The question I encounter time and time again is why don't parents and teachers get involved? And more to the point why do these parties seldmon work in concert with one another?
I've had some teachers (incognito of course) say it was because of me and my leadership at/of PEP. Oh if this were true -- I would step down POST HASTE.
Some parents have said other parents and teachers just don't care. I find that difficult to believe yet I do not have a sound argument against this position.
Others speculate it's the time and lack of appropriate notification. While "spare" time is certainly a challege for many and district notices of events are less than forthcoming in a timely manner -- invariably there are parents who find out and show up... even if just a few.
Instead of asking why not...let me ask you this, why do some parents and some teachers get involved?
I would love to hear from a few brave souls....
Will this question go into the world of unanswered obscurity like -- how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop? One, Two, Three...please tell me!
or
Will the world never know...
Progress With Purpose!
11 years ago
1 comment:
When I was in college, many leaders of student organizations spent a lot of time discussing the lack of participation of thier fellow students in thier organizations, activities and events. They even held forums to discuss "student apathy". I found this extremely ironic given that I knew a lot of students that were interested in getting involved but didn't know where to start. They tried going to the meetings of the various organizations, nut were turned off by the "leaders" who spent the entire time talking at their members about all of the burdens put on them, as opposed to talking with them about the role each member could play in moving the groups agenda forward. Many of us up and coming leaders recognized the underlying problem and sought out to correct it. Student apathy wasn't the problem. The problem was that the leadership was employing the wrong strategies for getting thier fellow students involved. They didn't need to hear endless complaining about apathy. They needed a plan for how to get more students involved. We set out to devise a plan. We identified the things that needed to get done (short term and long term). We then let students know about these concrete opportunities. They could choose between long term or short term assignments. We usually got reluctant volunteers to take on a "one shot deal" assignment, meaning it only took a few hours on one day and then you were done. Unless, of course, you caught the volunteering bug (which often happened) and you volunteered again. We need to ease parents into involvement in a structured way. Everyone is not ready to lead a city wide organization. As for the teachers. They need some tender prodding from the parents of the children in thier classroom. The parents that are involved need to communicate to their children's teachers how important it is to them that the teacher come out to some of the PTO meetings and/or events. Parents can play a huge role in changing the attitude of a particular teacher. Some parents just need a little training on how to go about this effectively. I beleive that an organization like PEP could play a positive role in supporting the PTO's at the individual schools by providing training to parents on effective practices in school involvement.
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