Blog 9- Home/School Connection
Bridging the Gap Between Home and the Classroom
Part One
Creating a relationship with parents is one of the most important but overlooked aspects of becoming an educator. At the elementary level communication between the educator and parent/guardians is so important and can really improve the level of learning and understanding.
At the Board of Education meeting I attended in Northport, I was able to see first hand the benefits of communication with parents as well as the lack of communication with parents. Luckily this was not my first board meeting that I attended so I knew what to expect of a regular meeting. My dad is a former board member in Northport so I grew up hearing all about the different things that would be discussed and debated at these meetings as well as attending many of them. Now that I am older and entering the education field, I was able to understand the topics of discussion even more than I did when I was younger. In my school district there are always issues, people are very entitled and have a lot of opinions. In Northport, communication between the school district and parents is really great, there are always emails going out about different events, issues and general information. So during the board meeting when the public was allowed to ask questions, I was disappointed by the amount of people got up and asked questions that were answered in emails, messages and social media posts or could have been answered if the person had listened to the trustees. I understand sometimes people miss things but the amount of people that repeated questions was a little ridiculous. As a future educator it was sad to sit there and listen at times because I thought no matter how many times I communicate with parents in my future class, how many times will parents disregard my messages and information. I hope that I can do as much as possible to reach the parents of my classroom so I do not have similar situations to what I watched at the board of education meeting.
In my own personal experience as a nanny who has to daily help children in kindergarten and second grade complete homework, practice spelling words and other things, communication from the teacher can be helpful in so many ways. One of my child’s teacher is constantly sending out reminders and instructions home with the child regarding what they are working on in the classroom and what their homework is going to be about. I find this so helpful and allows me to lead the child so much easier and help them with specific things that connect to what they are learning in the classroom. In the video by Vestal's 21st Century Classroom, Mrs. Vestal discusses how she sends out parent study guides at the beginning of each unit to give parents exact instructions and explanations on what the students are learning and how they are learning. This allows for parents to help their students more effectively. On the other hand my second grade child does not have the same level of communication from the teacher which has definitely made it more difficult for me to help him and more difficult for him to understand/connect what he is learning. I think that it would be very effective for the teacher to send a parent study guide out because sometimes the way educators are teaching basic math is very complicated and different from how I learned as a kid.
In the article, “ 20 Tips for Developing Positive Relationships with Parents”, there are a number of great tips for teachers that I definitely will be using. Some of these tips seem implied and so basic but sometimes we can overlook some of these tips. One that I really thought was a great tip was “ Communicate Often and in Various Forms”(Aguilar, 2011). I think that in order to make sure your parents are being kept in the loop and are able to help their student to the best of their ability it is so important to keep consistent communication. Some others that stood out to me were “ Make positive phone calls home”, “ Share every success” and “ Learn their names”. When you are able to create a relationship with the parents/family you are working with, you will be able to have a relationship where the parents know they can trust you with their child and their child's academics better.
I think that the above tips, advice and ways of communicating with parents are great and can not wait to implement some into my classroom when the time comes but none of them really included specific ways for teachers to communicate with ELL families. It is incredibly important to have different resources and ways to communicate with parents of an ELL student in order to help the parents themselves know their rights for their child and to help their student succeed in the classroom. I think when working with parents of an ELL student who do not speak English like myself, it is important that when communicating with parents to let them know of different ways to translate and to let them know I have ways to translate so for them to do whatever makes them comfortable when communicating whether it be by email, phone call or text. My goal is to make any parent comfortable when communicating with me. In the article regarding communicating with ELL families, one of the tips that stuck with me was , “Identify the information and updates that ELL families will need in their language”(Breiseth, 2021). Again, it is important to keep families informed in the way that they prefer and that includes in the language they prefer or are most comfortable with. I could only imagine how difficult and intimidating it could be for ELL parents to communicate with their child’s teacher so it is my goal to not make it as scary for them.
Part Two
I intend to use many of the communication tips that I read and learned about in the video and articles I read.
At the very beginning of the school year I plan on sending out a survey/questionnaire that will include information about their child so I can get to know them more as well as information about the parents/family that I will be working with. When your able to create a relationship with parents/families right off the bat, it sets a great tone for the year.
As the year goes on I plan on sending bi monthly or monthly newsletters and updates for parents to stay informed about what we are learning in the classroom, what we have done including field trips or fun activities and what the future will look like. I think it is important to reflect on the past but also allow parents to get an idea of the future.
I think it is also very important to let parents know that I am always open and available to talk if they have questions or concerns for their child. Being that I grew up with phones and computers I am very flexible with communication method and hope that I can be accommodating to the parents that I am working with.
Lastly, a very important piece of advice that I read about was “ Don’t surprise parents by waiting until their child is failing to alert them”( Tingley, 2021). It is so important that as educators we are looking out for our students and making sure that we keep their parents updated so they can help them at home to the best of their ability.
Overall, communication with parents and families is something that I am happy to be learning more about before I actually become an educator. Being prepared and knowing so many different forms of communication is going to benefit myself, my future students as well as the future parents that I am going to be working with. Teaching and learning is a team effort and I need to make sure that my parents are in the loop at all times to allow for the team effort.
References:
Aguilar, E. (2011, September 23). 20 Tips for Developing Positive Relationships with Parents. Edutopia.
Breiseth, L. (2021, August). Communicating with ELL Families: 10 Strategies for Schools. National Education Association.
Tingley, S. C. (2021, September 20). Tips for successful teacher-parent communication. Hey Teach! https://www.wgu.edu/heyteach/article/tips-for-successful-teacher-parent-communication2109.html
Vestal's 21st Centory Classroom (2021, August 22). 9 Ways to Communicate with Parents for Teachers // INCREASE parent communication! [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/8aHJkRXgbcE
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