Article summarization techniques and methods

Psychology and Education

Psychological studies have demonstrated that when parents are involved in their child's education endeavors grads, test scores, attitudes, and behaviors improve (McNaughton & Vostal, 2010). Teachers often struggle with finding a medium to communicate successfully with parents of students, but many teachers recognize that communicating with parents is a critical component of each student's educational journey beginning in the early years. David McNaughton and Brooks Vostal, education professors at Penn State University, wrote an article entitled Using Active Listening to Improve Collaboration Strategies With Parents: The LAFF Don't CRY Strategy to guide teachers in communications with parents and guardians of his or her learners. McNaughton and Vostal's article will be summarized from a cognitive psychological perspective, which will help to have a better understanding of the educational strategies for teachers working with parents.

Cognitive psychology is a study of the mental process in how individuals think, perceive, remember, and learn (Sternberg & Mio, 2006). The key ideas behind cognitive psychology are based on how people process and store information (Sternberg & Mio, 2006). Cognitive psychology is used in the educational field to better understand the learners thought processes. Two major components in the cognitive school of thought are decision making (judgment) and problem-solving and in this article the cognitive approach will be applied in the same manner to understand McNaughton and Vostal's four-step LAFF (listen, ask questions, focus on the issues, and find a first step) process.

In McNaughton and Vostal's article the two professors discuss the LAFF strategy that incorporates active listening, empathy, communication, respect, asking questions, and focusing on the issues (2010). McNaughton and Vostal believe that the four-step strategy is the foundation for proper communicative decision-making for educators in dealing with the parents or guardians of the learners (2010). The cognitive process involves listening and asking questions to better gauge the situation and the individuals.

When a teacher employs the LAFF strategy with parents he or she will be more effective communicators. McNaughton and Vostal express that the active listening strategy "provides a flexible framework through which teachers can demonstrate the listening behaviors that clearly communicate respect and empathy," and this is important because it is the first step in the LAFF process (2010, p. 252). Listening, empathizing, and communicating respect (eye contact and body language) are important factors in establishing a comfortable collaboration process between parents and teachers (2010).

The second component in the LAFF strategy (an important element of cognitive thought) is for the teachers to ask questions and take notes when communicating with the parents. McNaughton and Vostal believe that "good questions gather information on how the parent sees the problem," and this strategy helps the teacher indicate to the parents that he or she is respectful of the parent's thoughts and ideas (2010, p. 253). When asking questions the teacher begins the cognitive process of understanding how the parents think and this is an important step for the educator to gather pertinent information to further analyze the learner's needs with the parents or guardians.

Step three in the LAFF process is for the teachers to focus on the issues throughout the communication process with the parents. The cognitive perspective encourages focusing and problem-solving when focusing on the mental process of how individuals think, perceive, remember, and learn (Sternberg & Mio, 2006). McNaughton and Vostal describe this as the time when a teacher begins the process of "checking for understanding" and once the understanding of the issues has been explored the teacher and parent can move forward on problem-solving solutions (2010, p.254).

The final step of the LAFF process is for the teacher to identify the first step. This part of the cognitive process displays critical thinking and problem-solving skills on the teacher's behalf. After obtaining the necessary data and information, the teacher is in a position to begin thinking ahead about the next logical step (s). McNaughton and Vostal believe that this strategy brings the whole process together (2010). By allowing the teacher to address the initial problem or complaint allows the communication to work toward a first step in resolution; although the problem has not been completely solved the teacher and parent have built a successful collaborative relationship (McNaughton & Vostal, 2010).