The Role of the Community

I live in Anderson. The community seems to be greatly concerned about it's children. The Anderson Center for the Arts has art classes for younger children as well as teens to guide their artistic pursuits. They even offer a class for children with disabilities. The public library offers many educational opportunities for children. They hold parents' reading to their children book nights, science activity days, and other after school programs. The local YMCA offers health classes for families and children. Many of these events are free, which encourages more family involvement. Also, Anderson University has been great at offering programs about international students, encouraging them to bring in ethnic foods and their life stories. Several churches have tutoring and after schools programs for children. 

What I find interesting in Anderson is that the community is interested and active in helping children, but I feel that the schools themselves do very little to reach out to the community. If I were to be an advocate on the inside to work with the community, I would hold tutoring in the schools and invite the community in to help. I would send out fliers to interested organizations asking for classroom volunteers. I love the idea that the community is getting involved with children, but I believe a partnership between the community and schools would boost children's success because all would be on the same page and have similar goals. 

Parent Teacher Conferences

I have to say I was not prepared for the difficult parent teacher conference. For the regular one, I did just fine. I used positive, encouraging words and involved the parents in the conversation. But, during the difficult conference, I was discussing with the parents the strategies I would use to help their son John. Well, I talked about using hands-on materials and manipulatives. The mother flat out asked me, "Can't I just do this at home?" I was floored. I didn't know what to say. Even though this was a mock situation, I cannot think of a better question to have asked. And honestly today, I still do not know how to answer this. I was home-schooled from 7-12th grade. I had 14 brothers and sisters who were younger than me, and I home schooled them as well. So, why couldn't the parent do this stuff at home? What's the difference between them and me? Honestly, I don't see a difference. They could teach this at home. And I used to want to teach my own future children at home. However, since I have been "in the world" and now go to college, I am not going to home school my children. Why not? because I have decided the social aspect of education is a huge help to children in finding and discovering who they are and want to be. But that still does not adequately answer the mom's question. While she could teach him at home, how do I as a teacher say something about my education? I know from my own home schooling experience, it is MUCH better for the parent/caregiver to have the knowledge I now possess to help in their education. Reflecting on my home schooling years, I taught myself how to learn,  but if my foster mother had known what I know now, my education could have been amazing. But how do I say that to a parent without them feeling that I am slapping my education in their face? Hm...food for thought...

Drug and Alcohol Families

How sad! For children in my classroom who will deal with this, it will be extremely important that I get to know families. By building a relationship with parents/caregivers, I would hope to discourage this type of abuse in the home. I do not plan to go in preaching, but rather as a concerned adult. And I am not only concerned about the child, but the abusers as well. I understand addictions. But while I personally have never experienced this type of struggle in using and getting off of these types of drugs, I know there is help out there for those who do struggle. For the parents of my future students, I hope to offer or organize classes and information for those who are struggling. 

This type of abuse in the home can cause children to have many issues that makes if harder for them to learn in the classroom. Children are sensitive to parents/caregivers' emotions and they carry this with them to bed at night and into the classroom the next day. What we might think of as a behavior problem in our students, may just be a child who is disturbed from problems/conflicts at home. Getting to know each child on a personal level is crucial to their success in my classroom.