Dear
Parents (or Whom It May Concern),
In
an era of decreasing education budgets and demonization of public schools,
teachers, and unions, we are taking lots of the heat for a lack of results from
students. We know that our influence as educators is relatively limited
compared to yours. You are the original teachers of our students, and your
attitudes towards education, learning, and school are going to rub off on your children.
As such, the quality of our days is dependent on your leadership at home. In
other words, we need you to get it together. We need your help. Everyone makes mistakes, especially children. However, education is built on being able to make mistakes and then face the consequences of them. That is the heart of learning. So, when your children are late, or they don’t finish their homework, or they cop an attitude in class, avoid covering for them. Let them learn. As a matter of fact, go the extra step and encourage them to take responsibility for their actions. We can teach your children reading, math, and science, but you have the opportunity to teach them values and responsibility. When your children get in trouble, let it happen, and let them learn. It might be uncomfortable for a moment, but in the end, those are valuable experiences for your children.
If children had a choice of what to eat for dinner every night, they’d probably pick ice cream instead of foods with nutritional value. The same is true of doing homework. It’s usually not much fun. It takes time. Many students are faced with a choice of TV or video games versus getting their homework done. So how do children ever manage to turn homework in on time?
The answer is good parenting. Just like it’s a parent’s job to make sure children don’t subsist on a diet of candy and breakfast cereal, it is also within the parental scope to know what assignments students need to finish and to make sure they get done. Yes, your students need to learn responsibility, but they learn the value of being responsible through knowing their parents are involved. Make sure your children do their homework for us and them. Video games are the nuisance of every teacher’s existence. TVs, iPads, and the smartphone compete against critical developmental activities like in-person socialization, outdoor exercise, and reading books. You can help teachers out by limiting these devices in your child’s daily schedule.
Like fast food, too much of these devices are toxic. Keep TV to an hour a day or less, after schoolwork and reading are finished. Limit video games to the weekend or vacations. And while smartphones are a little more complicated, because they do have obvious benefits, make sure children don’t have them filled with distracting games and pay attention to their text messaging. In lieu of the above items, give students books and sign them up for activities where they aren’t buried in a screen all day. They’ll have plenty of time for that in the future.
Like we mentioned, children learn from parents first and they learn from parents most. What you do; your children will do. If you never pick up a book, never ask about homework, and watch TV at every meal, your children will act the same. But the converse is also true. If you read before bed, talk about what happened at school, and put the screens down in the evening, your children will follow your lead. We cannot overstate how important this is. Parents who are engaged, concerned, and aware create students who are also engaged, interested, and attentive. Please help every teacher your children will ever have by modeling the kind of behavior and attitude you expect your children to display at school.
Finally, be on our side. We are obviously not in education because we expect to become millionaires. We’re here because we care about children and our society. We are not an obstacle to the success of your students, and supporting your children both intellectually and emotionally, are the highest of our priorities.
If we give your student a bad grade, don’t accuse us of being bullies that is meant to inform you that your student needs to make some changes. If we say something in class you disagree with instead of accusing us of not knowing what we’re talking about and calling for our jobs try to understand what we said and the context in which we included it in our lessons. Ultimately, we are on your side because we are both on the side of students. If you help us, your children stand to be so much better off than if you ignore their schooling or become the difficult parent for us. So let’s help each other, and let’s do the best for the children we love.
Sincerely,
Your Child's Teachers
“In
a world that is changing as rapidly as this one, we need to think differently
about leadership. Leading is not done by those few in high places, but by
parents and teachers and managers and those governing -- all working together
to create the world that we want.” (Susan Collins) [i]
[i] Adapted from: “'Stop making excuses': An open
letter from teachers to parents” By Good
Morning America
No comments:
Post a Comment