Parents as Partners Episode # 17 Dec 15, 2008 featured Madison Park Middle School with Principal Richard Ramos, Assistant Principal Priscilla Gossett, Classroom Teacher Pam Duty and Parent Angila Gallenstein describing all the great things that they are doing to promote parent engagement in their school.

Without writing a text book , it is impossible to capture all the good things that are happening at Madison Park Middle School in Phoenix Arizona. But here are a few highlights of the discussion in this show.

Annie Kidder, Jacqui Strachan and Gay Stephenson were on board to discuss the People for Education organization and the use of their new online community - schools at the centre. Annie described her role as the executive Director and how People for Education has been able to help parents, schools and communities support public education. Listen to some great ideas and advice about helping parents and using a ning network.

Vanessa Van Petten was the guest of this episode of Parents as Partners.

Vanessa's mission is "to improve parent-teen relationships by providing them with new perspectives, stories and neutral places to communicate." She believes "this will help families instill values and build strong relationships that promote healthy attitudes and lifestyle behaviors in this generation of young adults". Vanessa strives to provide positive role models for young people.

Vanessa shares widely through her website www.onteenstoday.com Her work includes her writing – in books, in her blog and others' and in magazines. She mentors teens and connects them with other mentors outside her home base in Los Angeles. She is an accomplished speaker, both in person and online. And all this from a woman still in her early 20's.

Vanessa's latest book is The Dirt E-Secrets of an Internet Kid. Once again she has written for parents describing kids' internet lives from their perspectives. On the show she talked about how to get parents online for the first time and described kid's Internet lives form their perspective.

Watch her video.

Chat Log

Show Host Cindy Zautcke led the discussion with guests, Jon Hisgen of Wisconsin's Department of Public Instruction and Diana Borth, the Family and Consumer Education teacher at Badger Ridge Middle School in Verona, Wisconsin Jon talks about an anti-bullying program developed by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Diana is piloting the program in Badger Ridge Middle School and she shared the experiences from this school. The state Department of Public Instruction and the Children’s Health Education Center have partnered to create Bullyfree Basics, a program for elementary school students that transforms lessons on the dangers of spreading rumors and insulting classmates into animated, interactive games

Aurelio Montemayor from the Intercultural Development Research Association joined the show. Aurelio described a definition of a valued parent leadership, Interent for poor folks without computers and which social media to surf. The chat room was actively engaged in responding to Aurelio's thought provoking approach to parent involvement.

Chat Log

2008-10-20 17:13:59 [Message] aurelio -> -EdTechTalk: hello

2008-10-20 17:14:06 [Message] aurelio -> -EdTechTalk: hello

2008-10-20 17:14:10 [Message] lorna -> -EdTechTalk: hi