ITE
Return to Topics

Making curriculum links with homes and communities

5b What Student Teachers might do to Inform Parents

While student teachers may not have the chance to attend open evenings or set up curriculum workshops, they can still contribute to the sharing of curriculum knowledge with parents.  Relying on children to communicate with parents is not likely to be sufficient, as children are notoriously poor informants about what happens at school (“we just played/we did the same old thing/it was boring”) and it is in everyone’s interests to presume that the curriculum is indeed a ‘secret garden’ for most parents.  This is especially the case in special schools or units where parents  be able to visit only rarely.  Below are some simple practices that can be used in most classroom situations.

In primary schools

  • making sure the student teacher meets and greets parents at the door or in the playground.  Contact is essential to communication!
  • having a quick plenary session at the end of the day when children reflect on the day and select one to three things they learned that day to tell their parents about
  • putting up a big notice from wherever the  children are collected giving the topic for the week or any other point of curricular interest and, if appropriate, asking for resources

In most schools

  • pasting slips, or writing, in the children’s homework books to explain the purpose of the task.  Learning targets in homework books are only useful if the target and its relevance are comprehensible to a lay person.
  • explaining any technical language in everyday terms, with examples if possible
  • where a particular strategy is to be used, attaching a simple explanation (most parents were taught ‘carrying’ in subtraction of large numbers which can lead to conflict over the tea table!)
  • telling children the new things that will be done the next day/session
  • keeping homework simple, focused with  a description of the purpose
  • explaining the purpose of any trip to the children and including it in the letter sent to parents with reference to actual curricular objectives, not just the topic link
  • telling the children in advance about any departure from the usual practice with a curricular reason (“we’ll be watching a  film to help understand the book better”)
  • constantly telling parents what has been learned rather than giving messages about what hasn’t, or about bad behaviour
  • (in special education): having a day book going between home and school listing significant events in each

Student teachers might: in small groups consider the practicalities involved in communicating the curriculum to parents and whether they can add to the lists above.

Previous pageNext page

Contents

  1. Introduction and Rationale
    1. Introduction
    2. Rationale
  2. Core Principles about Language and Learning
  3. Key Issues
    1. Key Issues in Language and Learning
    2. Key Issues in Assessment and Evaluation
    3. Key Issues in Management
  4. Suiting Links to Purposes
  5. Links to Inform Parents and the Community
    1. Overview of Informing Links
    2. What Student Teachers might do to Inform Parents
  6. Links to Support Parents
    1. Overview of Supporting Links
    2. What Student Teachers might do to Support Parents
    3. Case Study (i): Supporting parental awareness of curriculum and methodology
    4. Developing parents’ own abilities through Family Learning courses
  7. Links to Make the Curriculum Reflective of Home and Community
    1. Overview of Reflective Links
    2. What Student Teachers might do to Make the Curriculum Reflective of Home and Community
    3. Case Study (ii): Reconstructing a community scenario
    4. Case Study (iii): Using texts from the community culture
  8. References
NATEUKLA