Thursday, February 24, 2011

Parent-Teacher Communication

Larry Ferlazzo
What ‘Star Wars’ Can Teach Educators About Parent Engagement
Education Week Teacher
Published Online February 23, 2011
Complete URL: http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2011/02/23/tln_starwars.html
This article offers some practical advice for teachers regarding parent–teacher conferences. I will admit it is a bit corny, but there were valid points made too. The author created a mnemonic device with the name LEIA – for Princess Leia from Star Wars. LEIA: L for listening, E for empathy, I for imaging, and A for asking. He went on to describe scenes from Star Wars where Leia demonstrated the above mentioned skills, and then related them to how teachers could implement such skills to effectively communicate with parents. Ultimately the author sees the importance of parent-teacher relationships, and with his simple mnemonic hopes to inspire teachers to work on their communication with parents. He ends with: “May the Force of genuine engagement be with you.” This article was light hearted and useful. It was a nice change from many of the articles I have been reading. The intended audience is teachers. I find this article relevant to any person wanting to work on basic communication skills.

1 comment:

  1. based on some of the difficulties of teachers communicating with 'helicopter' parents at one extreme and disengaged parents on the other, it seems like the Jedi mind trick would be better advice:
    "You don't need daily progress reports..."
    or
    "You will take an active interest in your child's learning..."
    "move along..."

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