The Global Search for Education: Our Top 12 Global Teacher Blogs – What are the best ways parents can help teachers and that teachers can help parents?

Posted By C. M. Rubin on Aug 25, 2015

It’s Back to School time! In efforts to help their children and their schools succeed in the next academic year, millions of parents around the world are already involved in school foundations or PTA’s to support teachers and administrators with their critical work of educating a fresh set of young minds. I vividly remember my own head of school reminding me as a parent that the learning journey is a partnership between us the school, and you the parent. In other words, we are all in this together, so What are the best ways parents can help teachers and that teachers can help parents?

What do our Top 12 Global Teacher Bloggers think?

New Zealand based Richard Wells (@iPadWells) elaborates on the expression, “it takes a village to raise a child,” offering tips to make the process of teacher-parents collaboration easy and effective. One notable tip is having students keep a daily a log that both parents and teachers can keep track of. Read More

Pauline Hawkins (@PaulineDHawkins), author of Uncommon Core: 25 Ways to Help Your Child Succeed in a Cookie Cutter Educational System, gives tips on cultivating communication and honesty. Rather than expecting teachers to do all the work, parents should respect teachers, and “find a common ground.” Read More

From Alberta Canada, Joe Bower (@joe_bower) recommends that teachers look to the whole child when reporting to parents. This means not simply reporting grades and test scores, but also looking towards the emotional, creative aspects of students; something that can invite parents in on a personal level. Read More

Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) offers several valuable tips for parents and teachers. Ongoing communication is key, but there are several ways to make that work more smoothly, including starting out with positive, upbeat chatting first. Read More

Todd Finley (@finleyt) recommends that parents and teachers work to stay in the loop with each other and the education system itself in order to better impact the classroom learning environment. Despite a feeling from some parents that their perspective is unwelcome, he notes “we’re on the same side. And we should act like it.” Read More

Susan Bowles (@FloridaKteacher) emphasizes communication. But since each student has different needs, she recommends that teachers “ask parents how they can help them in their efforts to support their child child’s education.” Read More

Referred by Top 12 Blogger Adam Steiner (@steineredtech), Kerry Dunne (@dunneteach) gives three helpful tips for parents and three more for teachers. Notably, she tells parents, “Stay tuned to what is going on in your child’s school and district, and fight to keep the ‘good stuff’ in the school day.” Read More

From Singapore, Craig Kemp (@mrkempnz) offers a handy diagram, his “education triangle,” that shows how parents, teachers, and students can connect. He adds, “This partnership must be strong, focused and positive to support student learning.” Read More

From Vancouver, Canada Karen Lirenman (@KLirenman) builds on the maxim, “together we are stronger.” Maintaining a class blog is one way to keep parents informed, since transparency is key. Read More

From Australia, Lisa Currie (@RippleKindness), Creator of the Ripple Kindness Project, is a big advocate for good communication between teachers and parents to ensure the best outcome for children. She suggests a number of ways educators and parents can support one another. Read more

Tom Bennett (@tombennett71), Joe Bower, Susan Bowles, Lisa Currie, Vicki Davis, Todd Finley, Pauline Hawkins, Craig Kemp, Karen Lirenman, Adam Steiner, Silvia Tolisano (@langwitches) and Richard Wells are The Global Search for Education 2014 Top 12 Global Teacher Bloggers.

(All photos are courtesy of C. M. Rubin)

Join me and globally renowned thought leaders including Sir Michael Barber (UK), Dr. Michael Block (U.S.), Dr. Leon Botstein (U.S.), Professor Clay Christensen (U.S.), Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond (U.S.), Dr. MadhavChavan (India), Professor Michael Fullan (Canada), Professor Howard Gardner (U.S.), Professor Andy Hargreaves (U.S.), Professor Yvonne Hellman (The Netherlands), Professor Kristin Helstad (Norway), Jean Hendrickson (U.S.), Professor Rose Hipkins (New Zealand), Professor Cornelia Hoogland (Canada), Honourable Jeff Johnson (Canada), Mme. Chantal Kaufmann (Belgium), Dr. EijaKauppinen (Finland), State Secretary TapioKosunen (Finland), Professor Dominique Lafontaine (Belgium), Professor Hugh Lauder (UK), Lord Ken Macdonald (UK), Professor Geoff Masters (Australia), Professor Barry McGaw (Australia), Shiv Nadar (India), Professor R. Natarajan (India), Dr. Pak Tee Ng (Singapore), Dr. Denise Pope (US), Sridhar Rajagopalan (India), Dr. Diane Ravitch (U.S.), Richard Wilson Riley (U.S.), Sir Ken Robinson (UK), Professor Pasi Sahlberg (Finland), Professor Manabu Sato (Japan), Andreas Schleicher (PISA, OECD), Dr. Anthony Seldon (UK), Dr. David Shaffer (U.S.), Dr. Kirsten Sivesind (Norway), Chancellor Stephen Spahn (U.S.), Yves Theze (LyceeFrancais U.S.), Professor Charles Ungerleider (Canada), Professor Tony Wagner (U.S.), Sir David Watson (UK), Professor Dylan Wiliam (UK), Dr. Mark Wormald (UK), Professor Theo Wubbels (The Netherlands), Professor Michael Young (UK), and Professor Minxuan Zhang (China) as they explore the big picture education questions that all nations face today.
The Global Search for Education Community Page

C. M. Rubin is the author of two widely read online series for which she received a 2011 Upton Sinclair award, “The Global Search for Education” and “How Will We Read?” She is also the author of three bestselling books, including The Real Alice in Wonderland, is the publisher of CMRubinWorld, and is a Disruptor Foundation Fellow.

Follow C. M. Rubin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@cmrubinworld

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