Strategies and Interventions

Sui Ming, a bright student in Miss Lee’s class, has suddenly lost interest in learning. Miss Lee, a form tutor, is concerned and would like to intervene with a set of strategies in order to help the student. In this paper. 

‘What kind of strategies and interventions can Miss Lee use’?

          When Miss Lee asked Sui Ming about his disinterest in learning, the answer Miss Lee got from is that he is playing video games late at night. This tells me two things: (a) He has lost the sense of “connect” (Shelja, 2016) with Miss Lee. Else he would have spoken in detail. And (b) If he is playing video games late night, then it could be an escapism from something that bothers him. Since Miss Lee is unable to reach out to him, she definitely needs some interventions. Telling Sui Ming that she is involving the parents might escalate the situation. I think she is wise in understanding that she needs to request parent intervention.

I would like to first differentiate between a strategy and an intervention. Every strategy is not an intervention and vice versa. An “…intervention is formalized, aimed at a known need, and monitored. A strategy on the other hand, can be informal and isn’t always tracked” (Lee, 2019). In this situation, the intervention Miss Lee would lean on is inviting parents for a discussion and possible answers. However, she could several strategies to ensure that the final outcome is positive for the student, parents and her.

As per Hue & Li (2008, p.166) parents “…have an important role in collaborating with teachers to make the educational process productive, meaningful and fruitful”. However, this is only if the teacher and parents have a good relationship. In my teaching experience, one needs to do a reality check to assess if the relationship is strong enough to have an open conversation. Since Miss Lee has decided to include the parents, I am assuming that she has a cordial relationship with them.

Miss Lee could follow the system of “…open communication, mutually agreed upon goals, and joint decision making”, (Hue & Li, 2008, p.168). She could:

(1)  Invite the parents for a meeting.

She needs to first work on “…establishing a platform for promoting teacher-parent collaboration”, (Hue & Li, 2008, p.170). Then open the conversation about her concerns related to their son. She could do this by doing some homework before the parents come. She would need to have their background, their prior association with school and their economic status. She could talk to other teachers to know more. She could have her questions ready to enable clarity of thought.

(2)  Create a base of trust.

Through her discussion, she could work “…to affirm that parents are concerned about their child’s learning; and to affirm that parents are willing to help…” (Hue & Li, 2008, p.170). She could do this by the adult way of “…form these connections through commonalities and through sharing their world” (Higgs, 2014, p.34). Removing her mask of an authoritarian adult and meeting the parents with vulnerability might help establish a degree of trust between them.

(3)  Co-create some mutually acceptable goals.

Once there is trust between her and the parents, they can create some common goals to help Siu Ming. She could invite parents to her class to sensitize them to the classroom. This could be done by parents “(a)Taking part in classroom activities as volunteers or (b) Engaging in learning activities in the classroom;(Hue & Li, 2008, p.169). She could offer other goals such as (a) Monitoring homework completion; (b) Communicating regularly with teachers about their children’s progress and (c) Communicating frequently with their children about academic and behavioural expectations and progress”. (Hue & Li, 2008, p.169)

(4)  Jointly take decisions.

Miss Lee and parents of Siu Ming could then jointly decide the time period of observation of Siu Ming at both ends, school and home and keep notes. They could also decide jointly the mode of continued communication among them to share notes, difficulties and further goals.

 In conclusion, 

Miss Lee can draw up a plan with the parents to sensitively observe Siu Ming’s life at school and at home. One cannot say where the plan would lead. However, so long as they keep the process collaborative with a high level of communication, they would at a certain point be able to come to the answers and the possible solutions to help Siu Ming.

Keeping the focus what is the best for Siu Ming, they could move forward together.

 

References:

Higgs, Crystal. Connecting with Students: Strategies for Building Rapport with Urban Learners, R&L Education, 2013. 

Hue, Ming-tak, and Wai-shing Li. Classroom Management: Creating a Positive Learning Environment, Hong Kong University Press, 2008.