Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The Teachers are There,-Where is Parental Concern?...":
I agree with you that the parents whose involvement you need the most are oftentimes the very ones whose concern is limited, if at all. Education starts in the home. Teachers should be held accountable for the teachers' role in education, not the parents' role. Except in cases of extreme emergency, which can happen from time to time, parents should be answering teachers' phone calls. The same holds true for teachers and administrators answering parents' phone calls.
That being said, please consider the following very carefully.
You write, "Generally speaking, we do attempt to contact the families of lower performing students more often than the others because we want to work with the families to help them in helping their children." Be careful with this line of thinking.
Meeting or exceeding the standard does not mean that the student needs the teacher's attention any less than those who fall behind. In fact, those that achieve well beyond the norm may need you more than the others as will their parents.
Sadly, public education in this country is so focused on bringing up the bottom, educators fail to realize the unfair balance this ultimately leads to. It sends a very clear message to many students and parents of where teachers allegiances are.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
parents can not be blamed for all the teacher complaints. Why is it that some teachers have given my children 2-3 hours of hw a night. Are they supposed to try and learn by themselves after school? hw is supposed to be a review. Adiministrators should be held accountable as well. I have had issues with teachers where I went to the adminstrators after no resolution with the teacher could be found and the adminstrators did nothing.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to say this was a great post. Not only for the content, but also the tone and manner in which it was delivered. It was factual, not emotional or accusatory and really got the point across. Not sure if you're a parent in the district or not, but it seems like if every parent, teacher and administrator shared your way of communicating things would overall be better. So, thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. Yes, I am a parent in the district. I also happen to be a teacher somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteWhen I made the original post to which you responded I didn't say that the students who met or exceeded the standard got less than my full attention, usually they are the ones who stay after school for extra help and in doing so are getting more of my time,. What I said was that the ones who are doing poorly are the ones whose families we attempt to contact more frequently. Sorry if that was not clear.
ReplyDeleteIf Mr. Rosenfeld, the elected representative of the teachers' union, wants to post comments on this blog, it is most appropriate. For individual teachers to take it upon themselves to speak for all teachers in the district, it is just not solid PR. Trust in your leader to speak on behalf of all of you.
ReplyDeleteI know sometimes it can seem that this blog is all about the negative. It is not. Many of us know there are caring professionals in the school system who work very hard. Sadly, there are also many who do not. Unfortunately they ruin it for the rest of you, perhaps in the same way these 29 parents who have not returned your phone calls cloud your perception of the parent body here.
There is no question, many teachers work extremely hard. Your frustration is well understood. You still should be careful where you share them. I would venture to guess that most who follow this blog are actively involved parents who oversee every aspect of their children's education. Voicing a defense to our deep disappointment that other parents are uncooperative is not in the spirit of effective public relations. A good business would never allow its employees to complain about its clientele directly to its clientele.
For whatever it is worth, whoever you are, you sound like a teacher who is really trying. If you feel so strongly about posting on this blog, consider sharing some positives. The best defense to all of this is to prove yourself inconsistent with whatever negativity you perceive here. Then, perhaps, parents will see that there are, in fact, some educators here who our children are privileged to work with.
I disagree with the last post. I was not speaking for all teachers; I was merely posting my own observations. It is hard to understand how you can say that this blog is not "all about the negative" I have not seen one posting on this blog recently that is positive towards teachers. Prior to our contract it was all about our "greed". Recently it has been about the BOE and how they caved or about cell phones, but not one positive statement towards teachers. I understand that times are tough for the community, but it seems to me that many on this blog forget that many teachers are part of this community or others like it, and that we are suffering similar hardships with the economy and the tax burden.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with your thought that most people who follow this blog are actively involved parents; my perception is that there are parents who are concerned about their children’s education, but use this blog as their only form of community involvement. That being said, I think that the lack of parent involvement in some cases needs to be addressed because, in my opinion, many parents view education as the teacher’s job and only the teacher’s job, when education is a community effort. So just like there are some bad teachers and some good teachers, there are parents that need to be more involved. In my time here teaching in Plainview I have had the privilege meeting many wonderful parents who care and are truly a joy to work with. But sadly, I have also tried in vain to establish a positive rapport with other parents who have figuratively slammed the door in my face
If you are so unhappy with the parents you work with here in Plainview, how about considering a job somewhere else?
ReplyDeleteIs it possible that teachers do not hear back from parents for any of the following reasons?
ReplyDelete1. The child erases the message and/or destroys the letter before the parent gets home so the parent has no idea the teacher was attempting to make contact?
2. The parent is so overwhelmed with other issues, perhaps even life threatening ones, that preclude the return of a phone call.
3. The parent is a single parent working around the clock, unable to call back during the teacher's working hours.
4.The parent has his/her own history of negative experiences in school and thus views the teachers as an adversary so he/she somehow avoids contact.
5. The parent has heard so many negative reports about his/her child that he/she just doesn't know how to deal with the situation anymore
While I am not making excuses for any of these reasons, except perhaps life threatening situations, if you do not know the specific reason for their lack of contact with you, it's a mistake to be making judgements. Whether you like it or not, it's the tax dollars from all POB residents (even the uninvolved ones) that pay your salary.
There are ways a professional educator can effectively deal with the children of these parents. Bringing it onto a public blog as you did is not one of them.
As for myself, I am a very proactive parent. Over the years, I've had parent-teacher discussion from hospital rooms, an emergency room once, in my car on the side of the road, etc. A strong home-school connection is integral to a child's education but a teacher who posts as you did is not someone I'd want my child working with.
I enjoy the discussion on this thread but I wish people would be a little more accepting of ideas they disagree with. A teacher who willing to be part of a discussion and is honest enough to admit and care that some parents don't call back or get involved is absolutely someone I'd want teaching my kid.
ReplyDeleteTelephone messages alone are not a reliable means by which to expect responses particularly considering that these are middle school students this teacher is calling about.
ReplyDeleteVoice mail, answering machines, these technologies do not always work but more likely is the idea that many children erase the messages before their parents ever get them.
Something I've occasionally done (a huge effort but very much worth it) is as follows. I do not return a test to an entire class. Instead, I mail it to their homes with a letter to parents stating that in order for the children to receive credit they need to return the attached slip that reads "I am aware that my son/daughter received a grade of ____% on such and such test." The parents of high performing students will gladly send it back. With the ones who do not do as well, you can include a progress report and perhaps even your log of attempted contacts. You'd be amazed at how effective this can be.
The teacher who started this thread may want to consider the following questions.
ReplyDelete1. Does this teacher outline procedures for parent communication in the class contract she has the student and parents sign at the beginning of the year? In the middle school I work in, the contract includes a space for alternate contact information in the event a parent cannot be reached directly about academic issues. This way, if they get called at work or on their cellphone, they cannot complain.
2. Has she (and other members of the team she speaks for) been mailing reports to parents indicating student progress in between the computer generated progress reports and report cards? Although kids can destroy these before the parents see them, they'll never be able to say you didn't make every reasonable attempt to contact them so long as you maintain appropriate documentation.
3. Do the progess reports indicate that the students are not working up to their full potential?
4. Do they have all attempted communication documented? If so, have they presented the log to the guidance office in order to arrange a meeting with the parents? If the guidance office has been unable to arrange a meeting with parents, has a registered letter been sent to the parents indicating the school's difficulty in getting in touch with the parents?
5. What has she done to foster a working relationship with parents and students so ongoing trust exists between all three parties?
6. When she interacts with parents, does she focus only on the negative or does she know how to cite a balance so that she does not come off to parents as an adversary?
7. Why is it that 29 students are falling short of the expectations? Are the expectations clearly defined for the students? What are her procedures for accountability? What has she done early in the year to ascertain each student's learning style? Do her lessons address all learning styles? What are the procedures for homework assignments? How does she assess the reasons for poor test grades (failure to comprehend the material, lack of motivation,etc)? How long does she wait for situations to continue prior to contacting parents? It is much easier to address a small problem with a parent than it is to address a large one that's been going on for some time.
I love the posting about mailing tests home requiring a parent signature in order to get credit. Make sure you photocopy them prior to sending them. If my students knew this might happen, no question they'd take it more seriously.
I will answer your points one by one as I am the teacher who made the posts.
ReplyDelete1)Yes, several of the original 29 attempts were to either work or cell nombers.
2) yes, we send home reports between progress reports.
3) yes, we indicate averages, missing homeworks and other pertinant info.
4)of course I document every contact I make or attempt to make with parents, and we meet regularly with guidance to speak about at risk students.
5) I use a website that allows students to check homework on line. this web site allows parents to send me their concerns via e-mail. I also post upcoming tests,quizzes and other assignments on this site.
6)I state the facts and offer ways to help the student to the parent.
7)At the beginig of the year at back to school night I give parents an outline of the cirriculm broken down by week for the entire year, I spell out my grading policy to include percentages that tests, quizzes and homeworks count for. I also spell out my policy on late HW. On my lessons I attempt to present several modalities of learning to reach all learns be they visual, auditory or whatever. After each test I I collect data on the types of questions that were the most commonly missed and I then review the info I presented to the students with an eye towards more effective teaching. All tests and quizzes are reqiured to be signed and I then save them incase there is a question. usually I try to make contact in reference to missed HW after three or four missed.
I am curious about one thing all through out your post you refer yo me as "she" why would you assume that I am a female teacher and not a male teacher?
Other postings on this thread cite you as "she" so I just followed suit. Incidentally, how long have you been teaching?
ReplyDeleteYou dodged many of the questions, failed to give specifics in some of your answers and made numerous errors in spelling and capitalization.
One would question if, in fact, you are a professional educator at all.
Mr. Rosenfeld, if you are reading this thread, please share your ideas on this discussion.
The more this teacher responds to this discussion, the worse he/she makes him/herself look. Intended or not, when one identifies oneself as an employee of an institution, representation of that organization is understood by those who listen. There's a saying, "The customer is always right" whether they are or not. Prior to "merely posting your own observations," check with NYSUT on its policies for this sort of thing.
ReplyDeleteTake advice from a seasoned educator and long time Plainview resident, leave the defenses to Mr. Rosenfeld and for goodness sake, proofread before posting.