Overall, I feel that my newsletter is informative and welcoming to parents. Research shows that parental involvement is a major factor of student success. As an educator, I feel partly responsible for the development of my students, and part of my responsibility involves extending myself to parents--including them in their children's lives. I could use this template as a bi-weekly newsletter to inform parents of what is going on in the classroom, and I could either do this electronically (via my classroom website or e-mail) or the old fashioned hard-copy-stapled-to-a-planner method would work just fine. One thing that I want parents to know is the availability of information on a classroom website. I am an internet-friendly teacher and would like to use the internet to enhance communication. I am aware that some families do not have access to the internet, so I will make sure to speak with parents and students in the beginning of the school year so that I can make arrangements to send home printed newsletters and information.
There was one part of this assignment that made me a little uncomfortable. As an educator I want to focus on the strengths of students, so I don't think that I would specifically indicate that I would be making modifications for LEP and LD students on a bi-weekly newsletter. This is something I would address in the beginning of the school year, or face-to-face. I did include this information as required by the Parent Newsletter Rubric.
Ultimately, I want to foster a strong learning community where students and their parents feel excited to participate in school.
