Change for the Better

CJ Waddell Assistant Principle at Sparks High

CJWaddell says that since she has been doing Parent Teacher Home Visits that she has “changed for the better.” She has learned to not jump to form opinions about kids as quick as she might have in the past.

Since she has a role as an assistant principal who deals with discipline,  she finds it helpful to build a relationship with the youth by doing Parent Teacher Home Visits so that the  kids see her as a person and not just someone they see if they are in trouble. It makes a big difference in her relationships with the students and parents. If she has to call a student’s parents somewhere down the road it makes it a lot easier.

“My passion for working with students has always been really big. Parent Teacher Home Visits has made the kids easier to know and recognize. Knowing something about the kids makes it easier to talk to them. It gives us something to connect with each other to discuss.

My goals for each Parent Teacher Home Visit is for us to grow comfortable with each other, and for everyone to get to know each other.  As a result, I hope that the parents and students feel comfortable coming to the school if they need help.

Parent Teacher Home Visits have helped improve students’ behavior in the class room, attendance, academics, and helps to make the whole parent teacher family relationship stronger.

After the Parent Teacher Home Visits, I see the parents feeling that the school is there to help their child get to graduation and beyond to a successful life.”  

   For more information about Parent Teacher Home Visits, check out this report. from the National Teachers Association Federation.

Building Relationships Key to Success

Michelle Hammond, Teacher at Innovations High School

This year alone, Michelle has done over 40 Parent Teacher Home Visits. She has been doing them for 5 years now, even before she was paid to do them. She believes that the first step in effectively teaching a child is building a relationship with them. She says the better the relationship is with the child the more likely the child will graduate, and for the student to be fully engaged in learning.    

Going on Parent Teacher Home Visits have been a constant reminder to Michelle of how important it is to treat every student and family differently. Last Fall Michelle did a Parent Teacher Home Visit with a student who is a teen mother. The young lady was not living with her parents and moving around a lot. She was struggling with school attendance.  At the time of the Parent Teacher Home visit she was living with her older sister. There was tension and frustration between the student and her sister because of the student’s poor attendance and grades dropping.

Michelle helped the student tell her sister about her upcoming class presentation for the following week. The following week at the time of the presentation, in walked the student’s whole family to be there to show support.  The student burst out in tears of joy to see the support.  The student knew that the sister cared about her after that, and that she wasn’t just being hard on her.

Michelle says that she is continuing to work with the family and she is seeing the student make real progress as a result.  “I’ve always believed that you cannot teach a child anything, if you don’t first have a relationship with them.”

Stephanie Platner, Champion for Successful Students

Through Parent Teacher Home Visits

    Parent Teacher Home Visits have increased my cultural sensitivity. There are so many culturalnorms and expectations that you don’t think about until you enter a home and experience them.

     During one of the Parent Teacher Home Visits to a family of Mexican origin, we were greeted by the parents of the student with a large meal. They were excited to meet us. They told us about their food and where they get it during the meal.  When we went to eat the food with our forks and they laughed at us. They said we don’t use forks for that, we just pick them up with our hands and eat them.  I appreciated their humor and enjoyed learning more about the Mexican culture.

     Through Parent Teacher Home Visits I have increased my cultural sensitivity and awareness. Understanding that when our kids come to school, what we may be expecting them to know might be different in their culture,  especially for young children. Increasing my awareness of where the child comes from, what goes on in their home, and what’s going on with their family helps me to help the child in the better ways.

     How to use the strengths from a family’s culture to encourage learning and academic growth is an area where I am growing and see improvements.  Parent Teacher Home Visits has opened up new avenues for me to connect with parents and children that would have been much more difficult otherwise.