|
AS A PARENT of two elementary-age children, I struggle with my role in making sure that they are doing as well as they can in school. Like thousands of other families where both parents work, time is the challenge. A recent experience with my youngest child made me think about the importance of my role as an advocate for my children. My son Michael began kindergarten this past September. After the first two weeks at his new school, he seemed to be unusually subdued and tearful. Michael is by nature a happy and light-hearted child. But I noticed a change every afternoon when I picked him up at school. He was also having "accidents" during the school day, a sure sign that something was wrong. At the time, I was incredibly busy at work and felt it was all I could do to keep everything at home in motion-dinners, shopping, paying bills, working out the after-school schedule for our fifth-grade daughter-the list goes on. I let two full weeks go by before I finally admitted to myself that something was wrong with Michael that needed to be addressed. I realized that Michael was unhappy at school after spending all summer looking forward with great excitement to starting "big kids' school." One afternoon, I simply took the time to focus on Michael. I asked him why he was unhappy in his new school. He immediately broke down in tears. He told me that he didn't want to go to school anymore. "I don't know how to draw," he said. MICHAEL IS IN A MULTIAGE K-2 CLASSROOM. During the first two weeks of school, his teacher was doing a lot of work with the children by having them share their stories with each other through illustrations. They were drawing self-portraits and pictures of their families, pets, and homes. Michael, as it turned out, was intimidated by this process. In preschool, he gravitated toward Legos, blocks, and collages. So, as he explained to me through his tears, he was sitting at a table watching all of these six- and seven-year-old kids draw detailed pictures of their parents, siblings, homes, and pets. He was literally paralyzed. He kept sobbing: "I can't draw. I don't want to go to school."
The only way I was able to stop his tears was to promise that in the morning I would speak to his teacher and that together we would help him get through this. The next day, I told Michael's teacher about our conversation and I asked for his help. I didn't tell the teacher how to solve the problem (I really didn't know what to recommend). But I did tell him that Michael was clearly distressed and getting into the "I hate school" refrain, which was alarming to me. The school my children attend has a strong reputation for having a stellar teaching staff and a principal who is passionate about children and learning and who encourages family involvement. Given this spirit and culture in our school, I approached Michael's teacher with full confidence that he would do everything possible to work with Michael on his fear of expressing himself through a new and strange medium. The turnaround was remarkable. Within a week, Michael was coming home from school with an upbeat attitude-loving life and loving school. And then came the surprise. By mid-October, Michael would come home after a long day at school and make a beeline over to a basket of construction paper, markers, and pencils. Before dinner and anytime he had free time, Michael would draw the most amazing pictures of dinosaurs and dragons, goblins and witches, Luke Skywalker and Yoda. His paintings and drawings are all over the kitchen, our family room, and my office. He is having the time of his life with this new and fabulous way to express himself through images, stories, and ideas. THE LESSON IS CLEAR. When we as parents take the time to stop and really listen to and watch our children, we will instinctively know how to act as their best advocates. Building strong relationships and effective communication with our children's teachers and school leaders is critical in helping our children face the challenges of their school years from kindergarten through high school. Teachers cannot know and understand our children as well as we do. Parents who are tuned into their children's needs can detect when their children hit a bump in the road. Working effectively with your child's teacher to get to the root of the problem can be instrumental in helping him or her address the problem and move onto new challenges with increased confidence. Helping your children work through their own obstacles to learning and growing lays a foundation for them to appreciate school and embrace learning as a lifetime endeavor. AS PARENTS AND AS A COMMUNITY, we must realize that in many cities, small towns, and rural areas, we are asking our teachers and school leaders to help our children achieve much higher levels of academic success while school budgets are hemorrhaging. In Portland, Oregon, educational reform efforts are occurring at a time when budgets are being cut and the commitment to public education appears to be wavering. This has created tremendous pressure on teachers and school leaders. This strain is felt in every classroom, where expectations for every student are being raised at the same time that we have increased the average class size. In Portland's elementary schools, class sizes have risen from 22 children a decade ago to 30 today. Classroom budgets for supplies and materials, books, field trips, and staff development have also been slashed. Our schools are under great pressure to get all students achieving at much higher levels. This is good. But we need to be mindful that our teachers and school leaders simply cannot do this alone-especially in districts like Portland, where we have seen more than $50 million cut in the last five years. When adjusted for inflation, this amounts to a 20 percent cut in funding for our children's education since 1992. Now, more than ever before, it is critical that parents step forward to be their children's strongest advocates. An impressive body of research shows that academic and social success improves for children whose parents take an active interest in their education. Too many parents, though-feeling overworked and overwhelmed in their own lives- leave the education of their children to the schools. Even the simple acts can sometimes slip away-things like asking questions and listening to answers about their day at school, taking an interest in their ideas, exposing them to new ideas, and volunteering for special classroom projects or field trips. When we engage in our children's lives and their education, we send them a powerful message that learning is important and that we are making their success at school a priority. State and national education goals increasingly recognize the important roles that families play in their children's education and the success of schools. This represents a fundamental shift in the ways schools operate and in the ways that teachers teach. It is just one of the many changes in education that administrators, teachers, families, and students need to address. THE WORLD IS CHANGING AROUND US. We all want today's children and young people to leave our public schools with the tools to work successfully, appreciate lifelong learning, participate as engaged citizens, and lead the communities of tomorrow. Very few parents, teachers, principals, elected officials, or community and business leaders will argue against the movement to increase academic standards for all children. But the antitax sentiment that prevails in many states and cities requires that we work in the political arena and the business community to seek equitable funding for schools. And this brings me to another form of advocacy that is essential in today's climate. We clearly need to encourage our schools to develop new partnerships with community-based organizations that can match children with community volunteers and mentors. Organizations such as Self-Enhancement, Inc., SMART, and Friends of the Children in Portland. We also need to advocate for funding so that the schools that face real challenges in reaching out to parents and families have the staff resources, training, and outreach workers to do so. And finally, we need to listen to the stories of how schools have successfully found new ways of reconnecting parents to their children's education. It is essential for parents and families to be involved in their children's education, to build a relationship of trust and effective communication with our children's teachers, and to advocate for what is in the best interests of our own-and all other-children. It is a path that can lead our children to success in school, and in life. -Cynthia Guyer Cynthia Guyer is Executive Director of the Portland Public Schools Foundation and the mother of two children attending Buckman Elementary School.
|
|
This document's URL is: Home | Up & Coming | Programs & Projects: Northwest Education | People | Products & Publications | Topics © 2001 Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory
Date of Last Update: 9/28/01 
|
