In relation to school and community partnerships, the community in which my hometown is located as done (and I think is still doing) a good job of creating a welcoming partnership between the school and the community.  Specifically, my high school reached out to parents, family members, and the general community population to help foster this partnership.  For example, I think the community has done a nice job of providing positive places for students to go during the academic year and the summer.  The library in my community is always having activities for the students.  Parents and family members are always welcome to bring students to the library when there are exciting events going on.  Also, there are several recreational centers in my community.  The school notifies the students of positive places they can go.  Specifically, the YMCA in my township is a very good resource for parents because there are so many activities and events that take place to help the child develop in several realms.  Also, a strong form of partnership I feel the the schools and community have is through job shadowing and having community members come into the schools to talk about their professions.  I think this is good because it gives the students a chance to see first hand what it would be like to have a particular occupation.  I don't think my the community partnership is necessarily lacking in my hometown, but in addition to the activities we already have, I think the schools could continue to outreach to parents and family members who currently are not involved.  This could start with the teachers implementing this outreach in their classrooms.  During parent-teacher conferences, or sending a note home, teachers can create an inviting atmosphere for community members to get involved in the school.  Also, the school can provide parents with more resources for ways they can get their children involved in the community.  It is good that the community comes into the school, but I think when the children are not in school during breaks, it would be good for children to still be active in their own communities.  Teachers providing abundant resources can make this possible.

Parent/Teacher Conference Reflection

In relation to my parent/teacher conference that I participated in today, I really enjoyed myself.  Specifically, being the teacher really helped me to understand what it would be like to inform parents of their child's strengths and weaknesses in my classroom.  I think that it was really easy to talk about what the child was good at, but it was challenging for me to discuss the things that the child needed to improve in both academically and socially.  During the conference the parents really showed support for the strategies that I planned to implement, and I thought that made the overall conference run smoothly.  However, during the difficult family conference, I found it tough because the scenario was a parent who could not find anyone to watch her child.  This was hard because I wanted to have the parent's undivided attention, but she had to also focus on her child.  This activity, in my opinion, really helped me to understand the situations that may arise in a real parent/teacher conference.  I am glad I had this opportunity to participate in this mock conference!