Christian Parent Educational Resources

Christian Parent Educational Resources

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Talking to the Teacher

When talking to your child's teacher, keep the following in mind:

1. Treat the teacher as the expert. Assume the best, and approach the teacher in a positive, upbeat way.

2. Let the teacher know what you have read, and ask for his or her opinion. (Perhaps even loan the teacher a copy of The Way They Learn!) Ask the teacher to give you some ideas for further reading.

3. When discussing your child, start many of your questions with the same four words: "What can I do?" For example, "Jane's learning style is very different from your teaching style. I think it's great that she is learning how to deal with lots of different approaches. I'm wondering, though, what could I do to help her understand the way you teach? What could I do at home that might help her succeed better in your classroom?" Let the teacher know you and your child are taking the responsibility for learning and coping with the classroom demands.

4. Recognize that there are very practical limitations on what the teacher can do for your child. Try to make it as easy as possible for the teacher to accommodate your child's learning style while still meeting bottom-line outcomes. For example, if you have discovered that your child needs to follow a certain system for recording and keeping track of homework, you go ahead and make up the necessary assignment sheets so that the teacher would only need to fill in a couple blanks and sign the bottom.

5. Remember, every teacher is a lesson in learning for your child. The more variety he or she experiences in the classroom, the more opportunities your child will have to discover and develop natural style strengths and to use them to cope with uncomfortable style demands. Instead of resenting a different teaching approach, do your best to help your child understand and value a variety of methods. By helping children discover and appreciate their teachers' unique styles, you can be preparing them to face a world of differences with the confidence of knowing they can use their strengths to cope with almost anything!

Excerpted from Every Child Can Succeed: Making the Most of Your Child’s Learning Style

by Cynthia Ulrich Tobias. Published by Focus on the Family, 1996. Applest.com

Submitted Articles

Why Do We Have School Boards?

If a Province has a school board; they also have a department of education along with individual schools. Most people equate school boards with the school board administration, elected members and schools (teachers, vice-principle(s) and principle). If we look at the distinction, that is boards and schools, it is clear that we need schools (teachers, vice-principles and principles). However, school boards (administration and elected members in a separate building(s)) are not critically important to the operations of the education system. In other words, if there were no boards, the education system would still have a department of education as well as schools which include teachers, vice-principles and principles. There is an obvious redundancy here. School boards have numerous departments and a massive staff (in separate buildings apart from schools) which swallow up a good portion of the overall education budget each year; money that could have been spent on resources for students as well as the hiring of more teachers. These days, schools have to work with larger and larger class sizes and fewer resources for the students.

School boards try to be the "be all" to placate parents so as not to rock the boat and put their school board jobs in jeopardy. They also introduce program after program and new initiative after new initiative for the classroom teacher to implement. This takes away from the education of the child. They mire teachers in a sea of red tape so as to justify the board bureaucracies existence. Board rules with strict suspension and expulsion policies leave teachers feeling helpless and allow the few trouble making students to spoil it for the rest and make it harder for the other students to learn and feel safe.

Instead of concentrating on Math and English and other core subjects, teachers are now called upon to be social workers, parents, police, sex educators, dieticians, psychologists ..... etc, to the students. People wonder why their children are falling behind in math and english. DUH!

Often boards side with parents on issues; even before hearing the teachers' side. It's important to note that boards have not always been in existence. Before them, many counties had "trustees". Trustees were booted out to make way for these boards which have become over bloated and ineffective. If the board is spending your money on it's own bureaucracy, it has less money for the students and less money to hire more teachers to allow for smaller classroom sizes. Besides, in the absence of board bureaucracy, can't the Department of Education pick up some of the slack?

J. MacKinnon

I agree with the article submitted by J. MacKinnon because the average person does not know the hierarchy of the educational system. First you have the Department of Education, then below them is the School Board (middle management if you will), then you have the Schools. Schools can run almost autonomously with some direction and oversight from the Department of Education. So really, why do we have School Boards? School boards spend millions of dollars on themselves that would have gone directly to the schools.

J. Sullivan

Yes, school boards are non-essential and the Department of Education is too large - bureaucratically speaking. They have teachers embroiled in paper work that has little or nothing to do with teaching. Also, policies that enforce inclusion among students with disabilities is a liberal minded idea without merit. Ultimately, it ends up polarizing the students and leaving them to feel more isolated.