As a classroom helper I have been observing what goes on as well as helping the students with their work. For thanksgiving, they made little turkeys and putting them together was the hardest part because they had to follow directions. They colored the turkeys what ever color they wanted to and coloring is a hard skill for kindergartners to learn. At the end of the day the children were so excited to have their finished turkeys to take home to their parents.
I have only seen a few parents coming in the classroom at the end of the school day and it was mainly for behavior problems. In the class there is a star board and from what I understand each student has four stars to start out with each day. The teacher pulls stars when the student is not following directions, behaving inappropriately, not paying attention, etc. etc. The students get very very upset when their star is pulled because when all four are gone then their parents gets a phone call. They have to come in after school is over and meet with the teacher and their child and explain what went on that day and why they do not have any stars. My classroom teacher gave myself and two other girls who come into the classroom with me permission to take away their stars if we need to. The students try to act like we are not as powerful as the teacher and she wanted to give us some authority to make sure the students are respecting us and doing as we say.
This system seems to be a good one that I would like to use in my classroom someday because I feel that it is important for parents to be involved in their child's behavior problems and try to correct that at home as well as learn to discuss with their child why they did what they did. When your are a teacher you are like another parent who is actively involved in their lives and it is important for everyone to be on the same page. I know that it is going to be extremely hard to get every parent involved in their child's schooling because some do not care as much as others. The students want to make their parents proud.
Skills in school that seem basic like coloring as I mentioned before and even using a pair of scissors is a hard task for the students. It is important that the parents at home take time with their children to practice these skills. There is one little boy in the class and he colors so well I thought it was the teachers example being passed around the class. Other students take hours to color one thing and I am not exaggerating. One boy takes so long that he has to finish it the next day. It is the teachers responsibility as well as the parents responsibility to help the child master these skills. The only problem is some parents do not have the time or do not care.
In my classroom they have red folders that they take home for reading with their parents. The children pick a book that they want their parents to read to them and bring it back when they are told. This is a good way to get the parents involved because some may never have read to their child before or some may not even own a book. I think the parents need to understand that their child's education is not all up to the teacher but includes their participation as well. As a soon to be teacher I think it is going to be hard dealing with parents who could careless but I must be persistent and keep trying. If the parent does not want to be apart of it all then I as a teacher may keep the student after school to practice the basic skills kindergartners need to be successful in their schooling to come.
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I agree with you that it is important to involve parents in your classroom. The star system seems like a good system for your age group. I am glad that your teacher gave you permission to take stars off if they were misbehaving. I personally struggled with taking authority over my students. I volunteer in a second grade class, and they are very intuitive that I was uncomfortable with being sturn with them. At first I was too easy on them and let them get away with certain things. I am learning how and when to be stern with students. Some of the boys refused to listen to me one day. They even said "you are not a real teacher, you cannot tell us what to do." Even though I told them that I was still an authority to them they still would not settle down and do their work, so I asked the teacher I work with if I could separate them, and she told me of course if they weren't settling down. They were reluctant about moving, but knew I was serious and moved. It is difficult to be an authority to the students becuase I just want to play and have fun with them, but I know I am their teacher and have to learn how to be an authority. One thing to keep in mind when you are diciplining your students is that you want to get their attention, but you dopnt want to be a tyrant. When I first went to the school I was helping a teacher who was more of a drill sargeant than a teacher. She SCREAMED at her students rather than speaking in a strict tone. I want my students to know when I am being stern, but I will never scream at the top of my lungs at them. I think that you will find your own way of involving the parents of your students. One thing I said in my blog that I would like to do to involve the parents of my students is to have parent-teacher conferences often, as well as have their email and/or phone numbers to contact when necessary. I think the idea of having the students pick a book for their parents to read to them is a great idea to involve their parents as well as help them learn at home, but I think this idea may run into conflicts if parents have to work all night. Hopefully they can make time to read a short story to their children. I think you will learn your own way of incorporating parents into your classroom.
ReplyDeleteHi Emily,
ReplyDeleteYou are right--Star charts and such reward/punishment systems work. They can manipulate behavior for as long as the reward/punishment is meaningful to the student. I think we need to ask ourselves deeper questions: How can we create a classroom environment in which students are invested? How can we create learning activities that students want to participate in? That's harder, but more meaningful. See Alfie Kohn's work for more ideas.
Dr. August