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Part 1 – The Parent Interview.

The parent that I interviewed has a male, pre-school child, who is enrolled at the Elementary School that I work at. The boy is 4 years old.

1. The Discipline program.

My understanding is the teacher will give the three-chance rule. They will ask the student three times to stop what they are doing. And if they do not stop the behavior than they will need to go to the cool down or safe spot area. This is not a time out area; it’s an area were the children can go to handle their emotions. It’s a place for them to regain the control over their emotions. As a parent I feel that this is very effective, and it makes the child think about what they did and try not to do it again. The key word is will not try it again.

2.  Individual learning needs.

I feel the school is doing an excellent job regrinding my child’s choices and needs in learning. My child is quite advanced, and they are helping him to get to the next level. For reading time they are allowing him to go to a kindergarten class and read in a Pre-a reading group with students that are a little older than my child. By doing this I feel that my child will not become board and will be challenged.

3. Parent involvement.

I feel that the school lacks in this department. The only involvement we as parents have is through folders and notes. We are not allowed to come in and help with the classroom or volunteer in the classroom. So, I feel that this is lacking.

4. Communication.

I feel that communication is great. We can speak with the teacher in the morning and evening pickup time. Also, there is an agenda log that is filled out every day. Explaining what activities my child did that day and what will be coming up in the near feature. I can communicate with the teacher through email or by calling. But I feel the best way of communications is face to face continuation.

5. Activities.

As a family we do after school activities, my son is on a soccer team, so he is learning the sport of soccer and how to win and lose at the game. The one learning experience is channeling the feelings of losing a game. Also, it gets him involved with other children that do not go to his school. So, the soccer team will expand his social friends.

6. Issues that arise.

I have never had an issue with my pre-k child, but I do have 3 older children that go to the school. One time I saw that the teacher did not give an extra credit project grade to by child’s gradebook. He needed this grade to bring up his score. I did reach out to the teacher and she did forget to input the grade in the computer system. So, I was happy that I found that mistake and it was taken care of.

Part 2 – Administrator Interview

The interviewee was the assistant principle of the school that I work at. He is involved with the curriculum of the school and all the disciplinary calls that come from the classroom room teachers.

1. Discipline program.

Are school takes discipline to be very important. First of all, the use of corporal punishment is prohibited at our school and thought out the county that we teach in. The following are the guidelines of the school’s discipline plan.

After the teacher has done the process of the cool off zone, and the student that filled out their think sheets. Cool down area, the teacher provides some tools that will help the student to calm down and be able to regulate their emotions. Some of the items that are in the area are stuff animals, which they can use to hug on. And some calm down bottles with glitter in them. The glitter bottle gives off a calming effect on the child. The teacher will set a 3 to 5-minute timer next to the child so that the child can look at the time. Stress balls or slim for the student to squeeze on for the time that they are sitting out in another technique that the teacher will use. Once the timer is finished the teacher will talk to the child what is expected of them and ask them to make good choices.

If the behavior becomes so bad that the child needs to be removed from the class. This is when I step in, and I will remove the child from the classroom. Once the student is removed from the class an administrator will call the students’ parents to inform them of what has just happened in the classroom or on school grounds.

2. Individual Learning Needs.

I know that are school holds up to the Florida State Standards and we offer a wide range of opportunities for the children to learn. The school offers after school tutoring for the students plus different stem clubs and computer labs that the children can attend.

3. Parental involvement

We encourage the parents to partake in The Back to School Night, The Fall Harvest Festival and the Science Fair Night at the school. The parents get to experience what is

going on in the school. Most of all we encourage the parents to attend their child student-parent conferences.

4. Communication with Parents.

This is done by a phone call first, if the first parent is not reached then the second parent is called. If both parents cannot be reached then we will reach the next of kin,

which is whoever is listed on the student’s clinic card. Once the next of kin is called then the parent will call right away. The second step would be email, but I personally prefer contacting the parent by phone or text.

5. Social skills.

By just allowing the students to run around the playground and do things outside. Allowing the child to build a butterfly garden outside and they are able to go outside to learn and to share and take turns by building the garden. Our school has a lunch bunch with the teacher once a week. By doing this they are building the relationship with their students.

6. Issues that arise.

This is one example that happened this week at our school. This pertains to dealing with a staff member and a student. One of the staff members who is a teacher’s aide, called one of the students a monkey. The student just so happens to be an African American and Caucasian decent. The student went home and told his parents that the teacher’s aide called him a monkey. We had to address this issue. The aid is no longer allowed to teach in that classroom, and she is now put on clerical duties in the school. The aid will no longer have contact with the children. This aide’s yearly contract will not be renewed for the next year at our school. We feel that she is not a good fit for this school.

*This information was disclosed to me because the aid works in my department, Personally I feel that she needs to be fired and no longer working in the school system and working with children. I personally do not condone name calling to a child in anyway. But I am not in administration and this is a decision that they made.

Post Write up regarding part 1 and part 2.

I enjoyed seeing the different results between the parent and the administration views. Some topics were on point and others were not. One topic that did not match up was number 3, The Parental Involvement. The parent felt that there was a huge lack of opportunities for parent involvement, where the admin gave several different opportunities for the parents to help out. This is where the communication between teachers and parents need to be strengthened. Excellent communication does not just happen, it requires special skills on the teachers and administrations part. Some examples of social skills and techniques are the following, kindness, good listening skills, consideration, empathy and the understanding of the parent-child relationship. A great way to build a bond with parents and caregivers is through conferences. Conference can be in the form of telephone conversations, written notes written in the students take home folders. One guideline when working with parents is that “Teachers must believe that parents have a crucial role in their children as education, and parents and teachers must trust each other, (McAfee, 2016). Another great time is to be positive when you have communication with me the parents. A lot of teachers will only contact a parent when the child has done something wrong. Teachers should also contact the child’s parents when the child has done something great also. A positive praise can go a long way. Communication between parents and staff may be come blocked. When a parent is very angry, it can be extremely hard to control anger. It is always good to sit back and listen and hopefully they will calm down. Most of the time the parent anger is often misplaced, sometimes the parent will center their frustration on a minor issue instead of the real issue. Regarding the incident that happen at my school, where the teachers aid, called a student the name that is an excellent reason for the parents to be upset. So, there are reasonable limits to were a parent comes in with a concern and has every right to be angry. Active Listening is an approach that includes sharing what the other person seems to be feeling. Another great tool to use is a dialogue, this is when communication has different points of views, and these views are listened to and a non-defensive language is used to promote open communication

and problem solving. Having parent involvement can be a good thing. For example, in one study it said that “Schools with more parental involvement are almost always the higher-performing schools when it comes to standardized test.” (Meador, 2017). It has been proven that parents who invest time in their child’s education will have their children be more successful in school.

1. Individualized learning needs of each child. Between both interviews this was felt like both parties were on the same page. (IFSP) Individualized Family Service Plan- Which is a written plan for early intervention consisting of the child’s level of development, the family’s strengths and needs, goals for the toddler and family and the specific early intervention services needed to meet the goals for the child. This is developed by a team including parents and a variety of specialists. I feel that this is very important to have done right away. So, in case the family needs anything the staff at the school can

help. This plan also will come in handy when the child is special needs. Sometime the child will start showing behavior issues or they will be on the spectrum of ASD. Some parents are in denial of these issues. By having specialist’s observer, the child in the classroom, this will give the parent concrete information that something may be different. By having these observations, the staff will begin the process of an IEP form. The Key is to start as soon as possible, so the child will be able to revive the correct help that is needed. And by having this help the child will be able to succeed in their journey through school. “Early parent engagement. By working with new parents or parent of very young children, programs can address potential problems early on and ensure more positive outcomes later in life.” (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2019).

2. Discipline- Both the parent and administration were on the same page regarding discipline. There are several steps that can be taken to reduce a disturbance

In the classroom from a child who has anger issues. On can be removal from the class. The teacher can request that the student to be removed from the class because they are seriously disrupting the teaching or learning in the classroom. Once the student is removed from the classroom, upper management can place the student in another appropriate classroom, or in school suspension. The student can not return to the classroom unless the teacher consents to having the student back. Another option is to have a parent shadow their child for a day in the classroom. This also is a great way for parent involvement. The parent will attend classes with the student for a day or for a special period of time. This is so that the parent can see firsthand what is happening. The last resort is school suspension-this can be done in school or out of school, for no longer than three consecutive days for one offense. A study showed “That 95% or higher of all problems in schools occur due to lack of clear and concise communication. Small problems end up being significant when developing teachers refuse or do

not even recognize they can handle situations at the lowest level of communication.” (Konen,2018). Between both interviews they were about two areas that were different from one another. But I found that it could be resolved through communication.

References:

• McAfee, O. (2016). Assessing and guiding young childrens development and learning. Boston: Pearson Education.
• Meador, D. (2017). Effective Strategies to Increase Parental Involvement in Education. ThoughtCo.,1-3.
• Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2019). Parent education to strengthen families and reduce the risk of maltreatment. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.
• Konen, J. (2018, February 09). Communicating with Families. Retrieved from https://www.teacher.org/daily/communicating-with-families/