Chapter 15: Parents as Partners in Twenty-First-Century Learning

This chapter focuses on having effective communication with parents. Be it about how their child is doing in the classroom, or just what that night’s homework is. I like the different resources that he gives with ways to post homework online. When I was in school, we had the homework hotline. This was convenient for the time, however, now that most families have internet at home now putting it online is even easier. Also, if the family doesn’t have internet at home, most parents work somewhere where they will have access to the internet. However, Wormeli doesn’t just stick to doing everything electronically, he also has newsletters, and surveys sent home as well. I especially liked his idea with the postcards, that when he and his collegues are in a meeting, and when they think that a parent deserves the recognition, they will send a postcard home, saying how great their student has been doing in school lately. The index card inquiries is another thing that I might actually apply in the classroom. Because, what better person to ask about your future students than the parents who have raised their child, and know how they tick. All in all, I really liked this chapter on how to keep in touch with parents and have them be involved a lot better than the TP2000 chapter.