Re-read the classroom scenario on the bottom of page 166 in Ming-tak and Wai-shing (2008).

Create a plan of action for Miss Lee that describes how she should deal with this situation.
Include strategies and interventions that include communicating with both the student and his
parents. When discussing strategies and interventions, be sure to explain their educational merit,
including any outside research that supports them.

Ming-tak and Wai-shing (2008) highlights the following scenario: Miss Lee is the form tutor of a

boy, Siu Ming. He is regarded as a bright and responsible student, but Miss Lee has noticed that

lately he has become quiet and has seemingly lost interest in learning. Whenever he is asked

about this, Siu Ming does not want to say much, and responds listlessly, “I am fine. Maybe I

have spent too much time on computer games at night”, but Miss Lee doubts this explanation.

The following scenario shows that the student is facing additional challenges likely at home

which would show a decline in his schoolwork and participation. Collaborating with Parents to

Improve Classroom Behaviour All parents care for their children. Even if they have demanding

full-time jobs, they have a strong desire to know about their children’s lives at school and wish

them to be successful (Epstein and Sanders, 1998). Most parents want to work with teachers to

improve their children’s classroom behaviour, and so there is common ground where teachers

can work with parents to maximize students’ potential in the classroom. Four ways to create a

platform for teacher-parent collaboration are: • to make parents recognize that they share a

responsibility for their children’s classroom learning; • to manage the diversity of parents’ needs,

behaviours, intentions and feelings; • to be more proactive in creating contexts where teachers

and parents can work together to promote children’s good behaviour in the classroom; • to

promote a school culture of teacher-parent collaboration (Ming- Tak & Wai-shing, 2008).

Clay (n.d.). postulates that: Two-way communication occurs when teachers and parents dialogue

together. Effective dialogue “develops out of a growing trust, a mutuality of concern, and an
appreciation of contrasting perspectives” A teacher may contact parents to celebrate a child’s

successful school experience. However, more frequently, the contact is to share a concern about

the child, which can be a source of significant tension for both teachers and parents alike.

Teachers should strive to make these interactions as productive as possible. One popular

communication strategy is a phone call home. As the teacher of a multi-age class, Gustafson

(1998) called the parents of each child in her class monthly to discuss concerns or to answer

questions. She noted that these contacts provided her with valuable information about the lives of

her students, including extracurricular activities, bullying experiences, and a death in the family.

Gustafson concluded that the solid academic performance of her students came, at least in part,

from positive communication with parents by phone. Love (1996) advocates the use of “good

news calls” to recognize the child for progress or a job well done as a way of promoting positive

relations with parents. By keeping calls brief and leaving messages as needed, Ramirez (2002)

developed an efficient way, during school hours, to contact all his 160 high school students’

parents. He notes that these initial positive phone calls set the stage for more collaborative

interactions later if needed, because parents were already an “ally.”

The culture of teacher and parent collaboration should be promoted not only at the individual or

classroom level, but also at the whole-school level. All teachers have a role in working with

other staff to welcome parents’ participation in the education of their children, and they should

send a consistent message that their contributions in forming effective partnerships are valued. In

summary, parental participation increases when the school encourages collaboration by eliciting

and understanding parents’ perspectives and expectations. A variety of options for participation,

as well as systematic forms of collaboration, should be made available, recognizing that parents

from varied backgrounds will support their children in different ways. Schools should foster an
open dialogue between home 170 Classroom Management and school and provide opportunities

for parents to develop partnership roles in the education of their children. For this purpose,

resources must be provided by the school, such a releasing time for teachers to meet parents and

providing a parent-support room (Ming- Tak & Wai-shing, 2008).

Another intervention could be as well is to get the school’s guidance counsellor involved. If Miss

Lee believes it is a more serious issue for her student, then I believe that counselling would

become necessary. According to learn.org the role of guidance counsellors in schools are to

work with students and parents to help guide students’ academic, behavioral, and social

growth. Individuals in this field work in elementary, middle, and high schools. This article

explores guidance counselor duties and responsibilities and the requirements to become one.

Geetingsmart.com also highlights some strategies to include more parent involvement in the

classroom and learning, and they are: 1. Set expectation that you are looking to establish a

partnership with two-way communication-

Parents don’t know what teachers expect to hear back unless you tell them. At the beginning of

the year inform parents what communication you would like to be receiving from them and

how / when you are going to respond. Are you interested in hearing about their favorite activities

at home? Or any important events that can affect how the child is learning – from a new pet they

got that ate child’s homework, relatives visiting to life-changing events.

2.  Encourage parents to set high expectations for their children in the home that will

translate into a successful classroom - If parents begin setting expectations for their children at

home, e.g., through making lists of chores and rewarding children for completing those activities,

the children will become used to having expectations set of them and feeling accountable. It is
very important to talk about aspirations, dreams and setting high expectations for the effort and

journey ahead. As students begin to bring home grades, it is equally important to talk about what

they learned from the experience or mistakes, what and how they would want to improve rather

than focusing only on the grade itself. There is a lot of great work around growth mindset by

Stanford university with a separate section for parents that can be leveraged.

3. Help parents see what their children are learning in the classroom

Parent teacher communication outside of giving out worksheets that may not make it home is

essential. Using apps to organize your classroom, share experiences from a class trip or great

learning moment in the class, sending regular communications such as automated weekly

newsletters we encourage with Class Tag will help keep parents in the loop and foster discussion

about school in the home as parents know what their children are learning.

These tips, influenced by teachers ratings of the top behaviors parents can implement in the

home, go beyond simply assigning homework that may or may not be effective. Teachers can

help parents become more engaged in their child’s learning and future success!
Reference

What Is the Role of a School Guidance Counselor?- What is the Role of a School Guidance
Counselor? (learn.org) Accessed October 18, 2021
Author, G. (2016, August 7). 5 Ways To Get Parents Involved in Student Learning Beyond

Homework. Getting Smart. http://www.gettingsmart.com/2016/08/07/5-ways-teachers-

can-get-parents-involved-beyond-homework/

Hue, M., & Li, W. (2008). Classroom Management: Creating a Positive Learning Environment

(Hong Kong Teacher Education). Hong Kong University Press.

Clay, S. (n.d.). Communicating with Parents: Strategies for Teachers. Research Gate, na(na),

117–125.