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Family Mathematics Nights: An Opportunity to Improve Preservice Teachers' Understanding of Parents' Roles and Expectations
Author(s) -
Bofferding Laura,
Kastberg Signe,
Hoffman Andrew
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
school science and mathematics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.135
H-Index - 2
eISSN - 1949-8594
pISSN - 0036-6803
DOI - 10.1111/ssm.12109
Subject(s) - mathematics education , teacher preparation , teacher education , psychology , pedagogy , work (physics) , space (punctuation) , computer science , mechanical engineering , engineering , operating system
Providing preservice teachers with opportunities to engage with parents and begin to see them as collaborators in their children's education is a persistent challenge in mathematics methods courses and teacher preparation programs more broadly. We describe the use of family mathematics nights as a model for engaging parents and preservice teachers. These events helped preservice teachers feel more comfortable in working with parents, while also giving them a friendly space for learning more about parents, the ways they work with their children, and activities they do with their children. Incorporating surveys about parents' needs and suggestions for preservice teachers allowed us to use the results as a catalyst for fostering discussions around parent engagement later in the methods course.