I have been paired with so many incredible parents working in the classroom over the last 7 years. But there is one parent that stands out from them all and that's because I flat out failed them.
I was lucky enough to have a student in my class that had a mother that was just beyond supportive of her student and myself as the teacher. Early on in the year during parent teacher conferences this parent enthusiastically asked if I could teach them a little more about a specific reading skill. I was taken off guard because very rarely does a parent think to ask "how" to do something-so as an unprepared teacher, I panicked. Flustered, I ran around the classroom quickly looking for tools to show them but I couldn't get the words out right and overall did a poor job explaining to skill. I had failed this precious gem of a parent who had asked to learn...from a teacher...and I didn't do it.
If you think it's dumb that I've held onto this story and the guilt along with it, you're probably right. If you think you might be that parent in the story, you're also probably right. Countless parents want to help their children learn to read, but are just like me and don't know how to help because they don't remember how they learned. Lucky for you, I've gone through hundreds of hours of fundamental reading trainings, I re-learned all of the skills and have a few years under my belt teaching students how to read. I figured out a way to fix my fail by creating these online courses and finally teach those dedicated parents how to best support their young readers!
Ms.Foiles