Q&A with Ga. Teacher of the Year

Holly Witcher, Georgia’s Teacher of the Year, gave the Keynote speech at the GaPMP Phil Pickens Award lunch during the 2024 Annual Kickoff Meeting on Sept. 12, 2024 at the Robert Hatcher Sr. Center at Middle Georgia State University in Macon.

Q: What advice do you have for parent mentors who want to assist teachers with doing family engagement activities at their schools?

A: Reach out and offer support. Often as teachers, we are used to just doing things on our own, and sometimes it doesn’t even occur to us to ask for help. When a mentor comes to us and asks “how can I help?” it really does build that team up. Be prepared with some ideas of things you can do to offer support. Creating fliers and getting the word out are a big support. Sometimes something as simple as just being the person who is at the front door letting people in can be the difference between a successful event and a stressful event. If you offer support and are turned down, don’t stop offering support. Eventually they will take you up on your offer!

“Another piece of advice would be to stay aware of what the schools are offering. I know last year at our school, we did a schoolwide pumpkin decorating contest. It was something fun that the students were supposed to do at home and then bring in to have judged. That’s what we turned into our first event. Many of our families were a little daunted by the task of decorating a pumpkin with their child at home, so we used that as a springboard by offering this time at the school to help decorate the pumpkins together. Pay attention to what’s happening in the schools and find ways that you can naturally tune in to what’s being offered. Some schools ask students to decorate Valentine boxes at home. Some ask students to make leprechaun traps.  Those “parent homework” activities are sometimes just one extra thing that is too much to try to do at home, but it can be leveraged as an opportunity to bring families in for support.”
More advice from Holly on working with teachers 

Q: Can you share something about working with a parent mentor that surprised you, that you wish other teachers knew?

A: I don’t know that I would say I was necessarily surprised, but I do wish that other teachers knew what a wealth of knowledge mentors bring. I don’t know that there has ever been a time that I’ve gone to a mentor with a question about finding resources for a family that a mentor has not been able to help.  Parent mentors know the ins and outs of paperwork that families are innundated with. This could be medical paperwork, therapy paperwork or governmental paperwork. They know how to find resources – large diapers, medical supplies, and discounted tools. And if there is ever anything mentors do not know immediately, they have a network of other mentors they can reach out to in order to find the answer. They are a critical resource for our schools.

Q: Did you notice any impact from the families who participated in Family Engagement night?

A: Absolutely! If you look back on our previous Family Engagement nights, some years we only started with a handful of families. But if you are intentional about making connections during the event the families will come back. And then the next time when another family joins and you connect them to previous families, they come back. It takes time, but eventually it creates a network of parents. I have several families who have connected through the Family Engagement nights who now do things together on the weekends. They will tell you that they no longer feel like they are on an island.   

Holly Witcher’s comments reinforce how the teamwork of a teacher and parent mentor together can impact student outcomes through solid family engagement practices which align with Family Engagement Standards.

Welcoming: Bringing parents into the school after hours just to have fun together and meet and greet staff and other parents.

Communicate: Parent mentor and Teach work together to get the word out about this event and other learning at home opportunities

Supporting Student Success: Family members participating in a learning activity with their student in a school setting, together with other students reinforces the importance of learning and being at school

Speak up for Every Child: Families whose children’s educational setting is in a low incidence classroom, report they often feel like their child is not supported in participating in school activities like the school wide pumpkin decorating event. By supporting the families in creating the pumpkins, they could leave the event knowing that their child’s pumpkin would be displayed alongside the all the other students.

Collaborate with the Community: Organizers ordered food for this event. Just the simple act of ordering food and getting supplies gives the parent mentor the opportunity to talk people in the community about the things that are going on at school for our special education students as well as the general education population.

Want to know more about the PTA National Standards for Family Engagement?