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In what practical ways do you and/or your school currently support parents? What benefits have you seen from this?
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Our schools tries to keep communication open between teachers and parents. We have conferences scheduled both during the day and in the evening to make it easier for parents. I see a lot more cooperation between parents and teacher when the lines of communication are open.
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We have a very small school, about 30 students, therefor we keep very close contact with our parents. We hold monthly support meeting and have speakers come on currently relevant topics, we also hold Special Needs friendly church services at 10:30am on Sundays, this gives families plenty of time to get up and going!
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I send out an email to all parents at the beginning of each school year to each student’s caregivers. During the year, I email parents with various info, sometimes to alert them because their child has done something noteworthy, sometimes because their child is having difficulty. I also respond very quickly to theor questions and concerns and accommodate whatever meetings they need or phone conversations we should have. The benefits from all of this is they know they have importance and that I am their partner in helping their child grow in knowledge and character. They know they can rely on me to give their child quality time in my class that will prepare them for whatever they go to after they leave me.
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Building good relationships with parents is important and communication are key. Parents and teachers partner to help their children succeed. Even though I’m just their teacher, I have a parental love for all my students and see them as a mother. Sometimes I nag at them in place of their moms. Other times, I send emails to notify them of bad behavior. I also try to send positive emails of what kids are doing well because parents only tend to hear bad news from school. I also teach in a school with a lot of parent-teachers and just the open communication, willingness to work together and letting them know that I want the best for their child and will do whatever I can to help them succeed.
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I had a student who was being raised by the grandparents. This student did demonstrated disruptive behaviors in the classroom and I would have to check-in with the grandparents often. I knew a bit of the background of their situation, and the first thing I said to them as that they are a God-send for their grandchild, and I want to be helpful and supportive to them during the school year. I found that this approach disarmed the grandparents of feeling they needed to be defensive regarding their grandchild and this enabled a collabortive approach when we would talk. I was able to more freely share with the current behaviors and when those behaviors did not meet expectations. I also shared successes with them regarding significant accomplishments of their grandchild as well in order to celebrate that. They would reinforce these expecations at home, and I saw a difference in the student’s behavior.