When I think of one thing that could ultimately improve the educational experiences of gifted students, I think of communication. Communication between teachers and parents, parents and administrators, teachers and administrators, and most importantly between students and teachers as well as students and parents. Each of these four groups has their own agenda. Parents want their students to get a good education and have fun in school. Teachers want to get through to kids and provide them with a good education. Administrators like to see the success of a whole school as well as provide a nurturing environment for students. And the students want to get through school with out feeling bored and unmotivated. So how does one go about uniting these very different causes and pointing them towards a common goal of a students education. Well, communication is the key. Without it, teachers will feel hassled, parents will feel annoyed, administrators will feel drained, and students will feel confused and let down.
So how do you go about providing an environment that fosters communication? Here are some simple steps to help make the process as painless as possible. All of these steps have come from personal experience and observation.
1. Lose the Computer- Email is a great tool and a wonderful asset to our lives. But when you are trying to develop a plan to educate a student, email just falls short. A phone is okay, but meeting face to face is the best. This shows that all the parties involved care and are committed to the cause as well as makes the whole conversation much more personal.
2. Loose the Attitude- Anyone who has listened to someone speak will know that as soon as they start ranting and raving, people stop listening. By keeping calm and not loosing your cool, you can make sure that your opinions are heard.
3. Loose the Superiority Complex- Parents: The truth is that teachers and administrators have many other students to take care of, even though you put your child first does not mean that they are the be all end all, recognize that everyones needs need to be taken into account. Teachers: Recognize that parents are concerned about their students, and that you have a duty to provide the best education possible for all students. Administrators: Teachers and parents will be on your case, do not let them get you down, try and solve the problem fairly by hearing all sides of the problems.
Using these three steps, you can make communication much much easier. Remember the common goal and hopefully everyone can come to a solution. I wish you luck in your efforts to provide the best education for gifted students.
Some footnotes:
The idea for this post came from a post from I Help You Blog. If you look at his post, I used #48- Make a post simplifying a complex problem for your readers. Hopefully thats what this post accomplished.
3 responses so far ↓
Great Blogging Posts Offer (Batch 2) // April 7, 2007 at 7:18 pm |
[...] Wells on Education writes about the “Importance of Communication.” (Number 48: Simplify a complex problem) [...]
» Great Blogging Posts Offer (Batch 2) // January 18, 2008 at 11:29 am |
[...] Wells on Education writes about the “Importance of Communication.” (Number 48: Simplify a complex problem) [...]
Michele // June 12, 2008 at 9:00 pm |
So true. Thanks!