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Showing posts with label tips for communicating with parents. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tips for communicating with parents. Show all posts

Communication With Parents

Communicating with parents can be a challenge, for many reasons! 


Communication With Parents: Here are 7 ideas for opening and maintaining positive communication between teachers and parents.


It’s important to keep that communication open, but you don’t want parents to feel inadequate or make them feel inferior. The last thing you want to do is make them feel like you don’t believe in their competence as parents!

I have seven suggestions for maintaining positive communication with parents:


Communication With Parents: Here are 7 ideas for opening and maintaining positive communication between teachers and parents.
Start your communication routine at the beginning of the school year. You might write weekly or monthly newsletters. You might call or text a few parents each week, or you might do individual notes or messages. Whatever it is you choose to do, make sure the parents will expect what's coming and when it's coming. That way, they'll anticipate the communication and be ready for it.

Here's a link to a blog post going into more detail about a routine for communication: Getting Parents to Read Your Notes!
Communication With Parents: Here are 7 ideas for opening and maintaining positive communication between teachers and parents.



Communication With Parents: Here are 7 ideas for opening and maintaining positive communication between teachers and parents.

Be sure to mention how hard it is to be a parent, and how busy they must be! Be sure to ask basic family questions about siblings, jobs, pets, and hobbies. The more you know about them, the more you'll have to talk about! If you show an interest in who they are, it helps keep the communication open!

Communication With Parents: Here are 7 ideas for opening and maintaining positive communication between teachers and parents.
This works with notes, texts, phone calls, and face-to-face conversations! No matter what the context or purpose of the communication might be, there's got to be something the child is doing well. It might be as simple as... "I really enjoy working with Johnny." or "Mary always walks into the classroom with a smile." 

It's not a bad idea to end the communication the same way, along with a "Thank you" of course!

Communication With Parents: Here are 7 ideas for opening and maintaining positive communication between teachers and parents.
 Parents are mostly interested in what their child is doing, but also are interested in what the class is studying! 

Here's a piece of advice I got when I was a beginning teacher, a very long ago. If a child isn't doing well on a skill, they are "working on it." Rather than, "Mark is struggling with his math facts," or "Jenny doesn't remember her short vowel sounds," I'd say, "Mark is working on his math facts," and "Jenny is working on remembering the different vowel sounds." 

And of course: "Brian really enjoyed our unit on Earth Changes."

Communication With Parents: Here are 7 ideas for opening and maintaining positive communication between teachers and parents.
Children enjoy being part of the communication. Of course, they love their parents and want their parents to know their successes in school.  Quite often I'll send home a quick note asking the parents to ask their child about a situation. It might sound like this: "Ask Emma about how she helped her classmate today." or "Be sure to ask Randy about his thoughts on South America."

Communication With Parents: Here are 7 ideas for opening and maintaining positive communication between teachers and parents.
Communicating with parents is a two-way street. They are the experts on their child and know things the child might hide from their teacher.

Yes, it's true. No matter how loving or nurturing a teacher might be, the child holds back information.

There's an easy explanation for this: the parent gives unconditional love, and the child lets the parent know when they're upset. Often the same child will see the teacher's love as conditional, so they hide their feelings, afraid the teacher won't like them anymore. I've experienced this many times, both as a parent and as a teacher. 

I've learned many things about my students that I never would have known without those conversations with the parents. It's definitely worth the time to understand your students better!

Communication With Parents: Here are 7 ideas for opening and maintaining positive communication between teachers and parents.
It's tough to give parents advice on parenting, isn't it? (Especially if you're not a parent yourself!) I find it best to "pass the buck" and refer them to links, books, or research that was developed by someone else. 



Communication With Parents: Here are 7 ideas for opening and maintaining positive communication between teachers and parents.


Each month has research-based information that parents can use to help guide their child and make your life a little bit easier. Each brochure contains links to articles, ideas, suggestions, seasonal quotes, jokes, and even tips for family fun!

If you're interested, here are links to more blog posts about parent-teacher communication:


Communication With Parents: Here are 7 ideas for opening and maintaining positive communication between teachers and parents.



Communication With Parents: Here are 7 ideas for opening and maintaining positive communication between teachers and parents.



Communication With Parents: Here are 7 ideas for opening and maintaining positive communication between teachers and parents.



Communication With Parents: Here are 7 ideas for opening and maintaining positive communication between teachers and parents.

Helping Parents Help their Children Be Successful!

Communicating with parents can be tricky, especially when it comes to giving them advice! 

There's a fine line between "helping" and "making them feel inadequate." 

Helping Parents Help their Children be Successful: Here are some ideas to help keep communication open and share information with parents. Plus, there's a freebie!

So how do we help parents help their children?

We know that parents aren't experts, but we know they are experts about their own children! 

Plus, we know they love those children unconditionally, and would do anything to help them!

When giving suggestions, it's important that one doesn't put them on the defense. I prefer to use phrases like "experts say," or "recent research shows."

Another idea?  Pass the buck!


Have someone else give them the advice!

That's just what I've been working on: brochures to help parents help their children be successful! 

My first issue is the back to school edition, and it's free!

Helping Parents Help their Children be Successful: Here are some ideas to help keep communication open and share information with parents. Plus, there's a freebie!
It comes with ideas and suggestions for use, and can be printed in color or in black and white.

Helping Parents Help their Children be Successful: Here are some ideas to help keep communication open and share information with parents. Plus, there's a freebie!
Printing in black and white on colored paper is awesome!

Helping Parents Help their Children be Successful: Here are some ideas to help keep communication open and share information with parents. Plus, there's a freebie!

It might be a good idea NOT to send this home the first week of school when parents are overwhelmed with paperwork. It will be more likely to be noticed the second week of school!

I'd love to see what you think of these brochures... I'm working on the next edition and I'd love to hear your ideas!


These brochures are in a bundle, available here: Parent Communication:  Monthly Brochures for the Whole Year!


Helping Parents Help their Children be Successful: Here are some ideas to help keep communication open and share information with parents. Plus, there's a freebie!

Tips to Prepare for Parent Conferences

Just when you think you've finally got the routine down, it's suddenly time for Parent-Teacher Conferences!

 
Tips to Prepare for Parent Conferences: This blog post lists several ideas to help you be prepared and help those conferences run smoothly.


Honestly, I have a "love-hate" relationship with Parent-Teacher Conferences.  Why? Well, they certainly are a whole lot of work, along with late nights, which is the "hate" part. 

But sitting and chatting about little ones you care about with other people who care about that little one can be very enlightening, and very satisfying. 

Most parents I've worked with are really, really nice people! I particularly love it when I've already had a member of the family, and I get to "hang out" with parents I already know. (Of course, the downside to this, is that it's even harder at the end of the year to say goodbye to a family with whom you've had a 2 year relationship!)

Conferences shouldn't be the first communication you've had with a parent. Newsletters, personal notes, and phone calls should have already happened, so parents already know who you are.

I find being super prepared helps the conferences go more smoothly. I start sending home notifications requesting conference dates and times, and I send home this form for parents to fill out and send back before the conference.
 
Tips to Prepare for Parent Conferences: This blog post lists several ideas to help you be prepared and help those conferences run smoothly.
 

I find this form gives me a lot of information. Once I get the form back, I can start preparing my paperwork for Conference night:
 
 
Tips to Prepare for Parent Conferences: This blog post lists several ideas to help you be prepared and help those conferences run smoothly.

I've left this form a bit more flexible, since the kids and their needs are all so very different. The "strengths" and "need to improve" sections can be filled out ahead of time, and any questions from parents on the questionnaire can go into the "things to think about" section. 

As behaviors or struggles appear during the week before conferences, I'll be sure to run to my pile of conference notes and jot things down, so things will be fresh in my mind.

Tips to Prepare for Parent Conferences: This blog post lists several ideas to help you be prepared and help those conferences run smoothly.
 
1.  Keep a couple of bottles of water nearby. (I get very dry from all that talking!)
2. Post a schedule outside your door so parents are aware of your limited time.
3. Slip in a couple of extra meetings ("meeting with principal") or "meeting with Mrs. Smith")  These are your bathroom/ snack breaks. (See step 1... water!)
4. Keep a couple of chairs outside your door along with things for parents and siblings to do. I usually keep the children's writing folders in the hall, along with some books and blocks for the kiddos to use. Some people keep some mints outside as well. (Keep a few for yourself, too!)
5. Dress comfortably. Yes, it's important to look professional, but it's not "date night."  I keep a little extra makeup, brush, comb, and a toothbrush in my desk to freshen up, but being neat and professional looking is most important.
6. Don't hesitate to ask an administrator to sit in during a conference if you think there may be some challenges.  They're usually glad to sit in, and often learn a lot about your teaching and your students. Just warn the parents ahead of time.
7. Be sure to invite others who also work with the child, when appropriate: Title I, OT, PT, Sped, SLP, and even Art, Music, or Phys. Ed. 

Tips to Prepare for Parent Conferences: This blog post lists several ideas to help you be prepared and help those conferences run smoothly.
 
1. Smile and say hello. Show everyone involved where to sit.
2. Start by saying something positive about the child. That shouldn't be too tough, but it's important to start on a positive note.
3. One of the most valuable phrases I learned in my teaching experience was this: "he's working on..." If a child doesn't already have a skill, he's certainly working on it. It sounds so much better than "he's not good at..."
4. It's a good idea to have work samples nearby, especially if the child is struggling in some area.
5. Make sure you say something personal that has nothing to do with school. "David has such a nice friendship with Paul."
6. End the meeting by repeating something positive about the child. 
7. The following day, make a copy of your conference notes to share with parents. File your own copy where you can check it frequently.

Tips to Prepare for Parent Conferences: This blog post lists several ideas to help you be prepared and help those conferences run smoothly.



Tips to Prepare for Parent Conferences: This blog post lists several ideas to help you be prepared and help those conferences run smoothly.


 

 Be prepared and you will be successful!

Conferences: This blog post lists several ideas to help you be prepared and help those conferences run smoothly.

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