific ideas for strengthening the parent teacher partnership.

I encourage you to read it.  I found the entire article to be informative and encouraging.  This next paragraph particularly struck a chord with me.

"I've mostly taught 9th graders," noted Marcella Ruland. "The transition to high school can be difficult for many, so I try to give parents all the information they need or want to help them help their children. I have a Web page that I advertise to parents as well as to students. On the site is a section for assignments. I have a long-term planning calendar and an assignment log that provides a rather detailed day-by-day listing of what was done in class, what work was collected, and what homework was assigned. I make sure I post instructions for class work, so absent students can make up assignments while they're out. I also post instruction sheets for all projects. Students lose things and, this way, the instructions are still available. Many parents have said how helpful the Web page is, particularly because students sometimes say they don't have any homework." 

Absent students can make up assignments while they are out.
Students lose things.
Students sometimes say they don't have any homework.

It's NOT just me!!!!


Why am I doing this?