FAYETTEVILLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS : Parent, teacher teamwork can help students succeed
Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/Academics/65150/
Well, we did it again. Another year of parent-teacher conferences is complete. All of the scheduling, phone calls, e-mail, rescheduling, looking for parking spots, photocopying, sitting in small chairs, and going over the papers is over and done. Mission accomplished. No, really. This one really was accomplished.
To give credit where credit is most certainly due, we greatly appreciate our parents for taking time from their busy schedules to meet with the child’s teacher or teachers every October and every April or May. As any parent will tell you, there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done that either needs to be done or that you want to do for your children. You can go into hyper-drive, become a tornado of activity, and eventually collapse; or you can prioritize, letting some things wait and concentrate on getting the most important things done. Twice a year, our parents take time off from work, skip lunch, or otherwise rearrange their schedule to make it to their assigned parent-teacher conference. Their children are their first priority, and our students are our first priority. Nice how that works out, huh ?
We’re also grateful to our area employers who allowed their employees to take time off from work to attend their child’s parent-teacher conference. It’s an inconvenience to them, and we appreciate their sacrifice on behalf of our students.
In our wired world today, teachers, parents and students email each other daily, weekly or whatever each feels is necessary to stay informed. There is no substitute, however, for parents and teachers sitting down face to face, looking each other in the eye, and listening to each other.
Parent-teacher conferences give both the teacher and parent a glimpse of what the other is doing with regard to the student / child. When those two entities share information and join forces, the student may think he or she is doomed, but it’s actually quite the contrary. When teacher and parent are reinforcing each other, the message to the student is clear and unmistakable: “ We expect your best efforts, and we will help you work through any problem or get over any barrier that impedes you. But you’re going to have to work just as hard. ”
When the parent-teacher-student triad is fully functioning, the synergy created can accomplish amazing feats. Even though only one of them is actually taking the tests and doing the homework, all involved are learning.
If one of the three has bailed out, though, the task gets much harder, particularly if the bailee is the student. In this situation, communication between the teacher and parent is critical if the student is to get back on track without getting too far behind.
Children don’t arrive in this world with an owner’s manual attached, so here’s to the all of the parents out there, struggling to figure it all out and help their children every day. You have great allies in your child’s teachers, so be sure to use them !
Alan T. Wilbourn is public information officer for Fayetteville Public Schools.