Far too often parents are only involved in the classroom during mandatory conferences or the occasional Open House. Many parents can feel that teachers make minimal efforts to truly engage them into the classroom. Even more, parents are often always involved when their student is misbehaving or falling behind academically, but rarely for the sole purpose of being involved or even for the successes of a student. With the seen importance of connecting families and classrooms together, it is the role of teachers to ensure that family engagement is fostered.
Creating a Family Involvement Plan can aid in ensuring that family involvement, within the school and classroom, is seen and effective. A Family Involvement Plan is a way of holding yourself accountable to fostering parental engagement, while also providing a means of transparency and effort to parents who may be skeptical of classroom involvement. A Family Involvement Plan can be confined to a single classroom or even opened up on a broader school scale, incorporating family, classroom, and school communities together. Family Involvement Plans set goals for incorporating families into the classroom and school, give a variety of ways to engage families of different backgrounds and classes, and provides a sense of commitment from teachers to parents. A Family Involvement Plan should work to build relationships between parents, schools, and classroom teachers.
Examples of Family Involvement Events:
1. Family Reading Nights: Parents and students can come to enjoy a night full of reading. The teacher, or another school official, will begin the night with a read aloud, followed by the parents and students reading to each other. The community could also be incorporated through special guest readers, such as the Fire Chief of a local police officer, or through the local animal shelter bringing animals to let parents and students read to.
2. Family Game Night: Students and their families can enjoy a game night of different games, obstacle courses, and dance parties, among other events, for a stress-free time. Give a ways, prizes, and refreshments can be offered. A family game night can be less structured, allowing families to come and go as they please, participating in as much or as little as they’d like.
3. Video Vlogs: A Video Vlogs program can be implemented to showcase families in the school. Families can submit a video to be played during morning announcements, giving well wishes to the class or school on their day of learning ahead. This gives students a chase to recognize their families within the school, while also being mindful of a variety of schedule conflicts that may arise during in-person, involvement events.
