Last week our EDUC 504 class had the opportunity to talk with David Theune; who is an effective educator. Although this part of our class was rough to "Theune" in because I had had a long day of student teaching, there was a major point that I did pay attention to; parent involvement. Mr. Theune and I had engaged in a conversation at the end of his presentation about live streaming a classroom session for parents to be able to view on their laptops or desktops. For Mr. Theune, bringing parents into the classroom has proven to be rewarding and helpful. Linking my new obsession with Padlet, I'm seeing a technological world where I have an array of opportunities for parents to be able to be a part of the classroom. We did read an article in EDUC 695 about Parental Involvement and how it increases student efficacy. This opportunity for parents will not only help parents feel informed, but it also may bridge conversations for the home between parents and students. In working in a high school setting, it might not be obvious that parent involvement may aid in student motivation. I'm hoping in my future endeavors as a teacher that I learn to bridge the classroom with parents using technology.
Anthony Tedaldi! It's Kimberly Alberts!
ReplyDeleteFirst, let me voice my appreciation for the amount of time's you creatively used "Theune" as a word play. Sheer and utter genius, my friend!
Second, and significantly more relevant, your insight on parent involvement in the classroom had me thinking about how this might be implemented in STEM classes. At first, it was difficult for me to picture as I am all about humanities, no STEM! (did you catch the song reference?), but as I thought more about your case and chemistry specifically, I think this could be really awesome. I liked your idea about live-streaming your class, but it made me think of another possible idea that I wanted to get your opinion on - Would it be possible to run student-parent lab experiments in a chemistry course? It seems like this could be a fun way to get parents in the classroom and actually DO what the students are doing rather than more passively watching. I could also see it having the added benefit of putting the student in a teacher role to guide the parents through the experiment. For some reason, having both students and parents work together in a chem lab seemed as if it could be a lot of fun for everyone and get the parents involved in their students' learning.
As the chemistry expert, what are your thoughts on this?