It is a widely known fact that better parent involvement in a student’s academic life produces higher achieving students. But what is parent involvement in the school and why does it have such an impact on students’ success? To understand exactly what parent involvement is and why it is beneficial, parents, community members, and educators must work to understand the expectations each have of one another.

Parents expect a child’s school to provide their children with an environment where each student is physically and emotionally safe, where their children can succeed academically, and where they know that the adults responsible for their children understand students’ needs and act to meet those needs. While the parent and child’s needs and expectations are often understood clearly, oftentimes the needs and expectations of the educators and schools go overlooked. Building an understanding of expectations between both parents and school requires building a relationship that is focused on the ultimate and essential goal: enhancing the learning opportunities for young adolescents.

Parent involvement means that parents (or guardians) take an active role in their child’s schooling. They support their children by attending school functions and responding to school obligations. Parents can become more involved in helping their children improve their schoolwork providing encouragement, arranging for appropriate study time and space, modeling desired behavior (such as reading for pleasure), monitoring homework and actively tutoring their children at home. On top of that, outside of the home, parents can become advocates for the school. Volunteer to help out with school activities or to work in the classroom. You can also take an active role in the governance and decision making process necessary for planning, developing, and providing an education for the community’s children. These are all ways that parents and community members can become more involved with their students schooling and promote student achievement within the classroom and, ultimately, into adulthood.

But how are parents suppose to do all of this for their kids’ schools, and go to work, and buy the groceries, and put dinner on the table, and the list goes on? Obviously, parents are not expected to do all of these things; even just doing one will improve your child’s overall education. While time restrictions are one of the biggest dilemmas schools face on the topic of parent involvement, another topic that is important to explore is mislead parental perceptions. Oftentimes, parents are extremely involved in their child’s education while their students are in elementary school. However, when kids reach middle school, parent involvement drops significantly. Is it that from the time in which children move from fifth grade to sixth grade parents stop caring about education? No, most likely not.

When kids enter middle school parents often think that it is the time in which their kids need to become more responsible and independent as students. Although middle school no doubt encourages more independence in a young student, schoolwork is not where parents need to exercise the hands-off approach. As parents, you constantly try to create a balance between what you think is best for your child and what your child thinks is best for them; in the classroom the parent must set this balance. Children need as much support as possible when struggling with the world of academics. Research shows that parent involvement remains very beneficial in promoting positive achievement and affective outcomes with older students.

Schools and parents must work together to create the best and most successful learning experience for their children. Education prerogatives are in constant need of able minded and passionate support, parent involvement within the schools is one of the best solutions. When a positive relationship between a school, educator, and parent is maintained the students are the ones who benefit most.

This guest post is contributed by Lauren Bailey, who regularly writes for accredited online colleges. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: blauren99 @gmail.com.

As class sizes continue to grow and budgets continue to be slashed, educators will continue to look for new ways to motivate and engage their students.

Recently Rob Plevin hosted a fantastic live online event through his Classroom Expert service. As part of the event, best selling education author Julia Thompson talked for over an hour sharing her BEST STRATEGIES for MOTIVATING CHALLENGING STUDENTS.

Julia Thompson is a phenomenal teacher and her information is first rate. She shared so many GOLDEN NUGGETS that my pen was scribbling all through the call – it was pure GOLD.

Sadly, there won’t be another call with Julia Thompson, this year because she is so busy but… you can still access the ENTIRE call because Rob Plevin RECORDED IT!

You get access to everything she shared as an MP3 audio recording, PLUS the slides, PLUS the 30 minute Q and A during which Julia and Rob answered questions on motivating students PLUS… the free ebook Julia made available which is PACKED with practical strategies to motivate your students such as….

-How to become a charismatic classroom leader
-25 Active learning ideas
-40 real-life project ideas to engage students
-25 classroom games
-101 ways to keep lessons fresh and interesting
-25 ways to arouse student curiosity
-15 ways to make every student feel valued
-12 ways to get to know your students
-60 different ways to differentiate work and make it more appealing
-36 study skills for students
-25 ways to encourage students to pay attention to what you say

Plus much more…

Here are a few sample tips that will make it easier for high school teachers to successfully differentiate instruction. 1.Emphasize quality of thought rather than the size of the workload.
2.Focus on student growth instead of grades.
3.Formative assessments are a key factor in making sure you and your students know how they are supposed to proceed. Think of them as a way to help you teach rather than a way to find out what your students didn’t learn.
4.Teach students to reflect and then evaluate themselves if you want them to become self-disciplined learners.
5.Don’t forget to include hands-on options. When learning is active, everyone wins.

If you are interested in learning more about how you can access this webinar, click here for more information.

About Julia Thompson

For those of you who haven’t heard about Julia Thompson, she is one of the greatest teachers and teacher-trainers I have ever met. I first “met” Julia over at TheApple, where she is a regular blogger and I blog there as well. Last summer, she asked me to write a blurb for her new book, Discipline Survival Guide for the Secondary Teacher, which you can now find on Amazon. I think you’ll find this content-rich interview wonderfully helpful and chock full of tips and strategies on how to teach teeangers of diverse classes as well as English language learners.

Here it is, the link to the Confident Classroom Management video series.

http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?Clk=4515311

As I explained, I’ve got 100 FREE copies of my e-book of 10 special reports entitled, Tips and Tricks for Surviving and Thriving in the Classroom: Practical Activities Made Easy to give away. All you have to do to get your copy is take a trial of Rob Plevin’s brand new and eagerly awaited Confident Classroom Management video program through the special link below and then send me your receipt. I’ll then fire you your free copy – as long as you get in fast. Please hurry on this as I know there is going to be a huge rush and I don’t want you to miss out.

Here is the special link:

http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?Clk=4515311

Have you heard about the NEW Rob Plevin’s Confident Classroom Management VIDEO package?

My colleague Rob Plevin, has just notified me that he has uploaded a second sample video from his forthcoming Confident Classroom Management package. This video gives clear instructions on how to apply consequences to deal with students who won’t follow instructions. When you’ve gone to the trouble of putting all the preventive strategies in place and have used up all the key responses to manage student behavior, what do you do when they still won’t do as you tell them? That’s when consequences come in.

If you go to the sample page: http://www.behaviourneeds.com/ccm/sample you’ll be able to see the ‘Consequences’ sample video. I should point out that this is just one in a series of videos about effective use of consequences included in Confident Classroom Management. It was impossible for Rob to include everything in one short video clip but I’m sure you’ll find this short introduction useful and helpful.

And don’t forget… the entire Confident Classroom Management package will be launching TOMORROW and Rob is offering a very cool free bonus for those who decide to take it for a test-drive. But that’s not the only bonus that’s available to you…

…If you order through the special link I send you tomorrow, I’m going to throw in an EXTRA bonus of my own.

The bonus I’m going to give you is: An e-book of 10 special reports: Tips and Tricks for Surviving and Thriving in the Classroom: Practical Activities Made Easy and all you have to do to get your copy is simply order Confident Classroom Management through the special link I send you tomorrow and then email me a copy of your receipt. I’ll then send you your copy of the e-book, Tips and Tricks for Surviving and Thriving in the Classroom by return.

Make sure you keep an eye out for the special link I send you tomorrow. I am only offering 100 of these bonuses so you will have to act fast.

For now here’s the link again for the second sample video: http://www.behaviourneeds.com/ccm/sample

I am so done with old-school thinking after returning from Christine Kane’s Uplevel Your Purpose retreat. The energy! The fabulous women! And the mindset – ah yes… the mindset! The biggest thing I took from this retreat was: It’s all in the Mindset!

As a teacher for many years, I felt pulled in many directions, doing too many things at once. I have been teaching since I was 20 years old – a long long time! I became a server of others too young and too quickly without ever giving thought to other options in my life. When you serve others in a way that is not meaningful to your purpose, you are not able to step into your higher power or even learn what that is because you are so busy with what you thought IS your purpose!

So ….I finally learned how to discover the present moment where all the drama vanishes because we are in the here and now. When I fully allowed myself to be in the here and now, I saw an INCREDIBLE and ABUNDANT life where I was able to serve others from a higher purpose combining elements of teaching but with a completely different business direction. It was such a powerful moment that I started to tear up. My heart started opening. And the universe accepted me.

This high-packed retreat had very strong elements of the power of a mastermind group (a new word I just learned!) where I was able to:

*get clearer

*get vision

*get attraction
*take personal responsibility

What I most wanted was to embrace a CLEAR VISION for my work as a Diversity Coach. So I started by asking what I wanted. I wanted to be clear about my WHY, my purpose and intention because everything starts with your intention! I needed to get clear about what I wanted to learn, receive, attract, clarify or discover.

So I asked to get clear on how the idea of “diversity” fits into my business vision and to learn what it is that POSITIONS me (Yes, another new word!) for me and my peeps. (“my people”)

I left the retreat with LOTS of clarity and plenty of action steps and as a follow-up, I’m listening to her brand new “Purpose to Profits Blueprint” Video Series.

This is All-New information and training for people who are tired of living life (and business) in a struggle – and who are finally ready to move from the UPSHOT model of business to the UPLEVEL model. (Doing what you love is wonderful, but doing what you love AND making a great living out of it is just plain AMAZING!)

Click here for the link to your FREE video series. All YOU have to do is opt-in and you’ll have access to your FREE video series – what could be easier than that?

I didn’t expect much from another book of financial advice — but, I was pleasantly surprised.
As a frugal writer and teacher, I’m always on the lookout for more ideas to help me stay frugal.

Even if you draw a realistic budget and stick to it, this book will help beyond the budgeting. There are a lot of areas where you can avoid “extra” spending by getting the same thing for free. As Ben Franklin said: “watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves.”

As a teacher and writer on a VERY limited budget, Clark has already saved me a bunch of money. Some of the things I already know and do like canceling my cable and watching movies online. The language is pretty simple and the book is an easy read. He understands “deals”, but more importantly he understands “value”. We all know those people who will do anything to find deals regardless of value.

After reading this book, here’s what I plan on doing:

1. Searching for unclaimed money in my name.
2. Moving all my monthly statements online to save myself the $3.00 monthly paper statement fee.
3. Starting a Roth IRA.

AND, these ideas just come from reading the first few pages!
Clark Howard covers insurance, prescriptions, utility savings, mortgages, cell phones, and even consumer fraud and identity theft. These last areas are part of what sets this book apart- sure those security tips are available elsewhere, but it’s nice having them all in one easy to read book. Howard’s website is also a helpful resource, but somehow, having a book right in hand to look over, think over and review is well worth it. This book is about cutting costs — and spending money is not the same as saving money. Howard also lists websites and phone numbers for gathering information on services and products. Knowledge is power.

Just the saving tips alone paid for the cost of this book.

Click here to read more about this book and other Howard Clark products

As we are all busy getting settled with our classrooms, there is a special routine I want to share with you that goes way back to my first year of teaching when I first taught English as a local junior high school in Israel.

It took a great deal of resistance, but instead of managing the students’ behavior, I spent more time observing how they interacted with each other and with the material.

I would soon call this routine, “shadow play.”

In a very short period of time, I got to know who in the class was silent, who needed help, who was the leader, all those who needed attention, those who were too “macho” to ask for help, who was the rapper and the artist…and the list goes on.

Why am I sharing this… you may ask?

Little did I realize back then, I was channeling a visualization of my “ideal teaching scenario.”

I wanted to know who they really were – what empowered and channeled them.

One day, we had read together a text on the history of rap and students read the text with great “gusto.” You could have heard a pin drop in that classroom – I will never forget it.

Even when writing their rap songs and journals, I saw threads of their own stories taking shape. Voices started to emerge.

A few weeks later, students wrote their own “pain stories” where they expressed their own hopes, fears and desires.

The best teachers are those who are able to build emotional connections that help motivate and engage their learners. Personal story writing for kids and adults can help with a stuck moment, and give it clarity, just like journal writing. With personal story writing, we encourage students to express their emotions, their story, their dreams, their hopes, and their wishes – in “meaningful writing.”

****

So fast forward years later… I had discovered a teacher by the name of Erin Gruell used the story writing method to get to her at-risk high school. I saw the book and read two of the Freedom Writers books and of course, I was hooked! Erin and I suddenly shared this common language. I got to meet her at a convention and she signed a copy of the latest book, Teaching Hope.

I am not a movie fan and I loved the movie. But, if you’re a teacher like me, you need to read the Freedom Writer’s Teacher Guide to see what Erin exactly did to create a sense of community and how she was able to create strong relationships, trust, and break down stereotypes and barriers without putting too much emphasis on content first.

By the way, all of the activities are tied to NCTE standards, and they are all ready to use.

Click here to read more about the Teacher’s Guide!

Many students have a deep desire to share that story that wants to be born, but they’re blocking it out of fear.

When we give our students permission to express their emotions, story, dreams, hopes and wishes in “meaningful writing,” we light the path to that self-discovery as they are figuring out who they are.

Our schools however, don’t do a good job of helping students take care of each other. If our schools were better cohesive units, we would be able to do a better job as teachers.

As I write my book, Giving Birth to a Voice in a Voiceless World, I am reminded of how important it is for parents, caregivers and teachers to reinforce the important message that children are loved. In today’s materialistic world, children need constant reinforcement that their inner beauty is much richer than material things. Children need to be taught the importance of this educational value early on in their lives so they will still believe HOW special they really even if they don’t have the latest video game or brand new bike. They can then view the world with loving eyes knowing they are at peace with themselves.

But we can start this process early before our students fossilize certain attitudes about themselves that can damage their self-esteem. I’d like you to check out these award winning books on self-esteem that makes our jobs as parents, caregivers and educators a bit easier.

Cute, loving and inspiring, “I am a Lovable Me” is a popular series that reinforces the message that that “Lovable” an enlightening bug is not just a character of a book, but that love can take many forms and exist in many places. But first, this universal theme of love and acceptance begins with how children perceive themselves.

From this beautiful story, it is possible for us to create our own “lovable” communities. Sometimes a good book using a universal theme of love is all it takes to give that young child a special feeling they are loved and cared for. Lovable, the Enlightening Bug, says “My light shines bright for the whole world to see, I give other love and it comes back to me!” By encouraging children to feel good about themselves, it is possible for them to feel good all throughout their lives.

Click on the links to access the series!

I AM a Lovable ME! (I Am a Lovable Me!) (See all Children's Self-Esteem & Self-Respect Books)

Do you have a story that you are craving to get out but unsure where to start?
Do you have some experience with a “teachable moment” that you want to share?

Recently I wrote a post about how I was able to come “full-circle” with the memory of my mother who now is well into the advanced stages of Alzheimers. When I wrote this post, I was living in Israel, and it was empowering for me to see how I had come full circle both as a daughter and an returning “immigrant” to the States.

Hours after I had posted that painful encounter with my mother, I was surprised to read some comments of friendly bloggers who deeply resonated with my pain and sadness. Some shared their feelings of encouragement. That was an empowering moment. From that moment, I knew I had the power to touch peoples’ hearts and souls.

As a student teacher, I remember my teacher mentor crying in front of us when she told us a story about how her ten year old son first began to read after many years of struggling with learning disabilities. And when I served in the Israeli army, I remember how our officers would tell us stories when they were soldiers in training – these stories made me feel more at home in a country that didn’t really feel at home and the beauty was, I was connecting with a different culture group, that was different than my own American upbringing.

Through sharing and writing our our life stories, we can understand the simple connection that evolves between writer and reader, between the experience and the words. Before writing down any story, it is probably a worthwhile step to understand what does it mean to share a story – this will help us ultimately, feel more comfortable with the energy we bring to our life story when it comes time to share. So many potential writers, miss this part, because they think they need to experience some big astronomical thing that has a material twist to it like “winning the lottery,” or,”buying a new car,” and while these are momentous happenings, the power of a life story really begins with writing about the smaller and simple things. It all depends of course, on the kind of perspective we bring to it which is where the connection between author and reader lies.

Christine Koller recommends the following tips for understanding the empowerment of a life story: “Think of at least one experience where someone’s story impacted you in a deep way. What was it about his/her story that drew you in? Try to identify what happened for YOU (through their sharing) that made you want to hear more. If you can answer that question, you will have an understanding of the power of stories to connect with someone’s heart.” I like this tip. A lot.

It all begins with feeling more comfortable with our own story and nurturing our voices.

Whether you are interested in writing for publication or simply to explore the story growing that has been nudging you, this homestudy guide will show you how.

Click here for the homestudy guide NOW!

It’s that time of year again when we are thinking about our ELL students who make up many of our diverse classrooms. One of the more difficult tasks is to ensure ongoing comprehension of academic language and vocabulary across content subject areas.

And since more of today’s ELL students struggle to achieve academic proficiency across content subject areas at all stages of English language learning, one of the things you will constantly need to do is differentiate instruction so that your struggling ELL students can understand more of what they read. This ensures ongoing processing and reinforcement.

Even as they customize academic instruction, the problems the teacher faces when teaching differentiated classes (ranging from mixed ability to ELLs) include how to plan lessons that can meet the needs of all the students from getting bored and the lower performing students from feeling that they are lost.

Using a combination of oral and reading instruction, you can also strengthen the decoding process, which leads to comprehension.

*Lower-performing ELLs-This group reads orally a list of targeted vocabulary words of varying length and difficulty depending on their performance.

* Middle-performing ELLs-This group reads orally a list of targeted vocabulary words/sentences of varying length and difficulty and and then matches the word to the picture or matches the sentence that describes the picture.

* Higher-performing ELLs -This group reads a short text of varying text and difficulty using the targeted words teacher has taught previously. In pairs, they then read the sentence found in the text that corresponds to the questions. This assumes that ELLs have acquired a deeper meaning of the words and sentences.

When you are able to differentiate instruction, you have a higher chance of helping your ELL students understand more of what they are reading academically.

For more you’ll want to check out these FREE Seven Tips for Differentiating Instruction for ELL students from the ebooklet, “Yes! You Can Teach K-12 English Language Learners Successfully!”

Click here to get your FREE Seven back-to-school tips for differentiating instruction.