Communication is imperative in relationships throughout daily life. But it is also a crucial componant inside the classroom environment between parents and teachers. In order to explain the value and effects of communication, I conducted research through scholarly articles. Here is what I found:

Article 1:

Parent-Teacher communication can be executed in simple ways to achieve the goals of improving student success. In an experiment lead by a Harvard student, evidence showed that a phone call/message home to parents every day improved student homework completion by 40%. It also increased the attention span and focus of students, allowing participation to coincidentally go up as well. Those statistics alone represent the massive effect on communication in the classroom. The question of this article was, “What can teachers do to make students more engaged in their schooling?” To answer this, the investigator hypothesized that the relationship between teachers and students and teachers and parents have a big role in determining school engagement. Through experimentation and observation, it was discovered that there were positive increases in student motivation, parent involvement, relationships in and out of school, and academic growth. The downfall noticed in this investigation was that teachers became tired of calling families every day as it added on to their work load and to-do list. It was also recorded that the parents would not always answer the phone as it was sometimes a burden. Overall, the hypothesis of relationships and student success being dependent on communication was correct. The study shows that even with the negative experiences of not every parent being involved or answering the phone, the majority of students had a more engaged and successful time in the classroom. https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/mkraft/files/kraft_dougherty_teacher_communication_jree.pdf

Article 2:

Parent involvement in today’s society is considered being a ‘helicopter parent’ and is oftentimes frowned upon. But, contrary to beliefs regarding that title, parents that show enthusiasm towards their children’s growth has been found to make students succeed more. This experiment was to examine the effect of highly involved parents on student engagement and the educational outcomes. A main argument in this article was that technology has made a very impactful difference in allowing students to communicate with their parents and family members. It also claims that parent involvement decreases dramatically in secondary education and beyond. With that being said, parents who provided their children with encouragement, support, and high expectations improved the engagement and education levels of students. It has been proven in this study that helicopter parents seem to have a positive effect on the students’ abilities to learn and succeed. http://cpr.indiana.edu/uploads/AIR%202009%20Impact%20of%20Helicopter%20parents.pdf

Taking into consideration the knowledge I learned from the research, I believe that communication between parents and teacher is vital to improve student success and engagement. While there are a few negative downfalls, the positive effects far outweigh the cons. As a future primary teacher, I have a few ideas of how I can manage parents and family members to keep them updated. My first method of communication is utilized in almost every elementary classroom that I have observed. I will send folders home with students once or twice a week with an upcoming events sheet and homework for the child to complete. Students take these folders home and have their parent or guardian sign them to return the next day. I will also send emails/messages to families when necessary if there are important updates or things to consider. Using the Remind app is another way communication can be increased, but I do realize that not every parent and household has a cellphone which would make it difficult. Lastly, I could keep a website, blog, or other online source updated with notifications from my classroom. It would have the same challenge as Remind due to limited access in every family.

I hope this post has been informative and effective! I know I learned many things doing research about this topic. Thanks for reading!!

This week was another great one! I am truly having so much fun every day. I am getting to lead students in activities and get helpful insight from my teacher! On Monday, I got to teach a small group of kids about rhyming words. They had not yet been informed on what they were, and I was able to explain it with an activity to help them understand. The main focus was to increase the knowledge of similar sounds. I had the students play a game where they put blocks together that had pictures that rhymed. For example, one was cat, hat, rat, and bat. Those blocks were linked together and then the student said all of them aloud. It took a little while to get them to correlate sounds, but in the end, they walked away with a new skill. Wednesday, I lead another center but this time it was to help some individuals who don’t receive much help at home. They LOVED spending time working with me!! Our activity was to stamp their spelling words. It was extremely messy and I definitely walked away with ink covering my hands. However, it was well worth the mess. Seeing kids who do not get one on one time at home is truly eye opening. I could tell they valued the time we had together. As I left, several students said, “Bye, Miss Megan!” and I was smiling for the rest of the day. I am beyond thankful for the switch that has been made to ensure that I am being utilized to the best of my ability. I do feel as though I am making a difference and learning while working. I look forward to going in on Monday!

In Teaching as a Profession 2, we created a playbook that I mentioned in my lesson planning post. Also included in this was a diagram of types of assessments. I do still keep this book with me and reference it when necessary, but I also could use a recap on the components of assessment. I can recall formative and summative and their purposes but not exactly the requirements or examples of each. I do know, however, assessments are used to measure growth and learning in a student or gather information. I also remember learning that elementary education and secondary education utilize different kinds of assessment depending on what is easier to access and create in their own lessons. Ultimately, it would be beneficial to do a review on assessments as a whole and include the details and diagrams for reference.

This week was AMAZING!!! I was given the opportunity to switch classes to a teacher that was more than willing to put me to work. Immediately on Monday, my new mentor teacher introduced me to both of her classes and asked me to prepare supplies for an art project. I spent my time getting familiar with the classroom setting and drawing spiderwebs for a Halloween themed activity. Although it was simple work, I walked away from Jere Whitson happier than ever. To me, it was more the fact that I finally felt helpful and used to my full potential and that alone is incredible. Wednesday morning, I woke up excited to go in, even though it was brutally early. When I went in to her classroom she had displayed the art from the students for visitors to admire and let me tell you, it was adorable. My mentor asked me to take a small group of students from her RTI class and work with them on sight words. Instead of just having them say the words, we got creative. I gave each student a sheet of paper with words in white and they painted it with watercolors and then read the words aloud as a group. The activity went very well and I can confidently say that the students learned while having fun. I even got a hug from it and the students said they wanted me to teach them more. I am extraordinarily happy with this new placement and I cannot wait to share more of what I get to do in her class!!

Teaching as a Profession 3 has proved to be one of my favorite years in this program of study. Not only do I have the incredible opportunity to participate in a practicum experience twice a week, but I am developing a concentration and focus to assist me in the next steps of my life. At the beginning of the year, our first assignment was to design and create an inspiration booklet where we could write down a multitude of things such as tips for setting up our future classroom, managing students, activities, and tricks for lessons. Another task I have completed is choosing what specific skill or strategy to focus on for the entirety of the year. Originally, I planned to do pushing back on educational technology because I am one of the few people who are not in agreement to continue making classrooms full of electronics. Unfortunately, there was not enough research and opinions to build a strong foundation that I would need to have. I then switched my topic to higher-order thinking skills. Through research and studying, I have found that I am passionate about Bloom’s Taxonomy and creating ideas to push students to work harder. Although the materials we have learned and researched are interesting and helpful, my favorite part of this class is the practicum opportunity. I love getting hands-on experience in the classroom setting and participating in the routines of students. I am excited to dive deeper into more lessons as we move through the rest of this year to hopefully prepare me as much as possible for college.

This week, I was challenged to listen to a few teacher podcast and select a few that I enjoyed.

On Spotify, there is a playlist with a multitude of episodes entitled “Teachers Need Teachers.” The reason I love this specific podcast is because each session is slightly geared more towards new teachers. The speaker has created helpful hints for things such as classroom environment, group work, parent-teacher relationships, and engaging classroom activities. I have actually started to listen to the different episodes on my way to school some mornings! I find the information discussed very relevant and fresh as a new perspective and I could see how teachers would benefit from podcasts like this.

My next recommendation is from a podcast called “10 Minute Teacher Podcasts.” I listened to the episode about creating the 4 relationships that matter. It talks about reaching each student to understand them better in order to help them succeed. That is something I am very passionate about because every child comes from a different background that may contribute to why they act the way they do. Along with that, the speaker says to allow students to share their own, personal voice and opinion. The next relationship is teacher to teacher by sharing ideas and experiences to always be there for each other. Finally, the relationships everywhere that encourages a mindset of becoming better not bitter. This podcast was interesting to me because it isn’t a topic that is commonly discussed with new educators. It provided insight on the meaning behind relationships in the classroom setting. You can find this specific podcast on Google.

If you happen to listen to one that I might like, feel free to comment a link!!

I started the week off strong on Monday as I was immediately asked to grade papers from the past school day. I was extremely intrigued at the content that these first graders are learning!! Right now, their science topic is the human body. In the packet of work that I was looking over, the main focus was the systems in the body like the nervous and skeletal system. It was very impressive to see small children learning things that I didn’t know until middle school. After I finished the papers, I began inventorying the chrome books in her classroom. Before I left, I wrote a note about how I would be willing to organize the messy wires and chargers so that is what I did on Wednesday. I actually love organizing and critical thinking so that job was perfect for me. I was only able to do half of the cart in the time I was there, but that gives me until next Monday to figure out some organizational hacks to assist in making her storage a bit more functional.

This week started out fantastic! For the first time, I was able to actually participate and grade some student work for my teacher. Monday was the best day I have had in the entire experience. The principal visited me in class and made it a point to formally introduce me to the students and let them know my purpose for being in their class every day. Not that it is a big deal, but on my way out, a little girl waved to me and it melted my heart. I then talked to the principal about my concerns with the previous days and he was very welcoming and understanding. Hopefully everything will work out, which may mean that I rotate between teachers or change or something of that nature. On Wednesday, I had high hopes from the previous experience but I was ultimately let down. It was another day of observation. I have now contacted my teacher and maybe things will change for next week.

This week started off better than the last, which was very exciting because I did my first task! At the beginning of class, my mentor asked me to go around the room and check morning work with her. I gladly obliged and that was my only task for the day. Fast forward to Wednesday, I did not participate much throughout the class. My teacher had me cut some paper and pass out a few pencils while she was gathering other supplies for the lesson. I can partially blame the weird timing of our practicum for the inactivity presented to me, but I picked up on some other things within the classroom that made me question my placement. As students walked in, a couple of them made remarks about the “other girl being here again.” It is in no way their fault for not knowing who I was because I was never introduced to the students and they are unsure about the reason I am in their class every other day. When I was answering a question about the morning work, the kids began to ask more questions in order to understand what I was doing. I feel like it would have been better to introduce me and my purpose the first day to eliminate any confusion, especially due to the fact that Tennessee Tech University has several students doing residency at Jere Whitson too. I also noticed a lot of pointing and whispering by a few groups of children. It was not my favorite thing to realize that I was the subject of their secrets, but again, I believe it could have been avoided. I believe my main concern at this point is that I won’t be used to my full potential. This opportunity is an incredible experience to learn and work in an environment that I could expect to see in my future. I hope (with my whole heart) that my mentor will warm up to me soon and begin to access my knowledge and skills to assist her in teaching.

In general, I feel decently confident with lesson planning. I could use a refresher assignment to get me back into the swing of creating an informative but engaging lesson for students. In one of our Teaching as a Profession courses, we made a playbook that contained all the steps to take in order to begin the process. I still utilize this booklet and it has proven to be very helpful in the making of lessons. I still struggle a bit with assessments because there are so many components to it. Specifically, knowing all the details about both standardized and teacher-made assessments. I feel confident in my ability to create a strong objective and a conclusive closure activity. Like I mentioned earlier, I would love to continue practicing forming lessons and maybe even experimenting with different formats.