Learning to read and write efficiently is of the utmost importance in elementary school. However, writing is frequently difficult and can be demotivating for beginning writers. Fortunately these barriers can be partially alleviated with parental help. Many studies showed that parental involvement influences children's competence and motivation in…

Noting that parent involvement in their children's schooling is a key to academic success, this book provides techniques and strategies for parents to help them assist their children with homework completion without conflict. Chapter 1, "Getting Started," includes guidance on who should help with homework and how to set a homework…

Describes an activity in which parents and students write together about their childhoods. States that parents and students offered positive comments about the activity. Notes that the parents were supportive of their students' writing for the rest of the school year. (RS)

Describes a group writing assignment in which high school seniors voice their most common concerns in an open letter to their parents. (KEH)

This case study concerns an attempt to help a 15-year-old with the completion of written assignments and the development of time management and study skills. The document first presents the problem of the girl, Lisa, who could not complete longer written assignments due to an obsessive-compulsive anxiety disorder. The relevant history to the case…

For one educator, "Parents as Writing Partners" has been one of the most rewarding experiences of her teaching career. Her seventh-grade students got closer to their parents' thoughts and feelings through encouragement to reinforce their writing, conferring, and editing skills. When parents are asked to share in an assignment, they get closer to…

Describes how, through parent-student interactions in written homework assignments, the author (in her predominantly Hispanic American sixth-grade classroom) has successfully engaged parents in the literacy development of their children, brought parent voices into the classroom, and affirmed and appreciated the experiences, culture, and language…

Intended for fourth- to sixth-grade students and their parents, this book provides information needed to complete language arts assignments. The book was compiled with the help of a service called Dial-A-Teacher, a collaborative program of the United Federation of Teachers and the New York City Board of Education, which operates a telephone…

Parents can help their children master the skills needed to become good writers. While preschool pupils, in most cases, cannot do their own writing, the parents can: ask their children for ideas to include in letters to friends or relatives; write down, and then read back, ideas dictated by the child; read interesting library books to their…

Describes the development and use of the Traveling Tales backpack for engaging children and parents in home writing activities. Shares the experiences of one child and how his family became involved in helping him write a book. (MG)