In this project I had chosen to interview my mother. She has been teaching for 28 years in Armour, South Dakota. I had never given my mother the credit she deserves when it comes to doing her job. Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. I hope someday I can be as great of a teacher as I feel you are.

School Website: http://www.armour.k12.sd.us/   

① Do you have a classroom web site?  

I do but I haven’t kept it up. It is outdated and incorrect. I felt that parents weren’t using it at the time. I think I need to work on this since more people have home computers than they did 10 years ago. I do have a blog and a Wiki spot in which I have information and chats about my classes. These sites are available to the parents.

② Do you use email to communicate with parents of the students as a whole?

 I use e-mail when possible. Most information that applies to everyone is posted on the school web site. I use e-mail with students if they have their privileges. Many of them abuse this privilege and get their e-mail taken away.

③ Do you send home printed classroom communications?

 The Middle school does a monthly newsletter. It is sent home in hard copy as well as digitally. It is posted on the school’s website.

④ Do you use a digital camera in your classroom as part of the communication or anything else?

      I do use a digital camera once in a while. I use a video camera as well to video tape skits produced by my students.

⑤ Are parents or community members encouraged to volunteer in your school and your classroom?

      Volunteers are welcome, but we don’t have a lot of parents that don’t have jobs and are usually working. We do have volunteers that help with box tops and Campbell’s labels. I encourage parents to come into class whether it is Title class or the regular classroom at any time. I want parents to know they are welcome. Once in a while a parent will actually come in, but not often.

⑥ Are parents or community members involved in daily activities in your classroom, i.e. correcting, supervising, field trips, general classroom help?

Parent’s are involved in the field trips, but again most parents in our community both have jobs and unable to be at the school without taking time off from work. With confidentiality I would be a little hesitant to have parent’s correct papers for my students. The fact that I teach Middle School and have some complicated answers at times, it would be difficult for others to correct many of these papers.

⑦ Most challenging thing about working with parents?

Parents have a tendency to be less than objective. It is often difficult to accept that their child could have done something wrong. They also sometimes blame poor grades on the teacher rather than except the fact that their child didn’t put forth the effort necessary. I want you to understand that this is only a handful of people, most parents are supportive.

⑧ Most enjoyable thing in working with parents

Parents can be your biggest support system. We meet in monthly meetings we call PTT (Parents and Teachers Together). These meetings are a time to try to discuss ways to make things better for our students as well as how parents can help their child at home. These are usually a very good time to communicate with those parents that attend. I have parents that I can e-mail with concerns and will get immediate responses to the situation. Most of these parents are thankful for the information they get from you because they know as a teacher you just want what is best for their child.

⑨ Is parent involvement increased or decreased since you began teaching? 

Parent involvement has stayed about the same since I began teaching. It has changed very little. I really think this is a work related issue. Parents have to be at work.

⑩ Demographics– grade level or subject taught – number of years taught – number of students taught each day, etc.

I teach in a community of about 800 people. This is a farming community that is made up of all English speaking people that are mainly white with a few Native American students.

      I teach 8^th grade Language Arts- English, Reading and Spelling specifically. I also teach Title I Reading for grades K-6. I have taught for 28 years in the same school, although my subject assignments have changed I have only taught Title I for about 8 years and will be spending less time with the Title students next year as I will be doing the 7^th grade Language Arts as well as 8^th grade.

When I first began teaching here the average classroom was about 25-30 students. The average classroom size now is about 15. Last year I had 11 students in my 8^th grade Language Arts class as well as 15 students I saw daily in the Title I room.

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