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Hello from Volos in central Thessaly, Greece! My name's Maria Kammenou and I'm an EFL teacher in Primary Schools. I've studied English Language and Literature in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and I hold an MA in English and Irish Literature from Dalarna University, Sweden. I speak English, Italian, French and Spanish and I hope to start learning an Asian language too in the near future. I love working with children and using technology in my class. I've been teaching for almost 20 years in High Schools, Institutes of Vocational Training, Companies and Organizations. This course intrigued me as it addresses a multi-sided, controversial yet extremely important issue, which is very frequently the topic of discussion in our Teacher Association meetings.

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I particularly liked the idea that Ms Tobin and Ms Saidi presented, that educators and parents are two 'equal' parties and should work/try/encourage/'build' in harmony to make the best of their children.

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Facing an intimidating number of about 4 million European kids dropping out of school , all educators consider this an alarming situation. I think we should first study the reasons behind high drop-out rate and then plan a course of action. According to most reports, some of the most frequently stated reasons why a child has decided to quit school have to do with social problems (drugs, poverty, gangs) and the school environment (teachers, lack of interests, bullying, failing classes, being expelled). However, most of the reasons presented (even the social and school ones) somehow relate to family life - loss of a beloved one, having to work to support one's family, getting pregnant/starting a family, becoming a caregiver, family problems, family indifference towards school attainmenent/attendance, and so on. It is thus imperative that we teachers do our best to 'bridge' this gap between students and families or to encourage and support them when facing such situations.

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1.3. The role of parents in schools and classrooms

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1.3. The role of parents in schools and classrooms

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The views that Ms Salomon present are a little bit utopian, at least for Greek standards. National legislation cannot be overlooked when it confines you to work under specific regulations and within certain limits. For example, parents/grandparents/relatives cannot be invited to class and help with the tutoring, as that would mean the school would do sth illegal. Nor can I as an educator welcome a layman's suggestion concerning the methodology or curriculum I will adopt in class. But her zest and presentation surely persuades me that working with the parents could be of major benefit to the children. The issue then lies in the ways we can find to engage parents without threatening the school environment

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1.4. Introduction to the final course activity

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1.4. Introduction to the final course activity

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I think I'll try the Learning Designer with a lesson plan I have in mind. Still, I need some more time to catch up with the course, be exposed to more ideas on the subject and set specific goals

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2.1. Communicating and Sharing with Parents

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2.1. Communicating and Sharing with Parents

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It is absolutely a major truth that it seems a real deed to build a good relationship with the parents and what Eszter mentions about 'hostile home environments' and parents that send their child to school only to avoid being fined applies to all countries and regions.  I loved the Do's and Don'ts activity as it is so useful for all of us to write down things (even if we know them, we tend to forget or ignore them at times).
Here are some more tips I came across and find worth mentioning:
http://www.teachhub.com/parent-teacher-communication-tips

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2.2. Building Communication channels with parents

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2.2. Building Communication channels with parents

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Again this great presentation/video brings us (at least us Greeks) back to the legislation issue. What we can or cannot do in our class is not up to us solely. We are liable to the Head of the school and the Teacher Association and furthermore to the Ministry of Education. However, communication channels via the Net are ideal if and when they are used wisely.

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I've mentioned Romani families here (there are quite a few of them in our schools). These parents have three characteristics that inhibit their engagement in their children's school environment: first, their culture and tradition does not encourage them to consider school and education an essential part of their child's development. Moreover, their cognitive level (most of them are illiterate) makes it difficult for a teacher to communicate, plus their nomadic life and businesses oblige their kids to be absent for really long periods of time, thus making it all the more hard to involve them in the learning process.

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2.4 ICT tools to support communication & sharing with parents

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2.4 ICT tools to support communication & sharing with parents

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https://www.campussuite.com/6-key-school-communication-channels-and-how-to-use-them/

https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2015/apr/28/five-best-apps-teachers-communicate-parents

I've used Class Dojo once and have been using Edmodo a lot! The articles are very useful indeed! Great presentation of using Blackboard accounts in class and Google translator with parents.

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3.2 Parents as a valuable resource for educational activities

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3.2 Parents as a valuable resource for educational activities

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This is a sample of my favourite app, the Edmodo class I've been using with my 6th graders and their parents.

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Sample of my electronic classes on Edmodo

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This is the document that Ms. Cunha Miranda posted on the seminar's Facebook group and I found reallly helpful:
file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/j4497_mm_moduleoverview-3-2-communicatingwithparents_v4.pdf

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I work in the Primary Education and I teach English to all classes. My students are aged 6-11 and there are usually 10-20 pupils in each class. I meet my first and second graders once a week (they do not have an English book and all teaching is done through games, rhymes, songs, flashcards , etc.) and classes C to F three times a week. In our schools there is a computer lab but no Engllish room. We use CDs, DVDs, computers, video projectors and the Internet in our lessons.

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4.1. Bringing Learning into the Famillies

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4.1. Bringing Learning into the Famillies

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As mentioned in the activities of this Module, unfortunately Greece does not yet welcome such actions as home visits by teachers. Still, the presentations by the people here as well as the experiences and thoughts shared by our colleagues around Europe was a great lesson indeed and filled our educational index with a million new ways to use in and out of class trying to engage the parents of our students more and more.

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https://v.gd/owW7dy