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Tellin' Stories Creates Parent Workshop on After School Programs
Many parents across the country are very concerned about the quality of after school programs provided at their children’s elementary school and want more than babysitting between the hours of 3:15 -6:00 PM. With this in mind, Tellin' Stories designed a bilingual hour-long workshop for parents that can easily be replicated in any elementary school. Tellin’ Stories held this workshop for the first time at Bruce-Monroe ES in Washington, DC. Many schools in the District, and across the U.S., offer a multiple of after school programs, but parents have little opportunity to compare and contrast the offerings.
Focused on their children's academic, social and physical development, parents began by creating a list of questions they had for after school program providers, such as: "Will my child complete his/her homework during the program?" "Will there be a sports program?" and "Will a snack be served?" Parents then invited directors from three after school programs to speak, giving each 10 minutes to share information and address the questions in their remarks. While they spoke, parents filled out a chart. After the presentations, the meeting was opened to further questioning from the parents.
Parents used the chart to easily compare and contrast information among the three programs. This workshop is different from others held on this topic because parents are empowered to intently make informed choices, rather than asked to fill out an application or enticed by a gimmick. The turnout was great (about 30 parents), the questions were thoughtful, and this first session proved to be very effective and important.
For more information on this workshop or Tellin’ Stories, a project of Teaching for Change, please email ts@teachingforchange.org.
Find out more about Tellin' Stories.
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