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On Parent Engagement: Teacher Tuesdays 2011

This summer, we're privileged to introduce a new series: Teacher Tuesdays, taking on Parent Engagement.

If you're reading VolunteerSpot's blog or using our online coordination tool, you likely already believe that parents being involved at school is a good (or even essential) thing. To enrich the conversation, we thought we'd approach parent engagement from a teacher's perspective and invited several leading teacher bloggers to share their viewpoints about parent involvement in education.

Whether you're a teacher or a parent, or just care about education, please drop by this summer to read what these wonderful teachers have to say.

 

Please Welcome our Guests:

Amy Mascott of Teach Mama shares how parents can help combat summer brain drain during the long stretch of no classes.

Lisa Dabbs of Teaching with Soul writes about the importance of parent participation in education.

Pernille Ripp of Blogging through the Fourth Dimension writes an open letter to parents with the things a teacher wishes they could tell them but doesn't.

Suzy Brooks of Third Graders, Dreaming Big shares her belief that parents and educators are on the same team, and that the clearer they are both are able to see each child, the more they are able to help him or her as a learner.

Lisa Nielson of The Innovative Educator author of a free parenting guide, Fix the Schools, Not the Child, a resource for readers.

Joan Young of Finding Ways for All Kids to Flourish will be sharing insights on why parent involvement matters in schools.

Joe Bower of For the Love of Learning speaks on the subject of parents and educators and how they can work together to create the best possible learning environment for our kids.

Click Here for the most recent Teacher Tuesday posts and PLEASE join us for a summer of (fun!) learning!

Small Actions, Big Impact | Summer of Service 2011

Thank you for joining us for our first installment of Summer of Service! We're kicking off the series with Nate St. Pierre, the founder of  ItStartsWith.Us, who is sharing his ideas on how everyone can make a big difference in the lives of others, even with limited time and money. Thanks Nate!

Small Actions, Big Impact

By Nate St. Pierre

 

How many times have we all thought, “I want to do something with my life that makes a difference, but I don’t have any time (or money)?” I was pondering this a couple years ago, and I decided I was going to build systems where people could make a positive impact on others, in a way that was meaningful to them, in tiny increments of time and/or money. I wanted to prove to everyone that it is possible to change the world through small, consistent acts, and you don’t have to be Mother Theresa or the executive director of a nonprofit to make it happen.

Because the reality is that we are all volunteers, and we are all service leaders in some way.

 

Nobody pays us to take care of our kids, to help out our friends and family, or to be kind to those around us. Yet those are the things that truly matter in this life, and guess what? A little bit goes a long way with the people who are close to you.

So with that in mind, I set out to build some teams that anyone could join. I’ll give you a brief synopsis of each one here. I’m listing them out not for self-promotion, but rather to provide three distinct examples of how you can touch hearts and change lives by utilizing the concept of micro-giving. Hopefully these will give you some ideas of the kinds of things you can do in your own sphere of influence.

 

1. ItStartsWith.Us (5,000 members in 100 countries)

Changing the world in 15 minutes a week.

This team receives one email per week with an assignment that takes just 15 minutes or less to complete. With thousands of us working on it together, we accomplish some very big things. ItStartsWith.Us touches literally thousands of lives a week. It allows people to work together, both individually and as a team, to make a tangible difference for someone in their own lives, or for a stranger.

2. Love Drop (1,000 members in a dozen countries)

Spend a dollar, change a life.

Love Drop is a micro-giving network of people who unite as a community to help one person or family a month. By subscribing to the team for as low as $1, we make it easy for our members to change lives in a fun and tangible way. Each month Love Drop delivers a unique combination of unexpected financial gifts, personal encouragement and the support of local and online communities.This team has given away over $40,000 worth of cash, goods and services to five families in five months.

3. Love Bomb (2,000 members in 50 countries)

Changing lives in 5 minutes a week.

Once a week we come together to drop hundreds of love bombs (in the form of blog comments) for those who need it most. We find people going through a difficult time and envelop them with a community that truly cares. Love Bomb is the fastest, easiest project to participate in, and one of the most powerful. Quite a few people have told me that the reason they’re alive today is because of this team. 

The biggest lesson learned from all these teams is the knowledge – the proof – that small actions can and do make a huge impact, every single day.

And because of this, every single one of us has the power to change the world.

****

Nate St. Pierre is the founder of ItStartsWith.Us, a global group of people committed to changing the world in just 15 minutes a week. He utilizes the concept of micro-giving to provide a fast, fun and effective way to channel and direct that passion to people who can benefit from it. Along the way he helps build strong bonds of friendship and a solid team mentality among every participating member, strengthening the entire community and adding to the overall impact of the group. Contact him on Twitter and Facebook.

Teacher Gift Ideas

By Allison Drake, creator of Room Mom 101

As a room parent, you might feel confused as to teacher gift giving. You may be asking yourself how often, what to give and how much money do you have to spend. Speaking as a teacher, I can honestly say that I don't expect to receive gifts from my students. If I do happen to receive something from a student it does make me feel loved and appreciated though. Here are some suggestions for no cost gifts for the teacher OR room parent:

Great Teacher Gift Ideas

• List the top ten reasons they like the teacher.

• Share a story of a time the teacher helped them in school.

• Tell the teacher why she inspires them.

• Share a story of when the teacher helped them get over an obstacle.

• Tell the teacher how he/she the was instrumental in helping them reach a goal they had set.
  (If the children are too young to write a letter, have them draw a picture of the teacher at a moment that was special to them.)

• If you have rubber stamps, use them to personalize some stationery for the teacher with stamps that are geared for his interests.

• A thank you card {handwritten by the student of course!}

• A picture drawn by the student.

• Write a poem or story.

• Create a Wordle.

• Make a scrapbook.

Whether you write a letter, buy a gift, or make something, by keeping the individual's interests and personality in mind, you'll end up with the ideal gift!

****

Allison Drake created Room Mom 10,1 taught 3rd grade, and worked as a reading interventionist -- currently she's teaching 1st grade and LOVES it. She has 4 children (2 boys & 2 girls). She has lived in 9 different places, but loves the small town life...especially for raising kids! Read more about her on Room Mom 101.

Volunteer Spotlight: Letty Gali of LOT318, Placentia, CA

Lot318…“Loving Others in Truth” from 1 John 3:18…ministers at risk youth and their community by empowering them to see their worth and purpose in this world. LOT318 holds various events and service opportunities throughout the year. They use VolunteerSpot's free online signup sheets to organize their volunteers while they help at the homework center, feed the hungry, and help out at their summer camps. The goal is to give at-risk youth opportunities they may never have had, and to become a positive influence and force in our world.

Today, our spotlight shines on Letty Gali, Co-founder of LOT318. Letty challenges students to focus on their studies and encourages them to improve their attitudes in their homes and community. Having grown up in Brooklyn, NY, Letty can relate to the students, which in turn allows the students to be vulnerable, honest, and teachable. Letty's goal is for students to believe in themselves and to reach for the stars. She challenges them to dream big, give back to the community, and reach their goals.
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Tell us about the volunteer needs of your organization.
LOT318, which stands for Loving Others in Truth, comes from the scriptures 1 John 318 which states "Dear Children, let us not love in words or speech but with actions and in truth." Our organization is not just about telling people we love them, but showing them. Our volunteer needs range from feeding the homeless in the summertime, to working with kids in our summer program on math, reading, and science. Our current needs are for volunteers to help with our afterschool homework club. During this time, the kids have 20 minutes of required reading time, either to themselves or out loud, and we need volunteers to listen to them read, and then discuss with the kids what they read, to help them recall and understand the material. We also have monthly community events, which help to empower the community.

How did you get started with this organization?
After serving in the community for about three years, I co-founded LOT 318, which is a non-profit organization. In 2004, I was introduced into the community by a middle school principal who asked me to help one child who was having problems with gangs and drugs, because he didn’t think he had any alternatives. I met with him and eventually we helped transform his life so he could move in a more positive direction. We then challenged him to work with other troubled teens, which grew into working with the parents and other adults in the community. We then realized there was a strong need for something larger, so we launched a community wide effort.

It’s all about relationships. We showed one child that he could be loved and accepted for who he is, and that he does have worth and a positive purpose in life. We helped him find his true voice, so he could then make decisions in positive ways.

Are you involved in other volunteering activities?
I have been a full time missionary for 19 years. My local church was looking for community service projects, so as a missionary I was able to bring these students from the church into the community to help develop the LOT 318 program, so I have been primarily focused on that. Previously, I was  Chaplain for a Div 1 Softball Team (ULL) where I lead Bible studies. Before that, I was involved with Athletes in Action, which is a Christian Sports Ministry, part of Campus Crusade for Christ. I work with these groups and whoever else God puts in front of me to share the hope of Jesus.

How did you find out about VolunteerSpot?
We were doing volunteer signups through the church’s website, and we wanted to bring in people from the community who might not belong to the church, so we searched for a way to do that. Our web designer did some research and found VolunteerSpot . We don’t have a budget, so since VolunteerSpot was free, and could provide the support we needed, it was a perfect fit. When we started using it, we loved it! Although our volunteers did go through a transition period, especially the older ones...once everyone got on board, we had very positive feedback regarding how easy it was. The reminder emails that are sent out a couple of days prior to the event really helped us so we could stop worrying about the administrative part, and really focus on the event. As a result, 1,500 meals were served on Thanksgiving! 

Aything else you'd like to share?
The biggest thing I want to share is that we are all human beings, and we all have a purpose in life. No matter where we go, or where we are, there will always be people in need, and there is always a chance to serve someone, and to bring a smile to someone’s face. Something as simple as a pat on the back or a smile or just saying hi can make someone’s day. My challenge to everyone out there is to look around you, find a need, and help meet that need. Try to focus a little bit more on needs of others. Love others in truth...it’s that simple. If you can go outside of your comfort zone, you will be able to see that you are blessed, and you have the capacity to bless somebody else.

***

For learn more about LOT 318 and how you can help, visit  http://lot318.com.

We salute Letty Gali and all the other volunteer community leaders out there making a difference in our world. If you're using VolunteerSpot, write and tell us about what you're doing and give us a chance to shine our Volunteer Spotlight on you!! Just email us at [email protected].

Essential Room Mom - Teacher Checklist

Back-to-School Checklist for Teachers and Room Parents

  Room Moms are the critical liaison between the teacher and class parents. Responsibilities vary from collecting money and classroom supplies, to recruiting parent volunteers and coordinating classroom parties.

Get the school year off to a great start -- the first room parent-teacher meeting sets the tone for the whole year.

Teachers: plan ahead and set clear and specific expectations.

Room parents: be respectful of the teacher's wishes and school policies. 

Together you'll design a fun and successful year for everyone -- teachers, parents, and especially the kids!!

Top Things to Cover in Room Mom Meeting

• Teacher Contact Information: How you prefer to be contacted by the room parent & by the other class parents

• Class Parent Communication: 
  • Creation and/or distribution of class roster/contact list following school communication policies
  • Is there a class web page, online group or facebook page?  Who keeps it up to date?
  • Policies/expectations for onging communication with parents
  • Click here for sample Room Mom Letters to class parents

• Parent Involvement/Volunteer Needs:
  
  • Ongoing parent support needs: weekly table-time helpers, readers, science lab & materials prep, recess supervisors etc
  • One-time parent support needs: field trips, parties, special days (e.g open-house, career day, talent show)
  • Special talents needed: E.g. music, gardening, animals, cooking that parents might like to share with the kids or in volunteer roles
• At-home involvement needed: E.g. Class project prep, organizing field trips, class website
  
   

• Materials and Supplies:

• What do you need that you would have to pay for out of your own pocket?  Can parents help? E.g. kleenex, antibacterial wipes, art supplies, dry-erase markers, glue
• Tip: create a no-date online signup sheet on VolunteerSpot to ask for donations of materials and supplies

• Class Party/Celebration Dates and Plans:
  • How many?
  • Who plans (teacher or parents)?
  • Food requirements (healthy or sweets)
  • Allergy considerations
  • Timing and activities/games/crafts
  • Special ‘treat’ days & recognition parties
  • School celebration policies
  • Poicies about photographing or videotaping kids
  • Tip: Don't sweat class parties. Use an online signup sheet to ask parents to help with party stations and to bring supplies.  See class party planning tips in the Room Mom's survival guide.

• Class Calendar
  
  • Create a paper and online calendar of all events and volunteer needs for the year
  • Tip: Ask parents to sign up to help at the start of the year for ongoing support and class events throughout the year. It's much easier to make commitments in September than it is to recruit parent helpers in May when parent schedules are extra busy.

Please also see:

How Room Moms Can Help Manage Food Allergies

Room Mom Survivial Guide

Room Mom Letters: Best Practice Examples

Dads Participate!

Celebrating Fathers!

With Father's Day coming up on June 19th, we’re celebrating dads and highlighting ways they are involved in raising great kids and supporting our communities.

Dads and father-figures participate in so many awesome ways! Sometimes in formal roles such as coach, Scoutmaster, or Sunday School Teacher. And informally, dads are our teachers, cheerleaders, protectors and confidants.

In honor of fathers, and father-figures, and to bring light to their profound contributions, three fathers have joined us today to share their take on how dads can make a huge difference in kids' lives. Thank you Mike, Tshaka and Eric!

o Digital Parenting: Dad's Toys & The Tots

Tshaka Armstrong, founder and CEO of Digital Shepherds, shares tips and ideas on how dads can connect with their kids through technology.

o Why Male Involvement in Education Matters!

We interview Eric Snow, National Director of WATCH D.O.G.S., about how dads can make a huge impact on the quality of education that all children receive.

o 5 Steps to Building Strong Father Volunteers

Michael Hall, Founder and President of Strong Fathers-Strong Families, gives the five phases of how a dad volunteer can change kids' lives in school and beyond.

5 Steps to Building Strong Father Volunteers | Dads Participate

By J. Michael Hall, M.Ed. Founder and President,  Strong Fathers-Strong Families, LLC

 
 
Our mission at Strong Fathers-Strong Families is to help schools, Head Starts, and community programs work better with fathers in order to strengthen children. Many times organizations will tell us that they want to get more men involved. Many, but not all, organizations just want men to volunteer because they are an untapped group, they are strong (and hairy) and they have a specific skill set (swinging hammers).

Strong Fathers want men to be involved in their child’s life first and we believe that once they connect with their child then they will become even better volunteers over the long term. We have found from working face to face with over 100,000 men that there are phases that every father goes through on his way to becoming a very strong volunteer.

5 Phases of a Father Volunteer

1. Connecting to His Child

In our busy world it can be difficult for parents, particularly fathers, to really get to know their child. Fathers must be connected to the child in order to take on the role of a responsible father. Without a growing connection to the child, the efforts to involve the father lack relevance and therefore long term effectiveness. A man needs to know his child’s strengths and opportunities for improvement before he can see how he can help his child.

2. Connecting to the Classroom or Community Program

The value of bringing fathers into the classroom or program is to not only help them connect to their child, but to also understand the environment in which the child is learning and developing. All aspects of the classroom (the teacher, the other students, the social and emotional values, etc.) play a role in the child’s learning. By having a working understanding of, and perhaps even a relationship with, all of the aspects of the classroom, the father can better see where he can fill the needs of the organization for his child’s sake.

3. Connecting to the Campus

It is also important that fathers have a sense of the overall campus environment and how it does or does not support their child’s learning. By connecting to the campus the father can also be an asset to their own child’s education and the education of other children and families in the campus community. When a father understands that the child will be a part of that campus or program over time, then he is more likely to become an advocate for and asset to the program as a whole.

4. Connect to the Parent Community

As the father develops in his role he becomes more aware of both the needs and opportunities for himself and others. As fathers find themselves within the community of parents they can find commonalities with parents with similar needs and desires for their children’s future. Many organizations have attempted to connect parents to the school or community agenda first without having parents connected at more foundational levels. Even if fathers can be connected at this level, their involvement lacks depth and resilience.

5. Connect to Volunteer and Leadership Opportunities

Many programs want fathers to volunteer but those efforts are usually ineffective until the father is woven into the bigger picture of how his efforts impact his own child and the community in which they live. Dad’s clubs, security programs, one-off service projects must first benefit his own child and then the greater good. Adding more responsibilities to a father’s life without relevancy to the greater good will not benefit children or the community in the long run. Many such programs only benefit the social standing of the involved fathers or the public relations of the sponsoring organization but not the outcomes for children. In order for fathers to stay the course they must see that what they do is beneficial to their child as well as others.

We encourage organizations to help fathers develop through these stages in order to build the strongest set of volunteers. All of the best volunteers and leaders take this journey, we stunt the growth of the volunteer and the organization if we ask them to skip steps.

Fathers do not wake up every day to impress people with their painting or tough-guy skills. They wake up every day to do the best they can for their children. Once we develop and tap into that strength, the father, the family, the child, and the community are all stronger.

***

J. Michael Hall, M.Ed. is the Founder and President of Strong Fathers-Strong Families, LLC. He has facilitated father-child events in schools and Head Starts for over 100,000 fathers, trained thousands of professionals in education and child care and has written numerous magazine articles and book chapters. He is the father to two teenage boys and husband to a beautiful middle school teacher. Learn more on the Strong Fathers website, join the conversation on Facebook and follow Mike on Twitter.

 

 

Celebrate Fathers with Dad's Participate! - Please also checkout:

Digital Parenting: Dad's Toys & The Tots

Why Male Involvement in Education Matters!

Why Male Involvement in Education Matters! | Dads Participate

In celebrating fathers and father volunteering, we thought it a perfect time to share the good work by our national partner, WATCH D.O.G.S. (Dads Of Great Students), a program that facilitates male volunteering in schools. Eric Snow, National Director of WATCH D.O.G.S. joins us in an interview today.

But first, some sobering statistics about Education in the U.S.⁺

• 7,000 students drop out of school every day
• In the 50 largest American cities, the high school graduation rate is only 58 percent (compared to 70 percent nationally – still shockingly low)
• Fatherless children have twice the dropout rate of children with a positive adult male role models actively engaged in their lives
• 90 percent of new high-growth, high-wage jobs will require some level of post-secondary education.
• Cutting the dropout rate in half would yield $45 BILLION annually in new tax revenues or cost savings

What do these statistics have to do with male volunteering in schools?

Studies by the Department of Health and Human Services conclude that children with positive adult male role models have roughly twice the high school graduation rate of those kids without positive adult male role models. There is no better way to educate men about the important role that they play in their child’s education than to get those men working in the school. And, the best way to send the message to the kids that their education is important, is for them to see adult men volunteering in their school every day.

What is WATCH D.O.G.S.?

We’re a national program that works to promote father/father figure volunteering by asking males to work at least one full day a year in their child’s school as a WATCHDOG. They help in their child’s classroom, monitor the hallway or recess, and participate in activities with their children and others during their volunteer day.  There are currently 2,127 participating schools in 40 states across this great country and this school year more than 178,000 fathers and father figures donated about 1.2 million male “in school” volunteer hours!

Why men volunteers? What about the good work of all the moms volunteering in our schools? 

What men have to offer in education is not better than what the moms have to offer and have been giving and will continue to give. It’s different, it is unique, it’s the other half, and in too many cases it is missing, especially in education. If there were a shortage of positive female role models in education I hope that someone would be addressing it…..Thankfully that is not the case.

Do women support WATCH D.O.G.S. too?

YES! In fact, in the last three years the WATCH D.O.G.S. program has been presented at more than 150 educational conferences across the country and 90% of the conference audiences were women, women PTA volunteers and women counselors, teachers and principals. Yet during the last three years the number of schools that participate in the WATCH D.O.G.S. program has almost tripled. So it is usually the women that take the WATCH D.O.G.S. program back to their schools. It is because the women that regularly work in school have seen the positive impact to the educational environment when an adult male is working in the school.

Is it difficult to get fathers/father-figures to sign up for WATCH D.O.G.S.?

Here’s the good news. We know that these guys are out there and we know that they will answer the call. All you have to do is ask them specifically to volunteer in school, and then plug them in and put them to work in meaningful and important ways.

Anything you would like to add?

Please learn more about WATCH D.O.G.S. by visiting www.fathers.com/watchdogs or by calling 888-540-DOGS (3647). WATCH D.O.G.S. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Special Thanks to Eric Snow and the awesome volunteer work of WATCH D.O.G.S. everywhere!

⁺U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Health and Human Services, Columbia University

Celebrate Fathers with Dad's Participate! - Please also checkout:

5 Steps to Building Strong Father Volunteers

 Digital Parenting: Dad's Toys & The Tots

Dad's Toys & The Tots | Dads Participate

Connecting to your Kids through Technology

By Tshaka Armstrong, Founder and CEO of Digital Shepherds, Inc.

Around this time of year, many are thinking about Father's Day and the role of the dad in the family. We seek to honor, to appreciate and to give a big ol' "Attaboy!" to that special dad or father figure in all of our lives. Not me. Not today. What I would like to do is challenge you! All of us dads.

My passion and the mission of the nonprofit I founded, Digital Shepherds, is protecting children and making them savvier users of the internet and mobile technologies and helping their parents learn how to get a better grip on what their children are doing online and with their cell phones. I'm also very passionate about fatherhood and one of the parts of fatherhood which always irks me most is the lack of dads I see showing up to our workshops.  Don't get me wrong, there are always a few, but the overwhelming majority of people who attend our workshops are moms.

Now, in the workplace, fellow dads LOVE to talk about their gadgets! Me and the guys are often comparing notes about our latest smartphone purchase or laptop buy, but it seems as if that's where it stops. One of the things I find out when I speak to children is that their dads don't let them touch their toys and don’t play video games with them that often either. I believe we must do better, men! So, I thought I'd give you a few steps you might consider using to help you connect with your kids through the technology many of them are already using. It will make them safer and if you do it right, you can even grow a little closer to your little ones.

4 Tips to Having Fun while Fostering Safe Digital Citizens

1. Set up parental controls on your computer and the computer the children will be using. Talk to your children about what you're doing. Don't spy on them, but make them a part of the task. You can talk to them about cyberbullying or other age-appropriate topics related to their internet use and why you're installing parental control software. This is a great time to ask them about how their own friends are interacting with the internet and what they think they, your own child or children, think about how many of their peers are using the 'net. Let them talk… trust me, go about this the right way and in many cases they will be singing like a canary.

2. Jump on YouTube with them and watch some of the funny videos they like. They might be inane or you might find some that you thing are equally funny. This is also a great time to ask them about inappropriate videos and what their friends are watching.

3. Play online computer and/or video games with them! They may woop your butt every time, but playing video games with them today is very similar to when our dads used to take us to the park and play catch (You may still want to do that as well! Can't spend all of their time in front of the tv).

4. Do all of the above. Not only will it help them feel important because it appears to them you're taking an interest in their lives, but asking them these questions and spending time playing in their world gives you a peek into their lives. You'll be more familiar with what they're doing online and what they're thinking about the digital world their generation is immersed in.

***

Tshaka Armstrong is the lucky husband to an awesome wife and proud dad to three awesome children. He is also the Founder and CEO of Digital Shepherds, Inc. a non-profit whose purpose is educating parents about the internet and mobile technologies, making kids savvier, smarter users of the same and ultimately helping families cross the digital divide… together.  Stay up to date with Digital Shepherds on Facebook and follow Tshaka on Twitter.

 

Celebrate Fathers with Dad's Participate! - Please also checkout:

5 Steps to Building Strong Father Volunteers

Why Male Involvement in Education Matters!