Teacher and Parents: Don’t Create the Distance

MMSEL

Rida Sahridah

2010120029

Honestly, every time I tell my mother and my father that something bad happens in classroom, they tend to blame the teachers. Ideally, blaming each other is not the correct one to do. I know that something goes wrong so far. The relationship between my parents and my teacher goes wrong. They need to understand each other. They need to start to communicate frequently. However the matter can be solved first by the teacher. This is reflected to me as a teacher candidate.

In my opinion there are two conditions. The first condition is the student in wrong position and the second condition is the teacher in wrong position. Mostly by these two conditions, parents will always blame the teacher. Here the role of teacher in building teacher-parents linkage is needed. Teacher should be communicated actively among parents. The way teacher tell the condition must be wise and firm.

Have my parents ask to come over to school by my teacher? I do not think so. My parents have never come to school to discuss about me and my problem. My problem can be in learning field or intercourse or something else. My parents came only to my school to discuss financial stuffs. So, my parents know my teachers only from my lip service.

In the future, I want to build better relationship between parents and me, as a teacher. By communicating with respect and wisdom, I can create the good linkage. Hopefully, I can learn more from others to prepare myself faces reality and parents’ world. Welcome reality.

Good Communication

Good Communication Trough Parents and Teacher for Successful Learning

            What we have learned in the previous meeting of MMSEL course was about communicating effectively with parents and intervening when misbehaviors occur. Communication is the way to express ideas, feelings, or giving information to the people. Communication makes people easy to convey and to receive information. Communication is important in our daily live. It may help people in making relationship or even solving the problem.

A good relationship established by good communication between each other. As a teacher she/he should have good communication between teacher and students, and teacher with parents, so that there is cooperation between teacher and parents, and also between teacher and students to help students in achieving successful learning.

            Teaching is teacher’s job. However as a teacher he/she should has good in communication. Good communication needed in teaching to make students understand details of the materials which delivered, so that it may help students to achieve their successful learning.  If teacher has good communication he/she will easy to deliver their materials well. By good communication it may help teacher to build relationship with students so then she/he knows her/his students well and deeper in order to help students in achieving successful teaching and learning.

            Besides teacher, parents also must know about what students do in school. Because of that reason, teacher needs to establish good relationship between teacher and parents so that there is cooperation between teacher and parents in order to beneficence of student or their child.  It may help students to achieve students’ successful learning.

            However, making cooperation between teacher and parents is not an easy thing that can be doing by teacher. Not all of parents care with their children. Sometimes, parents do not subjected their children attentively as well. Indeed parents sometimes do not know about students’ activities in school, whether they are good student or not. There are so many factors why parents doing that. It can be as teacher’s obstacle in making cooperation between teacher and parents.

Parents' Linkage in Students Education to Solve Misbehavior Problem

Education for students are not only become responsibility for school but also need support from another part such as parents. Parents also have responsibility to work each other with all part of school especially working together between teacher and parents.  As we may know students have two worlds, school and home. In school teacher is become their parents and have responsibility to educated them. Meanwhile in home there are parents who have responsibility to educated them. I think both teacher and parents should know the characteristics and behavior of the students in home and school. So, they can control the students well.
There are many cases happen about parents’ linkage in education. One of the cases that usually happen are parents did not know that their children have a problem in school and there is no communication between teacher and parents about the children. The problem is student always said to their parents he/she always went to school every day, but in fact the student often did not come to school without permission. This problem will give impact to the students score and performance in school and he/she will loss the material that should he/she get. Unfortunately when the teacher call and tell to the parents about the problem, the parents will say that they only know that their children always go to the school every day.
According to the case above, I think the case may not happened if there is a good communication between teacher and parents. The fact that always happen especially in some school in Indonesia teacher invite the parents to the school only in the end of semester to take students’ report. According to what I learned from MMSEL (Motivation and Management of Students for Effective Learning) subject, I think it will be better if the teacher make a schedule of parents meeting to discuss about the students. The schedule can be conduct in the first of new semester, in the middle of the semester and in the end of the semester so that the parents will know the progress of the students learning process in school. Besides, the teacher can give portfolio assignment for the students so the parents also can see their children process in learning.
There is a cartoon film that I like, it is “Doraemon”. In “Doraemon” film the teacher from Nobita’s school always invite the parents in the middle of the semester to see directly what students do in classroom. I think it can be a reference from Indonesia’s education because I think it is a good way to make communication between teacher, students and parents. So, from the case that I know and from what I have learned I think parents linkage is really important in education.

Students Misbohaviour and Communication with Parent

Last MMSEL session made me realize about communication with parents. It was because for all the time we only focus and be prepared on students and classroom. There are lot of types of parent; the calm one, the sensitive one, the careless one, and maybe the most dangerous, parents who get angry easier.

It’s teacher job to be the bridge between the students at school and parents at home. Sometimes when the student misbehave and uncontrollable, teacher need to get them discipline. Parents’ role at home is needed very important. The fact that teacher usually face, parents sometimes can’t accept that their kids are misbehave students.

There are some ways to make good communication with parents. As some schools have already applied, teacher make a book which contains students’ progress. Parents can read it without meeting with the teacher. Teacher also can do parents meeting, maybe in the beginning and or the end of semester. S, when their kids do misbehave, parents know the progress before and after. I think, if parents can collaborate well, they together with teacher can diagnose the cause and effect of students behavior.

There are parents who busy that will never communicate with teacher and suddenly their kids are causing trouble at school. Teacher needs to call them at school, parents don’t want to accept it. Teacher have to be patient and listen to the parents. If the parents are very hard in discussion, teacher just say ‘yes’ to all the parents say. One thing that I learn, parents are parents who in control their kid. Teacher can’t force them to do what good and what bad.

Misbehavior and Effective Communication

Pupils caught kissing in school toilet, some students caught while sleeping in the school clinic when history class is in progress.   These are some cases that might some of you often heard from school, especially from students in high school. This misbehavior has become a common thing that happened in school and again, teacher has a big role in order to prevent these things happen in the school. but, before we go on trough the case and how to handle it, let’s we talk about the background that might become the source of the actual problem.

Teachers nowadays has to dealing with a bigger size of class, it means that they have to deal with a bigger amount of students that have different needs, cultural background, and also their individual problems. It clearly shown us about what are the teachers have to deal with right? 

In order to deal with misbehavior in school, teacher can use school regulation as the guidance. Teach them about what kind of consequences that they will get if they do those kind of misbehavior, then it has to be noted that teaching students about how to accept consequences from what they have done is not an easy thing.

If I reflect to my previous experience in my high school and SEP, the most effective way to deal with or prevent misbehavior that occur is by doing personal approach to the students. Teacher has many opportunities to get involve with their students at school, and they can utilize this opportunities and create a good relationship with them. Once teacher succeed in creating a good relationship with their students, it will make teacher be able to help them to guide and help them to solve their problems that might trigger misbehavior occur.

Parents-teacher relationship also has a big role here. Teachers not only need to create a good relationship with the students, but also with parents. A routine and effective communication between parents and teachers event not only can prevent misbehavior but also can help them to monitor the learning progress of the students.

Several things that have to be noted as a teacher to build up an effective communication with parents in order to deal with misbehavior:

1.       Analyze  the problem carefully, find out  Anyone who is involved in the problem (it could be another students, teacher, or may be school staff)

2.       Do personal approach to with the people that are involved to go deeper into the problem.

3.       Meet the parents, and be a good diplomat (it means that teacher have to be in the neutral position)

4.       And the last, try to create a win-win solution.

Those are all that I learned about how to deal with misbehavior and how to build up an effective communication in the last meeting of MMSEL class.

Good Communication for Successful Learning

What we have learned from previous meeting of MMSEL course was about communicating with parents for helping the success of students’ learning. Communicating is the best way to convey and to receive information. It also helps people in making relationship or even solving problems. This is also the reason why teacher should have good communication with parents of the students. It is needed in order to have good relationship between teacher and parents so that there is cooperation to help students in achieving a successful learning.

Teachers’ job is to teach. Successful teaching is indicated by students who get new knowledge and ability which is useful for them. Then it also becomes teachers’ job to make sure that teaching and learning activities are successfully conducted. There might be external factor that make the learning process is not successfully conducted such as students’ personal problem. Teacher should know which student who has learning problem such as personal problem so that teacher can help the student to achieve successful learning. This is why teacher need to have good communication with parents to know what the problem is so that it can be solved.

However, parents also need to know that though they send their children to school, it does not mean there is no need for parents to teach their children anymore. They still need to know what their children do at school and what their children get. Monitoring children progress not only becomes teachers’ concern but also the parents. Then there should be cooperation between teachers and parents to help children learn successfully.

What teacher can do is by having communication with parents in the very beginning of the semester. It is aimed to make plan what teacher and parents will do for the importance of their children’s learning. Then parents will not be surprised if one day they are called to come to school regarding their children’s problem at school. I think it is better than teacher only have communication with parents if there is problem with their children at school.

Sixth E- Reflection

            The last MMSEL session of the old year remind me about my friend’s previous experience.  The story took place in my Senior High School. He was my best friend. From now on I will call him X, for his confidentiality. He was one of the most brilliant students in my class. He always submitted his homework on time, had outstanding achievement, and actively engaged during class discussion.

            After studying for about 4 months in the same class with him, I realized there was something different with X. Suddenly he became quiet person, stop participated in the class discussion, ignored his homework, and achieved bad scores. I tried to talk to him and asked whether he had a problem. He told me that everything went right and told me not to worry about him.

            Unfortunately however X’s condition was getting worse and worse. He became hot-tempered person, who got angry over small things. He also forgot things easily, and started to talk to himself. Everyone in my class began to realize about his changed behavior, including my homeroom teacher. Few days after, I heard he was called by the counseling teacher. I wondered about what happened to him, but since he did not say a thing I keep my curiosity.

            After being called by the counseling teacher X did not attend school for weeks. I noticed that X parents were also called to the school to talk with my homeroom and counseling teacher. Aftermath, my homeroom teacher told the class that there are some problems with X family, and he was under stress. So she asked us to cooperate with that condition and help X  to be relaxed in the school. When X came back to school after his long absent we tried to help him to adapt and catch up with the lesson. The moral value I could learn from this experience is that teacher and parents communication is a crucial thing. If teacher keep in contact with the parents, they could cooperate one to another to help student.