The last two week I have observed and interacted with the administration portion of the school. The director and the parent liaison, It was nice to kind of bounce around and observe others interacting with families and staff. Also, being able to hear others views on not just quality but how centers should operate as a whole. Last week at the center they had a parent workshop related to literacy and it sad to say but only four parents attened to the workshop.
In the evening I had a chance to observed and interacted with other parents in my niece classroom. She is in the preschool grade.
Parents were welcomed promptly at 5:30p.m and encouraged to go to their children classroom and partake in the activities that the teachers had prepared for the event related to math. This was a time planned for parents to come in and interact with their children teacher and ask how their children is/are coming along.
For the most it seemed their wasn’t a big turn out and it was also raining that late afternoon / evening. Sometimes getting out of work late, traffic and bad weather can pose barriers for parents to make it to an event.
Parents were welcomed promptly at 5:30p.m and encouraged to go to their children classroom and partake in the activities that the teachers had prepared for the event related to math. This was a time planned for parents to come in and interact with their children teacher and ask how their children is/are coming along.
For the most it seemed their wasn’t a big turn out and it was also raining that late afternoon / evening. Sometimes getting out of work late, traffic and bad weather can pose barriers for parents to make it to an event.
I understand and agree that it is a challenge to get parents to come to events. You seem to always be preaching to the choir so to speak. You get the same few parents every time. I like the idea of having an activity at pick up time. I can see how this would maybe catch more parents. We also offer food and child care for events; this helps if they don't have to worry about dinner and they have someone to watch their child.
ReplyDeleteIt so frustrating when the school plans an parent event and then there is so little turnout. We have found at our center that if we do a family night, we get more involvement from our families. Each year we hold a family literacy night at our school. We plan the night around a specific theme or author. We invite a children's librarian to hold two different story times and then we have different activities that go along with the stories in each of our four classrooms. The families love it and it allows them to spend time with their children in a fun and educational way.
DeleteParent Involvement is a very important area. It is very hard for centers to get good turn out on Parent Involvment. Family's are tired, have to many activities they are involved in. It is still important for us to continue even as discouraging as it is. It helps to keep in mind that if one family is helped by what we do, then we are making headway in the situation.
ReplyDeleteIt sound like you had an interesting week. I believe that we are alike, always getting bounced around to different programs in our centers. The good thing about being bounced around is that we get a chance to meet other parents and children besides those that are in the classroom. I agree there should be more workshops and family events to get our parents involved in their child’s school. At my center we have parent meetings once a month or events on special occasion, but we need to provide more workshops about different topics that will be helpful to our parents. I like the different activities setup for parents after work where they can meet with their child’s teacher. We do that also at our center during open house only, but it would be nice to set up something more frequently to let parent know they are welcome to visit anytime.
ReplyDeleteI know it is very frustrating to see that parents do not have time, or do not want to participate in their children’s education. They assume that it is a teacher’s job, and they have enough time at school to learn, but we know the first school starts at home. This is another challenge that professionals face, but I know in the future we can make the difference, because we are working to involve parents. In the center that I work they have one section in the morning and another one in the afternoon, and they said it is working we have more parents’ participation.
DeleteIt is sad that only four parents showed up for the workshop. Parents don't realize how important it is to get involved when it comes to their child's education. The one question I do have is what did the center do to promote and encourage the parents to attend this workshop? I know that most of the parents have crazy work schedules but when I couldn't attend something at my son school I would send someone in my place. It is discouraging that their is a lack of parent involvement but we must stay positive and not give up.
ReplyDelete