Assignment 5

In my ideal classroom, I would reach out to parents through newsletters as well as monthly reading/writing (literacy) workshops. I would ask students to submit work to be published in the newsletters (such as short stories and poems) so the students feel a sense of participation and pride in showing what they are working on in class. I think newsletters are a great way to communicate with parents as well as show them what their kids are doing in the classroom. I would send the kids home with the newsletters and I would e-mail them to parents if possible. I would invite parents as well as students to the literacy workshops, and in these workshops we would all discuss what we want to work/focus on and how to focus/work on the topics. I'd also have the opportunity to discuss strategies for increasing literacy with both the students and parents within the workshops. I would also help parents find resources for reading materials, such as using the internet to find libraries.

Because it is possible that I would not have a high turn-out of participants in the workshops, however, I would make sure to detail literacy strategies (such as the "Fistful of Words" strategy) in the newsletter. I'd give procedures and explain the importance of the methods. I'd also provide a list of resources for finding reading materials.

Still, I feel very strongly that as much as I can try to help parents understand literacy strategies and give them resources, it is ultimately their responsibility to utilize them. It is also their responsibility to try to find strategies and resources on their own, if at all possible. Part of the responsibilities of parents as parents is to help their children learn and succeed as much as possible in almost every environment and situation (especially if it's a positive environment/situation). I can explain to parents until I'm blue in the face why school is a positive environment, that they can be teachers themselves (especially within the home environment), and that it is important to work together to ensure their children's education. Ultimately, parents, students, and teachers ALL need to work and meet one another half-way for education to be a successful thing.