Empowering Parents & Teachers: How Parents and Teachers Can Develop Collaborative Partnerships

By E. E Baker-Jamieson

The purpose of this handbook is to provide tools and strategies for involving parents more directly in the education of their children, whether it is special or general education. In my tenure, I have not seen much prevalent interaction with teachers in the public school system.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781514485859

E. E Baker-Jamieson

She is the tenth in a family of twelve and the first to acquire a bachelor of science (psychology) from SUNY at Brockport and a master of science degree from St. John Fisher College. She returned to school to study for her undergraduate degree after her youngest daughter turned eighteen. She completed the four-year program in two and a half years while working full-time during the last year of study.

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Copyright © 2016 by E. E Baker-Jamieson.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2016906330

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-5144-8587-3

                Softcover         978-1-5144-8586-6

                eBook              978-1-5144-8585-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Rev. date: 05/21/2016

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CONTENTS

Introduction

SECTION I

Parenting Skills

SECTION II

Parenting styles

Figure A: Reward Chart

Figure B: Examples of Chores

Figure D: Erickson's Psychological Stages

Nurture -- Cultural Significance

Parental Advocacy

What educators can do to empower parents?

Tools for Teachers -- Communication

Tools and Strategies For parents

No child Left Behind Law For Parents

Teacher Tools & Tips

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to the individual that believed in me enough to convince me to go back to school and complete my undergraduate degree while she studied for hers. She believed that I had the strength and stamina required, and I believe her. My ace, my best friend, Angela J. (1963-2013) and her partner, my backbone Jacquise L. (1965-2007). I still miss you both very much.

Acknowledgement

Editorial assistance Queen E. Augustin, Debra Oden and Nathan P. Baker

Foreword

The purpose of this handbook is to provide tools and strategies' for involving parents more directly in the education of their children, whether it is special or general education. In my tenure, I have not seen much prevalent interaction with teachers in the public school system.

I have witnessed on many occasions anger, confusion, and silent anguish during teachers' meetings and conferences with parents. Information such as knowledge and overview of the learning styles, parental discipline methods, and parenting styles that affect children in the classroom will empower teachers and parents to support their children effectively. When parents, as the child's first teacher, advocates for their child within the academic environment, teachers become empowered with unique information. This effort of sharing information will not only empower parents but also teachers in getting to know the children and parental expectations.

Teachers are in the classroom; however, parents have far more power than the teacher when it comes to administration of classroom methods and matters concerning the school. When parents perceive teachers as collaborators instead of adversaries' productive communication ensue and benefit both including the children. It will also motivate and encourage teachers to speak in a language of mutual understanding instead professional jargon to impress. This style of communication will encourage the exchange of ideas and potential solutions, assuring strategic progression toward academic success for the children.

Introduction

A parent once reflected: Who cares? How can parents turn the tables of low performance in classrooms? As parents, are we powerless? Can a survivor of institutional discrimination, be taught by a teacher who does not accept nor understand such? Can teachers teach us how to instruct our children, so that they may get the most out of the classroom instruction? Can we empower them with the culturally sensitive knowledge needed to teach our children, so that we may be assured a more secure future in this world? Will teachers be capable of, and honestly teach minorities why they are often treated differently, and in many cases; taught to serve a population, rather than become a participant? Can teachers teach the critical thinking skills (who, when, what, where, why/how) and not realize that minorities will use them to challenge misinformation about their own history?

African American children, who were reared in America, are different from children reared in any other part of the civilized world. There are few events that can be historically compared to America's minority children given that initiation was being born to previous slaves. Slaves that were legally freed segregated, barred from specific geographical areas, captive within a legal system calculated to keep them separate from the general population, freed several more times in an out of the courts, and to date still challenged with societal controls by different approaches with synonymous purposes.

Among the racial inequities in America are the costs of housing, geared toward high-income residents. This is a natural restriction of selection opportunities for school attendance for those children of high-income parents; affording them highly funded suburban schools, while exhibiting minimal funding for urban schools. Discrimination, bigotry and double standards are entrenched so deeply, that it has become a fabric of society itself, however, not immediately identifiable as such (Comer, (1992). Those demonstrating usually deny obvious bigoted actions toward minorities.

The developmental stages of Minority children are not any different from other children; the difficulties that occur during these developmental periods are the factors that change the outcomes. Some stages in Minority children are accelerated by family and social circumstances. Early responsibilities and parental