A Teacher's Ruminations

Frustrated Educators Aim to Build Grassroots Movement Read this article and get energized about taking action to reclaim public education.

Recently, I hosted a real time email conversation with the families of my students; only one parent participated. A second parent responded later on to say that she hadn't been able to be present at the discussion and didn't really have anything to contribute at the moment. A third parent had emailed me earlier saying she would not have internet access at that time. And, although we had a great discussion, I am left wondering at the low turnout given how comfortable it is to log in from the comfort of one's own home or mobile device. And, because I know that in order to improve at anything it is important to reflect on one's experiences, I have identified four reasons for why this may have happened. Although there may be other causes, these are ones that I will address the next time I plan a similar event. First lesson learned: it took me several weeks to pull this session together. Did interest wane in the time it took to me to gauge parental interest and the...