LEARNING DIARY by Christos Chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5 Effective Parental Engagement for Student Learning en-us 2017-10-17 17:39:51 UTC 2026-03-19 13:25:05 UTC hello@padlet.com WELCOME TO THE EFFECTIVE PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT FOR STUDENT LEARNING COURSE christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197935333 2017-10-17 17:42:12 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197935333 Main points to remember christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197935916 1 - Modules & Activities

The course lasts 5.5 weeks and is divided into 4 modules, one module per week with an extra 1.5 week to complete all work at the end. We will be opening up a new module every Monday. Once open, the modules will remain so until the end of the course, so you can always still catch up at a later time.

Each module consists of

  • a number of videos
  • reflection and discussion activities
  • preparation for the final course activity
2 - Duration & Workload

The course will last 5.5 weeks in total, from 25th September 2017 to 1st November 2017. So the final deadline for all work is the 1st November 2017.

All the course content will remain accessible after that, but it won't be possible to do the final activity and receive the course certificate anymore.

Each module lasts 1 week but remains open for completion until the 1st November. This leaves you with enough flexibility, should you be very busy during one week and need to catch up at a later date. However, please note that peer-review exercises have separate deadlines, so make sure to check the information carefully.

If you are wondering about the workload, we estimate it to be around 2-4 hours per week, depending on your level of engagement.

3 - Discussions & Exchanges

As part of the activities, you are welcome to share and discuss materials, opinions or experiences related to this course via a variety of online tools, which are integrated directly into each module. We have chosen these tools based on their user friendliness, so you should not have to sign up to use them and most of them should be fairly self-explanatory. You will see that for most sections we have focused on the Padlet tool. For an introduction on how to post on Padlet, check this FAQ.

We also encourage you to share your ideas and thoughts on Twitter using #engagingparents or on our Facebook group.

4 - Assessment & Certification

The final course activity requires you to prepare a lesson plan or a plan of action for an activity addressing one of the areas explored on the course. You will find more details on this in Module 1, and in subsequent modules you have the opportunity to start working on it and share it with peers for feedback. In Module 4 you have to submit your lesson plan or plan of action for peer review. 

Only if you submit your work and complete the peer-review process in Module 4 will you qualify for the course certificate. 

On top of the certificate, you will receive a digital badge for each module completed.

5 - How to get help

If you have a question on the course or if you experience technical issues, please always check the course FAQ section first. There you will find common questions and answers; if you cannot find the answer you seek, please post the question in the relevant forum category.

Please only email us or contact us on social media in emergencies. We are a very small team and cannot respond immediately if you contact us via these channels.


Would you like to know who is behind this course?

This course is based on the work of the Teacher Academy's Pedagogical Advisory Board and a range of projects and experts working on areas linked to parental engagement in schools. References and credits are given in the relevant sections. The Teacher Academy Pedagogical Advisory Board is made up of pedagogical experts appointed by the European Commission. The members of the Board are: Anne Gilleran, Danguole Rutkauskiene, Daniella Tasic Hansen, Diana Laurillard, Diego Rojas, Hannah Grainger-Clemson, Luis Fernandes, Madeleine Murray.You can find more details on the board here.



]]> 2017-10-17 17:43:03 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197935916 christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197937060 A. Course Timeline and Participants

Course Timeline
Please take a look at the timeline below and make sure to enter the relevant dates in your calendar. The deadlines are final and we cannot make exceptions, so please plan well ahead for the submission of your work!

  • Live Webinar: Educating together, educating each other – rethinking involvement, engagement and roles in education on Tuesday, 10 October at 17:00 CET
  • Live Webinar: What we can learn from the INCLUD-ED project (Title tbc) on Wednesday, 18 October at 17:00 CET
  • Teachmeet on Monday, 30 October at 17:00 CET [PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE OF DATE]
We will have three live events as part of this course. These are an opportunity for you to interact more directly with your peers and the course moderators or other experts. You will find more details on each of these events in the associated modules, but for now just make sure that you reserve their time and date on your calendar:

 

Course Participants
If you’re curious about who is taking this course alongside you, click here to view some data on your fellow participants (e.g. age, gender, experience level). As of 29.09.2017 we are 544 participants. We are a large enough group to guarantee lots of diversity in backgrounds and views, which will be great for our discussions.
B. Your Learning Diary

For a great summary and collection of example Learning Diaries collected by former Teacher Academy course participant and course moderator, Anna Lagighna, see here.

What is the Learning Diary?

The learning diary should be a COLLECTION OF YOUR REFLECTIONS ON THE COURSE QUESTIONS AS WELL AS ALL ELEMENTS FROM THE COURSE RELEVANT FOR YOUR OWN CONTEXT. A good learning diary will provide you with a summary of the course at a later stage and focus your attention on those areas that are especially relevant for your own context. A good learning diary will also show that you have reflected on the questions introduced on the course and that you have engaged with the ideas of others on the course. 

The diary should include:

  1. Your answers to - and reflections on - the questions and tasks posed in the module sections.
  2. Comments, ideas, resources gleaned from the course materials and shared by other course participants that you have found interesting or relevant for your own situation. 
As you will be required to share excerpts from your diary on the course, ideally your diary entries will be in English. However, if you are not so confident in English, you are free to complete your diary in your native language, except for those sections that need to be shared with other course participants. All the same, we know that participants usually enjoy sharing their learning diaries and exploring diaries of others, which of course is a lot easier if the diary is in English. 

Why a Learning Diary?

The diary will be a useful tool for you to develop your thinking on the topic and to collect key ideas and resources that you plan on using later on. There is also a lot of material on the course and there will be even more once everyone starts discussing and sharing ideas and resources. Not all of this will be relevant to your own situation, so to avoid getting lost we recommend that you create this learning diary. This should be a valuable resource for you, should you want to revisit the topics of the course at a later stage.

How do I create my Learning Diary?

You can create your Learning Diary in any way you like, but make sure that it is easily shared and understood as this will allow others to provide you feedback. There are plenty of interesting tools out there that you can use. However, you are welcome to use any tool you like to create your learning diary. Some other examples are Padlet, Glogster and Google Documents.

How can I share my Learning Diary?

Probably the easiest way to share your diary and get some feedback from your peers is by posting it on social media. However, we have also created a dedicated forum category where you can post your diaries.

Some suggestions for a great Learning Diary:

  1. Your first entry should briefly introduce yourself. Tell your peers a bit about who you are. You can use the starter activity of Module 1 for this.
  2. Your second entry should briefly introduce your teaching context. Tell your peers a bit about your school, classroom and what technologies you have access to.
  3. All following entries should clearly identify which Module and which section the entry is linked to. The easiest way is to include the Module number and the section in the title of the entry (see the example below). 
  4. Make sure to include links, photos, videos, documents, etc. in your entries. 
  5. Don't forget to add any interesting piece of content you come across on the course to your Learning Diary.
Make sure to take a look at the different examples you can find on this Sutori Page.
C. The Learning Designer

The main activity on this course is to prepare a lesson plan or an action plan. If you decide to prepare a lesson plan we ask you to use a very nice tool called the Learning Designer which was developed by the London Institute of Education. We highly recommend that you create an account as soon as possible and get familiar with the Learning Designer so that you are well prepared for the main course activity.

For an introduction on how to use the Learning Designer, watch the video below. You can also see an example of a learning design created in the Learning Designer further below. Make sure to scroll around the design because not all elements will be displayed inside the window.

]]> 2017-10-17 17:44:56 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197937060 christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197938517 D. Alumni Group and Editorial Board

By the end of the course a great number of excellent resources will have been prepared by you, such as lesson plans, action plans, learning diaries, etc. We want to ensure that some of the great work being produced is properly curated, edited, and published in order to provide recognition and visibility to its authors, as well as offer a larger audience the opportunity to benefit from the great output being produced. For this purpose, a course alumni group & editorial board will be set up at the end of the course with the goal of curating outstanding work of participants on the course, and selecting it for publication.

Alumni Group

Everyone who finishes the course will be invited to join the course alumni group. The alumni group offers a place to continue the activities and exchanges with fellow course completers after the course has come to an end. The group will be moderated by Rosa Luisa, the course moderator, who will offer you regular events or activities linked to the topic of the course. The editorial board will be recruited from members of the alumni group.

Editorial Board

The editorial board will consist of 10-30 people who have demonstrated commitment and outstanding work during the course. The purpose of the board is to review and rate lesson plans which have been flagged as noteworthy, in order to finally select 20 lesson plans which will be professionally edited, translated and then published on the School Education Gateway. The board will have a designated online space to discuss their reviews and ratings, and will be led by Rosa Luisa.

So, make sure to complete the course and submit excellent work. Your work might be selected for publication, or you might want to join the editorial board! More details will be provided via email at the end of the course.
E. Netiquette, Copyright & eSafety

1 - Netiquette
We are an online learning community and all online communities have their own codes of conducts. It is therefore very important that we all know and follow this code of conduct to create a good working climate and ensure everyone feels safe. In most cases, these are just common-sense rules, good manners and other good practises normally observed in any social interaction. 

However, it is important to take into account that we are communicating online and we miss very important pieces of information, like tone of voice, gestures, etc. Therefore, it’s very easy to misunderstand what others say or take words out of context.

Take a look at our Code of Conduct, Use Policy and Honour Code to make sure you are aware of how to interact on the course.

2 - Copyright
The Internet is a space for sharing and exchanging. But when and how can you use material found on the Internet? Can you use copyrighted music when creating a video/presentation? Can you use a nice picture found on a Flickr album on the web without second thoughts? If you are lost with copyright issues or find hard to understand complicated law statements related to terms and conditions of use of certain materials, take a look at the following website by Childnet International.

And what happens when you create your own material? Would you like to share it with other fellow colleagues but protect it from any misuse? Take a look at Creative Commons which can help you answer these questions. It is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of materials and resources through free legal tools. Learn more about the different licenses and what they mean. On their website, they have a simple tool that will help you choose the type of license you need. Once you have picked the one you need, you can download it in high quality and different formats here.

3 - eSafety
Your online reputation is the “perception, estimation and opinion that is formed when you are encountered online". Learn more about online reputation here. What can you do to protect your personal data and online reputation? The golden rule is “think before you post”. Is the content you are about to share online going to affect your or someone else’s privacy? Can you be friends with pupils on social networking services? What should you do if other people post inappropriate images of you online? And if you are victim of cyberbullying? Take a look at this guide which includes advice and interesting question to reflect on regarding your online reputation.

For more information about eSafety as well as lots of resources to use with your students check out the following links:

  1. eTwinning Featured Group: Bringing eSafety into eTwinning projects (you need to be a member of eTwinning to join the group)
  2. Better Internet for Kids
  3. Web We Want
  4. eSafety Label
  5. Safer Internet Day
 
The above texts have been adapted from the eTwinning Ambassadors course.
F. COURSE INTRODUCTION TEST
]]> 2017-10-17 17:47:26 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197938517 christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197941210 “Students with two parents operating in supportive roles are 52% more likely to enjoy school and get straight A’s than students whose parents are disengaged with what’s going on at school.”

The Effect of Parental Involvement in School and Education

Welcome to Module 1 of the Effective Parental Engagement for Student Learning Course!

On this course you will come across views and examples from a range of experts who are working in the area of parental engagement at schools. Some of these experts have previously worked as teachers so they are aware of the constraints and difficulties many of us face when engaging with parents. The ideas and views presented by the experts are there to trigger your own reflection and to start an exchange with your peers about the topics being addressed.Do you agree or disagree with the expert? Can you identify further examples or ideas? How does the view of the expert apply to your own context? These are the type of questions you should be asking yourself as you watch the experts’ input. Your learning will not happen from passively watching these experts, it will happen through the process of reflection and discussion with your peers, so be active and start sharing your thoughts with everyone else on the course!

In module 1 we will explore some key questions around the issue of parental engagement which will frame some of the more specific areas investigated in later modules. We start out by picking up on the point made by the quote further above: the reason why we should engage parents in the first place. By the end of the module you should have clarified for yourself, why you want to engage more effectively with parents and how you see the role of parents in your school and classroom.
It is important you identify your own objectives for each module. Here are some to choose from:

  1. Make first connections with fellow course participants
  2. Reflect about your reason for joining the course
  3. Develop awareness of the problem of early school leaving
  4. Identify how you see the role of parents in your classroom and school
REFLECTION: 

Hello, my name is....

Introduce yourself to the course. Who are you? What are you interested in? And if you like, show us who you are by posting a picture (no larger than 1MB). Then briefly say hello to two other participants by commenting on their post.
"I am Christos Chachoudis from Greece. I teach maths and science in a high school in Alonnisos island. My students are with special educational needs and in order to make students' academical education easy and effective we have to collaborate we parents. It's very important to gather all the information of our students so we can work effectively with them, and parents have a crucial part in this effort."
]]> 2017-10-17 17:51:19 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197941210 1.1 Why engage parents in school? christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197944213 The answer to the section question, why engage parents in school, is clearly captured by the quote in the previous page: it improves student well-being and performance - two key goals we educators usually aspire to!

This is also echoed by our two experts in the video below. Maria Tobin is a former teacher who is now responsible for the Irish Home School Community Liaison Scheme. In the video, Maria is followed by Nassira Saidi, a Belgian Social Worker responsible for the KAAP project which engages parents through language classes at school. Both have plenty of experience of working with parents and assisting teachers to work with parents. Take a look at why they believe engaging parents is so essential.

]]> 2017-10-17 17:55:57 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197944213 REFLECTION: Why are you here? christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197945331 What is your reason for joining this course and learning about effective parental engagement? Or what triggered your interest in the topic and the course? Reflect on your own motivation to participate in the course and based on this, identify some concrete goals for yourself. What is it that you want to achieve through the course? What do you hope to change?
"As i have mentioned i teach students with special needs (educational), so it is important to work with parents in order to make education easy and affective to students. Parents have akey role to this project. The reason i took this lesson is to find out how other teacher engage parents in learning project and exchange ideas about the crucial project of engaging parents in learning procedure."]]> 2017-10-17 17:57:27 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197945331 1.2 Addressing early school leaving christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197946860 While engaging parents is generally beneficial to all students, it is even more impactful for those students who are at a risk of dropping out. Engaging parents early in a students’ school career, significantly reduces the risk of a student dropping out of school.Leaving school without a qualification has significant long-term detrimental effects for young people which is why parental engagement is so important for a students’ well-being.  And with more than 4 million young people across Europe leaving school before completing upper secondary education, it is clearly an urgent issue to address. 

Take a look at the video below which provides a good overview of the issue of early-school leaving in Europe. 

]]> 2017-10-17 17:59:48 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197946860 christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197947474 There is plenty of research on how to avoid students dropping out of school. Marie Gitschthaler and her colleagues at the Vienna University of Business and Economics have used this research to create a self-assessment check-list of actions and practices at school level which have proven to be effective to reduce the risk of early school leaving. The check-list is mostly for the school-level but highlights many relevant themes also for a classroom teacher. The document furthermore incorporates a range of recommendations for teachers, including actions linked to the engagement of parents. Take a look at the document here and watch the video below where Marie explains the document and how she recommends teachers to use it.

]]> 2017-10-17 18:00:47 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197947474 christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197948152 ACTIVITY:
Consider the following scenario:
Max, a 12 year old boy in your class, has not been showing up to class around once per week and the frequency is increasing. When he is attending class he seems engaged and his work is of adequate standard but he does seem a little isolated from the rest of the group. However, due to missed lessons he is starting to fall behind and his last two test scores have been below his usual average but still at a passing level. 

A similar situation already happened 4 months ago but a chat with Max and an email to his parents seemed to have addressed the problem at the time. Max mentioned that he got distracting playing computer games. The parents never replied to the email and also did not attend parents evening but as Max’s attendance improved again you didn’t follow-up. 

You are super busy at the moment as you are organising the school play and will go on a school trip in 4 weeks time. 
REFLECTION: Max's situation is very common here in Greece. I personally would do the following:

1. I would gather all the possible information about Max and his family ( parents' association, school management, student's file)

2. I would call Max for an interview in order to take his options and to hear his point of view about the issue 

3. I would try to communicate with his parents via telephone and if it's possible live

4. I would try to make an action with central character Max in order to involve the student in the class.

5. I would arrange meetings with Max and with his parents in order to "make" them ccoperate if it's possible.

6. I would tend Max to be involved in every action in class.

]]> 2017-10-17 18:01:48 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197948152 1.3 The role of parents in schools and classrooms christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197949401 Given that the course title is about EFFECTIVE parental engagement, rather than just any type of engagement, let us look at how parents should be engaged in schools and classrooms. It should be clear that not any form of engagement will bring the same results and some forms of engagement might even have a negative effect. To get the discussion about this started and for us to reflect on some key aspects of parental engagement, let’s take a look at the view of Eszter Salomon, Director of the European Parent’s Association. Eszter is a former teacher but now represents the interests of parents at European level.

]]> 2017-10-17 18:03:32 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197949401 1.4 Introduction to the Final Course Activity christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197950688
In this section we already want to give you a head’s up about the final course activity so that you can plan accordingly and have this in the back of your head as you progress through the rest of the course. Please note that completion of all stages of this activity is required if you want to qualify for a certificate. 

For the main part of the activity you will choose a specific “activity/action” explored on the course (e.g. developing more effective communication channels with parents, developing students as family educators, involving parents in lessons, creating spaces for parents at school, etc.) for which you will develop a plan of action or lesson plan to be implemented in your classroom or school. For example, this could consist of a lesson plan that focuses on developing students’ awareness of the importance and skills to bring their learning back into the family. Or it could consist of a plan of action to develop a “parent’s room” at school with concrete ideas of a room, schedule, and human resource to organise such room. 

This work will be submitted together with background information about the local context at the end of the course and peer reviewed by at least 3 fellow course participants. The focus of the review will be less on “assessing” but rather on providing supporting feedback to help with the implementation. 

So start thinking about what area you would like to focus on as you progress through the course. Or maybe you already have something quite concrete in mind. Either way, make yourself familiar with the tools/template we will ask you to use for this purpose:

  • Lesson Plan: If you decide to prepare a lesson plan please use the Learning Designer tool. For more information about the Learning Designer see section C of the course introduction here.
  • Action Plan: If you decide to prepare an action plan please use this template here (ODT version here).
]]> 2017-10-17 18:05:34 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197950688 christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197953136 In Module 1 we addressed some framing questions linked to the engagement of parents. In Modules 2-4 we address some concrete practices of engaging parents. We start out by looking at communication, sharing and building positive relationships with parents, all key to effective parental engagement for student learning. It’s important to get communication right if you want to involve parents in educational activities and develop a learning culture in families, two areas we explore further in Modules 3 and 4. 

As before, it is important you identify your own objectives for each module. Here are some to choose from for Module 2:

  1. Develop an understanding about the prerequisites for a positive relationship with parents and the role of communication as part of such relationship
  2. Reflect on and discuss different communication methods and channels with parents
  3. Reflect on the challenges of communicating with parents of different socio-economic, cultural, and language backgrounds
  4. Identify strategies to overcome challenges of communicating with a diverse group of parents
  5. Identify and discuss ICT tools that can facilitate the communication and sharing with parents
  6. Start working on your lesson plan or action plan
As a quick starter activity for this module we would like you to share in the Padlet your favourite ways of communicating online (generally, not necessarily with parents).
REFLECTION: 

What are your favourite ways of communicating online (generally, not necessarily with parents)?

" My favorite way of communicating is a face to face communication in order to have a more efficient communication. For me is crucial to see each other to look his eyes and have a warm conversation. When this isn't possible i prefer to use skype or e-mail."
]]> 2017-10-17 18:09:26 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197953136 2.1 Building positive relationships with parents christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197955281 Building positive relationships with parents is the essence of any effective parental engagement. It can take time and lots of effort to build such relationships, but once established they can be invaluable for your work as a teacher and for the learning of students. However, it is important to bear a few things in mind when trying to build such relationships. Take a look at Eszter’s and Marie’s advice on how to build positive relationships with parents and reflect on how you usually start of the relationship with your students’ parents. Is it primarily through information being passed from you to the parent? Or is it from the outset a two-way communication? At what stage of the school year do you properly meet parents? Think about these things as you watch the video below.

]]> 2017-10-17 18:12:55 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197955281 christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197956610 A key message from both Eszter and Marie is that in order to build a positive relationship with parents it is important to see them as individuals and differentiate in your approaches for each family, rather than see them all as “the parents” who all receive the same kind of information. Of course this is a challenge for us, given that we have plenty of other priorities in our daily school life. So let’s discuss the type of structures, processes, resources, etc. that need to be in place at school level to allow us as teachers to build such positive relationships with parents. Take a look at what Eszter believes to be important structures in a school that facilitate a positive engagement.]]> 2017-10-17 18:15:07 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197956610 REFLECTION christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197957111 For our reflection activity, let’s build a list of Do’s and Don’ts when building a relationship with parents. Head over to the Forum here where you will find two threads, one for our DO’s and one for our DON’TS. Just add a post in the relevant thread and feel free to respond to existing DO’s and DON’TS if you agree or disagree.
DO:  "I ALWAYS CALL ALL PARENTS AT THW BEGING OG THE SCHOOL YEAR TO MEET AND HEAR THEM.

I TRY TO HEAR THEIR OPINION ABOUT SCHOOL, EDUCATION AND I TRY IF I CAN TO DISQUSS THE ISSUES THEY MAY HAVE WITH SCHOOL, LESSONS, OR EVEN WITH THEIR CHILDREN.

I FOCUS ON THE COLLABORATION LEVEL WE SHOULD HAVE, I TRY TO HAVE A REAL TALK  OF THE WAYS WE CAN WORK TOGETHER.

IF IT IS POSSIBLE WE FIX THE NEXT MEETING."
DON'T: "I DON'T TELL THE PARENTS WHAT I WANT.

I DON'T MAKE SPEECHES.

I DON'T ASK THEM QUESTIONS THAT COULD MAKE THEM FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE."



]]> 2017-10-17 18:15:53 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197957111 2.2 Building communication channels with parents christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197958722 For a positive relationship to develop, regular and effective communication is important. In order to ensure such type of communication can occur, the right communication channels need to exist. Take a look at the below video which outlines nicely a range of communication channels between teachers and parents. As you watch the video reflect on which channels portrayed in the video you already use, what in your view are the positives and negatives of these channels, and which channels are you currently not using but could possibly implement.

]]> 2017-10-17 18:18:35 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197958722 2.3 Communicating with parents of different socio-economic/cultural/language backgrounds christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197959392 In section 2.1 both Marie and Eszter already highlighted the importance of differentiating your communication and actions with parents, based on the needs of parents. 

A common challenge for teachers is to positively work with parents of different socio-economic backgrounds. This can apply both to parents of lower socio-economic background than the teacher but also when parents are of a higher socio-economic background.

Take a look at Marie’s and Eszter’s views on how teachers can avoid issues here and ensure communication and exchange are positive and effective.

]]> 2017-10-17 18:19:39 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197959392 christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197960307 The issues addressed by Marie and Eszter sometimes also apply to working with parents who might come from a similar socio-economic background but have significant other cultural or language backgrounds. Nevertheless, there are some other challenges and opportunities to consider in these situations. Take a look at Eszter’s viewpoint on how communication with parents from different cultural and/or language backgrounds can be successful. ]]> 2017-10-17 18:21:24 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197960307 christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197960691 Have you experienced situations where the communication and relationship with parents was difficult due to different socio-economic/cultural/language backgrounds? How did you deal with it? Share any stories from your own practice in the Padlet below.
REFLECTION: 

Communication with parents with different backgrounds

Have you experienced situations where the communication and relationship with parents was difficult due to different socio-economic/cultural/language backgrounds? How did you deal with it? 
"I have faced some communication problems all the years i  teach students with learning problems and special needs. Few years ago i was in a school for students with special needs and the parents of a boy didn't want their child to be in the same class with other specific children and they always came to school and they were causing troubles, when we  were calling them about their child's matters they never were there. It was so hard to deal with them but at last when we had an honor talk things got better, or so i think."
]]> 2017-10-17 18:22:03 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197960691 2.4 ICT tools to support communication & sharing with parents christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197962162 Technologies have fundamentally changed how we communicate nowadays, so it should not be a surprise that technology is playing an increasing role in the communication with and engagement of parents in school. In this section we provide some examples and reflections about how technology has the potential to impact our communication with parents. But it should also be a place where you can voice your concerns about how such technology has brought new challenges for your work with parents. In the first video below, you will see an example of a school using a comprehensive parent – teacher online communication and data-sharing system. ]]> 2017-10-17 18:24:31 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197962162 christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197962685 In this second video you can see an example of how Google Translator is used in parents’ conferences where parents don’t speak the same language as the teacher:]]> 2017-10-17 18:25:25 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197962685 2.5 Webinar 10th October 17:00 christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197963162 WEBINAR 10th OCTOBER
17:00

with Eszter Salomon

"Educating together, educating each other – rethinking involvement, engagement and roles in education"

Speaker: Eszter Salomon
Date: 10 October at 17:00 CET

Summary:
10th October marks the European Day of Parents and Schools, a special day held on 2nd Tuesday of October since 2002. On this day we are going to have a look at the roles, tasks and responsibilities of different members of the school community with special focus on teachers (and school heads) and parents, keeping in mind child participation as a guiding principle. In the new pedagogical paradigm students and teachers, but also the parents are learners and educators. The webinar will look into methods to build the trust necessary for this, give examples of non-traditional organisation of learning, and will explore the way from involvement and engagement for the benefit of the individual child to engagement as a form of active citizenship that is for the benefit of the larger community.

Info to join the webinar with Eszter:
Meeting Name:  Educating together, educating each other – rethinking involvement, engagement and roles in education
Invited By: EUN Academy (academy@eun.org)
When:  10/10/2017 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Time Zone:  (GMT+01:00) Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris
To join the meeting:
https://eun2.adobeconnect.com/parentalengagementmooc/
 

Eszter Salamon, the president of the European Parents’ Association and Vice President of the European Lifelong Learning Platform. Originally trained and practiced as a teacher she later became an economist specialized in nonprofit management, education and culture, nonprofit marketing and PR. She started dealing with rights of the child issues in 1989 and has specialized in students’ rights and parents’ rights in the past 18 years. She has been involved in European education and social topics including equity and inclusion, lifelong learning, the prevention of early school leaving and youth unemployment, reconciling family life and work, and the importance of developing key competences.
]]> 2017-10-17 18:26:17 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197963162 2.6 Optional Action Plan Peer Review Activity christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197963618 In order to get you familiar with our peer review system which will feature as part of the final required activity of the course, you have here the opportunity to get some practice and benefit from the feedback of your peers. 

For this purpose we ask you to complete a short action plan on how you can improve communication and sharing with parents, taking into account the areas addressed during the module. The template to use is the same as the template we will be using for the final activity so this is an easy way to get a head start for the activity. 

Join this activity by following the below instructions.

  1. Write your action plan
    Prepare an action plan using this template (ODT version here). The action plan should integrate some of the ideas, tools, activities, etc. that have been covered in this module. Your action plan has to be in English, otherwise it will not qualify. 
  2. Hand-in your action plan
    Upload your action plan in the interface below. Then provide some context to your action plan by briefly outlining key information about your school/classroom/parents/etc. in the text box below. This should include any information you think is relevant for someone else to understand your action plan. Click the “Hand-in task” button. Please hand-in your action plan before the launch of Module 3 on 9th October. However, the final deadline to hand-in your action plan is the 25th October.
  3. Review action plans
    Wait for 24 hours then return to this page. Provide feedback for each action plan you have been assigned adding comments in the relevant column of the document. Provide valuable and friendly feedback that helps the author of the action plan improve their plan. Your review is not anonymous. Upload the document below and click the “Review” button for each review. Please hand-in your review as soon as possible but the final deadline to hand-in your reviews is 1st November. 
  4. Read your reviews
    Return to this page once in a while to see the reviews of your course peers for your action plan.
In case of suspected plagiarism or other types of misuse, as well as other questions about this task, please visit the FAQ section where you will find more detailed instructions on what to do.
MY ACTION PLAN
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ywxiv6vvdf3we9g/Parental%20Engagement%20Action%20Plan%20Template%20Final.docx?dl=0
]]> 2017-10-17 18:27:04 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197963618 christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197966260 Probably the most well-known way how parents have been involved in educational activities at classroom level is to come into the classroom and tell students about their job. But in a day and age where fewer and fewer “traditional” jobs exist, is this really the best way to involve parents in educational activities? There are many ways how parents can provide a pedagogical benefit to what you do in the classroom as well as at school in general. This module is all about identifying such opportunities but also about discussing the challenges such involvement brings.  

As always, it is important you identify your own objectives for each module. Here are some to choose from for Module 3:

  1. Reflect on how we can create spaces/opportunities for active parental involvement in our pedagogical work with students
  2. Understanding the benefits of having parents work with us in classrooms
  3. Understanding the challenges of having parents work with us in classrooms, and how to overcome these
  4. Identify a range of ways how parents can be involved in classroom work
REFLECTION: 

Briefly share a positive experience of working with parents

"The first thing I make when I meet my students' parents I ask them to tell me their opinion about school, about class, about their kids. If the circumstances are positives we schedule a next meeting in order to make parents more collaborative. I try to listen to their ideas and their point of view. "
]]> 2017-10-17 18:30:42 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197966260 3.1 Creating opportunities for parent involvement in educational activities christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197968001 Of course some of the key areas explored in Module 2 are essential if you want to involve parents in educational activities: you need a positive relationship, you need to know who the parents are, their strengths, interests, etc., and you need effective communication channels. Only then will you be able to create opportunities for parents to play a role in teaching & learning in your classroom. 

So what opportunities are there and how do we create these? Parents can play a range of roles in educational activities, as an audience, as student support, as sources of knowledge, as organisers, even as evaluators. We will look at some of these in more detail later but whatever role they take, it is important to create a framework – ideally from the start of the year – for their involvement. It could be a family – school contract, similar to the student – school contract in the example shown in the video below. It could be regular student – parent fairs where students present their work to parents. Or it could be a register of parents who have the time and skill of providing hands-on support of working with you in the classroom. Take a look at the video below which provides some general examples of school and classroom structures that allow for active involvement of parents for pedagogical purposes.

]]> 2017-10-17 18:33:19 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197968001 REFLECTION christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197968864 Opportunities for Parent Involvement
What kind of opportunities exist at your school or as part of your classes? Do you have a register of parents with information about their interests, skills, time for joining your work in the classroom? Do you organize regular parent fairs where parents act as the audience for students’ work? What opportunities have you created or could you create to let parents become a pedagogical value to your work with students?
"In my school we don't have many opportunities for parents in classrooms but we try to make an effort to get parents close to class. The parents are not so involved with their kids' education but we try to involve them as much as it's possible. We call them in meetings and I tried to invite them in a lesson that took place at school late in afternoon. The attendance was not very promissing but we will make efforts to gaun more attendance next time"
]]> 2017-10-17 18:34:45 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197968864 3.2 Parents as a valuable resource for educational activities christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197970262 So let’s take a look now at some concrete examples how parents can be a valuable resource for educational activities and share and discuss our own ideas. In the video below, Eszter outlines a range of examples based on her work with schools and parents and highlights the general benefit of involving parents in these ways. ]]> 2017-10-17 18:37:17 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197970262 christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197970923 One of the ways Eszter suggests parents can support educational activities is by supporting the work of children with special needs, in other words as a helping hand in your classroom. This has been implemented very effectively in the Kindergarten shown in the following video. While the example is from a Kindergarten the general principle and approach could also be applied with older students.]]> 2017-10-17 18:38:20 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197970923 3.3 Challenges of involving parents in the classroom christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197971401 Having parents in the classroom is not always easy for us teachers and it needs to be well organised and thought through to be a success. Openness and clear communication of expectations is essential to avoid some of the pitfalls of involving parents. Take a look at the video below where Eszter outlines some common challenges and issues when parents join the classroom work. ]]> 2017-10-17 18:39:10 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197971401 REFLECTION christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197972006 Do your experiences echo some of the issues outlined by Eszter? Share some stories of involving parents in your activities where things didn’t quite work out as planned, and how did you deal with it? What advice would you give to colleagues now to avoid such situations? If you have never involved parents in your educational activities, what is your main concern and how do you plan to address this?
"In point of view I try to work with all parents. Once before some years I had a student whose father came to school and demanded to take special care for his son because he was the most valuable member of my class. I polite ask him not to involve so much in class affairs because he hadn't the view of the class i had. Eventually and after many meetings he was percuated that the class was in the right position for his son."]]> 2017-10-17 18:40:15 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197972006 3.4 Webinar: Family involvement through Successful Educational Actions christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197973964 Join us for this exciting webinar about FAMILY INVOLVEMENT THROUGH SUCCESSFUL EDUCATIONAL ACTIONS with renowned speakers on the topic Dr. Ramon Flecha and Dr. Marta Soler.

Webinar Title: Family involvement through Successful Educational Actions

Summary:  This webinar will focus on knowing the impact of family involvement regarding students' learning achievements as well as well-being and social inclusion of the community through Successful Educational Actions. If you would like to know more before starting the dialogue with the authors, you could read this article:

Flecha, R., & Soler, M. (2013). Turning difficulties into possibilities: engaging Roma families and students in school through dialogic learning. Cambridge Journal of Education, 43(4), 451–465. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2013.819068

This article contains crucial results on family engagement and it was the best paper prize 2013 Cambridge Journal Education.

When: 18th October at 17:00H CET

How to join: Click the following link to join the meeting: https://eun2.adobeconnect.com/parentalengagementwebinar/

If you would like to test your connection prior to the meeting click this link here.

Speakers: 

Ramon Flecha is Doctor Honoris Causa of the West University of Timişoara and Professor of Sociology at the University of Barcelona. He has been Chair of the Expert Group on Evaluation Methodologies for the Interim and Ex-post evaluations of Horizon 2020. The main conclusion of the first project he led from the European Union’s Framework Program (FP5), WORKALÓ, The creation of new occupational patterns For cultural minorities: The gypsy case was unanimously approved by the European Parliament giving rise to various European and Member States policies. The second project he directed (FP6), INCLUD-ED. Strategies for inclusion and social cohesion from education in Europe, was the only one from the Social Sciences and Humanities included in the list that the European Commission published with 10 successful scientific investigations. He currently directs IMPACT-EV: Evaluating the impact and outcomes of European SSH Research (FP7), which develops indicators and standards that will serve to evaluate not only the scientific impact of the research in the Social Sciences and the Humanities but particularly its political and social impact. His scientific works have been published in scientific journals such as Nature, Cambridge Journal of Education, Harvard Educational Review, Organization, Qualitative Inquiry, Current Sociology, or Journal of Mixed Methods Research. His article published in the Cambridge Journal of Education(http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0305764X.2013.819068#tabModule) received the Best Paper Prize 2013 being, in turn, the most read article of the history of the journal.

Marta Soler, Harvard PhD, is Professor of Sociology at the University of Barcelona and Director of the Research Center CREA at the same university. She is member of the Governing Board of the European Alliance for the Social Sciences and Humanities (EASSH) and is also member of the Executive Committee of the European Sociological Association. She was the first researcher from the social sciences to be elected at the ORCID Board of Directors where she served between 2014 and 2016. She currently coordinates the H2020 research SOLIDUS, funded by the European Commission, on the study of solidarity in Europe in times of crisis. Similarly, she also belongs to the coordination team of the FP7 project IMPACT-EV on the evaluation of social, political and scientific impact of research in Europe. She was also involved with the coordinating team of the FP6 project INCLUD-ED, directed by Ramon Flecha, with the role of Knowledge Management Coordinator. She has published her research in journals such as Harvard Educational Review, Cambridge Journal of Education, Reading Research Quaterly or Qualitative Inquiry, among other. She is also author of the book recently released "Achieving Social Impact", published by Springer, which explains the keys and insights of the research conducted by CREA.

]]> 2017-10-17 18:43:36 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197973964 3.5 Optional Lesson Plan Peer Review Activity christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197974744 Last module you had the opportunity to submit an action plan for peer review, this week you have the opportunity to submit a lesson plan for peer review. In the final activity in module 4 you have the option to submit either an action plan or a lesson plan. So if you prefer to prepare a lesson this will be a good opportunity to start the work and get some feedback to improve your work. 

For this purpose we ask you to prepare a lesson plan that either explicitly involves parents in educational activities or has the role of parents for education as a key lesson topic. Of course make sure to prepare a lesson plan that you could actually use in your classroom.

Join this activity by following the below instructions.

  1. Write your lesson plan
    Prepare a lesson plan using the Learning Designer. For more info about the Learning Designer see the course introduction. Use the rubrics to guide your drafting of the lesson plan. Your lesson plan has to be in English, otherwise it will not qualify. For an introduction on how to draft a lesson plan using the Learning Designer watch this video.
     
  2. Hand-in your lesson plan
    Use the “share” button on the Learning Designer to receive a link to your lesson plan. Copy the link into the text box below. To provide some context to your lesson plan also copy a link to your Learning Diary in the text box or provide a brief description of your school and classes. Click the “Hand-in task” button. The final deadline to hand-in your lesson plan is 25th October 2017 at 23:59h
     
  3. Review lesson plans
    Wait for 24 hours then return to this page. Provide feedback for each lesson plan you have been assigned by completing the rubrics document. Provide valuable and friendly feedback. Your review is not anonymous. Upload the completed rubric documents below and click the “Review” button for each review. The deadline to hand-in your reviews is 1st November 2017. For an introduction on what to watch out for in your peer review watch this video.
     
  4. Read your reviews
    At the end of the course return to this page to see the reviews of your course peers for your lesson plan.
MY LESSON PLAN:
https://v.gd/1zJdhe
]]> 2017-10-17 18:44:54 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197974744 christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197976007 In our final module we explore issues related to bringing the learning into families and thereby supporting student learning. As part of this we address the issue of “home visits”, something very few of us have the time to do for all our students, but a really important and powerful way to learn about families, the community, and how to support your students’ learning outside of the classroom. 

This module also features the final – required – activity. If you want to qualify for a course certificate and would like to benefit of the activities of the course alumni group, then it is essential you follow through with all steps of this activity. Therefore, make sure to plan enough time this week to work on the module. 

Make sure to define your own learning objectives again this week. Choose from the following:

  1. Understand the importance of supporting learning in families
  2. Identify activities, strategies to bring the joy of learning to parents who have had negative experiences of school
  3. Understand some key principles to follow for organising home visits to families
  4. Reflect on how you could organise more or more effective home visits
  5. Identify similar types of schemes to the Irish Home School Community Liaison Scheme in  your country, which can support your work with parents and in particular with home visits.
  6. Prepare an action plan or lesson plan incorporating key aspects covered on the course
  7. Review the work of 3 fellow course participants
  8. Learn about the INCLUDE-ED project and how an approach called dialogic gatherings can bring learning into families.
  9. Learn about the work of your peers by joining our course Teachmeet
As a starter activity for this week, please share in the Padlet below any negative experiences you have had of working with parents and how you dealt with these. Of course please refrain from personal references such as names of parents and students.
REFLECTION: I teach in a High School in Alonnisos Island and the main problem i've seen already is that the parents are not much interested in their children's education. They all want just their children graduated and nothing more. In big towns parents are more interested and envolved in school education and life of their children.
]]> 2017-10-17 18:47:26 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197976007 4.1 Bringing learning into the families christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197995344 We start out once again with some key points from Eszter about the importance of bringing they joy of learning back to parents, thereby facilitating a learning process in families and accordingly benefiting the students’ learning.]]> 2017-10-17 19:27:21 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197995344 christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197995784 Eszter suggests that just asking parents to do some readings at home with their children, or checking students work, isn’t what family learning is about. And it is not sufficient to guarantee the kind of parent engagement required to support students with their learning effectively. Rather, the role of the teacher should be to engage parents in projects which allow them to enjoy learning in itself and understand the importance of becoming a lifelong learner.

Now take a look at Maria Tobin’s take on this topic. Maria highlights how students themselves can bring learning into families, and the importance of the teacher to facilitate such a process. By sharing the knowledge and skills the students pick up at school with their parents, students are invariably learning more.

]]> 2017-10-17 19:28:19 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197995784 christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197996031 At the end of the video, Maria outlines an interesting school – community activity to facilitate the process of family learning by everyone together reading the same book. Take a look at the video below which shows a similar type of activity organised at a school in the US and an easy way to engage parents and bring learning into families. Please note that the video is produced by the students of the school and is narrated accordingly.

]]> 2017-10-17 19:28:57 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197996031 REFLECTION: christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197996406 Do you agree with the ideas and examples shared by Eszter and Maria? What other strategies, actions, can we take as teachers to bring the joy of learning into families? How can we as teachers facilitate family and student learning by helping our students “teach” at home? Share your thoughts and ideas in the Padlet below.

4.1 Bringing learning into the families

Do you agree with the ideas and examples shared by Eszter and Maria? What other strategies, actions, can we take as teachers to bring the joy of learning into families? How can we as teachers facilitate family and student learning by helping our students “teach” at home? 
"I strongly agree with the ideas at the examples shared. It is crucial for us teachers to manage bring the joy of learning into families, to promote the engagement of learning into families. We also can organize actions to present the goods of family learning and introduce it to our students' parents."
]]> 2017-10-17 19:29:40 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197996406 4.2 Home Visits christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197998745 A powerful tool to achieve most of the things we have covered on this course, such as building trust, developing effective communication, involving parents in classrooms, and now family learning, is the “home visit”. While it is one of the most powerful tools we have as teachers to engage parents, it is also the most resource intensive and accordingly rarely used. Nevertheless, it is important to consider it for our own practice and to participate in or create scheme that can help us teachers conduct regular home visits.For an overview of the benefit of home visits for students and some good practices of doing home visits, take a look at the video of the US “Parent Teacher Home Visit” project. Please note that the 2nd half of the video addresses Academic Parent Teacher Teams which is another great strategy but not directly relevant to our section.]]> 2017-10-17 19:35:59 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197998745 christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197999113 Similar schemes like this one exist in European countries. For an example from Ireland take a look at Maria’s introduction to the Irish Home School Community Liaison scheme. You can also find more information about the scheme on the European Toolkit for Schools here. ]]> 2017-10-17 19:36:56 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197999113 christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197999506 Conducting home visits takes a lot of time so schemes like the Irish Home School Community Liaison scheme are really important to help us teachers in this kind of work.

Home visit projects in Greece

" In my country there are no such organized projects, although I have in the past i have made some visits to students home when there was some problems and according to specialist advise and by the acceptance of the school headmaster and the school advisor. The results were mixed. I think that something like that should be legally guaranteed by the State, and of course all parents should accept to participate in such projects. "
]]> 2017-10-17 19:37:59 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/197999506 4.3 TeachMeet on 30th October christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/198004690 Join as a presenter or attendee at our course Teachmeet on 30th October. A Teachmeet is an informal way of sharing ideas, good practices, lesson plans, etc. At the end of the course we would like to give you the opportunity to present your lesson plan or action plan which you have prepared as part of the course to your peers. Alternatively you can also just present a good practice of working with parents which you think other people might be interested in. Anything related to the course topic that you think might be of interested to your peers is welcome. 

How to participate:

There are two ways how to participate in the Teachmeet. As a speaker or as an attendee. If you would simply like to hear what your peers will be speaking about, then join as an attendee by visiting the link provided further below on the day of the Teachmeet. 

If you are interested in participating as a speaker in the Teachmeet, visit this page and submit your information. However, before doing that, please have in mind the following: 

  • Participation in the Teachmeet as a speaker is limited to 10 participants, and it works in the basis of "first come, first served", so we will not accept more applications after we reach the 10 participants. 
  • Have in mind that the Rehearsal of the Teachmeet is on 30 October at 12:00 CET and this is COMPULSORY so if you can't attend the rehearsal, there is no need for you to apply to the Teachmeet as a speaker. However, you can always participate in the Teachmeet as an attendee.
  • A good level of English is required in order to participate in the Teachmeet.
Important Dates and Times:

Date of teachmeet: 30 October at 17:00 CET
Teachmeet rehearsal: 30 October at 12:00 CET
Deadline to apply: 26 October at 12:00 CET

You can check this tool if you are not sure about the time of the event in your country
https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/

How to join the Teachmeet:

Shortly before the Teachmeet will start visit this page: https://eun2.adobeconnect.com/parentalcourseteachmeet/

If you have never attended an Adobe Connect meeting before: Test your connection here: https://eun2.adobeconnect.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.html
]]> 2017-10-17 19:50:51 UTC https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/198004690 4.4 Required final peer review activity christos_chachoudis https://padlet.com/christos_chachoudis/wrk5r7pttia5/wish/198005167 In Modules 2 and 3 you already had the opportunity to submit an action plan and lesson plan for peer feedback. While in those modules this was optional, in this module it is required to submit either an action plan or lesson plan for peer review and to write reviews for the work of three of your peers. Only if you complete all steps of this activity you will qualify for a course certificate. 

The purpose of this activity is two-fold. On the one hand we would like you to prepare a final product of what you have learned on the course and can put into practice at your school. On the other hand we would like you to reflect on your own work by reviewing the work of others as well as gather new ideas through the process of looking at someone else’s work.

Join this activity by following the below instructions.

1. Write your action/lesson plan
Prepare an action plan using this template (ODT version here). The action plan should integrate some of the ideas, tools, strategies, activities, etc. that have been covered in the course. Your action plan has to be in English, otherwise it will not qualify. Please note that this CAN be the same action plan as submitted in module 2.

OR

Prepare a lesson plan using the Learning Designer. For more info about the Learning Designer see the course introduction. Use the rubrics to guide your drafting of the lesson plan. Your lesson plan has to be in English, otherwise it will not qualify. For an introduction on how to draft a lesson plan using the Learning Designer watch this video. Please note that this CAN be the same lesson plan as submitted in module 3.

2. Hand-in your action/lesson plan
If you have prepared an action plan please upload it in the interface below. Then provide some context to your action plan by briefly outlining key information about your school/classroom/parents/etc. in the text box below. This should include any information you think is relevant for someone else to understand your action plan. Click the “Hand-in task” button. Please hand-in your action plan as soon as possible before the final deadline on 25th October at 23:59h CET.

OR

If you have prepared a lesson plan use the “share” button on the Learning Designer to receive a link to your lesson plan. Copy the link into the text box below. To provide some context to your lesson plan also copy a link to your Learning Diary in the text box or provide a brief description of your school and classes. Click the “Hand-in task” button. Please hand-in your lesson plan as soon as possible before the final deadline on 25th October at 23:59h CET. 

3. Review action/lesson plans
Wait for 24 hours then return to this page. Provide feedback for each of the three action or lesson plans you have been assigned. If you have to review an action plan please add comments in the relevant column of the document. If you have to review a lesson plan please complete this rubrics document. It is possible that you will be assigned a mix of lesson and action plans. Provide valuable and friendly feedback that helps the author of the action/lesson plan improve their plan. Your review is not anonymous. For the action plans upload the reviewed document below and click the “Review” button for each review. For the lesson plans upload the completed rubrics document below and click the “Review” button for each review. Please hand-in your review as soon as possible before the final deadline on 1st November at 23:59h CET.

If you are reviewing a lesson plan, for an introduction on what to watch out for in your peer review watch this video.

4. If the work you are reviewing is of excellent quality, please nominate it for consideration by the alumni editorial board by filling in this short form here. It only takes 2 minutes. This means that the work will be considered by the editorial board for publication on the School Education Gateway and is a great way to acknowledge the good work of your colleague. 

5. Read your reviews
Return to this page once in a while to see the reviews of your course peers for your action or lesson plan.
MY LESSON PLAN:
https://v.gd/1zJdhe
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