Often, I think we underestimate parental and community interest in education. Because parents don’t show up to conferences or answer emails and phone calls, it is automatically assumed that they don’t want to be involved; we assume that they don’t want any responsibility over their children’s academic progress. During my years as a para at a middle school, I was exposed to home visits and their impact on student education. For example, I worked with a student my first year who really struggled academically and socially. Their teachers were frustrated because the student showed up to school late every morning, slept during class, and didn’t always have their homework completed. As direct support for the student, I was unbelievably frazzled as well because I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere with the student (and in hindsight focused way too much on how the student wasn’t serving ME instead of focusing on how I could be better serving THEM). Eventually the principal suggested that a couple of the student’s teachers attempt a home visit. During the home visit, the teachers learned that the student was living with almost a dozen other family members, so they didn’t have their own room and it made it difficult for them to sleep restfully. Also, the student’s mom didn’t have reliable transportation, so they had to walk a distance to get to school if no one was able to pick them up, which was often. Mom was deeply troubled by her inability to provide a peaceful environment or transportation for her children and didn’t know how to reach out. Fortunately, as a result of the home visit, Mom felt like (rightfully) the school was on her side as we were more accommodating of her sleepy child and did our best to facilitate her child’s timely arrival to school, which had a positive impact on their grades. In the time following, the mother also felt comfortable being more actively involved in what her child was doing, getting to know the teachers, what they were teaching, and their expectations better.
My experience proved that it’s not that parents don’t want to be involved in their children’s school lives; parents can easily feel excluded because schools and educators could do a little more work to ensure all types of families feel welcome in that space, especially English language learners. In their research, Samway and McKeon mention that for English language learners in particular, schools have implemented interactive parent-teacher conferences with mini-workshops for parents to participate in with their children, which provide demonstrations of the types of things their children are doing in class (167). Similar to our daily lives outside of school, as educators, it seems so easy to get into a pattern of frustration and complaining about things that aren’t working rather than trying to find solutions to those problems. Sure, it can be difficult to feel a lack of parental or community engagement, especially when we desperately want that participation and feel like resources aren’t readily available to make what we dream a reality. I guess what I have to remind myself is that I have to make do with what I do have. If there aren’t translators available to help me communicate with a parent, could I have the child or another family member serve as an intermediary? What about learning some conversational Spanish in order to bridge the gap myself?
Samway, Katharine Davies and Denise McKeon. Myths and Realities: Best Practices for English Language Learners. 2nd ed. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2007.
So often it is easy to become engrossed in what goes on in the little world of our classrooms. The effects of what happens outside the doors of our classroom and of the school are often forgotten or disregarded as crucial to the learning environment within those confines. As a social worker turned educator, I am a huge proponent of home visits. The amount of trust and the sheer vulnerability involved in allowing someone, especially someone you believe to be in a position of power, into your home is indescribably immense. Getting past suspicion, defensiveness, embarrassment, and fear is often too challenging and time consuming for many. Because of this, students---and their families---get lost in the cracks. As you stated, it is critically important to set aside our assumptions and biases to know our students as more than simply our pupil. Our students need strong people on their side on both sides of the classroom door/school door. Parents absolutely want to be involved in their child's education. Many simply don't know where to begin or are so overwhelmed by life circumstances that they do not have the physical or mental stamina to take on that additional responsibility. I think, as an educator, it is our job to advocate for our students both inside and outside of our classroom, and sometimes that means getting far out of our own comfort zone and advocating for the families of our students as well.
ReplyDeleteMs. McDaniel,
ReplyDeleteYour testimony to the powers of Home Visits is truly heart-warming and it shows how if we go to the lengths to serve our students- that our jobs will in fact, become more rewarding and we will feel more accomplished. I want to do Home Visits for my classes, but I have 25 kids per class on average and 6-7 classes on average. So how do I squeeze them all in? My best plan is to do a couple of the classes right before school begins, and then maybe 2 more per term? I just don't want to leave any of my students out, even if they seem to be thriving academically. As for you learning Spanish, I think it would be a wonderful idea for us to learn beginner level occupational words and phrases of the languages that are ELL students speak. Language barriers have always been a sore point for me, and I do my best to overcome them by expanding my knowledge. So for you to offer to do the same, well, I find it inspiring! Teach on!
-Chaniece Johnson