The other day – while in the grocery store I ran into a teacher friend who I had not seen for sometime. After the “how is your family” came the “what are you doing?” I told her about the work I was doing as the project facilitator for a parent involvement program. It is a big world so not everyone knows what I am doing. It was interesting to note her response to the notion that there was a pilot program going on in our system. “Our school probably wasn’t picked because we have such great parent participation. They are great fund raisers. They come to all the events. When I explained that the program being piloted was intended to connect teachers and parents directly around the learning process not necessarily about raising money. The next response to that idea. “Well you know I am not comfortable having parents in the classroom.” They are really there is see what is going on, not really to help. Every day there is some student misbehaving and the parents go and tell everyone.
I am pretty sure that most teachers have had that thought from time to time. What a picture that makes. Parents pointing out what they think is wrong and to pretty much to anyone who will listen. Teachers feeling like it is a constant evaluation. Parent involvement – more bosses. Parent wanting to know what is going on and volunteering seem to be the only way to find out.
There are many occasions that I feel this is all human nature and you just can’t change it! Then the sun comes up and its another day. I know that it is not like that every where. There are parents and teachers making the parent/student/teacher relationship work. There are students doing better in school because teachers and parents are talking about students and learning. Take a look here
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Great post! I think you need to clarify what you mean by “we” when you are asking if “we” need a change of attitude. Are you talking teachers, like the teacher you ran into who feels parents aren’t more than tattletales? Or is it teachers who need an attitude adjustment?
I’m thinking a bit of both to be honest.
The bottom-line for me is that because public education relies on public funding then parents and the greater community have every right to know what’s going on in their child’s classroom. If you were to have your child spend five hours a day with a doctor, or dentist, wouldn’t you want to know what’s happening?
The flip-side of course is that parents need to be responsible partners in the whole thing.
What happens in classrooms will get out into the gossip mill….count on it. I also do believe that the majority of parents do understand and are supportive and sympathetic to the daily grind of educators and what they may face from time to time.
One thing that I’ve found is that, guess what?
Teachers are people too and as such fall into the same gossip trap when it comes to parents and kids.
Teachers and parents both need to grow broader shoulders because and instead focus on the common threads that bind us rather than those toxic attitudes that move us further a part.
Parents have arrive on the education scene in Ontario and are being generously supported by their provincial government, so the choice is, either to continue the struggle and to butt heads or to use this time to really break down the communication barriers when ever possible.