User:Erica Hamilton
Return to: ETAP 623 Spring 2020 (Zhang)
Access my mini-course: Increasing Parental Involvement and Student Achievement
About Me
My name is Erica Hamilton and I am a certified 7-12 Mathematics teacher. I have been in the classroom for two years now but this year is my first full-time position. I teach Algebra 1 and Pre-Algebra 2. I graduated from The College of Saint Rose in 2016 where I was a cheerleader (go Knights!). I am currently working towards my Master's degree in the online CDIT program at University at Albany. Aside from teaching, I am a certified personal trainer and enjoy working out. I coach Varsity Cheerleading currently (4th year) and have coached soccer for the first time this year which I intend to continue next year. I have been riding dirt bikes since I was a kid and have been racing motocross for over 10 years now. I will always love two wheels.
My Topic and Purpose
The intent of this course is to assist educators in recognizing parents of students that do not or are not very likely to participate in their child's education or school activities. This course aims to help educators find ways to increase parental involvement and ultimately educate parents on the value of education.
Learning Outcomes
Learners will be able to:
- Determine the level of parental involvement in his/her child’s education and schooling
- Appreciate the significance of parental involvement and its correlation to student achievement
- Select and administer methods to increase parental involvement in the education process
- Increase the likelihood of parental participation in various school activities
- Improve students’ academic performance and success
Needs Assessment
1. Instructional Problem
We have heard "it takes a village" to raise a child. No one knows this adage better than educators. The problem that many see, however, is that sometimes educators are left hanging by the parents and guardians of some students. It is a problem when teachers are trying to reach parents for support at home and can either not reach them, get no support, or both. This may happen for a variety of different reasons, but nonetheless it is a problem. In this course, we will learn why this happens and what we can do to increase the likelihood that our kids' parents will respond quickly and happily, and even be asking what they can do to help!
2. What is to be learned
Learners of this course will learn more about some of the causes of parental non-involvement and different types of parents you will encounter. There will be specific strategies we, as educators, can use to increase the likelihood that parents will support us as teachers and help us to educate their child(ren).
3. The Learners
This course is best suited for K-12 educators or future educators, where parental involvement is the most essential and expected. Learners can be of any background and can be teachers of any content area. Teachers, teacher's aide's, substitute teachers, coaches, and administrators will all find this course useful. Having successfully completed this course, the above mentioned professionals will find themselves more understanding of a parents' perspective and therefore more able to communicate with them effectively.
4. Context for instruction
Participants will learn content within this mini-course online, in the location of their choosing. Delivery of the content will require the use of a computer and a stable Internet connection. Instruction will involve various methods including exploring and participating on external links, case studies, document creation, and templates to follow. Learners are expected to take advantage of the resources provided for the best outcome.
5. Exploring the instructional problem and solution
Learners will explore the instructional and motivational problems related to teaching students whose parents may be difficult, absent, overbearing, or lack value for education. Learners will generate a variety of specific solutions relevant to their individual teaching contexts expanding on general solutions provided through the course content.
6. Goals of this mini-course
The goals of this mini-course are to equip teachers with the tools necessary to increase involvement of their students' parents. When parents are more involved, we can have a happier and more successful child in and outside of the classroom. Teacher and parent(s) can work side by side to support students throughout every stage of the educational process.
Analysis of the Learner and Context
The Learners The learners taking this course will be preservice or current teachers, coaches, and administrators who are teaching, serving, or plan to teach K-12 grade. The learners can be teachers of any subject or elective class. The learners will have at least 1 student with whom communication with the parent is possible. Learners can and will have a variety of classroom, teaching, and coaching experience and experiences they bring to the course about communicating with parents.
Learner Analysis The learners will have a variety of skills and background knowledge and it is assumed that learners have had at least one interaction with a parent of their student before. It is presumed that the learners will see the advantage of supporting parents and have open and honest communication with them. It is presumed that the learner has had or knows someone that has had trouble when dealing with parents. The learner should have experiences to draw upon regarding different parenting styles from their own parents, parents of relatives, and parents of friends.
Context for Instruction The learners will participate in the course through YouTube videos, images/graphics, journal entries and tables and individually completing activities in which they drawn upon their experiences and reflect on new information to tie the two together. New methods of dealing with parents will be taught and assessed. Learners will be asked to contribute to a community Padlet to share their thoughts and respond to others. Learners will watch videos for inspiration and be asked to think about ways in which they can engage students and parents into the learning process. Those involved in instruction will also be asked to read through a scenario of a parent and classify what type of parenting style they exhibit, analyze why their involvement is low, and come up with a method or two to help increase their involvement. By doing so, learners will be more prepared to involve the parents of their students and ultimately have more academic success in teaching them.
Performance-Based Objectives
By the end of this course, learners should be able to:
- Analyze the level of involvement of the parents of their students at this time to determine if intervention or education is necessary.
- Recall the different parent types they might encounter.
- Recall the positive outcomes on student achievement when his or her parents are involved in their education.
- Apply the parental involvement methods discussed to parents of students with a low level of involvement.
- Evaluate whether or not the parental involvement has increased after a time period of weeks and months by noting any improvements in student success/achievement.
- Create their own plan or methods for increasing parent involvement in school and education and therefore improving student success in school.
Task Analysis
Elaborate and analyze the objectives to identify more specific enabling and supporting objectives.
Unit 1: Parenting Styles You May Encounter
- Participants will discover and explore the 4 different types of parenting styles
- Participants will draw on their own experiences to recall the different types of parents they have know that exhibit these styles
Unit 2: Why Are Parents Not Involved?
- Recall the parenting types from Unit 1 and use them to classify parents in Unit 2.
- Explain the various reasons a parent would have decreased involvement in education of their child.
- Analyze the level of involvement of the parents discussed to determine if intervention methods are necessary.
Unit 3: Methods to Get Parents Involved
- Given reasons for not being involved, a learner will be able to come up with at least one way to increase a parent's level of involvement
- Participants can draw upon memories they have with positive teachers from school to help them remember the method to help parents in the future
- Participants analyze the information to come up with ideas on how to appreciate parents
- Participants will analyze a case study example of a parent and come up with the best methods to use to engage the parent
References and Resources
Broomfield, Harry. Types of parenting Perspective Counseling. https://perspectivesoftroy.com/types-of-parenting/
Epstein, Joyce. Epstein's Framework of Six Types of Involvement https://www.fhsdschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_995699/File/2015-16/Parents/Epstein%20-%20Six%20Keys.pdf
Mendler, Allen N., & Mendler, Brian D. (2017). Turning tough parents into strong partners. Teacher Learning Center. Rochester, NY.
Morin, Amy. (2019). 4 Types of Parenting Styles and Their Effects on Kids Verywellfamily. https://www.verywellfamily.com/types-of-parenting-styles-1095045
Partin, Donald. (2017). The effect of parent valuation of education on student achievement. Carson-Newman. https://www.cn.edu/libraries/tiny_mce/tiny_mce/plugins/filemanager/files/Dissertations/Dissertations2017/Donald_Partin.pdf