Technology increasing parent involvement

This article, “New technology bridges US-Mexico border at Columbus school” was my favorite. Part of the reason was because the article brought up the topic of education being a natural right or a given right. Although these children are U.S. citizens they live in Mexico with their parents and travel across the boarded every day to attend Columbus Elementary School. The fact that some debate against equal education for any child, whether first generation or even immigrant, saddens my heart but that a topic for a different time. It’s understandable that most of these children aren’t going to pass the state’s standardized testing, as the learning gap is to be expected when some come to school never having held a pencil or “used an indoor bathroom”. These students are not only not as academically prepared as students in other parts of the country but also aren’t socially prepared for schools culture either. Some question why we should educate them its obvious most aren’t going to be college student, and the superintendent gave a great answer ‘We want them to be American citizens who can get a job and give back and pay taxes.’ I thought this was a viable point for isn’t this the what education is meant for? If schools aren't meant to educate all children, then what is its purpose?

On a different topic this school models how to use technology to facilitate their needs, by using technology to bridge “language, environmental and opportunity gaps”. Because parents couldn’t come to parent teacher conferences, educators resorted to technology like Skype to bridge the gap. Because phone calls and internet wasn’t available as a solution for all parents a method was found to overcome even this obstacle. The parents were able to gather around in a restaurant and have group meetings with the teachers through a shared internet connection. I thought that this was not only a marker of community unity but also a fascinating way to use technology to solve the problem, even when technology wasn’t available to all. When Skype first came out, like most technology, it was used for entertainment purposes only but finally this technology, after being integrated into society, is starting to be used to benefit our society. In addition I wondered why we this method of using technology to facilitate teacher conferences isn’t used everywhere. All schools could be doing this, since many parents work coming to these parent teacher conferences is not always an option, so making it online could help increase parent involvement. Having an open Skype meeting with groups of parents, or individualized would be beneficial to all. As both teachers, and parents get feedback from this interaction. If a child is struggling and the parents is told then they can try to help their kids. Even if the child is doing well, it would still beneficial, for what parent doesn’t want to hear their kid is doing great, and it brings up moral of the student. This article was very interesting as a whole because all the different topics it brought up and I’d recommend it to anyone.