{"id":14971,"date":"2015-04-13T13:05:20","date_gmt":"2015-04-13T18:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com\/tlb\/?p=14971"},"modified":"2019-03-27T14:20:43","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T19:20:43","slug":"what-are-the-5-ways-in-which-teachers-can-partner-with-parents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com\/tlb\/what-are-the-5-ways-in-which-teachers-can-partner-with-parents\/","title":{"rendered":"What are the 5 Ways in which teachers can partner with parents?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/professionallearningboard.com\/blog\/\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"check_out_the_new_blog\" title=\"Check Out the New Blog\" alt=\"Check Out the New Blog\"  src=\"https:\/\/k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com\/images\/check_out_the_new_blog.jpg\"><\/a> <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com\/tlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/blog-2-copy.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-21836 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com\/tlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/blog-2-copy.png\" alt=\"What are the 5 Ways in which teachers can partner with parents?\" width=\"635\" height=\"432\" srcset=\"https:\/\/k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com\/tlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/blog-2-copy.png 635w, https:\/\/k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com\/tlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/blog-2-copy-300x204.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 635px) 100vw, 635px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Partnering at school is an excellent option for teachers to begin getting parents involved in their child\u2019s learning, especially in the elementary grades and where the classroom teacher may need extra assistance. <strong>The best way to ensure parental involvement is through encouragement and a warm approach from the teacher.<\/strong>\u00a0The attitudes and actions of the school outweigh any\u00a0barriers\u00a0or even previous volunteer experience. Here are some specific ways you can partner with parents in school.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>ACADEMIC Activities: <\/strong>Because of the multiple ways a parent may help out in the school, <strong>setting up volunteer opportunities at the beginning of the year can<\/strong> be very advantageous to the teacher. Offer a variety of ongoing jobs a parent could do in the classroom or school setting.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Tutoring &#8211;<\/strong>Parents who enjoy working with children as well as those who are former teachers can be a terrific educational support to the classroom teacher. Following a tutoring session, the parent might fill out an evaluation sheet for the teacher\u2019s record.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Listener-<\/strong>Many kids don\u2019t get the opportunity to read aloud to an adult at home. This may be a perfect job for someone who wants to work with the students, but doesn\u2019t feel competent in leading\u00a0a small group or tutoring a student. The listener can listen to a passage being read, model reading the passage first- then listen, or take turns reading. As the parent gets more comfortable, they may be trained on how to encourage expressive reading, improve fluency or check for comprehension.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Career Day volunteer \u2013<\/strong>Parents who work in different professional fields might be given the opportunity to be part of a classroom where lessons relating to their particular profession are to be discussed. It may also\u00a0make sense to have a\u00a0career day where parents working in various fields come and share with the students about their particular area of expertise.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><strong>CREATIVE Activities: <\/strong>Creativity often makes learning more interesting and parents who are talented in this area are often a huge help to the teacher. Creative idea suggestions can include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Bulletin Board &#8211;<\/strong>An artistic or creative parent might enjoy working on a bulletin board. Give the parent the theme and the main idea of what you would like displayed. Provide the necessary supplies.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Camera or Video &#8211;<\/strong>Some parents may\u00a0step into a role of classroom historian or camera person; this can add some extra fun to the educational atmosphere and increase a team feeling in the classroom. A parent may even\u00a0splice photos and\u00a0videos together and put them to music to an end of the year celebration.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>SOCIAL Activities: <\/strong>Many parents may not be able to help out during standard\u00a0school hours because of family or work responsibilities. They may, however,\u00a0be able to attend evening activities put on by the school. By planning a classroom\u00a0event or a class trip in the evening, a parent may be able to assist.\u00a0This can be a success\u00a0even if it\u2019s a one off occasion.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Party Planners and\u00a0Helpers &#8211;<\/strong>Give parents organizing\u00a0class celebrations\u00a0specific guidelines for party rules, themes, and\u00a0expectations. Each school district has its own set of rules for school parties and the parents involved in the planning must be informed. Also many teachers have preferences on what is acceptable. State your thoughts before the parent begins working on the event.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Field Trips &#8211;<\/strong>Some parents may be able to help out with field trips or visits to businesses, industries or\u00a0occupational experiences. A survey of parents who work at different places and their interests in being part of such visits might be conducted so that the teacher can plan out the class year with visits according to the parent availability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>SUPPORT Activities: <\/strong>Parents can also lend assistance as part of the teacher&#8217;s or school\u00a0support system. Here are some possibilities:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Equipment and Supplies &#8211;\u00a0<\/strong>Inventory, cleaning, and organizing of supplies and materials are all time consuming jobs. A parent who is gifted in organization is the perfect person to use in this role. Do some quick training in how to fill out the inventory sheet or how to clean special equipment.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Clerical Work:\u00a0<\/strong>Preparing\u00a0files, organizing\u00a0projects,\u00a0submitting book orders, field trip permission slips, and collecting money may be done by a parent.\u00a0Check with the administrator for district protocol and guidelines before assigning these types of jobs to a parent as some schools do not allow parent volunteers to\u00a0interact with student data.\u00a0For example, it is never recommended to have parents enter grades.\u00a0It is best\u00a0to save this job for yourself.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Portfolios:\u00a0<\/strong>Many teachers keep weekly or semester student portfolios to share at conferences or send home at the end of the week. Keeping up with them can be time consuming. Assigning a parent to come in once a week and stuff the folders may free up a lot of teacher prep time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><strong>Parent LEADERSHIP: <\/strong>Though a parent\u2019s participation in the classroom and at home is a valuable form of partnering, some parents have the time and abilities to work in positions with more influence. This could include roles like Lead Classroom Parent,\u00a0PTA\u00a0or\u00a0PTO President,\u00a0Chairman, Special Event Coordinator, or\u00a0sitting on the Education Advisory Council.\u00a0Parents who are interested in these types of positions are generally fairly comfortable in an educational setting. They usually invest\u00a0heavily in the job, take their responsibilities very seriously and have a high sense of ownership.<\/p>\n<p>As you start implementing these strategies, remember that a welcome letter can be seen as a warm gesture from the teacher and can also give the parent an open invitation to partnering.\u00a0<strong>Parents are more likely to want participate in the school if they feel part of the team <\/strong>and this can be done by, the school making attempts to provide a welcoming atmosphere. Signs that point to the office, a place to sign in, name badges, and a warm, courteous greeting by the office staff all say to the parent, \u201cWe are glad you are here.\u201d With all types of volunteering, <strong>sending a thank you note<\/strong> is a great way to show appreciation.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Like this article for teachers?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Browse the Professional Learning Board <a href=\"http:\/\/professionallearningboard.com\/\"><strong>COURSE CATALOG<\/strong><\/a> to find related online courses for teachers in your state. <em><strong>Professional Learning Board is a leading provider of online professional development classes that teachers use to renew a teaching license or renew a teaching certificate.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n<p>Partnering at school is an excellent option for teachers to begin getting parents involved in their child\u2019s learning, especially in the elementary grades and where the classroom teacher may need extra assistance. The best way to ensure parental involvement is through encouragement and a warm approach from the teacher.\u00a0The attitudes and actions of [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8284,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[338,2090,174,215,1677,1505,2091,1910,1506],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com\/tlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14971"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com\/tlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com\/tlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com\/tlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8284"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com\/tlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14971"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com\/tlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21837,"href":"https:\/\/k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com\/tlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14971\/revisions\/21837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com\/tlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com\/tlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com\/tlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}