How Teachers Can Work with Parents Throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic
Are you looking for some ideas for teachers to work with parents of their students during their summer break? Check out some tips.
To say that society places an unfair burden on teachers would be an understatement. In addition to being underpaid and overworked, many educators constantly find themselves under attack by parents who have no idea how difficult their jobs are. With children being stuck at home as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, some parents are finally starting to develop a better understanding of what teachers go through on a daily basis and realize how unrealistic their expectations of educators had been. Teachers who are eager to work hand in hand with newly-amenable parents should consider the following measures.
Make Your Expectations Known
There's no question that teachers play a vital role in children's education. Unfortunately, many parents have a habit of downplaying teachers' contributions when their kids succeed academically and placing the blame on teachers whenever their children underperform. Although teachers devote their professional lives to educating children, the onus cannot be placed entirely on them. Parents also have an important part to play, and their assistance has never been more crucial.
To ensure that you and your students' parents are able to remain on the same page throughout this crisis, make a point of clearly communicating your expectations. Whether you're sending out group emails or making individual phone calls, leave no room for ambiguity when it comes to outlining the type of assistance you expect parents to provide. Additionally, make it clear that remote learning may require them to adopt a more active role in the teaching process than they'd normally be inclined to take on. Lastly, encourage parents to get in touch with you if there are any points on which they're unclear. Enlist Parental Help in Keeping Students Focused
As any seasoned educator can attest, keeping students focused can be an uphill battle – and this is doubly true in remote learning situations. Since it's impossible to impose actionable consequences on students when you're in an entirely different location, incentivizing kids to pay attention remotely is liable to prove difficult. Furthermore, if you teach a large class, remotely monitoring 30+ students in real time can be tricky. That being the case, any parent who's working remotely or staying home with their children should be encouraged to periodically check in with their kids throughout the school day to ensure that they remain focused on their lessons. Encourage Parents to Work with Their Children Over the Summer
You'd be hard-pressed to find a child who doesn't look forward to the arrival of summer vacation. While a child wanting to devote this large chunk of freedom exclusively to having fun is perfectly understandable, some time should also be set aside for practicing reading and writing and reviewing important lessons from the previous school year. When dealing with students whose concentration skills are lacking, recommend that parents invest in blended learning materials. These materials are designed to keep students engaged and are ideal for kids who prefer a more active approach to learning. So, if traditional avenues of education aren't able to hold the interest of certain students, blended learning is an option worth exploring. Engage in Occasional Summertime Check-ins
You can help ensure that parents stay on the right track by engaging in check-ins over summer break. Use these opportunities to remotely sit down with parents and students and receive updates on the progress they're making in various subjects and how well they're acclimating to certain learning materials. If there are any areas in which you'd like to see improvement, make constructive recommendations regarding study habits, textbooks and other educational tools. Checking in is a great way to show parents how dedicated you are to their children's well-being and encourage them to work with you as partners.
The novel coronavirus has changed the way many people go about their daily lives. Although some members of the workforce are able to comfortably carry out their job duties from the safety and comfort of home, teachers have faced a whole new set of challenges since the onset of COVID-19. While remote learning is what's best for both students and teachers at the present time, remotely overseeing large classes can be an arduous undertaking for many educators. As such, there's never been a more important time for teachers and parents to work together in the interest of furthering children's education.
Appreciation to the author for bringing out this article which is very useful to build up the parent- teacher relations during the pandemic. It is imperative to know that many schools are insisting to have three hours class, three hours for interaction and next three hours for uploading the home work notes given to be submitted through the social media applications so that marks are also allotted. But parents are also working from the home and they are invariably get disturbed over the school online class timings and their office log in timings. In that case they are giving the entire gadget in to the hands of the child who has every reason to fiddle and know more about through internet and thus the online attentiveness is missed somewhere. Nevertheless this new experience to every parent and the teachers should understand the plight of the students.