Educators value the involvement and support of parents, guardians, families and communities in schools.
In my most recent practicum I made an effort to involve the parents and guardians of my students in the learning journey as much as possible as well as keep open lines of communication with them. Starting at the beginning of practicum I wrote a letter home, introducing myself, explaining my role in the classroom and inviting the parents to contact me if they had any questions or concerns they would like me to address. Throughout the practicum I met several of my student’s parents and actively and openly engaged with them about their student’s learning journey. When a pair of parents expressed a desire to bring in their new puppy and share it with the class we coordinated to do so and had a fun and interactive learning experience together. I also kept in frequent contact with the parent of an ESL student in my class for whom I had designed a tabletop roleplaying game (RPG) for him to better his English. Through this communication the parent was able to continue the game back home in Japan to help the student continue to improve their English abilities. Lastly, I met with nearly all of my student’s parents at the student-led conferences, and talked to them about their student’s learning journey in my class.