Encouraging Engagement and Incorporating Voice
Incorporating Student Voice
When students feel that their ideas and opinions are heard and have a role in how a community functions, they not only feel respected, butare more invested and engaged in their learning.
Parents as Partners in Education
Parents should be viewed as your partner in developing their child. Building healthy relationships with parents by engaging them classroom ongoings and soliciting for input and feedback will allow for a greater sense of parent voice in our classrooms. Often, teachers can default to reporting misbehaviour to families when something goes wrong. But what happens when we flip the script and only start to focus on reporting positive occurrences rather than negative interactions. Some simple steps you can take:
Community Parnerships and Engagement
Whether it be partnering with local businesses, being a part of community activity (i.e., neighbourhood clean ups, fun or activity days..), inviting in guests (i.e., fire fighters, police, service officers, seniors, politicians..), having community members sit on school council, or being penpals and visiting local seniors, community engagement allows the school community to participate and demonstrate responsible membership in its broader community.