Educators value the involvement and support of parents, guardians, families and communities in schools.
During my EDUC-491 Practicum I learned a lot about the importance of developing relationships with parents, guardians, families, and communities of the students in my classroom. I benefitted from volunteers, support in behavior management, and building a professional community. Parent/Guardian volunteers participated in chaperoning field trips like cross-country skiing at the Otway Nordic Centre which was my first encounter with the power of parent involvement. Following this, I had a parent come in to the classroom to assist with our kindness project where the family of one of my students baked 150 sugar cookies to be decorated by the students and accompanied by a kind note on each cookie. The cookies were then delivered to St. Vincent de Paul’s Drop In Centre to be handed out to the people that dropped in and brighten their day. We had another parent attend the staff vs. students basketball game and play alongside us during a lunch hour. I even had a parent volunteer planned to drop in to the school to give a presentation on their profession which would align with our science unit’s curriculum. Unfortunately with the COVID-19 situation, the presentation will have to continue without my participation as I am now unable to return to the classroom. The parents, guardians, families, and community that was based around my final practicum offered insight to why it is so important to make that connection and build those relationships. As an educator, you can attempt to do it all isolated, but if you can bring outside influences into the classroom that are already connected to the students, the learning that will occur inside the classroom will be richer and significant.
Attached below are a few photos from the cookie decorating activity.
Attached below is a copy of 2 letter templates I have used during my practicum experiences. It is important to me to establish a relationship with parents of the students that I will be educating. The first step for me is to send home a form of communication so that parents are informed of my participation in their child’s education. The final step is for me to include a short Thank you/Goodbye letter to thank the parents that make this whole experience possible. Without these parents supporting and raising their children, I wouldn’t have such wonderful humans to teach.