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The absence of male parent in supporting their child academically has been prevalent and well-documented in literature, a phenomenon accepted as normal by most students in my 1st and 2nd classrooms. This action research was about how I, a striving feminist teacher, took actions to involve male parent in the learning process of first and second graders. Several methods were used to collect data, including classroom observations, interviews with students and male parents, and research diaries. Various action strategies were used in different stages of this study. At first, male parents were specifically encouraged to sign the daily parent-teacher communication booklet to disrupt the long held custom taken up by mothers. Gender equity education for young students were incorporated to disrupt the patriarchal gender division of labor at home. However, even though some male parents did sign the daily communication booklet, they still failed to fully support their children academically as I expected. The insufficient interaction between male parents and young students went against my ideal image of a perfect fatherhood. The continuous process of reflections on actions in action research enabled me to re-frame the problems and to re-think the strategies used. By re-examining my own privileged position as a middle-class and racial majority teacher, I was able to re-contextualize my relationship with these blue collar and racial minority families. Home visits with family members of these students transformed my understanding of male parent’s dreams and hopes of their children. Dialogues with male parents led me to a more empathetic understanding of how they perceived parenting and school learning. These new understandings helped me to take a more proactive strategy in creating a space for these blue collar male parents in their child’s learning. One of them was to successfully invite some blue collar male parents to come to my classroom to share their life experiences with children, a rare practice in elementary school. The popular responses from children increased male parent’s willingness to find ways to participate in their child’s learning. At last, the action researcher who in the beginning had attempted to change these male parents became a transformed teacher with a more practical and close understanding of male parents from different socio-economic backgrounds.
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