GenParenting

Parenting resources for all who love and care for children

Which School Best Meets Your Needs?

Which School Best Meets Your Needs?

As children get ready to attend elementary, middle, or high school, parents have many concerns about the type of learning that occurs in various school settings. Parents often ask how they can determine if a school is successful. For example, most parents believe that a successful school has a high academic ranking. It should offer a variety of performing arts and creative experiences. It must provide extensive experiences in language arts, real world math applications, science experiments, and history activities. The school should also plan for sufficient nutritional and physical fitness activities. Students must feel safe, secure, and learn basic life skills and effective problem-solving strategies in nurturing classrooms. Parents want to feel welcome to support their children’s learning and participate in the school. Additionally, students and their families can partner in project-based and service-learning activities that support their community. [Read more…]

Parent Support of Student Assessments

Parent Support of Student Assessments

This blog is a parallel commentary from the parent perspective on Mary Ann Burke’s January 11, 2022 post “How Students Own Their Learning Assessments” from her series Student Engagement Assessment: Strategies to Empower All Learners.

What Do Student Learning Assessments Look Like?

When a classroom teacher includes student choice for learning assessments, it can take on many different forms. Often times, they will tend to be project-based assessments where students have full control over demonstrating and evaluating their learning. Here are some examples of learning assessments that might be assigned by your child’s teacher:

  • A history research project using both primary and secondary sources to learn more about the immigration story in the family.
  • A science project that demonstrates the effective application of the scientific method.
  • A cross-curricular Language Arts and Physical Education project to develop scripts for a PSA (Public Service Announcement) campaign regarding physical health or mental health issues.
  • A smart-water garden design that employs the mathematical computations to find area of landscaping, find plants and other organic materials needed in cubic feet, and calculate the cost of materials to stay within a budget.

[Read more…]

Teaching Engaged Students

Teaching Engaged Students

This post is eighth of a series based on excepts from my book on Student-Engaged Assessment: Strategies to Empower All Learners by Laura Greenstein and Mary Ann Burke (2020). You can purchase the book from Roman and Littlefield for charts, examples, and worksheets on how to engage students to become owners of their learning successes.

Teacher Examples of Engaging Students in a Classroom

Mr. Kee likes to introduce a new lesson with a story that cultivates interest and attention, raises curiosity, or presents a mystery about the topic. Sometimes, as he uses an image or object to introduce a new concept, he also models a think aloud. One time, he showed a picture of an ending or outcome of an occurrence for students to ask questions about what it is and how it came to be. Another time he asked his middle schoolers about the Little Red Hen’s process of decision making.    [Read more…]

How Parents Can Support Student Learning

How Parents Can Support Student Learning

This blog is a parallel commentary from the parent perspective on Mary Ann Burke’s November 2, 2021 post “What teachers and parents can do to increase student learning” from her series Student Engagement Assessment: Strategies to Empower All Learners.

Most second-generation Asian Americans were prodded by parents to achieve the “American Dream” by becoming a doctor, engineer, or lawyer, my parents gave me the freedom of choice. My Asian American idea of achieving the “American Dream” was not so much defined by a career, but that a successful life was one in which I had every opportunity to fulfill my destiny. When I was young, my parents encouraged me to pursue my passions, to develop my talents, and to follow the sense of calling in my life. During this season of Thanksgiving, I am eternally grateful for the gift of freedom my parents have bestowed on me. [Read more…]

How Parents Can Support Student Success

How Parents Can Support Student Success

This post is a parallel commentary from the parent perspective on Mary Ann Burke’s October 19, 2021 post “How You Can Support Student Success” from her series Student Engagement Assessment: Strategies to Empower All Learners.

Students Must Feel Safe and Secure

One of the basic foundational steps parents could take to foster success is to make sure your child has a designated spot for their studies. When children return home from school, this specific spot signifies a consistent, regular rhythm in their school day. They know that their learning and studies continue in this spot because it is reserved especially for them. When all their learning supplies are in one, accessible location, this spot becomes a reliable source for students to meet the challenge of learning something new, applying knowledge, and accomplishing their dreams. Students feel safe knowing that they can complete assignments and projects in this one spot. [Read more…]