Parent Involvement

WILLOW GLEN ELEMENTARY
TWBI ADHOC COMMITTEE
April 24, 2008

RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS ABOUT PARENT PARTICIPATION

A concern was raised regarding PTA funded programs currently in place at Willow Glen Elementary.  WGE is special because of parent involvement.  Some of the programs in question are lessons presented by docent volunteers in the areas of Art, Science, Project Cornerstone and Garden activities.  The AdHoc Committee discussed ways to include these programs as part of the weekly curriculum either during ELD (English Language Development) time or presented as part of the content areas in the target language. 

With notice, a classroom teacher can carefully plan lessons by frontloading information before the presentation by the docent; this practice is already in place in our classrooms.  Follow-up and practice can also be done in the target language to ensure comprehension.  Activities might include vocabulary lessons, GLAD (Guided Language Acquisition Design) and/or SDAIE (Specifically Designed Academic Instruction in English) strategies, using literature from district adopted core curriculum, providing realia and manipulatives, and ample time for oral discussion. 

Using guidelines from the district and working together with our Bilingual Resource Teacher and parent docents, classroom teachers can collaboratively plan for a weekly lesson in Science, Art, ABC Parents/Los Dichos, or garden activities.

Trainings for parents who do not speak the native language (Spanish or English) could be offered at Willow Glen to provide support when docents are teaching.  This would give them some ideas and tools for reaching all learners.

Music and Sports 4 Kids are offered weekly.  It was decided that Music could be included as part of the ELD time.  Sports 4 Kids could be considered ELD or English Language Arts time as determined by the teachers and/or grade level team.

In this way, parents and program specialists such as the Music teacher and Coach for Sports 4 Kids would be included in each classroom even though the parent or instructor might not speak one language or another.  Instruction, translation and/or practice would be provided by the classroom teacher as needed.

PTA programs will not be given up as feared but rather will continue to enhance and enrich our school climate and culture.  The AdHoc Committee has no doubt that we will be able to maintain our current programs through school-wide collaboration and creative planning.

Submitted by:
Lynda Jensen
Teresa Ochoa
Adriana Rodriguez-Fkiaras