Class work

[MommyG]

Hi,

I want to be more involved in DD's education and help him where I can. So is it okay if I ask the teachers to send home all the work they do in class? Is that okay, or does that seem very pushy?

If this is not okay, any other suggestions?

Thanks !

If you want to be that involved in her education, why don't you home educate her?

Very pushy! Most teachers will welcome your involvement, but sending everything home is a bit OTT, not to mention impractical - how can the teacher mark books etc?

Better perhaps to find out what's on the curriculum, and use books/websites to further/broaden your child's education.

I think that the best you can hope for is to ask to see the work done every so often (ie by going into the class and going through his drawer). No teacher is going to send home work with the prospect of not getting it back at the point she needs it for assessments, planning etc.

It will still seem pushy. You could of course ask the teacher as to how you could best assist your child.

I can't see why you'd want to go through everything he'd been doing during the day! Wouldn't that get a tad boring for him? As Feenie says, education is about broadening knowledge, not just about working within the confines of work done in school. Read around the topics, search on the internet, find information to share in class.

How old is your son (daughter? not sure which))?

I'm afraid that you are expecting far too much from the teacher. It is highly unlikely that they could even consider this request.

Do they do a termly/weekly class newsletter or something which lets you know what is going to be covered in class?

You could always decide to broaden her education rather than repeat everything she learns and it will be less of a chore for her. The curriculum is quite narrow these days, so there is plenty of scope for you.

Sorry, a bit confused as you wrote 'DD' then 'him'!

I'm not sure what exactly you are asking to be sent home - your dc's workbooks or copies of the worksheet they have been doing or something else? - but it sounds unworkable. The teacher will have up to 30 pupils to look after - suppose everyone wanted their child's work sent home? In my dc's school, it seems to be difficult enough for every child to remember their reading book and to get their one piece of hmework in on time. Imagine how many workbooks would get lost/damaged over the course of the year at home? I can see the "pushy" parents also erasing work which wasn't of a good standard and getting their child to re-do it, leaving the teacher with little idea of what the child is really capable of - really there are loads of problems!

Most schools have a back-to-school evening where they will cover in broad outline the topics they will be covering that year. At our school, we also get a curriculum web at the beginning of each half-term which covers in more detail the topics for the forthcoming weeks. If I want to do anything additional with my boys, I try to do something fun like take a trip to a museum/gallery relevant to what they are studying in a particular subject.

As a teacher I would think this a bit ott and completely impractical.

What do you hope to achieve by going through the work he/she has done in class? Surely you need to trust the teacher to deal with any issues with classwork as they come up? It can also cause confusion to children if you deal with things like maths in a different way from how they are currently taught, so while you can show how you would do something, it won't actually help if the teacher wants them to all be doing it by the same method.

Your focus as an interested parent should be to make sure your child gets a place and time suitable for doing homework, listen to them read, help them to some extent with homework - mainly by asking things like "How did the teacher explain this to you?" (if they explain it to you, they'll usually see what they've been struggling with, without you having to tell them the answers), and go into the school for parents evenings etc to make sure you understand how things are going.

You should also make sure of things like food and sleep!

If you want to do more, then be led by what your child is interested in, or do a range of interesting things - get a library ticket, go to the zoo, plant things in the garden, tak about things.

Don't try to replicate what the teacher does - it won't help your DC, or your relationship with the teacher.

My ds has just finished reception and there were a couple of open afternoons where we looked at all their work
at the end of the year they bring it all home with them anyway

The very very best best thing you can do is not that stuff they do in school but free reading.

To her, listening to her, encouraging it, as much as possible.

May sound trite but there is nothing, nothing at all, which will help her more than wide reading.

Agree- asking for all classwork is very pushy, and will be seen as a critique of the work the teacher is setting IYSWIM.

To be honest, the best way you can support your dc's learning is to be doing exactly what you are already, and being interested. Please don't think that the only way your dc learns is through worksheets and reading- a conversation each night about what they have done at school, using open-ended questions like "what did you think about it?" will really enrich their ability to discuss and reflect on issues and their own learning, and will have a massive impact on their ability to criticise, order and evaluate information- skills that will help them learn in all areas of the curriculum.

Doing this with current affairs is also helpful.

Many children just don't have parental interest in their school life, and your dc sounds very lucky to have you

I think your plan for more involvement would backfire. I can't imagine what my dd would say if I tried to go through everything she'd done that day again. I think you'd put a child off learning for life.