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This workshop offers strategies that teachers can use to facilitate positive communication with parents and enlist them as partners in their student’s education. This workshop also discusses the relationship between schools and their communities and the role of the teacher within communities and schools.
This lesson will specifically address:
Since schools reflect the culture of their community, strong communities that value education will yield quality schools that provide a high caliber of education. The marriage between school and community unites residents in a common goal: doing what is best for the children/students. Teachers play a vital role in maintaining and promoting this relationship.
In this unit, various strategies are presented that enable the beginning teacher to become established in the school and community. Being accepted as a functional unit in the community provides a major source of strength for teachers. Accordingly, it is imperative to become a part of the community and learn to recognize the strongly-held values that may affect the school. In this unit we will examine strategies that new teachers can use to become participants in local events, and address whether teachers can still have private lives if they live in the community.
It is no secret that parents who are involved in their child’s education produce educated children. Consequently, parents who involve themselves with the school help to create schools that are well-funded with few community issues. Next to the students, the parents are the best consumer of educational services. They directly influence the tone of the school and help provide for its well-being. Keeping parents involved and happy is a goal for all educators. So, how do you get to know the parents? Once you become acquainted with parents, you will need to be able to accurately describe your style of teaching, and determine how parents can help their child to be successful in your class. In this unit, additional strategies are presented that describe how to professionally communicate with parents, including how to make parent conferences productive.
Most parents will take the time to help their child with his or her education. It may mean that they are helping a child who is struggling, but it may also mean that the child is capable of high productivity and needs additional challenges beyond the school curriculum. This unit will address what parents can do to help their child, and what strategies the parents can harness to extend the child’s learning beyond the classroom. Read on to discover how the classroom teacher can successfully enlist the support of the parents in meeting these goals.
Schools are both the centerpiece and lifeblood of most communities. Schools carry on the culture, tradition, and memories of the communities that they serve. Locals will fondly recount noteworthy events that occurred at the school. Communities are also quick to talk about famous or important people who graduated from their schools. The community brags about its schools and their history. The bond between a community and the schools that serve it is similar to a marriage where one part supports and reports to the other. Contained within this unit are ideas that will help the beginning teacher to become a productive member of the local community, and therefore able to harness the energy of the community for the benefit of the school and its students.
From the perspective of the school administration, teachers are the glue that binds a school to the greater community.
It is important for new teachers to become established in the community and develop good working relationships with the parents of all of the students. Keep in mind that a number of students do not live in 2-parent homes. Some live with relatives and guardians.
When administrators interview teachers, we emphasize that the school community is very supportive of its teachers. Schools and teachers are highly valued by the community, and strong community support is generally to be expected. In fact, many communities routinely come together for a Friday night football game or weekend theatrical production at the local high school. We also alert prospective teachers that parent involvement can be a double-edged sword. Whereas most parents are extremely grateful for the efforts of good teachers and go out of their way to be kind to them, the same parents can also be fiercely critical of teachers who they perceive as substandard. The bond between students, teachers, schools, and the community is an emotional one. Level 5 teachers know the value of this bond in harnessing the cooperative nature and awesome power of parents.
Most parents want to know how well their child is doing in your class. Translated, this means they want to hear that their child is doing well in your class. It is a sound practice to regularly inform parents of their child’s progress, including students whose performance level is acceptable or exceptional. Such happy news creates an air of achievement and prompts the students to continue performing well. Parents may brag about their child and teacher in the community.
On the other hand, keep in mind that a less than favorable report presents a stressful and embarrassing situation for parents. It is important to keep the parents informed regarding their child’s progress for as long as they are in your class, regardless of their achievement level or family background. When the school year draws to a close, be prepared to advise the parents as to possible educational interventions and into which class or program they should guide their children in the future.
Attend every Back-to-School night or Meet-the-Teachers night, and make every attempt to participate in the school’s Parent-Teacher-Student-Association (PTSA) even if it is not required by the administration. These professional contacts will help new teachers connect more quickly with the community.
One of the worst things a teacher can do to a parent is to not inform the parent if their child is struggling in your class. A teacher who neglects to inform parents of their child’s poor performance should prepare for well-deserved parent anger, and quite a lot of it. Worse, the relationship may deteriorate to the point where the teacher can never recover the trust or cooperation of the parents in the future. Uninformed parents are not able to help their children, and often they will hold the teacher responsible for the failure of their child. This type of bad news may cycle through the community at the teacher’s expense.
Schools typically ask teachers to communicate regularly with parents, especially if their child is struggling or is in trouble for disciplinary reasons. In some schools, teachers are not allowed to fail a student unless the parents have been duly informed with enough time to provide assistance. Be aware of the policy associated with failing students in your school. Teachers who fail to communicate effectively with parents run the risk of upsetting the administration and endangering their good standing in the community.
When it comes to informing parents, you must consider the best way to present yourself and your information regarding their child. First impressions can last a long time, and a bad one can lead to a short lifetime in the teaching profession. Parents are often quick to point out that they pay the salary of educators and they expect to get more than their money’s worth in the classroom every day, every time. A wise teacher knows this in advance and prepares accordingly, especially if the purpose of the communication is to convey bad news to the parent. In every exchange a teacher has with a parent or the community, there are two essential items at hand: you and the quality of the information you bring to the meeting.
First impressions with a parent or community group are critical. Never underestimate the value of how you look, act, and respond. It can, and will, be held for you or against you for a very long time.
Whether conferencing with parents in person, by phone, email, or another communicative forum, the parents expect and deserve to communicate with a professional in a professional manner. It is imperative, especially for new teachers, to look and to act like a professional. Basic professionalism requires proper dress, appropriate personal hygiene, and an overall pleasing appearance. It also calls for the correct use of language and avoiding educational lingo that the parents may not understand. Parents are easily angered if a teacher’s tone of voice, eye contact, body language, intent, or attitude expresses anything other than complete cooperation and an investment in the well-being and advancement of their child.
A teacher can influence the path a parent conference takes based on the sort of information he or she provides. If the report that the teacher provides for the child is positive and specific, then the parents will look for generalities to be presented in the conference. If the report is vague, then the parents will be seeking bona fide, iron-clad evidence in the conference to supplement the report. The Student Achievement Form (SAF) contains information pertinent to conferencing with parents and serves to give the teacher a professional, well-prepared, and purposeful appearance.
The SAF contains the elements of most interest to parents. It is designed to be amended so as to fit the individual teacher’s class. It is not necessary to include any element that does not have a student score associated with it. Likewise, additional categories may be added to accommodate other non-traditional assessments. The teacher ought to bring copies for everyone in attendance at the conference — especially for the parents.
Speak directly from the data presented. Do not feel free to append, modify, or editorialize the information. Present the data in a caring yet factual manner and then listen intently to the parent’s response and build collaboration at that point.
It is illegal for you to inform parents regarding how well a non-family student performed in your class. Parents do not have the right to know how a student other than their own child is performing in your class. It would be a breach of confidentiality to provide information about another child either directly or indirectly.
Note that the parents will always want to know how their child is performing in relation to the rest of the class. For this reason it is important to include their score in comparison to the overall class average. The teacher should never break strict confidentiality by sharing an individual student’s scores with someone other than the parent of that child.
The teacher should also be prepared to explain specifics about each assessment, assignment, disciplinary action, and class participation item listed on the form. Parents will want to know about the content or skills that were assessed and accordingly why their child scored so poorly. A good response is specific and gives the parents additional insights. For instance, the first exam covered addition of two-digit numbers. Likewise, for the project description section, a solid response should include the purpose of the project, how it fits into the curriculum, the overall score value in reference to the semester grade, the date assigned, the date the project was actually handed in by the student, and a comparison to the overall class score.
The Parent Conference Data Form is a more abbreviated form that is useful for telephone conferences and face-to-face meetings.
The Parent Conference Data Form is designed to identify the problem area(s) in a student’s performance and define a plan of action. The form is also intended to determine the who, what, when, and where for implementation of the plan; establish acceptable student goals and the method for determining if the goals have been met. The form allows for team-building between the parents, teacher, and student while serving as a platform for continual interaction. Once again, the teacher should make copies for everyone at the meeting and send copies to the parents if the meeting transpires by phone. Mindful teachers are well-prepared to discuss any of the topics on this form in a manner that establishes collaborative opportunities with the parents, so as to positively impact the performance of their child.
Do not lower the level of the conversation into a condemning discussion of student behavior. If the parents request information regarding behavior or if behavior is a major problem, then frame the commentary in a positive manner while still expressing the truth in a caring way.
Be sure to stay within the confines of the form—this is not a good time to tell the parents about how awful their child is in class. Construct behavioral commentary in an uplifting manner so that the students and parent understand the situation and have a plan to correct it. For instance:
“(Insert student’s name) talks continually to his/her neighbor during class while instructions and the lesson are being presented. This behavior may have an effect on (insert student’s name)’s ability to complete the class work and perform at an acceptable level on quizzes and tests. I am confident that if (insert student’s name) would pay more attention and follow directions, his/her scores will increase.”
The parent conference provides a good opportunity to educate parents regarding elements of the curriculum and how they are represented in class. It is helpful for the parents to understand the overall progression of the curriculum, including the scope and sequence, timelines, and assessment opportunities. Once the parents understand the flow of the curriculum, they are better able to explain it to their children and assist in educating them. Conversely, eager parents who do not fully understand the curriculum can cause a lot of damage, since they may become frustrated and then blame the teacher for their child’s underperformance. The Curriculum Expository Form may be modified to assist teachers in presenting curricular highlights to the parents. It is designed to be tailored to fit any curricular circumstance.
The Curriculum Expository Form is also an effective tool to share with your substitute teacher, home-school teacher, alternative education teacher, or tutor. It is easily modified to suit many purposes.
When speaking about curriculum, it is advisable to know the derivation of the document. For instance, is the curriculum based on national, state, or local standards? If the curriculum is based on one of these sets of standards, make sure to reference the original source that applies to the curriculum. The source from which the curriculum is drawn is useful in answering parent and student questions like: why is this concept taught at this time; or, why do we have to learn this material? When a curriculum is aligned to national standards, the various national committees that created and approved it have considered matters such as developmental stages of the student, progression of the curriculum, bias and sensitivity, and links to the real world. Most curriculum supervisors are delighted to align their program of study with national standards for that reason.
If the curriculum is solely the enterprise of the teacher, then this safety net is not available and the teacher will have to make a good case for teaching that curriculum in terms of its appropriateness to student development and achievement level.
The parents should know that the curriculum for your subject is well-defined: while the teacher is expected to teach it, the students are expected to learn it. If the curriculum is not well-defined, it is not really a curriculum but more like a table of contents. An unclear curriculum leaves the teacher in a tough position if the parents choose to question its validity.
Parents that want to help their child need to be given a sense of how they can help. The more they know about the intent of the curriculum and what the students are expected to know, the more valuable they become in providing additional support for the student. Teachers must know the curriculum and be prepared to discuss parent involvement strategies.
Parents like to know how a teacher goes about teaching. What is the style of the teacher? Does the teacher lecture for the entire period? Does the teacher provide a variety of modalities? It is essential to consider what the parents should know about your teaching style that can help them with their children.
Parents are seeking the answer to two questions. The first one can take many forms such as: What are the components of the teacher’s class, and, is there anything similar that a parent can do to help their child at home? For instance, if the teacher requires a lot of writing, the parent can insist that the child focus more on writing at home. Parents will often want to know if the teacher teaches in a style that may be difficult for their child to understand, and they will want to know what they can do to help. The second question parents pose is more future-based: What is the next curricular topic, and how can the parents keep up with any changes to help their child prevent problems in the future?
Students sometimes have problems because they either haven’t adjusted to the teacher’s style of teaching, they are not sure what the teacher is trying to do, or the teacher’s expectations for the students are not clear. Early in the school year, students often struggle until they can grasp the teacher’s manner of teaching.
For instance, consider a scenario wherein the teacher provides no direct instruction but assigns a chapter to be read by the students, with questions to be answered at the end, and then bases their score on the quality of the answers. Students learn quickly that they will not receive much in the way of teacher assistance, and in order to do well they will have to correctly answer the questions. In working backwards, students realize they have to first read and then understand the chapter on their own to be able to answer the questions correctly. Contrast that scenario with a teacher who never uses the text but works closely with the students, and then scores the students based on their group participation on teacher-assigned projects. These students are facing two very different sets of teacher expectations. Be prepared to describe your style to the students and their parents.
Write your philosophy of teaching in 25 words or less. From that, create a description of your teaching style that a layperson could comprehend.
It is helpful to clearly define your style of teaching so both the parents and the students can understand what you consider important and how you plan to structure the learning environment to accomplish your goals. You should be able to describe a typical class and what is expected from the students. This description may be as regimented as: 35% of the time is spent in lecture, 20% in application of lecture principles or laboratory work, 20% in cooperative groups, 15% completing assessments, 10% working on individual projects. The description may also be more explanatory: Students are expected to take notes regarding the objectives for that lesson and be able to apply them in a variety of situations with class time allocated for that purpose. No matter what method you choose, the parents and students must understand your approach to teaching before they will be able to use it to their benefit.
The assessment plan for a class is often the focus of initial questioning by parents at a conference. Parents and students want to know how often tests and quizzes occur, what is going to be on the test, what the test looks like, if the test counts, and how the teacher is going to score it. The answers to these questions are actually quite simple.
Formative assessments alert the teacher to student success and reflect lesson delivery. Summative assessments are used to score the students.
The frequency at which quizzing and testing occur is the teacher’s choice, unless specific guidelines are provided by the school or system. Normally assessments are used to determine how well the students are progressing toward mastery of the curriculum. The teacher should use formative assessments to keep the students motivated to learn. These assessments also serve to measure their retention of class objectives.
When the students have mastered the objectives as demonstrated on the formative assessments, then administer a summative assessment to score the students. Teachers are advised to quiz often by breaking the content into small units. Using quizzes as a formative assessment allows the teacher to gain quality insights into the effectiveness of the instruction. If the teacher has a specific plan, such as administering an assessment on a weekly basis, then the parents need to be informed. It is a good idea to construct the assessments as the unit lesson plans are created. The teacher should also have a concrete assessment plan that can be explained to the parents and students in terms they can easily understand.
The content of a test must be derived solely from the objective(s) that were visually displayed and practiced during each lesson. Well written objectives define the assessments and make the learning process easier for the students and for parents trying to help their child. Assessments are created only from the objectives and do not contain any surprise material that the students have not been properly prepared to engage. If the students are writing down their lesson objectives for each lesson, they should essentially have a rough map of the assessment. Parents wishing to help their children can focus their efforts on mastering these objectives
Have the students fall into the habit of writing the objective(s) for each lesson in a location where they can easily refer to them, such as their notebook. In so doing, they can be located and used as an effective guideline to study for any and all assessments.
The format of the test depends upon the content of the test. The teacher should write the test or quiz before beginning that unit of study. One reason to adhere to this practice is so the students will know how they are going to be assessed. For instance, will this unit be assessed by a constructed response or selected response type exam? Will they have to read a technical passage or interpret political cartoons? Students and parents can adjust their thinking and preparation if they know the nature of the assessment in advance of the event. When discussing the assessment with parents, be sure to indicate how the students will be tested.
A prominent question that a parent will ask is how the students are graded. This question may take many forms such as: how many points were possible; what was the passing score; how much were the quizzes worth? These questions provide the ideal opportunity to explain how the students were graded and present the parents with an itemized list of assessments and how well their child performed on them.
Prepare an itemized list of assessments in advance to share with the parents. Make sure it includes all assessments, their child’s score, and a comparison with the remainder of the class. It is also a good idea to explain area(s) of strength and weakness and discuss how the parent can help.
Teachers are advised to have a solid grading plan. Consider whether the students will be graded on a percentage basis, how the grades will be recorded (i.e., numerically or by a letter grade) and if the students will have an option to retake the test. When discussing grades with parents, it is advantageous to have a form like the Student Progress Report on hand to review with them.
The Student Progress Report form can be quickly completed by the teacher for those last minute parent conferences. It contains items that are of fundamental interest to the parents and serves as a launch pad for further discussion. The format can be easily modified to include additional items or to delete non-existent items.
It is vital for the teacher to be well prepared for all teacher conferences. Conferences should be scheduled at a time that is mutually agreeable to the parent and the teacher and also allows the teacher time to collect and format the data for discussion and distribution to the parents.