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In Episode 53, I’m chatting with my oldest daughter and favorite high school English teacher, Gretchen Monke. She has done a terrific job of connecting with her students and has some excellent insights on how parents can partner with teachers to help kids succeed at school. We discuss four ways to help your child succeed at school.
#1 Promote Ownership Over Their own Education
Help child take more ownership over their own education.
Encourage them to communicate directly with their teacher.
#2 Help Them Get Organized
Organizational skills are really important. Make sure they have an organized agenda and binder.
Digital organization is important, as well.
A lot of children don’t have organizational skills.
“But ultimately is the student’s responsibility to take that information and learn it and apply it. And I think sometimes parents place that responsibility on teachers.”
“I can teach your child how to write a paragraph, but I can’t write it for them.”
#3 Teach Kids to Be Proactive
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens is a book about habits that can help your teen improve different aspects of their life.
1st Habit is being proactive
“I really want to work on fostering a better relationship with my parents.”
Teens still want a close relationship with parents.
Share Advice with Teachers
Share your child’s interests/what you enjoy.
“If you have a child who is struggling to develop that independence and autonomy and is maybe nervous talking to their teachers, something that has worked well is a parent has emailed me and said, ‘Hey, would you mind prompting this discussion with my student?'”
“We need to communicate with each other. Let’s all share information.” Audrey
#4 Give Teachers Some Grace
“Approach teachers with patience.” Gretchen
“I value every student as an individual, but it’s hard to help everyone at once.” Gretchen
“We need to be a little more forgiving/understanding at seeing other people’s perspective.” Audrey
“We’re all on the same team so that partnership is really, really important.” Audrey
Resources/Links
Ep. 43: The Gift of Failure by Jessica Lahey
AVID – college readiness
The Gift of Failure, Jessica Lahey
How to Raise an Adult, Julie Lythcott-Haims
