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In this world of high-stakes testing and student and teacher accountability, many parents feel that the education of their children is out of their hands. But that is far from the truth. Parents make a tremendous difference in the progress a child makes in school. Parents are the primary force that propels children into the world of literacy, discovery, and success.
Yet many parents hesitate to dive into the sometimes murky waters of the teacher’s domain. “I’m not good at math,” they think. “Teachers know how to teach reading. I don’t. I might mess something up.” Although this thinking is understandable, parents who reason like this miss years of wonderfully rewarding experiences with their children. Their children lose out, too. Parents are their children’s first and best educators. They can propel their children to success through a parents-as-teachers (PAT) program at their children’s schools.
Parents-as-teachers programs are workshops designed to instruct parents on how to teach their children critical skills in fun and exciting ways. These programs usually are designed by teachers, administrators, and PTA leaders or other parents. Although one workshop on one day counts as a PAT session, the most successful programs have once-a-month workshops for an entire school year. These programs normally are held at night so that working parents may attend. They do not take the place of regular PTA meetings.
Initiating and maintaining a program is not difficult to accomplish. All it takes is some planning and teamwork.
Talk to your school’s principal about starting a PAT program at your school. If your principal agrees to the idea, ask him or her to let you address the teachers at a faculty meeting to tell them about the program. Work with the principal to set up a committee composed of teachers, parents, and administrators to plan the year-long program. Meet with the committee to plan the monthly sessions, and then plan to meet throughout the school year to ensure smooth transitions from workshop to workshop.
Ask teachers to volunteer to present the programs. Use different teachers each workshop session to take advantage of different areas of expertise. Don’t be shy about asking teachers to give one night a month to help train parents as teachers. Most teachers are very happy to help ensure the success of their students.
Programs are best designed to be multilevel so that all parents, regardless of the age of their children, can benefit. Some possible programs could include the following:
- Using simple math to calculate costs using prices in a store advertisement
- Helping children learn to sound out words by reading with them
- Reading a newspaper together to learn about current events
- Conducting simple science experiments at home
- Creating art projects
- Visiting town hall to learn how local government works
- Going to the library to learn how to do research
The list could go on and on. It’s as endless as your imagination.
Reserve one location, such as the school library, for the workshop sessions and another, such as the school gymnasium, for child care. Planning a separate location for child care is an important element for success because it is difficult for parents to concentrate on their training when their children are in the same location.
Enlist help to make this free child care possible. For example, ask parents to sign up for one night of child care during the year. Help the parents plan games for the children and provide snacks using PTA or donated funds. Be certain to have enough parent volunteers to keep the adult/child ratio low. If there is a junior college or a university in or near your town, call the education department to ask for student volunteers. Education majors are eager to find opportunities to work with children. Call local churches to see if their youth groups would be willing to help. Ask the physical education teachers at the school to organize and supervise games, such as volleyball or basketball. Be certain parent volunteers are present to help the teacher.
Distribute spiral notebooks to parents. Ask them to keep a journal of their activities with their children. Use these journals at all the sessions to facilitate sharing among participants. Be sure to provide translators for English language learners so that they can participate as well. Finally, make workshop sessions hands-on and fun. Give parents concrete activities they can do with their children.
An elementary school in Texas, in conjunction with its local university, designed a year-long program centering on literacy skills called Reach Out and Read. They invited parents of kindergarten children to participate. This is what they did in their 10 workshop sessions.
Parents learned to use the school library. The librarian showed them the children’s literature sections and explained check-out and return procedures. Teachers and administrators explained the program, and then the librarian read a children’s book to the parents. At the end of the session, parents retrieved their children from the gym, and together they checked out books. Checking out books became an end-of-session activity from that time on.
A librarian from the city library issued library cards to the parents. She discussed library hours, check-out and return procedures, and the bookmobile that roams city streets several days a week.
The university librarian, an accomplished storyteller, told the parents a ghost story and then taught the parents how to tell stories and how to encourage their children to become storytellers.
Parents learned when and how to read to their children as well as how to choose good books.
Parents made puppets out of popsicle sticks, paper plates, paper lunch sacks, and socks. Teachers showed them how to use the puppets as interactive aids when they read to their children. Parents learned that an interaction as simple as the use of puppets helps children’s reading comprehension tremendously.
Parents made up literacy games that they could play with their children. Everyone agreed that “Hangman” was their favorite. Parents and children also read signs when they traveled, and competed to see who could read the most signs. They read license plates, and tried to see certain letter combinations or words on the plates. These families also made up sentences full of rhyming words and tried to see who could have the most words that rhymed. Any playful competition along with the manipulation of letters, words, or numbers qualifies as a literacy game, and children are likely to love playing.
Parents examined examples of children’s beginning drawing, labeling, and writing. They learned the stages of natural writing development and how to encourage their children to write.
Parents cut up newspaper circulars to make simple math games and literacy activities with letters and words. They and their children wrote “found” poetry from different sections of the paper.
Parents composed types of poems such as list poems, cinquaines (five-line poems), and free verse. With this knowledge of types of poetry, parents then could go home and help their children write poems. Because the aforementioned types of poems are fun to write and read, the children were encouraged to write more and develop literacy skills more quickly.
Participants shared excerpts from their journals and discussed the benefits they experienced as a result of attending the sessions. One mother said, “We have started doing so many more things together. We even ride bikes together now.” Another mother exclaimed tearfully, “She used to want to go to her daddy’s all the time. Now she wants to stay with me.” Another mother said, “They used to come home and turn on the TV. Now they say, ‘We don’t want the TV on. We want to read.’” One grandfather spoke of the change in his grandchild since Project PAT began: “He has become interested in reading environmental print. He has been reading the signs in various stores, and he’s been reading billboards. He never used to do that.” A father summed up the benefits of Project PAT when he said, “I just wish we could have gotten more parents involved in it because it would have helped a lot of the parents. Some of my friends want to know why my daughter is so enthused in wanting to read. I told them about Project PAT. They said, ‘We didn’t sign up.’ I said, ‘Y’all should have. It would have helped y’all a lot!’”
A parents-as-teachers program can work wonders for schools, parents, and children. Parents will learn fun ways to teach literacy, math, science, and many other skills to their children. Increased bonding will occur between parents and their children and between teachers and parents. Children may even ask for televisions to be turned off so that they can spend time with their parents. A new level of satisfaction about children’s educational experience will occur as parents and teachers discover the joys of partnership. Best of all, our children will have a jump start into success.
Jacqueline Parten Gerla, PhD, is an associate professor at The University of Texas at Tyler. Brenda K. Gilliam, PhD, is a professor at The University of Texas at Tyler. Gary L. Wright, PhD, is a professor at The University of Texas at Tyler. Joanna Martin, PhD, is a retired professor at The University of Texas at Tyler.
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