Parent involvement (change this slide title to fit your presentation)

1. Parent involvement (change this slide title to fit your presentation) •Panagiotis Kouvelas• Involving parents in literacy development-Pamela A. Mason. Teaching is a craft that I wish to perfect in public view; with peer input and collaboration and parent input and collaboration. By making parents my partners in teaching the children, I improve literacy development and reach out to the community.• I piloted this practice at the 9th Elementary Public School in Aghia Paraskevi . I undertook this pilot with my sixth grade class (ΣΤ1) andmy peers in sixth grade Bethavas Dimosthenis (ΣΤ2) and Lambousis Theodoros (ΣΤ3) and also my peers in first grade Tsekoura Panagiota (A1), Andriopoulou Constantina (A2), Votsi Xariklia (A3). 1

2. Connections with Colleagues - Διασυνδέσεις με συναδέλφους • We did a force field analysis • We talked about what the mayor, the superintendent, the principal, and the teachers could do to get parents more involved in our school. • We decided that we need to improve our program to further encourage parent involvement in school and at home. • We also hope to have all teachers involved by September. • We are implementing Padak & Rasinski- Fast Start , in our program. 2

3. Successes - Επιτυχίες • With the grandparents and parents “once upon a time…”, storytelling for first graders. Some first graders felt that school was really important now that their parents and grandparents were a part of it. The show “this is your life..”, research presented by sixth graders honoring a family member. The sixth graders made their family members feel comfortable and proud with great questions. I even brought my father in and my students asked some questions about my childhood. • Our parents,kids,teachers actively support. 1GOAL-Education for all. 1GOAL is a campaign seizing the power of football to ensure that education for all is a lasting impact of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Raising our voices all over the world we believe that, together, we can make education a reality for the millions of boys and girls who remain out of school. • We started “Τιραμόλα”, graphic novels created by children and parents. This is not over yet but the participation and excitement over the project is great. Some first graders have siblings in sixth grade which makes it even more fun! 3

4. Challenges - Δυσκολίες • The principal had just installed a gate to keep parents out. My peers were hesitant. I felt awkward, a little discouraged but then I remembered , “Schools are places where change is suspect and learning is slow.” Vivian Troen and Katherine Bowles • Some parents do not have time available to get involved in school activities. • When higher order questions are asked the parents are not patient with the children and offer the answers. This leads to the children developing misconceptions in math and science. As Katherine Merseth says we will try to anticipate these misconceptions and deal with them in class. 4

5. Next Steps - Επόμενα Βήματα • I would also like the students to present their portfolios. • Having a book club and inviting authors for readings is a dream. From the material I was introduced to: • Student Work Protocol and Video Protocol these are practices that ensure individual and mutual accountability within the team. • Higher order questions that will open my students minds, while reaching multiple intelligences in the classroom. • I want to help create “Millennium Teams” in our school following the guidelines set by Vivian Troen and Katherine C. Boles. 5