Mr. Reimer's Parents' Page
What’s a Parent / Guardian to Do?
Guess what, you can not learn for your child; no matter how hard you try, you cannot do it for them. Ultimately it is your children who must take the necessary effort and learn for themselves. It will be their achievement. It will be their success. But what you can do is set the right environment and guide them through this part of their lives. In effect you are a project director (that analogy is for all you business people and members of charitable organizations). You set the environment to support learning: make sure they have a quiet place to study. But more important, you provide values, beliefs, goals and expectations that you demonstrated and taught your children. These serve as guiding lights for them. Remind them of these and act according.
You have provided them other skills throughout the years: responsibility, organization, achievement, prioritization, work ethic. You will not likely be the subject matter expert, but as project director, you can check to see that they are doing the above effectively. If they are struggling, help guide them to the resources which will help them overcome whatever problem they are having. Check in with them to see just how they are studying or working. We want them to be not just effective, but also efficient. One tenet I repeat in my classroom is “Work Smart, Not Hard”. Periodically I do follow-up and say that sometimes you must work both smart and hard, but that is better than working very very very hard.
Continuing with the analogy, your children themselves are their own project managers; the project's result being the grade they earn and information they learn from the course. Periodically everyone should check to see how they are doing in progressing toward a goal. For any goal, if you are on track, then you keep doing what has worked. However, if you are not on track, you must change something. I do a skit early in the year about this; it makes most students laugh, but it is an important point. Since they may not yet be good project managers, you could periodically check in with them. Let them do the legwork if possible. They know their grades (and they are available online), they know their goals, and they know if they are on track. You can help advise them on solutions as needed.
One of the hard things is to find the balance in letting them be responsible. If you hover, you will not be effective. If you ignore, you will not be effective. But each child is different. Each child may be different with different subjects. Each child may be different at various times of the year. A good project director monitors, but only intercedes when needed. Easier said than done.
Finally, be a cheerleader. Motivate! Be positive. Celebrate success. Celebrate improvement. Success is not measured as being the best or earning straight A’s. Remember, for a student who previously earned Ds, a C is a success.
Here's more info for you: Education World Article
Revised 6/29/10