Work by Joyce Epstein at Johns Hopkins U (probably the most significant scholar in this area, of which there are many) has identified parent involvement as activities seen and unseen by teachers and schools:
- parenting
- communicating (with the school/teachers)
- volunteering
- learning at home
- decision-making
- collaboration with the community
Involvement is good for children - when parents expect their children to learn and to well in school they are more likely to do so. And involvement in what children are learning, how and the school context that supports their learning means that parents have valuable information to assist children. And they are valuable complements (through homework help, reinforcing school policies, etc) to what the school is trying to achieve. And when children see their parents and schools as partners, the psychological and academic base for learning is more stable.
Consider how this involvement might also benefit teachers, and schools, and parents themselves. In the broadest sense, when homes and schools are on the same page, everyone gains, because they are all (theoretically) working towards the same goals of healthy, happy and well-educated children who are the future generation for society.
Please reflect on your life in elementary school and possibly later (through middle or junior high school, high school and perhaps now in college) and share a bit about how your parent or parents were involved. Use Epstein's categories to describe how the involvement. Please also share more that adds to our discussion about the process and impacts of parent involvement. Like...
- how you felt or feel that this helped you in school (if it did), or otherwise affected you.
- how that involvement might have benefited others - your teachers, the school itself and especially how it might have had an influence on your parents' own happiness or their development as adults, and
- how it affected your relationship with them
- what helped or challenged your parent(s) being involved with your schooling?
I had a unique experience in that my mom would often be the substitute teacher in my classroom when I was in elementary school. This created overlapping effects of the parenting, teaching, communication, and learning-at home experiences that I received as a young child. The lines were a little blurred when it came to my mom as a parent vs my teacher when she was in the class with me and also while at home. However, I do not think that this was a bad thing! I think that it strengthened my relationship with her as I got to see her more during the day and talk to her about more, as she deeply understood what I was learning at that time, who my classmates were, issues in my school, and many other things. Also, I think that she was then turned to as a helping hand more often at my school. The would call her for teaching, or volunteering so my school benefited greatly from having that connection.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was younger, my mother used to be quite involved with my academics -- she would check my grades regularly and often go through my homework, especially in primary school. It was helpful sometimes but more often annoying, because every bad grade would be frowned upon, and I would always feel pressured to perform well for my mother. In a way it helped me to learn to be responsible and realize that some things have to be done well even if you don't enjoy them. Nevertheless, I wanted to distance myself from her, so I could be free from her constant supervision and be able to make mistakes without being scold by anyone else besides myself. AFter I moved to study abroad in US, of course, my mother had to relinquish her control over my school progress and let me deal with my failures myself.
ReplyDeleteParent-teacher conferences were quite often held in the schools i've gone to. I've noticed that most of the time, however, they were more "teacher-parent" in the way that the teachers took a more active role in information sharing and leading the discussion, while parents were mostly passive listeners. I feel like if parents' input is to given more weight in influencing the school environment, the parents will start particiapting more actively.
Throughout my educational life, my parents were as involved or uninvolved as I wanted them to be. I was a very independent child, and especially in middle and high school, I preferred that my parents stay out of most aspects regarding school. When I was in elementary school, my parents were very involved in events, but not in my grades or class assignments. My mother would drive for field trips often and help out in class, and both my parents would attend parent-teacher conferences and other school-sponsored events. This worked very well for me because I preferred to do school on my own, and liked to separate my school and home lives.
ReplyDeleteTheir involvement benefitted my school greatly when I was in elementary school. They were able to volunteer and help out, but did not feel the need to constantly intervene with assignments and impose on the teachers’ jobs and responsibilities. I did not need much help in school, so their lack of intervention there helped me to be even more self-sufficient and self-motivated than if they would’ve been monitoring my grades and assignments. It also benefitted my relationship with them because I felt free to do my own thing, but also to have them to fall back on if I needed help.
Similar to Katelyn my parents were very involved in some aspects of my schooling but only when it was needed. My mom worked from home until both my sister and I were in high school. This created much time for her to help when volunteers were needed at the school. It was very exciting for me to see her at the school and also helped me, as a learner, to know that I had support if I needed it. This also helped me to get into a more involved relationship with the teachers and high school helpers. Both of my parents were readily available if I needed help with school or really anything else and this helped me to grow independently, but also to know when to ask for help.
ReplyDeleteMy relationship with both my parents and my teachers was bettered by this. Teachers in the school know that if they needed parent support or help in the classroom they could almost always depend on my parents. The relationship I had with my parents was good because they knew what was going on and they could hold me accountable for my school work. They also saw how involved I was in the classroom as well.
Growing up my parents both worked often; my dad worked overtime as a deputy sheriff and my mom was a busy, stressed social worker. My parents' busy lifestyle meant that they often didn't inquire about how school was unless they found out about a poor grade or saw a parent-teacher conference invitation from my school. My mom's attitude towards my learning was to support my independence so that I would succeed with support when it was needed and learn from my own failures. In a lot of ways this distant attitude towards my learning weakened my relationship with my parents and lead me to do poorly in school because I wouldn't ask for help or talk about what was going on with me. In some ways though, my mom taught me about decision making, self-reliance, and being independently ambitious without anyone having to push me. My mother would often talk about my future and discuss what would be the most beneficial, and how I could best use my writing and speaking skills. Having a parent who identifies gifts or skills you have and talks through decisions with you is really important in my opinion, and I think it really contributed to my learning despite having my parents and school life separate for the most part.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up my dad was a very busy single father. When it came to school involvement he tried his best to help in any way he could. He would attend teacher conferences and stay in contact with my teachers throughout the year. I think he was contacted by my teachers more than he would have liked because they would complain I talked to much during class. I can only remember him volunteering for a couple school field trips and I loved having him at my school. It showed he had an interest in my learning and I got to spend extra time with him. In middle school he would constantly be checking my grades or asking about my assignments. Parent portal would list everything I had to do and when it was due. If I needed help with homework I had to ask the teacher before asking him. He told me school wasn't his strong suit growing up and he didn't want me to learn something incorrectly. Teacher conferences were always really busy and took a long time. After my first middle school conference my dad and step mom stopped attending them. They knew I did well in school and weren't worried. I became more independent throughout high school and college. They know I take my homework and tests very seriously and if they ask how things are going I will tell them.
ReplyDeleteI think by my dad and later step mom showing interest in my education by attending conferences or helping volunteer with school and sports benefited me because it showed how much they cared to see me succeed at whatever I was doing. They were always very supportive and I wanted to do my best to make them happy and also myself.
Growing up, my mom was always super involved with my academics but there was only so much she could do when I would struggle in school. I think learning at home and community involvement played a huge role as well. My mom didn't always know how to help me with my homework because it had been so long since she'd been in school and the "techniques" used to solve math problems for example, are way different and schools focus more on the process of the problem rather than just the answer. My mom always had her employees help me with my homework, basically tutors that were able to break things down for me and give me personal academic attention. Community involvement but they would also come to my home. I also used to form study groups with my neighbors who had the same homework, we would talk through problems and help each other. Sometimes its talking your way through homework problems that help you really understand it. Then I used to teach my mom so she could help me with later homework. This strengthened our relationship and the connections I had with my community. I wouldn't get crabby at my mom at 9:00 at night because I didn't understand my homework which resulted in my mom not going to the school system to complain about the quality of instructions. It's a win win situation.
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ReplyDeleteWhen I was younger my parents worked quite a bit, so it was difficult for them to be involved in my academics. However, I did do decent academically in elementary school and started to get better grades towards the end of middle school. I was pretty driven to do well in school by the start of my high school career. I remember I used to do my homework in my room after school and on the dinner table at night.
I think one thing that really helped me that my parents did was get me involved in sports and summer camps. They did a really good job of allowing me the opportunity to be myself and meet other kids similar to my age. Overall, I was an interesting positive kid growing up, so it wasn’t difficult for me to get along with others and make friends.
When I was younger, my dad played a big role when it came to academics. He would sit me down for an hour or two about everyday and do reading, writing, and math with me. He would give me random math problems to solve, a book to read out loud with him and multiple sentences he would ask me to write over and over again.
ReplyDeleteMy dads involvement with taking time out of his day to better myself in school affected me a lot in good ways. He did the best job he could do in teaching me how to write, how to pronounce words, and learn math in easier ways. We became really close and it showed me that he was there for me no matter what and put time that he did not have into me to help me succeed and not fall behind in school.
It was very positive growing up with my dad teaching me things and being there for me when it came to school. It helped my dad be more involved with schooling because of interested he was to see how I was doing in class since he has put a lot of time and effort into helping me at home with school and seeing how much it had benefited me. He would tell the teachers that he was doing that stuff with me at home too, and the teachers really appreciated it and said that it showed. That made my dad really happy when they would give him positive feedback like that to him.
I think because I was the oldest of four children in my family, my parents did not have a lot of time to be involved in my schooling. They were always really supportive with helping me with homework and coming to school events, but volunteering in the classroom or being involved in other ways was not really realistic for my family. I was also a very responsible student and was internally driven to do well and be liked by my teachers.
ReplyDeleteI think my mom was more involved with my younger siblings' classrooms and teachers though, partly because she did not have younger children at home when they were in elementary school. Also, most of my siblings had more trouble in school with completing assignments, so I think my parents were forced to be more involved with parent-teacher conferences, extra communication with the school office, and monitoring their homework and grades.
I am blessed to have awesome parents and this class has helped me to visualize all that they truly did/do for me. Throughout my K-12 experience, my parents pushed me to get good grades without being the "crazy" parents that only cared about them. This motivated me to work hard and didn't make me become frustrated or very stressed like I have seen in some peers. I think there is a direct correlation between my parents and the relationship I have had with teachers. My parents raised me to treat others with respect and "do to others what you would want to be done to you" which I bring with me to the classroom, affecting both the teacher and other students. I do think the fact that I have a sister who is six years younger than me made it a little bit harder for my parents to keep a closer eye on me as I got older. Before, we would always go to conferences and stuff like that but there just wasn't enough time to do these things especially since there wasn't any real reason for them to go.
ReplyDeleteFrom my personal experience I feel that parent involvement in children is the most crucial and fundamental requirement in children development. I think that children value and take school or anything else that is productive very seriously. Children don't understand the importance and benefits of being productive and education later in their life, so i feel that it is a parents responsibility to encourage their children at tender age to be involved and productive. There are many ways that parents have encouraged their children in involving and doing well in their school like rewarding them with their favorite toy or any thing that they like. I feel that this does promote a stronger relationship between the children and their parents because it enhances cooperation and dependance, I also feel that the child will be mental healthy in a sense that they will not be under pressure or stressed if they parents that are positively supporting and encouraging them.
ReplyDeleteFrom my personal experience I feel that parent involvement in children is the most crucial and fundamental requirement in children development. I think that children value and take school or anything else that is productive very seriously. Children don't understand the importance and benefits of being productive and education later in their life, so i feel that it is a parents responsibility to encourage their children at tender age to be involved and productive. There are many ways that parents have encouraged their children in involving and doing well in their school like rewarding them with their favorite toy or any thing that they like. I feel that this does promote a stronger relationship between the children and their parents because it enhances cooperation and dependance, I also feel that the child will be mental healthy in a sense that they will not be under pressure or stressed if they parents that are positively supporting and encouraging them.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in elementary school, my mom worked nights, so my dad would get be ready for school. Even when she stopped working nights and started working normal daytime hours, my dad was always the one who would get me up and ready for school. My parents would actively go to the open houses that we held before the school year started to meet my teachers and would volunteer at least once a year to participate in class room parties. I remember in the fourth grade that my parents were the only ones who came to our Halloween party. My classmates appreciated that my parents were there so that we could still have a party. My dad consistently helped me study for my weekly spelling tests and would check my math homework. My parents were very active in my academics without being over bearing. Since my parents were supportive but not controlling, I had self motivation to complete my homework and do well in school.
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