I really enjoyed chapter 8 and the information about the different parenting styles and parents involvement in schools. I am currently taking another course this summer on Bilingual Education. Last week, we discussed parent involvement in the classroom. It was interesting discussion because everyone had a different view on the benefits and drawbacks related with parent involvement. I always saw parents participating in the classroom as a great benefit. However, some of my peers explained the negative side they saw during their internships in schools. Sometimes, it seems that in elementary schools that parents are much more willing to come and help in their child's classroom for a variety of activities. This is great because many classrooms have 30 students and the extra help parents give is a huge help to the teacher. The down side can be when some parents come in the classroom to assist the teacher and they begin to favor their own child. This can be a problem because the teacher then feels awkward around the parent and the other children may notice the special treatment. A lot of parents do not have the time to come into their child's classroom due to their work schedules and that can be hard for some children to cope with since they see other parents working the classroom. While I was interning in an elementary school I was pleased to see parents volunteering in the school. They would often come in and complete different projects in the workroom. This way, the parents were helping the school as a whole and not in the classroom potentially "stepping on the teacher's toes."
Another interesting point about parent involvement is parental beliefs and attitudes and how they play an important role in determining involvement. These characteristics include efficacy beliefs, parents' perception of their child's abilities, parent's perception of their role in their child's education, parents' attitudes toward school, and the compatibility of parent and school goals. I believe that all of these characteristics are important when learning and understanding each child in the classroom. Knowing how the parents feel and act towards their child's education will shed light on why and how your students succeed in the classroom.
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I found that the article along with chapter 8 very interesting. Especially because I currently teach many adolescents at my work.
ReplyDeleteThe part I found most intriguing was in the article on page 121. It stated that self esteem, although a popular topic in today's school setting may not have such a grand effect on academic achievement as we may have thought.
The next section in the article talked about self efficacy. In my mind, this should be the main focus in school, not self esteem.
Self efficacy is defined in the article as,
"Beliefs in one's capabilities to organize and execute the course of action required to produce given assignments."
As a teacher I think focusing on expanding a student's self efficacy will be more benefitial to their academic careers than focusing on self esteem. Let parents worry about self esteem, or the school counselor. As educators our goals should be more academic focused. I think we can help our students achieve higher self efficacy by creating many opportunities for success. Planning lessons within the students' Z.P.D. and offering extra help whenever needed. This goes along with much encouragement from peers and teacher.