Parental Interaction Is Essential for Sucess

After having been in the presence of the children in Ms. Leslie’s classroom for several weeks now and looking at the information on Eli Elementary on Infoworks, I can conclude that many of the children come from low income homes where one or more of the parents probably have to work very hard in order to support the family. One of the challenges that I may face as a teacher in a school such as Eli Elementary is the possibility that the parents may not be highly educated and may not have even a high school diploma. Another hurdle that would probably arise would be the linguistic barrier created when a child’s parents do not speak English because I speak very little Spanish. It would be difficult for these parents to help the children with homework when they need it. The students will need to practice speaking, reading, and writing outside of the classroom in order to master the skills required to excel in each subject.
Although I do not speak another fluent language other than English, I would do my absolute best to communicate with each and every student’s guardians. On the Infoworks website, statistics shows that at Eli Elementary school, o% of students receive ESL or bilingual education services, meaning that if necessary, a child would be a helpful translator when parents have questions about material being learned in the classroom. I would explain to every parent early on in the school year how immensely important it is for the children practice their studies at home, and not merely in the classroom, and encourage them to assist their children while doing homework and practice outside reading at home, before bedtime for example. I would certainly promote meetings with parents if they have the time to discuss their child’s status in the classroom, even for students at the top of the class. This way, the parent will be sure that I care about their child and acknowledge positive behavior and academic success, rather than only notifying them when there is a problem. A child’s ability to learn is not determined by their ethnicity or social class, but rather by their enthusiasm. This level of enthusiasm is vastly dependant on the quality of their teachers and involvement of their parents.
An example of one of the small ways in which parents could help their children improve reading and writing would be to make regular trips to the local public library. Access to their books and computers is normally totally free to the public and the change of scenery would be interesting to the students. For many of the parents of students at Eli Elementary however, finding time to make these trips may be hard to come by as many of these parents must work late into the night in order to produce the funds necessary for their families to survive. A second proposal may be to get the child enrolled in a free afterschool program to keep them occupied and safe. Many of these programs also offer tutors to help with homework assignments and reading practice.