Learn Create Share - Reflection 3

Learn Create Share  - Visibility

SIGH

I would love to believe that ANY of the parents of my students are accessing the learning being done by students at home, but the truth is this has been minimal so far. During my first year I set up a lovely website with links to all the work being done by my learners, links to blogs, links to workspace, with all the enthusiasm of a PCT new to a digital school.

As part of my inquiry, I added a tracker to the site to see how many people came to visit it.

Do you know how many did?

Zero. A big far zero. The wind in my sails was thoroughly stilled. 

How do I get parents to take an interest in what my students are doing in maths at high school? I'm all for visibility, but it's hard to find the will to put the energy into that when the engagement is lacking on the other side of the partnership. 

Using the shop window analogy - I could make them look as beautiful and engaging as possible, but if nobody's walking down the street (or, in the case of maths, they're scurrying past trying not to look in case what's in the window scares them) it's hard to feel like it's actually worthwhile sometimes. 

So many of the parents I speak to start their parent-teacher conversations with me by saying 'Well, I was crap at maths at school...' and instantly I can see where those students pick up their negativity and disengagement with maths from as a starting point.

I WANT those parents to engage. I want them to look at what they're doing, learn along side my learners, to see that the maths we are covering is a part of the world that they live in. I spent 8 years teaching maths to disengaged adults in the UK, I know that this can be done, but lordy it feels like an uphill struggle at times.

I envy primary schools their levels of parent engagement. By the time the students hit high school, we don't get any questions about blogs or creativity or projects - all our conversations with parents are focused on 'will she/he/they get enough credits to pass?'. We're not supposed to teach 'to the assessement' but it really does feel like this is what's expected of us sometimes, and that does squash the urge to be creative out of me somedays.