Home and School Relationship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Home and School Relationship - Essay Example In order to obtain detailed information concerning classroom processes I interviewed the teacher. She provided useful information and structure sheets that I used to learn about the relationship between the families of students and school. Parental Communication On the first day I noticed a table labeled â€Å"The Parent Communication Table.† This table was located near the front door where the parents could see it while bringing the kids to school. On this table there were information sheets available to keep the parents updated on school events, tutoring programs, weekly newsletters, and financial assistance. This newsletter also included activities that the parents and children could do at home. One of my favorite informational resources within the newsletter was the parent bulletin board. As another way to help parents stay updated, it provides advice for working parents about how to balance their job with their child’s learning. In addition, the teacher puts commun ication letters in her children’s green take-home folders. She said that this helped to ensure that the student’s parents received the letters because the children had to bring the folders back signed. The teachers also used other methods to communicate with the parents, such as through email, phone, and notes on STI. STI is a state-run internet program that offers information on the kid’s behavior, grades, and any school communication currently available. The teacher I interviewed said that email was the best way to deliver information and maintain good communication with parents. Unfortunately, this method is entirely successful as this school had a high number of students from low income families which means that some parents have no access to computers. The teacher also informed me that all of her children have information cards. She also uses the information cards to teach the kids their names, parent’s name(s), address, and phone numbers. By the com bination of tools and techniques employed, it is clear that ‘Best Practice’ methods were being used in this classroom to enhance communication between the parents and teachers. I read in an article entitled, â€Å"8 Tips for Elementary School Success† by Koup-Larsen and Stopper (2011) which stated that good communication with parents helps both the teacher and the children. I believe that it is the parents that are best equipped to tell a teacher about their child’s learning behaviors and I will make sure to provide a well-structured communication system to keep my parents informed. According to Dworkin, Gonzalez, Gengler, and Olsen (2010) in â€Å"Using Newsletters to Improve Parent’s Communication with Their Early Adolescents†, they conducted a survey which involved testing 77 parents in five states to see the effectiveness of newsletters. This study showed that newsletters could be useful in transporting information back to the parents. Di versity in the Classroom In this classroom of 17 students there was only one student with a learning disability. This child has a type of speech impairment, but is not singled out due to this during any of the group activities. When I interviewed the teacher she said that the student works best in small groups with other children. She also told me that he has a speech-language pathologist that works with him one hour every day. The speech-language pathologist teaches the child how to pronounce words and how to better socialize with