Today was also our PTC. My student didn't attend his, though. I was hoping he would have, and I know I should have reminded him or spoke to his family about going. I think I assumed his uncle, a counselor, would have seen to it that he went. But perhaps their translating family members were unavailable at the time. I know transportation wouldn't have been an issue as they live down the street from the school. I'll ask him to show me a copy of his report card so we can talk about it. His Language Arts teacher is a busy bee, but we've been communicating via email. I hope to get more information about his school performance as our correspondence goes on. She will be an invaluable resource.
Back to my PTC experience: Though I went through the extra effort of writing up a parent letter inviting them, I only got 5 parents! To top it all, none of the students who needed to get their Report Card from me showed up. In the previous weeks, when I asked my students whether their parents would be going, the response was that their parents were working and would be unavailable. I was excited to see whether the little touch would generate more parental involvement, but it didn't turn out to be the case. Additionally, since my students are all in the ESL program, I wanted to add a fun, "please help your child translate" portion of the usual parent letter. A few parents responded, and I hope to continue this as a form of regular parent communication. The phrase, which now graces my classroom's back wall, was "Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good" (Minor Meyers, Jr., from http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/205932). I think it's important that not only should our students (and ourselves) strive to be successful in life, but also we should strive to help others. I know Team MAGEC takes this phrase to heart!
Amen. I agree, we need to be helping others. I'm this class gives us the opportunity to do so. I hope you get more responses from parents, and I'm glad you're using all the resources you have available. Keep it up! I think for your student, creating the background knowledge will be invaluable.
ReplyDeleteLittle by little my ESL parents make their presence felt and that's a good thing! Our students need all the help they can get, which means teachers and parents together!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that your session was productive. I also find myself needing more session time for the case report. Thanks for the sweet treats today. My student enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteI think that the pattern of parental involvement goes somewhat like this: many in elementary school, some in middle school, and not much in high school. I guess some of our parents forget that though their children may have grown into being budding teenagers, they are still children and still require attention, support and caring. In the world we live in nowadays,some of our values in life have, to some extent, been altered, and not for the better.
ReplyDelete