Parents Teaching Teachers

Takeaway: 

Being vulnerable and open enough to involve parents and community members can be scary. Yet, when we do, we can enrich our students learning far beyond what any single educator can.

Students Teaching Teachers:

Of all the parts of this series, this one can seem the most contentious. Inviting parents and other community members to shape your teaching requires a massive amount of humility. Yet, the payoff is too big to ignore. 

Whether parents are paying directly for tuition, through taxes, or other means, they are all financially invested in their children’s education, emotionally invested too. Parents want to see their children grow, develop, and succeed. While that can look different for each child or family, the end goal remains - students gaining the skills and knowledge for lifelong success and independence.

Partnering with parents and community members can really enhance the learning experience for your students. Parents know their children much better than we do, although we do get a unique perspective of each of them. Learning about what motivates, intimidates, and the history of each student greatly increases our ability to build a relationship and lead them to learning.

Communication is incredibly important in supporting students via their parents. Being approachable, communicative, and open can encourage parents to reach out and correspond with you. This initial investment can pay dividends, especially when a student is struggling. I think back on my days in Savannah, Georgia, USA and how after a few reminders, we would call parents right in the middle of class. After the student had a good talking to from a parent, we could go right back to learning. While I would not practice this in the schools that I have worked at since, this method worked incredibly well for that community. Communication is key!

Schools also have community members that are rich in experience and talented in their fields. Whether there are the every day professionals and artists, specialists like doctors and engineers, or the exceptional such as CEOs, ambassadors, or national experts, there are people to learn from and many who are willing to give of their time. 

Teachers can learn much from these individuals and their students will gain from their stories and experience. Opening your classroom for experts to share can have large benefits. Connect with adults outside of your school and empower them to invest in your students.

Finally, we educators take our role seriously, and sometimes that means that we struggle with sharing the responsibility. Yet, we are not solely responsible for developing each child and we need to keep that in mind. It takes a village, some say, to raise a child. How much more to educate one?