parent involvement

Chapter 4

1) Mrs. Meyer needs to set up a direct line of communication with the grandparents. This can be done by finding out the grandparents preferred method of communication (Grant & Ray, 2018). After this is done constant communication is key. The school counselor to create a BIP (Behavior Intervention Plan ) that sets up some type of attainable reward of a preferred item if behavior goals are met in short increments. Mrs. Myers and the principal Mrs. Fraser need to consider the recent stressors brought on not only the grandparents but also the children themselves. The children might need to have some type of therapy to deal with feelings of anger and abandonment that comes with being removed from a parent.

2) There are multiple perspectives on the same situation that could be considered. Mrs. Meyers might see the situation as one of frustration having to constantly stop instruction to handle behaviors. However, Mrs. Fraser sees the situation as one of a good teacher who’s not as strong with classroom management. While the grandparents could possibly come from the perspective of not knowing what else to do or where else to turn.

3) The teacher and the principal need to consider the trauma that both the children and the grandparents have recently endured. The children probably have feelings of abandonment and anger. The grandparents on the other hand could be dealing with anger and fear over their daughter’s drug issues as well as feelings of being over whelmed since taking on the parenting responsibilities. The school counselor could work with the students dealing with some issues surrounding grief. They could also provide some articles for the teacher and principal to read on how to work with students that are traumatized.

Chapter 5

1)Some preconceived notions that Clara had about Sarah were that Sarah was a quiet child and that she did not interact because there was nothing reflective of her culture in the classroom setting including other students that spoke her native language.

2) The teacher has tried a few engagement strategies. She reached out to the family to gain information from an expert in Sarah’s native culture (her dad), and she invited the father in to the class to read books from her culture (Grant & Ray, 2018).

3) First, I feel this question is an incorrect one to ask. The issue at hand is not lack of family engagement. The issue discussed in the case study is lack of communication by the child in class not lack of communication and involvement on the part of the family. In fact, for a culturally diverse family new to this country the father went out of his way in his level of engagement based on potential cultural differences. What should be done to engage Sarah in academic discourse with her peers would be to implement the use of language frames and sentence stems. By giving Sarah the necessary frames in a fill in the black form such as “I agree with you because________” or “The connection I have to the text is _______” It would give her the confidence she needs to speak to those who don’t share her native language. As far as the family goes, the teacher could ensure communications sent home are translated into their native tongue so that other family members who don’t have the level of English proficiency that the father has would be able to be in the loop as well.

Chapter 10

1) The strength of the grandmother lies in her vested interest in her grandson’s education. This is evident by her attending the parent conference and by questioning the letter sent home on how to better help him with math. The grandmother’s main concern in understanding the why of what suggestions were sent home for math. She also is concerned with the lack of fact practice for rote memorization.

2)Kate can turn the conference around by acknowledging the frustration the grandmother is feeling, validating feelings often removes the anger one can have at a given situation. As a teacher there are a multitude of suggestions that Kate could employ. First, she should not send home homework for a 2^nd grade student. Research is well established that it does not benefit that age group and only serves to frustrate families as illustrated in this case study (Bennett & Kalish, 2006). Next, all of her methods of communication are geared toward more affluent families. Not all families have access to technology to check websites or digital portfolios. Last, there was no mention of translating communications for families of linguistically diverse families, I would suggest ensuring that happens as well.

3)Kate should follow up with written communication such as a newsletter ensuring that it is translated into native languages of those in her classroom. The teacher could also send the student home with flash cards to practice math fact rote memorization. While this is a low-level task, students will need to eventually know their facts from memory and it would cause less stress on the grandmother.

Bennett, S., & Kalish, N. (2006). The case against homework: How homework is hurting our children and what we can do about it. New York: Crown.

Grant, K. B., & Ray, J. A. (2018). Home, School, and Community Collaboration: Culturally Responsive Family Engagement. Thousand Oaks: SAGE