A Teacher's Inside Advice to Parents

How Children Thrive with Leadership, Love, Laughter, and Learning

By (author) Robert Ward

Publication date:

20 October 2016

Length of book:

228 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781475822892

Maximize your child’s potential in ways that extend beyond academics alone. Gain a clearer, more cohesive relationship with their teachers. A Teacher’s Inside Advice to Parents: How Children Thrive with Leadership, Love, Laughter, and Learning explains how to support and inspire all kids towards success and satisfaction. When parents and teachers share common goals and methods to meet a child’s essential needs, this wraparound effect flows seamlessly from home to school and back again. This affirming, practical parenting approach provides expert insight for connecting with the classroom and influencing your child in four fundamental aspects:

Leadership supplies the appropriate guidelines and routines your child requires in order to feel a soothing sense of security, structure, and stability.
Love offers the attention, encouragement, and acceptance that create a strong bond of trust and open communication between you and your child.
Laughter adds the joy, excitement, and adventure that embolden and assist in your child’s personal exploration of creativity, purpose, and direction.
Learning develops and reinforces your child’s knowledge, wisdom, and skills vital for a contributing, self-sufficient life.

The Four Ls of Parenting directly lead to the cooperation, confidence, contentment, and capabilities parents and teachers both strive to foster in every child—all accomplished with increased efficacy and delight while nurturing and educating the kids they care about so deeply.

Foreword
Preface: The Powerful Influence of Parents and Teachers in Partnership
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Capitalizing on Commonality while Honoring Individuality
Part 1: Gaining Perspective
Chapter 1: Motivation is Always the Answer
Chapter 2: The Parent’s Perspective
Chapter 3: The Teacher’s Perspective
Chapter 4: The Child’s Perspective
Chapter 5: The Public’s Perspective
Chapter 6: The Concerns of Parents and Their Children
Chapter 7: The Concerns of Teachers and Their Students
Part 2: Achieving Proportion
Chapter 8: Avoiding Extremes, Insufficiencies, and Inconsistencies
Chapter 9: Addressing Extreme Behavior in Children
Chapter 10: Diffusing Conflicts between Parents and Teachers
Chapter 11: Straight Talk from the Teaching Trenches
Chapter 12: Achieving Balance
Part 3: Finding Answers by Asking the Right Questions
Chapter 13: Determining What is Really Going on Behind the Classroom Door
Chapter 14: Communicating with Teachers
Chapter 15: Looking Inward
Afterword: Looking Forward
About the Author

Teachers and parents need to be partners rather than advisers, according to this veteran educator. Ward examines the issues from all sides—parent, teacher, child, community—and urges a balance between leading and hovering, and between guiding and controlling. Parents, Ward states, need to supply their children with as the subtitle lists: 'leadership, love, laughter, and learning.' Teachers, for their part, must be, to quote another title of Ward’s, 'firm, fair, and fascinating facilitators.' He sets the bar high for all concerned (even the students) as he examines education from all four perspectives and then lists demands, needs, and concerns. Ward’s experience teaching English in public middle schools in L.A. comes into play in the book’s organization, thoroughness, and frequent 'In My Classroom' sidebars. He gives examples of remarkable student achievements and speaks confidently of every student’s ability to improve. The bottom line is that students learn self-control and self-confidence from parents and teachers who aren’t afraid to be the adults in the relationships. Both parents and teachers (and ultimately children) will benefit from Ward’s straightforward advice, clear objectives, and years of experience.