Dear Candace,
First, let me welcome you to Paula Rutherford School. You will quickly find that it is a wonderful school and the other teachers will be glad to help you in any way they can. Don't be afraid to ask for their ideas. There are some great teachers on staff with some wonderful ideas and practices.
As for developing positive parent relationships, it is important to remember to be as positive as you can when making the early contacts with parents. So often parents may feel that teachers only makes contact with them (the parents) when there is a problem with their child's behavior or academic performance. Try to make a positive initial contact with the parents during the first two weeks of school. A phone call will work just fine, but let the parent know who you are and that you are looking forward to teaching their child this year. Find at least one positive thing you can say about their child in the conversation. Find out if there is anything particular you should know about their child; extreme likes or dislikes, any health issues, etc. Also find out if the parent has any specific skills or interest that may be helpful to enrich learning experiences in your classroom. Briefly share with the parents any exciting projects that you might be planning during the year or an interesting learning activity you might be working on during the upcoming weeks. This is not a time to discuss any behavior or academic issues you may have already noticed. Also keep it short. This is to be a quick, positive introduction that will begin to build a productive relationship with the parents.
Keep the lines of communications open with regular contacts such as emails, a teacher created website for the classroom, positive notes home (a handwritten note is more personal), a regular classroom newsletter, and even short, positive phone calls. When you see a child's parent in the hallway, stop and have a short converstaion with them. This is not the time to discuss major issues, such as behavior and grades, but a quick check in with the parents to see how they feel things are going with their child.
As teachers, we always need to remember we are in a partnership with parents to educate their children. Even though we spend a major portion of the day with the students, the parents have a much greater impact in their lives than we do. We need to be careful that we no dot send unintentional messages to the parents that we are the experts in raising their children. We need to be sure that we are not demanding certain things be done to make their child sucessful in school. If you need to discuss serious manners, such as behavior and grades, be sure to show respect to both the child and the parents. Even though you are discussing some negative things, be sure to keep the discussion as positive as you can. List specific behaviors that have been observered. Do not pass judgement on the child or the parenting skills of the parents. If you stay positive and professional, parents can be your greatest asset in correcting the behaviors and problems you see developing with a particular student.
Good luck this year. I'll be checking in with you often to see how I can help. But do not be afraid to come and see me when you have a question or a concern.
Mark Montgomery
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Dear Candace,
We, here at Paula Rutherford School, are equally excited about you joining our staff. I consider it a privilege to be your mentor and take much pleasure in extending a welcoming, helping hand. I am sure that your first year will be both a productive and wonderful experience, as you come to us here at P.R.S. with fresh new ideas, perspective and lots of creative energy. I look forward to gaining from you as well as imparting and sharing with you what knowledge and experience I have gained in the years I have been an educator.
The challenge your are presently facing of building positive relationships with parents is one we all have. However, it is not as daunting a task as it may seem at the moment. There are successful ways of establishing and maintaining positive relationships with parents if we remind ourselves that "Parents are people who happen to have children." From that perspective, we can approach parents with the knowlege that they, like others, are often faced with the cares of life, in addition to worrying about how the precious jewels they have entrusted into our care are being taught and treated.
A great beginning to a great new year is often established with a positive start. So start by introducing yourself to parents by or before the first week of school via a short note or phone call. Seek out their input in their child's education by asking them brief questions about thier children. No one knows them better, and parents will appreciate this approach. In your letter/phone call be sure you convey to them that you, the school and the parents are partners in the successful education of their children, so their support will be a cruicial factor in aiding the success of their children. Make sure you express how happy you are to have the privilege to serve and enable their children to be the best they can be. You wil find that this sets the tone for establishing a positive relationship between you the parents and the students as well.
Not only do we need to establish a positive relationship with our parents, but we need to maintain it as well. One way we can do this is through periodic newsletters. This can weekly or monthly, depending on what we need to relay from school to home or classroom to home. This assists parents in having prior knowledge about upcoming events, assignments, standards being taught and possibly some tips on how they can better assist their children at home with learning the skills being addressed at school.
Lastly, a very important and effective way to maintain positive relationships with parents and keep them as supportive partners in educating their children is to give them as much positive feedback as possible. So often, we tend to make phone calls to our parents to report bad news, that they dread hearing from us because we seem to be only bearers of bad new. This can be changed simply by making a conscious effort to contact our parents with good news more often. Not every child in the room is in danger of failing or misbehaving. So why not make a few calls to parents of children who are doing well, have made improvement, remembered to do something we have been trying to get them to remember etc. As people on the job or at home, we do better with encouragement. So why not try that strategy with our students and parents if we want more or better from them. This is a practice we often overlook and so we don't reap the benefits. It is simple but powerful. It works well during parent/teacher conferencing also.
Your first year as an educator will be about trying. So do your best and keep a journal of your successes and fairlures so that you can better see what to repeat and what to avoid or tweak to make each new year better than the last. I will keep in touch to see how I can assist you in making this a wonderful learning experience, and to give you other strategies to help maintain positive relationships with your students' parents, but please don't wait if you need assistance. My door is always open to you. I am positive your first year will be successful, the children will love you and so will the parents.
L.R. Alloway
Post a Comment