Scholastic
The website entitled Scholastic offers a wide array of resources for working with parents and families. The website content is divided into several categories, each pertaining to a different aspect of education. There are resources and tools, strategies and ideas, student activities, books and authors, products and services, e-books category, and the teacher store.
The resources provided on the website range from various teaching themes that can be browsed in alphabetical order to lesson plans, social studies materials, daily starters tips, school calendars, useful software, learning applications, and various videos for teachers. For the purposes of working with parents and families, the most useful resources are provided under the heading of “Communicating with Parents and Families” (Communicating with parents and families, n.d., para. 1). The article provides important tips on establishing a good rapport with the family of a student. Efficient communication is indicated as a prerequisite for the child’s development. Effective communication with the family involves being tactful and cautious, as well as recognizing their child’s both accomplishments and flaws. At my future job, I will have to deal with many parents of exceptional students, worried about their child’s health and overall development. The selected website provides various guidelines on how to approach the family regarding various issues of their child’s education effectively.
In the context of exceptional students, the guidelines provided by the Scholastic website would be rather beneficial. They emphasize the need to establish a friendly and respectful connection with the students’ parents, as well as communicate in a way that stresses the idea of common goals. Thus, this approach would have a significant impact on exceptional students, as it would improve the parent-teacher relationship, which, in turn, would lead to devising an individual approach to each student.
Education Oasis
The website entitled “Education Oasis” is a website dedicated to the idea of sharing useful resources among teachers. The site is divided into several subheadings, i.e., blogs, resources, printables, and book central. The resources section contains multiple articles that cover various subjects, such as student activities, assessment, and evaluation, child development, career options, gifted students, as well as teaching strategies, technology in the classroom, lesson planning, home-school connections, giftedness, and the theory of brain development.
For my future job as an elementary school teacher who deals with exceptional students, the resources provided by the Education Oasis website are rather useful. They cover a wide range of aspects pertaining to child development issues that would be applicable in the future. The articles about creative learning activities can help make the lessons more approachable and comprehensible, as well as improve the children’s motivation, or provide them with a challenge they will appreciate. Tips on reading instruction and a general overview of the teaching techniques shed further light on the multiple ways to address the problems of elementary school education.
The article that is especially useful in the context of teaching exceptional students is entitled “Working with Parents: Advice from Teachers.” The author of the article emphasizes essential points in education. The role of the teacher’s relationship with parents is emphasized. The involvement of parents can prove not only useful but also crucial to devising a successful learning program (Working with parents: advice from teachers, n.d., para. 2). Ensuring efficient cooperation between the teacher and parents improves discipline, strengthens the student’s motivation, and helps design an efficacious approach towards each student with a particular disability. Moreover, such teamwork helps create an atmosphere of support and acceptance for exceptional students.
The Parent Institute
The Parent Institute Website provides multiple resources that are meant to help teachers approach exceptional students and their parents. The website is divided into four sections, i.e., products, subjects, age level, and hot topics. The resources available provide useful information on various problems related to teaching, e.g., attendance, bullying, discipline, exceptional children, motivation, reinforcing academic skills, student behavior, responsibility, and respect. The mentioned hot topics resources provide articles about teachers involving parents, motivating parents, study skills, and middle-school transition.
Resources that would be of particular use for my future job as an elementary school teacher with an exceptional students group would be the articles regarding the main ideas about learning disabilities, developing efficient learning styles, as well as resources related to establishing a successful communication channel with parents. The resources related to parenting issues are divided into several categories that present the most important aspects of the problem, i.e., communication, discipline, home environment, respect, responsibility, safe schools, self-esteem, social skills, and time management. There is a wide choice of articles in each category.
The section entitled “Teachers involving parents” provides basic materials for establishing successful communication between the two. It is emphasized that the parents’ involvement correlates with the level of academic achievement (Teachers involving parents, n.d., para. 1). Moreover, the section covering issues related to the exceptional students provides highly valuable guidelines on the suitable course of action regarding the curriculum and the teaching approach. Applying the principles put forth on the discussed website would benefit exceptional students a great deal, as they advocate for adopting a flexible approach. It is stressed that there is more than one way to learn, thereby emphasizing the need to develop a special attitude towards each exceptional student. Similar to the websites discussed above, The Parent Institute Website also provides tips that would help create a friendly atmosphere for exceptional students, thereby facilitating the learning process.
References
Communicating with parents and families. (n.d.). Web.
Teachers involving parents. (n.d.). Web.
Working with parents: advice from teachers. (n.d.). Web.