Parent involvement

I believe that the involvement of one or both parents is very important to a students success in school. Some students do need more parental involvement than others, like when I was in school all I needed was knowing my parents supported me but on the other hand my younger sister needed my parents help with homework and my parents needed to work with her teachers often. My sisters and I were lucky enough to come from a middle class family where my mother was a stay at home mom and could be more involved with our education if we needed it. Other children are not so lucky. Auerbach talks about this issue in her article. She discusses how many parents do not have the opportunity to have a large role in their child's education. Her article focuses on parents of Latino and African descent and I really identified with article because I grew up in the town next to Lawrence where there is a large population of latinos and low SES families. I also know several pArents from lawrence that wish that they could be more involved in their children's schools. Unfortunately many of these parents can't do all they want within the school because that have to work. The cannot afford the time off to chaperone a field trip and are usually still working when their children get home from school and therefore are not there to help with homework. Some of the parents do not speak English or never finished high school themselves so they either lack the language or knowledge to help with homework or converse with a teacher. For some of the parents that didn't finish school they feel uncomfortable in a school setting. These parents in turn tend to be judged by teachers and school faculty. Many teachers see them as uninterested in their child's education and think they do not care about the student but in most cases it is the complete opposite. Many of these parents are working so hard to safe up to send their kids to college that they can't be involved within the school but they are their to give emotional support. The teachers that think this way often give up on the students and this is just wrong. Teachers should be reaching out to these students. Offer homework help. Reach out to the parents. If their is a language barrier offer handouts in different languages or see if the school can provide an interpreter. The teacher needs to make strides too, not just the parent.

Sexuality

Out of the three readings for this week, Anderson's Lesbian and Gay Adolescents: Social and Developmental Considerations interested me the most. Anderson talks about how many gay and lesbian students try very hard to cover up their sexuality and i agree with that. My older sister's best friend is now proud to be openly gay but you would have never he was gay when he was in high school. He dated girls, made sure to play lots of "manly" sports, and would do anything to prove that he was just a normal heterosexual guy. he always seemed depressed in high school and did not do well in school. years later when he came out as gay he was much happier and excelling in college. I truly believe that he spent so much time hiding his true self and worrying what others thought of him that he fell behind in school. I think a lot of students struggle with this.
As teachers we need to do something to help these students. I think we need to let students know that we are their to talk to and that they can trust us. We need to give our students support. If they look like they are having a bad day maybe we should take the time to ask them how their day is going or give them an opportunity to talk. If we notice they are falling behind we need to offer the help they need to get back on track. They need to know that we care and that we support them.