Abstract
These comments were made by teachers when we asked them to describe ways in which they involved parents. This perception of parental involvement shared by the teachers mentioned in the epigraph is all too common. For a variety of reasons they are more comfortable keeping parents out of their classrooms; some worrying that they might lose control, fearing that parents might try to micromanage the work they do. Some teachers do not trust parental judgment and feel parents do not have anything worthwhile to add to the daily operations of academic life. And, some teachers do not know the benefits of parental involvement; they are just mirroring the culture of the school toward parental and family involvement. With little formal education on working with parents, few professional development days devoted to home-school partnerships, and school cultures void of well-planned family-school partnership events or family initiatives, teachers are left with little support and few resources on which to fall back when trying to involve parents in their own classrooms.
Parents are not involved [in my classroom]. I don’t really know how to involve them. I feel intimidated by them.
—(Kindergarten teacher at a private school in Manhattan)
They could come in during Open House, which happens a few times a year.
—(Second grade teacher at a public school in Queens)
They can contact me whenever I have a prep, by making an appointment first.
—(Fourth grade teacher at a public school in Manhattan)
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Suggested Resources
Endrizzi, C.K. (2008). Becoming teammates: Teachers and families as literacy partners. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
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© 2010 Deborah Ann Jensen, Jennifer A. Tuten, Yang Hu, and Deborah B. Eldridge
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Jensen, D.A., Tuten, J.A., Hu, Y., Eldridge, D.B. (2010). Learning from Parents and Families. In: Teaching and Learning in the (dis)Comfort Zone. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230102361_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230102361_8
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