Listening to Parents in New Ways Opens Doors to Collaboration

by Patricia A. Edwards, Ph.D., Professor of Teacher Education, Michigan State University

The diverse and complex needs of today’s children far outstrip the ability of any one institution to meet them. Yet one of the richest resources for understanding a child’s early learning experiences—parents—is quite often the most frequently overlooked. Parent “stories” can be a highly effective tool for discovering ways families and schools can work together to help children learn to read and write.

Parents can tell their “stories” through open-ended conversations and/or interviews, during which parents respond to questions designed to shed light on traditional and nontraditional early learning activities in the home. As a child’s first and most important teacher, a parent can offer memories of specific formative interactions, observations on early learning efforts, and thoughts on how their own backgrounds have affected a child’s attitude toward school. In sharing their anecdotes and observations, parents give teachers the keys to unlock a vault of social, emotional, and educational details that can affect their child’s learning.

The story approach also empowers parents by giving them the chance to participate in their child’s education in a personally meaningful way—one that respects their viewpoint. As parents and schools continue to wrestle with vast challenges—shifting family demographics, time constraints, cultural divides, privacy issues, and, of course, economics—stories remain a non-threatening and practical vehicle for collaboration.

Questions teachers can ask to begin a new way to listen to parents include:

• Can you describe something about your home learning environment that you would like the school to build upon because you feel that this “something” would enhance your child’s learning potential at school?
• All children have potential. Did you feel that your child had some particular talent or “gift” early on? If so, what was it? What did your child do to make you think that s/he had this potential? Were there specific things you did as a parent to strengthen this talent?
• What do you and your child enjoy doing together?
• Is there something about your child that might not be obvious to the teacher, but might positively or negatively affect her/his performance in school if the teacher knew? If so, what would that “something” be?
• What activities/hobbies do you participate in as an individual? With your spouse or friends? As a family?

For more information, contact: Patricia A. Edwards, Ph.D., Department of Teacher Education, Michigan State University, 304 Erickson Hall, 48824-1034, (517) 432-0858, edwards6@msu.edu. Patricia has developed two nationally acclaimed family literacy programs: Parents as Partners in Reading and Talking Your Way to Literacy.

Patricia A. Edwards is author of two recent books on ways to develop children’s literacy through family and community involvement in schools:

Children’s Literacy Development: Making it Happen Through School, Family, and Community Involvement (Allyn & Bacon, 2004, ISBN 0-205-32437-1) provides teachers with knowledge, strategies, and attitudes needed to successfully integrate family involvement with literacy education.

A Path to Follow: Learning to Listen to Parents (Heinemann, 1999, ISBN 0-325-00152-9) provides a step-by-step approach to creating parent story programs, making a detailed and innovative road map to involving the whole community in a child’s education.

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