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September 27, 2016

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Home » Feature » Education

Digging deeper than ‘I don’t know’

By Maria English | September 27, 2016, Tuesday | Print Edition

EACH afternoon, this scene is replayed in my home. My son walks through the door, throws his backpack on the ground. I ask, “How was your day at school? What did you do?” My son’s answer, “Fine, I don’t know.” It’s a conversation that happens daily and it can be so frustrating.

I want to help him succeed and support him from home, however, “I don’t know” doesn’t really give me a sense of where to begin! So I’m often left wondering, “what is my child doing in school?” and “how is my child performing in school?”

This is where parent and school communication plays an important role in helping the parents understand what our children are learning and how we can support them in the home.

“Supporting our children and students is such an important aspect of our role as parents and educators. What and how we talk to our young people can have a lasting impact. This is why it is so critical for parents and teachers to be on the same page with regard to a student’s social, academic and emotional support. That’s where keeping the lines of communication open comes in,” states Amy Kent, Primary Years coordinator at Western International School of Shanghai.

As parents we need to take an active role in communicating with the school. Here are a few points to consider:

Clear your schedule, go to school!

Andrew Vandermuelen, Middle Years coordinator at WISS states: “Building relationships between home and school in support of a child’s education is of course best achieved through face to face communication. We see high levels of attendance at coffee mornings and the more formal program information sessions, and this goes a long way to keeping the community well apprised of the big picture of education at our school.”

Schools often hold information sessions, principal coffees, student presentations and other formal and informal gatherings. Attending these events can help parents know what is happening inside the school walls. Our presence as parents on the school campus also tells our children that we care, that other things in our lives can wait and their schooling is important to us.

Be open-minded

Communication is a two-way street. We as parents have a responsibility to initiate conversation and also respond and be open minded to what the teacher is saying. “Parents and teachers need to establish the easiest mode of communication at the start of the school year. Making the communication about how to best support the child and being open-minded to suggestions from both sides,” says Kent.

In addition to listening to a teacher’s suggestions, it’s important that we do not forget to celebrate with our children. “Also ensuring that the communication is not just when there is a problem but with celebrations of learning and understanding are happening at school and home. That way when an issue or concern arises, the relationship is already established and the lines of communication are already open to best serve the students,” adds Kent.

Stay connected

Each school has multiple channels for parents and teachers to communicate such as personal visit to campus, email, telephone conversations and also online student management systems. “One of the richest and certainly the most ‘on-demand’ links between home and school is provided by our ManageBac system which provides an immediate summary of a student’s progress in each of the their classes along with a calendar view of upcoming events and tasks. Increasingly this platform is being used to provide an account of daily lesson plans and many of the resources encountered in class, providing parents and students the opportunity to reflect on what takes place each week,” shares Vandermuelen.

Overall, the key take-away is for us parents is to stay engaged with our children and our schools. We are the bridge that connects our child’s school and home life so take the opportunity to actively communicate with the school in order to better support our children.

Education


 

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