Parents Learning Like Their Kids!

This past Wednesday was Open House at our school. 18-20 parents were able to join me in the classroom to better understand what learning looks like for their child.

We did a "Chalk Talk" activity in which parents were able to share their thoughts about supporting their child in their learning. Some people would have like to have more time to see what others wrote or to discuss more of the questions as a group. Here's what they wrote down on the paper:

How has education changed since you were in Grade 4?

1. Computers!
2. It's more hands-on now.
3. I'm focussing on having her study at home by herself.
4. It has changed drastically. I am glad the kids don't have to do what we did!
5. More technology in the classroom.
6. Media and computers!
7. More reading and difficult math, and computers!
8. I liked learning and studied every day 3-6 hours. It was without computer!
9. Technology! Sitting in straight lines, not talking, learning through constant repetition.

How do you support your child's learning at home?

1. We talk about what happened at school and class.
2. We read together after dinner.
3. We learn the same thing (as our children) and help them practice
4. We tell him there are only two things nobody could not take from him: his knowledge and his memories.
5. We follow the weekly schedule, then take time for reading and talking together.

How do you think our math experience helped your understanding of math concepts, or how could it help your child's understanding?

1. The "play method" is always a hit! It woke my rusted brain!
2. Making it into a game relieves the stress and relaxes you...helps with your understanding
3. It was challenging and forced me to work with the other parents.
4. Having learning materials like dice helped me because I am a kinesthetic learner.
5. Modeling numbers in different ways helped me to see the connections and go to the sum as a story.

What ways do you support math through real-life context at home?

1. Take them to supermarkets, etc and let them calculate.
2. Play games that are connected to numbers (i.e. Skip Bo)
3. My daughter teaches the math games at home. We play lots of games at home.
4. Keeping a schedule with timings for t.v. and internet.
5. At bedtime, we sometimes try and work out how many hours of sleep we will get at night.
6. Encourage my kids to count windows, pieces in oranges, etc.
7. Offering suggestions on the best ways to spend his money. What is it worth?
8. We play "shop". Our son "sells" us his books and toys and he has to give us correct change.
9. Giving them a monthly allowance and helping them to budget it for things they want to buy.

What do you think are the positives or negatives about playtime or "family fun time" for a child?

1. The more I interact with them, the more I learn where I am lacking in parenting.
2. It helps build healthy relationships.
3. Positives--parents and kids get to be goofy together. Negatives--none.
4. Learn "life skills"! Sharing, patience, confidence.
5. It helps improve social skills.
6. It helps build a good bond.
7. Positives--it fosters bonding and teamwork. Negatives--not wanting it to end!

How do you engage in conversation with your child about his/her learning?

1. Ask them to teach you the things they have learned.
2. Asking questions, checking her notebook and discussing topics/things she learned that day.
3. Most of the time, we use dinner to talk about the learnings of the day.
4. Ask questions about their day.
5. By listening when they talk and when they know I am involved, they share their learning.
6. Ask questions about what they learned, best parts, any confusing parts, anything they wanted to spend more time on.
7. During reading time before they go to bed.

How can we best build confidence in young writers?

1. Encourage them to write down a story that excites them.
2. By publishing their work on blogs! They love to see their work online.
3. Encourage them to write often and about any subject they desire.
4. To appreciate and encourage them after reading it yourself.
5. Encourage them to write down what they think. We have many holidays they can write about.
6. Spend time reviewing areas of positives and opportunities, and make them feel good about both.

What does reading look like in your home?

1. We have books all over the house--every room, table, different nooks to read.
2. I recommend to read Korean history because she can't study Korean history in school, and should be studying and reading it through books.
3. We have many books bookmarked in different rooms. The books are in different languages. We all take turns reading the books to our son and with him.
4. Quiet time before bed to read.
5. We sit on the couch with our cup of chamomile tea, and both read our books.
6. We have family reading time every day with four kids and parents. Kids choose what they want to read. Sometimes we do "tent reading"

How do you encourage reluctant readers?

1. I give easy books to read.
2. Find a book or style that they like.
3. I give them interesting books.
4. Give them the right book for them to read.
5. Tell him to try lots of different books to try and find one that he likes.
6. Audio books with me reading with them. Try comics! That always works!

Here is some of the feedback they shared with me about their experience, followed by some photos that captured their brains that were hard at work.

1. How did the activity change your thinking about math and/or how we teach it at ISM?
1.  It was different from when I went to school.  More collaborative, more experimental.
2. I liked that it was done in the form of a game. It showed that learning can be fun, yet the learning still takes place. Very happy to see.  
3. Different compare to my time at college, easier to understand.
2. What tools helped you to better learn the math concept you were working on?  
1. The fact that we had to work as a group helped to figure out the solution.
2. The steps and systematic process 
3. How did you feel about being able to choose your own actiity?
1. Always like to have a choice, and most children are the same. If they are not being forced to do something, they do it more willingly. 
2. Comfortable and less pressured 
4. How did you feel about sharing your ideas with a partner? Do you think this is beneficial?  
1. It was a bit uncomfortable at first but it was needed and we used each other as sounding boards to figure things out.
2. Yes as vocalizing your thoughts helps to make them more concrete in your mind.  
3. When I was in school looking at another students answers was cheating, but in this activity we all used the same paper so we were able to collaborate and learn new ideas from each other.
4.  I think for that money it's helpful but even more in the future when you understand the value of opinions from others.
   
   
5. What did the Math activities make you think about your child's learning experiences at school?  
1. That he is in a better environment than I was 30 years ago.  School has changed for the better.
2. Helped to show me that my child is having fun while learning. 
3. By the end, I enjoyed getting a chance to experience the learning styles that my child is experiencing and getting to interact with the other parents.
4. I was not aware of the (high) level already.
6. How did you feel about sharing your ideas anonymously on the Chalk Talk activity regarding how you can support your child's learning, etc.  
1. It was neat.
2. Loved the idea of Chalk Talk. Enjoyed reading what other people thought, as it gives you fresh ideas on how to integrate learning into your own home, but liked that it was anonymous. Could write your thoughts without judgement.  
3. The chalk talk questions were thought provoking and we had to reflect on some of the ways we use to help kids become good learners. I wish I had more time to read the feedback from other parents.
7. How did you feel about getting to read the responses of other parents on the Chalk Talk activity? 
1.  I was too busy writing and forgot to read.
2. Getting to see the other parents responses helped me better understand the math activity.
8. How else did your hour in our classroom help you to better understand your child's daily experience at school.  
1. I now know ‘how’ the children are learning as opposed to what they are learning.  I better understand the ISM experience.
2. I think the way of education is more effective as it's more on developing the skills on problem solving then just learn out of a book
3. It was very helpful to know the 'whats' and 'hows' of the learning happening at the school. The hands-on and open communication approach is the best way kids can learn and I witnessed it first hand on Wednesday evening! Now I know our kids are exposed to various activities that stimulate them in different ways rather than learning the concept in a traditional manner.  

Here are some additional comments about the Open House experience:

1.   We are exited about the way you presented  the way of working in your class. Thank you very much and good luck this exciting school year.
2. I like the interactive sessions. The old style open house is too much like old style education.
3. The interactive open house method was a good way to break the ice with the other parents.  It’s also interesting to see how the children interact with each other when learning.  Although I was a bit tired and would have gladly been ‘talked to’ for an hour I believe the interactive method is best.
4. It was a nice way to interact with other parents in this manner- doing activities and having fun raking our rusty brains!


Parents were searching for population numbers of their chosen cities.






These parents thought they were finished when they had all found one way of mentally figuring out 12 x 15. Then I asked them to find another way.






These parents practiced "expanded form" and comparing numbers by playing "Rock 'n Roll 'em"






These parents were working hard at modeling numbers in as many ways as possible.






These parents had some tricky "Mystery Number" clues to solve.






A game of Quizmo challenged these parents with their understanding of place value.






Here are some photos of the Chalk Talk activity.