A teacher who works in an urban school that qualifies for federal funding due to the number of low-income families, the students come from a wide variety of family units: single parents, dual parents in the home, and parents who work outside the home. Many parents are English language learners and racial minorities. As the new school year begins, the teacher gives a back-to-school night speech to parents to provide an orientation to the classroom. I will be analyzing the teacher’s speech in terms of sensitivity or insensitivity to the parents. The following is an excerpt from the speech:
“Thank you for coming tonight. I also want to thank the translators who are here to help us. I believe in keeping the lines of communication open between us. To make sure you understand how my classroom will be run, I have written a disclosure document and made a copy for all of you. A disclosure document is just a written explanation about how I will grade your children, what my class rules are and other general information to help you understand my classroom.
Some of the information I’ve included comes directly from our state education office and will tell you what our state expects students to learn. There is also a copy of the national standards for Social Studies, which will help you and your child prepare for the county reports they will be assigned later in the year.
Another way for us to communicate is through our school’s website. A website is a place you can visit using your home computer to get more information about our school and my class. My disclosure document will provide step-by-step instructions to help you visit this website. The school’s website will also allow us to communicate by email. Email is one of the best ways for us to communicate!
I realize that many of you work during school hours, so once a week I will stay at school until 8 p.m. If you have any concerns or questions, you can come to school those nights and see me. My disclosure document includes a calendar showing which days I’ll be staying late.”
The teacher’s speech demonstrates sensitivity toward the parents in several ways. The speech begins by expressing a desire to keep the lines of communication open and wanting to inform parents about the class. The teacher has written a disclosure document that includes information on how the class will be conducted, grading policies and the teacher’s classroom rules. In addition to information being added from the state education office and the national standards for Social Studies, step-by-step instructions for accessing the school’s website are included. This is an excellent start toward keeping the lines of communication open between the teacher and the parents. Unfortunately, there are more insensitivities than sensitivities in the speech.
Parents will respond to the sensitivities in numerous ways. Parents will become actively involved in their child’s education. “Just about all families care about their children, want them to succeed and are eager to obtain better information from schools and communities so as to remain good partners in their children’s education.” (Epstein, 2001, p.407) Parents rate teachers and the school much higher when they are involved in their children’s education. According to Epstein, “Teachers who include the family in the children’s education are recognized by parents for their efforts.” (2001, p.35) and “They are rated higher by parents than are other teachers on interpersonal and teaching skills,…” (2001, p.35) Parents enjoy seeing their children grow and learn. They are eager to become a part of their child’s activities. By involving the parents the child’s comprehension also increases. Children respond from positive involvement and feedback from both teachers and their parents. Positive involvement from the parents is essential to the child’s education.
Insensitivities in the teacher’s speech, unfortunately, are greater than the sensitivities. These insensitivities include, language differences, availability of the teacher, communication and technical barriers. The teacher’s written disclosure statement included information from the “state education office and will tell you what our state expects students to learn.” Also, “a copy of the national standards for Social Studies,” is in the written disclosure. If the information is essential for the parents to know, it should be summarized in a reading level appropriate for the parents. The teacher is addressing a low-income, minority audience as well as some non-English speaking parent(s). “Parents cannot use information that they cannot understand.” (Mendoza, 2003, p1) In addition to non-English speaking families, any disabilities need to be taken into account. “Typical written materials are of little use to visually impaired people,” (Mendoza, 2003, p2). The teacher also limits her communication with the parents to a single night during the week, “so, once a week I will stay at school until 8 p.m”. Some of the parent(s) might work afternoons, may not have available transportation, or it just isn’t possible for them to attend a meeting with the teacher on that night during that time. The website and email being the preferred method of communication is insensitivity toward the parents. With this being a low-income area, many homes are not going to have access to a computer and are probably not computer literate, especially as the website will be in English only. The teacher also states that, “email is one of the best ways for us to communicate!” Email is not the best form of communication. Email is impersonal and leaves a lot of open room for misinterpretation. It does not include facial expressions, body language like hand gestures, vocal inflections, and the ability to show examples to the parent(s) of their child’s work.
Insensitivity in the speech would result in the parent(s) feeling uninvolved and uninformed about their child’s education. This is an important aspect to how well the student does. It has been shown that the more involvement a child’s parent or family has in their schoolwork the better the student does. According to Epstein, “Frequent use by teachers of parent involvement leads parents to report that they receive more ideas about how to help their children at home…” (1986, p 35) These insensitivities would result in the parents not actively becoming involved in their child’s education.
Ways to increase the sensitivity in the speech would be changing the written disclosure statement, availability and forms of communication and taking into account possible disabilities. The written disclosure statement should be written for the reading level of the parents and made available in the parent’s language. The information from the state’s education office and the national standards for Social Studies should be summarized to fit the reading level and remove any jargon the parents won’t understand. The website is a great tool for the parents but it shouldn’t be the only means of information. There should be information constantly being sent home with the child and frequent communication with the family. The teacher needs to be available, whether during the day or by appointment, especially if a situation needs immediate attention. Disabilities, like low vision, blindness and hearing problems need to be accommodated, “families with deaf parents, that technological advances have improved communication between deaf and hearing people (Mendoza, pp. 125-126). These are just some of the ways the teacher can make the speech more sensitive toward the parent(s).
The parent’s role in the child’s education includes behavior, ensuring the child has adequate sleep and nutrition, and that they have transportation to and from school. A parent is responsible for making sure the child has adequate supplies in the classroom and at home. Also, a parent’s role includes the child has a conducive place to study which is well lit with a positive environment. In addition to making sure the child is at school on time and prepared, the parent needs to be involved in monitoring and helping with lessons. As a teacher, ways to facilitate parental input in the classroom is an open door policy. The parent should feel that the classroom is safe, comfortable, and friendly. The parent needs to know the environment where their child spends their time during the day and will become more involved if they feel welcome and the child’s classroom is extension of their home where they learn. Making time to communicate with the parents when necessary by not restricting the time and day they can discuss their child’s education. According to Mendoza, “The ideal is two-way open and frequent communication between parents and the people outside the family.” (2003, p.2) In addition to the website access, offer alternatives by discussing with the parents what the preferable form of communication with them is. Also, noting that this is flexible to accommodate the parents.
Reference List:
Mendoza, J. (2003). Communicating With Parents. Clearinghouse on early education and parenting. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign . Retrieved June 11, 2011, from http://ceep.crc.uiuc.edu/eecearchive/digests/2003/mendoz03.html .
Epstein, Joyce. L. (2001). School, family, and community partnerships. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.