PDP Goal 5
I had always thought that communicating with parents is important and during all of the teaching practices, I did not have the chance to communicate with students' parents, as it can help in collaborating to support students learning. In this teaching practice, I want to try and communicate with parents and talk with them about their children. Furthermore, I am very interested in knowing the parents’ responses and comments about their children learning. This goal will help me to in developing my skills as a teacher by doing the things that teachers would usually do in the school.
By working on this goal, I would improve and develop my professionalism and learn about the ways of deal with different types of parents. Communicating with parents is important in which it is supporting the students’ academic level, and motivate the students to learn as they know that their parents are communicating with their teacher and they want to impress them or make them proud by showing a positive attitude. As well as, the teacher will be able to gather more information about the students’ needs and what they can do to meet their needs ( American Federation of Teachers, n.d.).
Professionalism
This competence is linked to this goal, as I will have to behave professionally as I will be communicating with different types of parents and I will need to respect them while communicating with them.
Critical Reflection
This competence is linked to this goal, in which I would reflect on the progress for this goal by making notes about the parents’ comments or my MST comments on how to interact and deal with parents. Also, I will record what I have developed and gain from working on it and about the things I will discover while working on this goal.
Week 1 & 2
In week one, I started working on this goal by asking my MST about the date of the parents meeting and if parents usually come to ask about their children. My MST told me that there would be a meeting next week and I can attend if I wanted to, and she told me that some parents usually come to ask about their children level in English and how can they help their children in learning and improving. In week two, I attended the meeting and I had a discussion with some of them about their children, talking with parents had given me a good experience about the roles of the teacher and how they communicate with parents. Moreover, teachers need to be very careful with words and to use a positive way and words to talk with parents about their children, to not cause any misunderstanding and problems with the parents. Also, attending this meeting was a good start in developing my communication skills with the students’ parents and it would help in building a good relationship with them.
Week 6
During the rest of teaching practice, I had the chance to talk with several parents about their children level or something related to their children activity in the school. For example, I had talked with one of the students’ mothers about her level in the English subject and how she could improve her level in it and I had given her some suggestions that can her in improving like; reading stories to improve her reading and to practice on writing sentences to help her in improving her writing and that she could improve it by using the booklet we gave to the students to help them in English. Moreover, I had a conversation with her on WhatsApp in which she asked me about her daughters which are in the same grade and section about their participation on one of the school broadcast as she wanted their pictures and how well did they do in the event. Overall, I think that I had achieved 85% of this goal in which I think that it will need more time and to be able to build a good relationship with the students. Also, I learned that a teacher should have a good communication skill to help her in building a relationship and making parents trust her and help her to scaffold their children.
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During the meeting, my MST and I used the name list with the grades to discuss with the parents their children level and ability in the class. Also, we gave the parents some suggestions to help them in supporting their children learning.
This is a screen shot of the Whats App. In which one of the mothers talked to me to ask me about her daughters and to ask if I can send her the pictures of her daughters during the morning assembly as they had participated in it.
These are samples of notes that I usually write when parents some to talk to me about their children.
During the meeting, my MST and I used the name list with the grades to discuss with the parents their children level and ability in the class. Also, we gave the parents some suggestions to help them in supporting their children learning.
American Federation of Teachers. (n.d.). Building Parent-Teacher Relationships. Retrieved from Reading Rockets: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/building-parent-teacher-relationships
