Three Basic Steps Towards Effective Parental Involvement in Education

by Jason Scott

According to recent surveys, 79% of parents say that they want to learn more about how to be more involved in their children’s education.

Similar percentages also think their children's teachers could learn more about involving parents in their children's learning. Even the President of the United States says that parents have to be more involved.

At a recent NAACP conference President Obama told his audience, “When it comes to education, we need better standards in our schools, excellent teachers in our classrooms, and parents doing their part to ensure that all our children can succeed, no matter what their race, faith or station in life.”

So everyone wants the parents more involved, but how? As the son of two teachers and now having school-aged children of my own, I think I see this question from both sides and I am pleased to roll out my 3 point method for basic, effective parental involvement.

At the very least, make sure your children get to bed by 10:00pm. That’s lights out, TV off, in bed, and asleep to be more specific. Don’t send your zombie-eyed, sleep-deprived children to school. (And just for the record, feeding them breakfast isn’t a bad idea either).


Ask your child about what is going on in school every single day. Make it your priority to ignore the soap opera aspects of school life and keep asking about the classroom content. “What are you studying? Really? That’s interesting. Why do you think so?”

Have real conversations about the material and pester them until they realize that this conversation is a normal part of their daily life. Really listen to what they have to say and let them teach you a bit. It will help reinforce that day’s material while drilling in the message that the classroom stuff is important. Take advantage of the time in the car on the ride home — have your child put down the DS or iPod and talk to you.


Be on the teacher’s side. Support the teacher in their role, and pay respect to them by giving the benefit of the doubt when differences arise between what they are telling you and what your child is telling you. Yes, you know that your little angel would never do the thing that the teacher claims, but humor the teacher from time to time and keep the lines of communication open.

Although my methods are far from full-proof, follow these simple steps and you’ll be on the road to effective parental involvement before you know it.

Tuesday Trivia

1. Who wrote the popular children's poem The Pied Piper of Hamelin?
2. What environmentally correct gesture did publisher Harper San Francisco make in 1990 in conjunction with its publication of the book Two Minutes a Day for a Greener Planet?
3. What do the letters in the word “SHAZAM” represent in the Captain Marvel comics?
4. What great writer, shortly before his death at age 90, successfully defended himself against senility charges by reading his latest work in court?
5. What famous writer bragged that he gave his talent to his work and saved his genius for his life?

Last Week’s Answers


What nineteenth-century American literary classic was labeled "downright socialistic" and banned from U.S. Information Service libraries in 1954?

Walden, by Henry David Thoreau.


Who owned the land on Walden Pond, where Henry David Thoreau built a cabin and wrote the essays that became his book Walden Pond, or Life in the Woods?

Ralph Waldo Emerson.


According to Shakespeare, what was England's Henry VIII doing on the night his daughter, future Queen Elizabeth I, was born?

Playing cards. The game was primero, an early form of poker.


What American literary figure wrote his daughter: "Worry about cleanliness, courage, efficiency and horsemanship, but don't worry about the past, the future, boys, mosquitoes and popular opinion"?

F. Scott Fitzgerald.


What writer originated the phrase "Do not count your chickens before they are hatched" in a story about a farmer's daughter?

Aesop, in his story The Milkmaid and Her Pail.

Tuesday Trivia

1. What nineteenth-century American literary classic was labeled "downright socialistic" and banned from U.S. Information Service libraries in 1954?
2. Who owned the land on the banks of Walden Pond where Henry David Thoreau built a cabin and wrote the essays that became his book Walden Pond, or Life in the Woods?
3. According to Shakespeare, what was England's Henry VIII doing on the night his daughter, future Queen Elizabeth I, was born?
4. What American literary figure wrote his daughter: "Worry about cleanliness, courage, efficiency and horsemanship, but don't worry about the past, the future, boys, mosquitoes and popular opinion"?
5. What writer originated the phrase "Do not count your chickens before they are hatched" in a story about a farmer's daughter?

Last Week’s Answers

What did Robert Browning use to wean and cure his wife, Elisabeth Barrett Browning, from her addiction to laudanum?

Chianti.


What famous writer is credited with originating the expression "rain cats and dogs"?

Jonathan Swift, in A Complete Collection of Polite and Ingenious Conversation, which he originally had published under the pseudonym Simon Wagstaff, Esquire.


What early American writer used the pen names Geoffrey Crayon and Jonathan Oldstyle?

Washington Irving author of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, used the pen names Geoffrey Crayon and Jonathan Oldstyle.


What famous entertainer wrote the best sellers The Man in Black in 1975 and Man in White in 1986?

Country singer Johnny Cash. Black is an autobiography; White, a novel about the apostle Saint Paul.


What popular children's book was written by Ian Fleming, creator of British secret agent James Bond?

Ian Fleming is also author of the charming children's classic, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the Magical Car.

Happy Birthday, Edith Hamilton!

Most folks are happily settled into retirement by the time they’re 90, but in 1957 a 90-year-old Edith Hamilton traveled to Greece where she was awarded the Gold Cross of the Legion of Benefaction and made an honorary citizen of Athens. This nod of approval from the people of Greece was in recognition of Hamilton’s impressive body of writing that has since introduced several generations of students to Greek history and mythology.

Long before she became a writer, Edith Hamilton was appointed the first headmistress of the Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore, MD, in 1896 where she served as both a teacher and an administrator until her retirement in 1922. In those years, Hamilton became an excellent teacher and was able to inspire students with her own enthusiasm for learning. Although she had a knack for education, it was Hamilton’s retirement from teaching that allowed her to pursue her successful career in writing.

After getting to know Hamilton socially through friendly meetings in New York City, Rosamond Gilder, the editor of Theatre Arts Monthly, suggested Hamilton write about Greek tragedies for the magazine. At first Hamilton refused, but was finally persuaded, and the articles she penned for the magazine were compiled into her first book, The Greek Way, which was published in 1930 when Hamilton was 63 years old. From there, Hamilton went on to write eight more books including her celebrated work, Mythology, which is used in classrooms worldwide.

"I came to the Greeks early, and I found answers in them,” Hamilton said in a 1958 interview. “Greece's great men let all their acts turn on the immortality of the soul. We don't really act as if we believe in the soul's immortality and that's why we are where we are today."

Perhaps even more remarkable than her age, is that, unlike other authors who have written on mythology, Hamilton had never set foot in Greece prior to her visit in 1957. Her writings were based entirely on the literature of the classics and the parallels between life in ancient Greece and modern life that she was able to draw from them.

Hamilton’s love of teaching is readily apparent in all of the books she has written, and her ability to convey information in a way that is accessible to readers is unriveled. So today, on her 142nd birthday, we celebrate one of the great contributors to the literary canon. Happy Birthday, Edith!

Tuesday Trivia

1. What did Robert Browning substitute to cure his wife, Elisabeth Barrett Browning, from her addiction to laudanum?
2. What famous satirical writer originated the expression "raining cats and dogs"?
3. What early American writer used the pseudonyms Geoffrey Crayon and Jonathan Oldstyle?
4. What American entertainer wrote the best selling books The Man in Black in 1975 and Man in White in 1986?
5. What popular childrens' book was written by Ian Fleming, creator of British secret agent James Bond?

Last Week's Answers


Who wrote the first modern ghost story in the English language?

Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe, penned the “True Relation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal,” which was published in 1706.


What famous American author's grandfather was the model for Oliver Wendell Holmes' “The Last Leaf,” a poem about a survivor to the Boston Tea party?

Herman Melville's grandfather, Major Thomas Melvill, was the muse for Holmes’ 1891 poem. Holmes met Herman Melville (along with Nathaniel Hawthorne and various other famous writers) at the famous picnic at Monument Mountain in Lenox, Massachusetts, August 5, 1850, and developed a friendship.


Tattered Tom and Ragged Dick were the heroes in two books written by what nineteenth century American author?

They were both heroes in books written by Horatio Alger. Alger wrote approximately 120 rags-to-riches success stories about hardworking and honest young men between 1883 and 1896.


Who is the cocktail Brandy Alexander named for?

Brandy Alexander, a sweet, brandy-based cocktail popular during the early 20th century was supposedly named for Alexander Woollcott, drama and literary critic and Algonquin Round Table regular. Woollcott's reviews helped to launch several big names into stardom — most notably the Marx Brothers. Woollcott’s review of their Broadway debut, I'll Say She Is, helped the group's career and forged a life-long friendship with Harpo Marx.


What famous English writer, while living in Vermont, created snow golf?

Although the origin of snow golf is the Dutch game of "Kolf" that has been played since the Middle Ages, modern snow golf is credited to Rudyard Kipling. While living in Vermont in the 1890s, Kipling relaxed by playing snow golf when he wasn’t writing his classic work, The Jungle Book. He painted the balls red so that they wouldn't be lost in the snow.

The Dragon and His Wrath - Keach’s Lear at Washington’s Shakespeare Theatre

Before the 19th Century, Lear's dark side was often ignored, and the play was turned into a moral fairy tale with a modified ending in whic hteh King and his daughter are reunited and everyone learns a valuable lesson.

Robert Fall’s production, just wrapping up at Washington DC’s Shakespeare Theatre, is the complete opposite of the once-popular light-hearted versions. Moved from a timeless, medieval England to a post-Soviet Yugoslavia, this Lear focuses on the horrors caused by the nation’s loss of a clear leader and the power struggle that ensues.

The play opens with an extravagant ball room with a giant portrait of a young Stacy Keach, looking down, Stalin-like, at his birthday party, where he plans on dividing his kingdom among his three daughters. Lest the party’s atmosphere seem too serene, a DJ spins records and party goers fire automatic rifles into the air.

Throughout the play, the scenery deteriorates from this bright party to a battlefield with wrecked cars and trash strewn about the stage, mirroring the destruction of the kingdom as sister fights sister and brother fights brother. Murder and torture are brought to the forefront as we see Gloucester’s eyes ripped from his head and see Reagan strangle her sister Goneril on stage and take a gun to herself instead of their traditional offstage murder-suicide.

Obviously, this isn’t a Lear for the weak-hearted, but if you’ve ever wondered what Shakespeare would be like for the Soprano’s generation, this is a production for you. Even if it’s not the way that you’d produce the play, it’s always exciting to see a play that takes this many risks.

While I wouldn’t say this is a particularly student-safe version (on top of the violence, Lear, Cordellia, and Poor Tom all show full-frontal nudity), productions like this one always bring up interesting teaching opportunities. I’ve always been a fan of teaching Shakespeare through performance (see Dr. Cohen’s ShakesFear), and a production like this can be used to help your students see the relevance of a 400 year old play and help them imagine something more than “dudes in tights” as they do their own readings.

PS – At the end of this month and beginning of next month, The Shakespeare Theatre will be offering a free production of The Taming of the Shrew. I had a subscription to the classical plays this year, and I’d heartily recommend going to a performance if you’re in the DC area.

Tuesday Trivia

1. Who wrote the first modern ghost story in the English language?
2. What famous American author's grandfather was the model for Oliver Wendell Holmes' “The Last Leaf,” a poem about a survivor to the Boston Tea party?
3. Tattered Tom and Ragged Dick were the heroes in two books written by what nineteenth century American author?
4. Who is the cocktail Brandy Alexander named after?
5. What famous English writer, while living in Vermont, invented snow golf?

Last Week's Answers

What famous poet was known to his close friends by the nickname Junkets?

John Keats. He was given this nickname by his close friend, English critic, essayist, poet, and writer, Leigh Hunt.

What French novelist inadvertently provided actress Ruth Davis with her stage name, Bette Davis?
Honore de Balzac's 1840 novel Cousin Bette provided Davis with her stage name.

What Shakespearean character was based on a London doctor who served as Queen Elizabeth I's chief physician — until he was arrested and hanged for conspiring to kill her?
Shylock, the money-lender in The Merchant of Venice. The Doctor's name was Roderigo Lopez.

What two great writers died on the same day — April 23, 1616?

Shakespeare and Cervantes.

Which book did Americans rate as their favorite--second only to the Bible in 1900?
The Sears Roebuck Catalog.

A Sneak Peek at the Common Core State Standards Initiative from EdWeek

— Douglas Grudzina

Do you believe it’s been twenty-six years since the publication of A Nation at Risk launched a nationwide fury of standards-setting and assessment-writing, all with the ostensible goal of improving our students’ performance in essential disciplines like mathematics, science, and—of course—English language arts? Just about every state and territory did something—some better than others. Organizations like the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association developed their standards.

An entire generation has been born, entered kindergarten, graduated from high school, (attended college), and begun their teaching careers under America’s “new and improved” educational system.

But in a number of key ways and for a number of students, things did not get much better. A large part of the problem was that, while most states did something, few states did anything in concert with any other state. Delaware’s education system evolved in ways completely independent of New York’s, California’s, and Maine’s. This might pose no problem if we had any assurance that a student who entered kindergarten in Delaware would graduate from high school in Delaware, attend a Delaware college, and work his or her entire career in Delaware.

The fact of the matter is, however, that the typical American student attends from three to five diverse and independent school systems between kindergarten and grade twelve. Different sources provide different statistics, but between military and corporate moves, divorce and remarriage, and any number of other situations that require a family to relocate, a student beginning kindergarten in Delaware is not likely to graduate from high school in Delaware. By the same token, a student graduating from high school in Maine probably did not begin kindergarten in Maine. And a fifth-grader in Nebraska… (well, you get the idea).

In response to a perceived need for a more comprehensive and coherent educational system, the National Governor’s Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers—in partnership with Achieve, Inc., ACT, and The College Board—have been collaborating on what they call the “Common Core State Standards Initiative.” At present, forty-nine states and territories have signed-on to the process and have more-or-less agreed to adopt the final Common Core Standards as their state standards.

Four states have opted out of the initiative. (The renegades, in case you're interested, are Alaska, Missouri, Texas, and South Carolina). J The stated purpose of these standards is to “define the rigorous skills and knowledge in English Language Arts and Mathematics that need to be effectively taught and learned for students to be ready to succeed academically in credit-bearing, college-entry courses and in workforce training programs” (Preamble to the Standards Draft Document).

Anyway, the big news is that a draft of the standards has been sent out to various groups (including NCTE, you can read their response here). Yesterday, for whatever reason, someone at Education Week released a review draft which can be viewed in PDF format here.

Whatever you feel about standards in general, the idea of national standards, and so on and so on, it’s really in everyone’s best interest to be informed what the standards are, what they mean, and how they’re going to affect teaching and learning.

Even if you ultimately have no comment one way or the other, they’re worth taking a look at.

Oh, and it’s only 40 days ‘til Labor Day.

Tuesday Trivia

1. What famous poet was known to his close friends by the nickname Junkets?
2. What French novelist inadvertently provided actress Ruth Davis with her stage name, Bette Davis?
3. What Shakespearean character was based on a London doctor who served as Queen Elizabeth I's chief physician until he was arrested and hanged for conspiring to kill her?
4. What two great writers died on April 23, 1616?
5. Which book did Americans rate as their favorite in the year 1900 (second only to the Bible)?

Last Week's Answers

What famous writer claimed she did most of the plotting for her books while sitting in a bathtub munching on apples?

Agatha Christie, an English writer equally famous for her novels, short stories, and plays, played an important role in shaping the crime genre. She has been quoted as saying that her over 80 detective novels and various other works all began as musings in the tub.

What American novelist was challenged to a duel and beaten by a woman he later married?

Jack London dueled with future bride, Charmian Kittredge, with foils, face masks, and breast plates.


Who was the inspiration for the popular sixteenth-century nursery rhyme Little Miss Muffet?

Patience Muffet was the daughter of the poem's author, Dr. Thomas Muffet. Dr. Muffet worked as an entomologist and wrote frequently about spiders.


What future playwright was expelled from Princeton University by Woodrow Wilson when the American president-to-be was president of the university?

Eugene O'Neill was expelled for throwing a bottle of beer through Wilson's office window.

What famous author wrote under the pen names Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass, Sergeant Fathom, and W. Apaminondas Adrastus Blab before switching to the name with which he gained fame?

Samuel Clemens, who finally settled on the name Mark Twain.

The Hobart Shakespeareans: An Inspiration to the Teaching Profession

— Paul Moliken, Senior Editor

Over the weekend, I settled in front of the television to watch the 2005 made-for-PBS documentary, The Hobart Shakespeareans. After having watched it, I believe this film should most certainly be in the Netflix cue of anyone thinking about becoming a teacher and on the must-see/mandatory viewing list for your classes. It's not a secret that a teacher can make a difference in kids’ lives every year, but Rafe Esquith truly does in the lives of his under-privileged students. It just goes to show that truth, honesty, and hard work do, in fact, equal results.



Without going into too many details, I originally thought that the movie would be about teaching Shakespeare to young students, which it is, but there this film has so much more to offer. Rafe Esquith, a 49 year-old elementary school teacher in a deprived , mostly non-English-speaking Los Angeles neighborhood, not only has his students learning about The Bard, but also, more importantly, about what’s essential in life. The man is an inspiration to all teachers out there because his methods are perfectly suited to the subjects and the students he teaches. The students are involved, they understand, and (best of all) they respond.



In one telling scene, these ten-year-olds, many of whom live with violence and drugs in their lives, read Huck Finn out loud—the section in which Huck says that he’ll “go to hell” for deciding that Jim should be free—with tears streaming down their faces. They get it. Rafe (which is what they call him) then heightens their understanding by making them see that Huck is wrong in the eyes of his society, and that they must sometimes be themselves.



His job is not all easy, as we see when he disciplines three students, but the fruits of his labor are obvious: Some students return after a few years and help out, and others who have gone on to be financially successful donate money and services to his program to help pay for two trips during the year.

Within the film, we get to see the kids become familiar with a fair amount of Shakespeare. The class will put on Hamlet at the end of the year, and they’ll get it as well. Along the way, Michael York and Sir Ian McKellen visit the class. But it's obvious that Rafe is the star. He makes sure aspirants for the play know that being in it means, “Killing your TV” and “Working harder than you’ve ever worked before.”



One question: Do your students cry when the year is up because they will be leaving your class? It’s obvious that these kids love Rafe. The man is definitely an inspiration to those in the teaching profession.