CEP 812: Part A- Description of Need or Opportunity

I am a strong believer that parent-teacher communication promotes learning in students. As a first grade teacher at a charter school in Lansing, Michigan, I am constantly sending home parent letters that I have written about either academic needs or upcoming events. Often times, I receive phone calls asking about topics that were clearly listed in the classroom newsletter. Over the course of the last year, I came to realize that many of the parents were not receiving notes sent home. They were intercepted by older brothers and sisters, lost in the shuffle, or simply, the parents did not have time to read the letters.  It is crucial that parent-teacher communication is present in order for students to fully reach their highest potential in regards to education. “When a child's teacher and parents make a mutual commitment to the best interests of the child, he feels supported on all fronts. With at least two adults as caring guides, he feels that he is competent to learn, but more importantly, he feels supported as a person” (Parent Teacher Communication and How it Benefits the Child).  I have chosen to focus on not only ensuring that parents are reading letters sent home, but are being held accountable for the information. In addition, I hope to discover a correlation between students who have the support of family, and those who do not in regards to success in the classroom.

                 

My plan is to take advantage of the many technological possibilities available to address this problem with my future students.  Specifically, I have chosen to create a classroom website where I will be able to post all newsletters to a parent link. “Technology can allow educators and parents to be linked into a sturdier web of mutual support than ever before. Schools and homes can be connected through computer networks that allow them to freely share information, via email and bulletin boards, twenty-four hours a day and year-round” (Comer). In addition, I will be adding a blog format, in which parents and students can write questions/comments to me regarding the information. By including a blog, I will also be requiring parents to post to the blog once a month. Although it is difficult to enforce because of a variety of reasons (lack of resources at home, busy parents, etc.), this would help me to further understand the correlation between success in the classroom and student involvement. Do the students who have more involved parents have a higher success rate than those who do not contribute to the blog? This way, while I am still hoping for stronger parental involvement through the use of this technology, I am also able to learn more about the effect of parent involvement on student achievement.

                 

This tool will be used for one full school year. I will set up a classroom website and create a blog as well. Over the course of the year, all written parent communication will be posted to the website. Parent-teacher communication will be encouraged through the use of the blog, and parents may discuss upcoming events as well.  Student work will be posted to the website which will give parents, students, and teachers the opportunity to witness the progress students are making in the classroom.  I would argue that parent involvement varies from district to district; however, I am certain that this project will succeed if parents understand the benefits to them as well. They will have the opportunity to communicate with me and other parents at all times, they can view student work, and stay up to date on the current curriculum and events. By signing their names to each blog post, I can be confident that the parents are active in their child’s learning, while promoting positive relationships between themselves and me.

               

As I began this project, I did a great deal of research on the importance of parent-teacher communication.  According to my research, “it is important to understand that when parents and teachers communicate, it provides an opportunity for the child to reach their maximum potential both in the classroom and outside of the classroom. This is because of the fact that when regular communication is engaged in, a relationship will form. This relationship will assist the child in realizing that they have a solid support system that is working together for their benefit. Children who know that their parent and their teacher communicate often have been found to perform better academically” (Shiflett). I have also done research on what would be the best communication tool to use for this project. I have chosen to use Weebly because I have already created websites using Weebly and am extremely comfortable constructing a classroom website. This website is user-friendly, allows for the integration of a wide-variety of resources, and a blog can be seamlessly tied in.

                 

Since it is the summer and I am unable to implement this project at this time, I have decided to focus on how I will prepare for the implementation of the project. First, I will need to create a classroom website using Weebly. I will have the option to upgrade my Weebly account; however, I will be using the free format until I have success with this project. Once I have created the website, I will begin to post early student work so that parents will be motivated to visit the site. At our curriculum night, I will encourage each parent to view the website in my classroom in the chance that they need help navigating through the website. I will also write a tutorial in case the parents have any questions about how to contribute to the blog at home. In addition, I will post a survey mid-year using the website to gain parent feedback about the blog. It is crucial that I include these steps if I expect the parent-teacher communication to be successful.  

                 

Perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of the project will be determining whether or not I was successful.  Therefore, I have established the following criteria to determine the success and effectiveness of the project. First, 80% of parents must have contributed to the classroom blog at least once a month. Second, parent-teacher communication will take place primarily through the website as opposed to personal emails (this does not include personal issues that will, of course, not be posted to the classroom blog). Third, student achievement will rise due to the communication among parents and the teacher. Finally, parent involvement in school events will increase by 50%. Even if I am unable to attain these goals, I will conduct further research between student achievement and the parents who do participate. Either way, I will have the opportunity to not only increase parent involvement, but also, identify the effect that this involvement has on student success. I am very much looking forward to implementing this project into my classroom. The results will be a strong indicator as to whether or not technology can help to effectively promote parent-teacher communication.

Note: Please click here to view my work cited page, which includes a full description of the reference materials.

Revisions:  I have chosen to use the technology Wikispaces to promote parent-teacher-student communication. To ensure student confidentiality issues, I will be requiring parents to sign and return a permission form allowing their child's work to be posted to the classroom wiki. Once the form is turned in, parents will be given a random student number and instead of providing a name, a number will be posted on all assignments. Only the parents will know their child's number and although work is viewable to everyone, it will not be possible to determine whose work belongs to whom. I will also be providing parents with a survey prior to introducing the classroom wiki. Will they use a classroom wiki? Have they been satisfied with parent-teacher communication in the past? If they choose not to participate, what is the reason for this? Parents who do not have access to the internet may visit their local library or use our school computers before or after school, during lunch, or special area times. These revisions have been carefully considered and implemented into the final Wicked presentation.