A Parent’s Support

Parent walked in to the classroom from the hallway. Parent looked a little tentative and uncomfortable. Or maybe it was fatigue. Parent looked as if it had been a difficult and physically demanding day. As we shook hands, it became clear Parent was unable (or unwilling, or uncomfortable!) to speak English so the instructional assistant assigned to my classroom came in to translate. I looked at Parent’s hands: callused, stained, and clean.

The Player(s)

I didn’t know [pronoun] well yet. I’d been hired after the school year began and had only been there a couple of weeks. That particular school’s policy was to have parent/teacher conferences every 6 weeks. No appointments were scheduled; parents were notified of the conference day and the times teachers would be available. Those parents that wanted to attend did.

[pronoun] came to school every day without fail. At times work wasn’t completed or turned in. [pronoun]’s clothes were always in good repair, though perhaps not new, and [pronoun] was clean and well-groomed.

The Sequence

I went through my spiel. [pronoun] is a very nice student, always polite, always pleasant. [pronoun] has several missing assignments which have certainly affected [pronoun]’s grades in all subjects, but particularly in reading and math. [pronoun] participates in discussions, is willing to try new things, and wants to be a part of what’s going on in the classroom.

Then it was Parent’s turn. Parent described family life. The family was living in the United States illegally; the father moved around from farm to farm as a migrant worker, the mother stayed in a single, ostensibly central location, in a dwelling to care for the children. Both parents worked incredibly hard to ensure the family was cared for as well as could be. Parent spoke for some time about this, almost willing me to fully and completely understand the difficulties of the life the family led.

The Denouement

Parent leaned in and looked over to the instructional assistant as for emphasis. It seems this parent was convinced that [pronoun]’s way out of the difficult life the family was living was education. I was instructed, by this parent, not to accept anything less than the absolute best effort from [pronoun].

So I pushed. As a teacher, knowing you have the support of a parent is a powerful thing.

With Parent’s support, [pronoun] was able to increase [pronoun]’s reading and math performance a couple of years’ worth while [pronoun] was in my classroom. I know that Parent had the same discussion with [pronoun]’s teacher the following year. By the time [pronoun] left elementary school, [pronoun] was equivalent to the upper tier of [pronoun]’s peers.

The Moral

An involved, caring, motivated parent makes so much possible in a classroom.