Build It, Nurture It, Keep It: Parent Relationships!
The second "Build It, Nurture It, Keep It: Parent Relationships" class kicked off on Monday afternoon, January 10, 2011, with a full class. Participants were most interested in learning to communicate in better ways with the parents of their students.
Throughout the 6 session class the teaching team of Bambi Tidwell, Chana Kingkade, Debra Brown, Janice Geddes, Shari Studebaker, Susan Swift, and Ardi Ferris, worked to affirm the many things class participants already do to build strong parent relationships. Class members learned about the research-based framework for effective best practices in parent involvement, received new ideas for reaching out to parents, had time to problem-solve communicating with difficult parents, and were encouraged to practice building and keeping parent relationships in intentional and ongoing ways relevant to their unique situations.
In a cultural exercise facilitated by Dave Pascoa, participants were able to experience first-hand the difficulties of functioning in a culture where one doesn't really know the rules or speak the language of the dominant culture; during the game 'players' deeply felt what emotions and frustrations newcomer parents might encounter as they enter our school system for the first time. Susan English presented in-depth information about effective communication in a lively way and led group exercises to illustrate her points. One such activity demonstrated how it is all too easy for parents to 'drop the ball' when something unexpected occurs since keeping 'all the balls in the air' as they strive to fulfill many parental roles, is a delicate balancing act. Jacob, an articulate and humorous freshman student speaker, was part of a panel of Special Education students and parents; he enlightened the group about the many additional responsibilities a parent of a special education student carries. From personal experience, he recounted details about the long hours these parents often spend physically supporting their children without respite. Jacob used himself and his mom as an example to explain some of the ways home-school relationships might be affected. The Sacramento Home-Visit Project speakers emphasized the value of home visits and generated much interest from the group. So much so, that training for individual home visits is on the drawing board.
Class members enjoyed the funny and touching stories Steve Constantino related about his experiences as principal of Stonewall Jackson High School. Dr. Constantino elevated one of the lowest performing schools in Virginia to Time Magazine's school of the year. In 11 pithy DVD segments, Steve relays how he turned around attendance, grades, and increased parent involvement by getting buy-in from his staff and by never giving up in working to build relationships with parents.
Participants said they would change many things as a result of the class: "acknowledge the core belief that all parents want their child to be successful," "[increase the ] amount of parent contact," "make home visits," "more positive phone calls to parents," "mail [positive] cards home," "find out more about my student's home life." Class members also said that they had "more inspiration for engaging parents," and that "I enjoyed the class -- good information and very inspiring testimonies that building good parent relationships really WORKS!"
The teaching team enjoyed the passion and commitment of our class group and appreciated their whole-hearted participation. Please consider joining us for our third year of "Building It, Keeping It, Nurturing It: Parent Relationships!" beginning Jan. 23, 2012.
A big thank you goes out to all of our collaborative partners for helping to make this class a reality: San Juan Teacher's Association, Early Childhood Education, Student Support Services/Bridges After-School Programs, and San Juan Central Family Resource Center.