Power
of Positive Parent-Teacher Relationships
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Ending the School Year with a Bang!
Ending the School Year with a Bang! What are some ways to end the school year on a high note academically, sending scholars wit...
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Achieving Work-Life Balance Healthy Work Habits Healthy Home Habits Remote Balance
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Dr. Katie Lawrence (JRPLA): I'm a new teacher at JRPLA. I teach 10/11th grade chemistry and ICP. Despite calling, texting, constant emails, ect. I'm struggling with interaction with the parents (I guess 3rd C?). Very few parents (and students) respond to me. My online student participation is very low and its disheartening. Those that I have had interactions with have been positive though and we've been able to keep that line of communication open.
ReplyDeleteI've had better luck with texting this year. I have little to no participation in office hours but I'm receiving work. Keep the faith because when we do see them in person everything will change.
DeleteIt is good to know that you are having luck reaching your parents by text message. I plan to set up Remind also, as a way to deliver messages to my parents and scholars.
DeleteThanks Melissa, I hope you are right! I'm not recieving much work either (at least from my ICP students). Only about 1/3 of those students took their first exam. :(
DeleteAs a parent of three teenagers who are learning virtually every other day, I think they are being expected to do entirely too much self taught learning on their eLearning days. They are not doing a simple homework assignment at home for one or two classes now. They are expected to do an assignment to be graded for each and every class every day now without anyone available to assist them or guide them. I am at work all day teaching my own class. Of course, we all know teachers don't just work 9-5. I can't possibly go home and help my children with making sure they complete and understand seven classes worth of work every single day for three children. It's utterly unreasonable to expect it. Absolutely every assignment that is being graded should be 100% teacher led and observed whether virtually or in person. It seems that "virtual learning" is being substituted for busy work for the sake of saying teachers are teaching. Students are not receiving the multiple means of representation and opportunities of methods to express their understanding which are best practices. Additionally, eLearning grades at this point are punitive. Scholars did not have graded assignments to complete for every single class every day prior to eLearning so why is it happening now?! Additionally, my son who has ADHD and has a 504 is definitely not being accommodated and may not be able to graduate because of it. I presented this to the principal and was told that all students have 504's or require accommodations so he is receiving them with everyone else, yet still required to complete twice the work. His teachers have communicated with me, but have refused to budge in making any sort of compromise to ensure my son is able to be successful.
DeleteMelissa Sheriff (JRPLA): I'm the high school ESL teacher. I teach ESL to 9-11 grades. I'm new to JRPLA. The hardest C for me is collaboration. The culture of the students I work with is that the teacher is the expert. Latino(a) parents want to be informed but don't always know how to collaborate. I always start the year off with an introduction phone call that explains who I am and how excited I am to work with their students. Throughout the year, when I call I always start with something positive regardless of the reason why I'm calling.
ReplyDeleteLast year when I worked at a private Islamic school, I also found that parents thought of the teachers as the expert. That's a great idea to reach out and make sure they know who you are to start the year off with a positive relationship.
DeleteChynna Triska PLA@103
Chynna, I also worked at a private Islamic school and found that to be true. However, those parents always seemed to have a pulse on their child and knew what they were or weren't doing in the classroom. What do you do when you reach out to parents and they act like they had no idea that their student had never even logged into your class (6 weeks in!)?
DeleteChynna Triska PLA@103: This is my third year teaching, but my first at Phalen. I have found that getting parents to respond has been the hardest. Last year I worked at a private school where a majority of students had a parent who stayed home. They were very responsive to emails and never had to call them or text.
ReplyDeleteI really like sending out a weekly newsletter with what we are focusing on for the week and highlight when tests and quizzes will be. This way they know exactly what their student is learning and will know what they are graded on.
As a first year teacher, getting parents to respond is super difficult. Which then affects my consistency if I haven't heard from a parent in a few days. Agreed!
DeleteI would say consistency is the most challenging for me to implement. I know and understand that plans change and may not go accordingly, things come up and adapting to situations can happen, so consistency can be difficult and some situations. I try to come up with a organized way of staying on top of things so that I can be consistent!
ReplyDeleteFriedly: PLA103
I agree. Organization is the most effective way to maintain consistency!
DeleteBrianna Bennett, PLA 93
Consistency is always the most challenging. As things change, especially this year, something always comes up. I always put the students first, so it's easy to forget to send a report out every Friday, or follow up at the exact time you said you would. It's important to stay organized and make communication a habit, not an obligation.
ReplyDeleteBrianna Bennett, PLA 93
I totally agree Brianna. I am learning so many new things here at HIAT that my brain is spinning everyday when I go home.
DeleteFrederick Pittman HIAT
The hardest one of the 3 C's is Consistency. Trying to juggle work and home life can make it difficult especially when parents are working different shifts to keep in contact with them in a timely manner. When I taught at other schools I used Class Dojo to send messages either as a whole group or indvidually and that worked out well.
ReplyDeleteI was the teacher who entered this post. Frederick Pittman HIAT
DeleteI agree Frederick. It can be extremely challenging to remain consistent throughout the year when we often have to juggle multiple tasks and other roles. For me personally, I think that consistency and communication sometimes go hand-in-hand. It can be hard to get in contact with a parent when your schedule and their schedules don't align.
DeleteI like your idea of using Class Dojo. What grade level was this for and do you think it is effective for upper elementary? Consistency is definitely difficult for me too, especially when parents aren't able to respond to the information that you send out.
Delete-Samantha Burns PLA @93
I believe that the most challenging out of the three C's to implement is consistency. As educators, we often juggle a lot of different tasks at once therefore ,it can be challenging to remain consistent throughout the year (with the exact time frame/ dates). This year, during virtual learning I offered to cook with my students during our lunch break on Fridays. I took note of what students were interested in participating during lunch and then called and emailed the parents of each student to explain what would occur and other information they needed. By doing this it opened communication for me to introduce myself and give them a sense of who I am as an educator.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a fun idea! What a great way to connect parents and students with you. Megan Skaggs GVP
DeleteEvelyn Bottando HIAT: This is a really fun and creative way to engage with students and create consistency. It really helped me think in a more dynamic way about how I could be better at consistent communication with parents.
DeleteCarol Rice (JRPLA)
ReplyDeleteThis is my first year at PLA. The hardest C, would have to be a communication. Without effective communication the other two aren't as effective as they should or could be.
Over the years of teachig, connecting with parents whom seem to be invested as we as teachers are has been difficult. Sometimes it's as if we want more for them than others. In which it pushes us even more to give every ounce of us. Getting some of the parents involved is difficult. Especially when we want to share good news! With E-learning it's been challenging to get student involve.
How is everyone connecting with scholars to increase participation?
Another difficulty is communicating with families with Spanish speaking households. I always feel really bad and defeated when speaking with them.
I agree being online has made it much more difficult to communicate since we are no longer seeing the students/families in person. ELL students and parents who don't speak any English definitely causes a major language barrier which furthers that miscommunication. -Natalie Brammer
DeleteBuilding positive relationship with parents can be difficult but necessary. Personally, I find talking to parents intimidating sometimes. I just have to remember that parents want to be involved in their child's education. I think it's important to share the good and the bad. Parents want to hear good news too. It's also, important to build that relationship because they are part of the team, they want to know how they can help and build on what is being taught in class. Yolanda Betty - Trix Academy
ReplyDeleteIt is a little intimidating communicating with parents virtually, I agree. I am slowly overcoming my uneasiness. I am working to build relationships with the scholars and the parents. I am taking everything, one day at a time.
DeleteNatalie Brammer PLA103
ReplyDeleteAs a first year teacher, communication is the most challenging for me to implement right now. Being virtual has definitely made things a bit more difficult to reach out to parents. There is a large group of ELL students and parents who don't speak English which causes a major disconnect in communicating.
Hi Natalie,
DeleteI like that you bring up the obstacle of communicating with our ELL families who do not speak English. I, too, have found this to be a huge challenge when trying to reach out to them throughout this era of virtual learning.
These obstacles, however, informs us as educators about the many gaps within our educational processes and system that need to be tended to. -Kei'Anna Anderson/JRP
Natalie,
DeleteAs your ELL Instructor I am having the same issue. I am not bilingual and have found communicating with the parents challenging. If I need assistance I do rely on others in the building that can help translate. Or with being virtual I use my translate app. I think that gestures, smiles, nods, etc. are a big part of ways that we can communicate virtually.
Jenina Sorenson PLA@103
The most challenging of the three for me to implement right now, is communication with the parents. I am working to make contact with all of the parents of the scholars I serve. I will make a better effort to reach out to them. I have managed to get an email address for nearly all of my parents. I plan to send a weekly newsletter using their email addresses.
ReplyDeleteI did the same thing. I think that is a great idea to do a weekly newsletter! Thank you for sharing.
DeleteJensen Cacciola
1st year PLA Jones-Clark
I've found communication with parents has become easier in a way when we were teaching virtually because they were often there in the moment with the scholar, or were interacting with our class content later. They would send an email or pop into the virtual class. Megan Skaggs GVP
ReplyDeleteAbbigail Brantch, 1st year Music Teacher at JRPLA
DeleteI have found similar things. While we were organizing the NWEA testing, I called many parents and they would often start lean right in to talk to the scholar and I have seen parents pop in and out of the background of the few scholars that have come into Office Hours.
Same Here! I'm not saying teaching virtual hasn't had its challenges but it has been nice to be able to communicate with so many families on a daily basis.
DeleteBeing the art teacher, I find I have to really work hard with communication because most families are more concerned with the core subjects and not elective classes. Being virtual, I have some parents doing the projects along with their student! On my end, its pretty cool to see
-Teresa Pope / Jones Clark Elementary
Art Education
Collaborating with parents to set individualized goals for their scholar is a critical component to the learning process. I do see this as a continuous developmental area for myself as I find ways to involve parents. Many parents, from my experience, have their own personal challenges that prohibit them from being an active partner in their child's learning. However, I have found small ways to connect them.
ReplyDeleteIn the past I have used something as simple as a Homework Signature Log to collaborate with parents as we work together to build accountability within the scholar. The Homework Signature Log was a method of communication to the parent, of daily assignments. This seemed to have worked best for the parent's current need.
The above post: Kei'Anna Anderson/ James and Rosemary Phalen
DeleteI really like that idea of giving a homework log for parents to sign off on. I also thought of creating agenda pages where students will write all their homework for the night, as well as what color they were on (on the clip chart) at the end of the day, and requiring parents to sign off. How would you do this if we aren't able to use paper in the classroom this year due to extra health precautions? Would this all still be communicated via email?
Delete-Samantha Burns PLA @93
Being a first-year teacher, communication has been the most difficult for me as well. I attempted to get an email address from every parent that I could send updates and weekly progress reports to, but some still have not given me an email, so I use my personal number to send the emails through text message. I also have some parents who either do not respond or do not speak enough English to be able to respond.
ReplyDelete-Samantha Burns PLA @93
I have had similar things. I sent out emails to everyone that had listed addresses early on, but heard almost nothing back. The few times I have had to make calls, it is almost always voicemails and little response back.
DeleteI have been happy with the parents I have gotten the chance to speak with though. Everyone calling me ma'am and doing their best to be involved in their scholar's education. I suppose we keep trying and hope that sooner or later they all speak to us eventually.
It is so tough to get all parents involved! If you are trying your best that is all you can do. I am happy to hear those parents you are in contact with are wanting to be involved! :)
DeleteHello! The most difficult C for me to manage is consistency. At my previous school, we did call parents regularly. However, we were never tasked to find a way to have a regular means of staying in contact. I am a teacher for small group learning. I look forward to learning how to develop a consistent way to keep parents updated regarding their scholars.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to put that my school is HIAT.
DeleteABBIGAIL BRANTCH, 1ST YEAR MUSIC TEACHER AT JRPLA
ReplyDeleteI find initializing parent communication is a challenge to me. Prior to teaching here I was working on my Master's degree and taught a class of undergraduates at the university. As all of my students were adults, there was no need for parent involvement. All of the students had school issued email address that I could easily access and if they decided to not come or participate in class that was their choice and as adults I could only do so much about it. This transition to children and working with parents has been a challenge for me and I often forget to initialize the interaction with parents.
Abbigail,
DeleteThanks for being so open and honest. I can see how much of a challenge this could be. I would say stay strong and continue to reach out to those parents. Even if you only build relationships with a few families this year, you will be surprised at how many more you will build next year. Plus you have those few families that will support you and talk about you to other families.
Jenina Sorenson PLA@103
Although I have worked all my life in various organizations serving young people, the basics never change. The strength of a child's learning comes from collaborating with Parents and co-workers. Even relationships can be developed virtually. I don't let the computer be a barrier, I tend to try to connect as if the Scholar and parent were right there. The parent teacher partnership is paramount.
ReplyDeleteJenina Sorenson PLA@103. I would say that the most challenging "C" for me would be Collaboration. I am the ELL Instructor here at PLA@103 and I have 75 scholars on my caseload. With the majority of my families speaking other languages it is often hard to communicate with them and have collaboration among them. Along with that I also need to be collaborating with the classroom teacher on their communication with the family. I believe more communication with families is sometimes best; but, sometimes it could also be overwhelming for the families to be hearing from multiple teachers a day.
ReplyDeleteThis is my first year at PLA but, my 17th year teaching. My biggest piece of advice that I can share with new teachers is build those relationships. And do so by making yourself available. Most of the time the parents just want to be heard as well.
Hi Jenina,
DeleteI really love what you said about creating the relationships, especially since we always hear about creating relationships with our students but sometimes our parents get left out of the conversation. I will definitely be trying to make myself as available as possible as I move through my first year teaching.
Ryan Cornell / Timothy L. Johnson Academy
MS Social Studies
I would say effective Communication to all families. I added "effective" and "all families" because communication on its own isnt hard. I can easily pick up the phone and call, send an email, or have a quick conversation with a parent. To me, effect means a method that works well for the family and teacher. Not all families respond well to emails or a quick conversation at drop off and pickup. By no means have I ever been able to communicate with all of my families. Some don't have email, some dont have a working number, some dont provide with with the correct number and some never step foot on campus. You have to learn what method works and not each method works for each family
ReplyDeleteThis is my first year at PLA but, my 15th year teaching. Best advice...learn to listen and learn to use 2 positive comments for every 1 concern. Start and end on a positive note
-Teresa Pope / Jones Clark Elementary
Art Education
I agree, it is not a one size fits all! 2 positives for every 1 concern is a great strategy!
DeleteI believe that communication is the hardest of the 3 Cs to effectively implement in the classroom. especially with some of the families that we teach, simply being able to get in contact with our parents for the smallest of things can be almost impossible, what with changing numbers and lack of internet for many of our scholar's households. However I think the key to trying to implement better communication with our scholars' families is trying new things, seeing what works, and making sure that our scholars' parents understand that we are always ready and willing to communicate.
ReplyDeleteRyan Cornell / Timothy L. Johnson Academy
MS Social Studies
I agree...
DeleteYashikia Willis
PLA93
I agree it is hard to always communicate effectively with everyone, but being open to new lines of communication could be extremely helpful!
DeleteAudree Zabel GVPLA
I find it hard as the parents want to be contacted in different ways. I am texting, DOJO, and emailing different parents daily. Why can they not understand there is one main system in place and it makes easier for us to communicate.
ReplyDeleteAbigail Wade GVP Fourth Grade
ReplyDeleteI am a first year teacher at GVP and the hardest part of the C's for me is the consistency. I feel like I am working so hard to try to get everything done and prepared for teaching that I just put communication on the back burner. I want to communicate but I feel the only time that I end up communicating is what something bad happens.
I totally understand! The first year teaching is such a learning curve. To top it off you throw in a pandemic and virtual teaching. I promise it does get better! Hang in there! :)
DeleteI think the C I am currently struggling with most is consistency. I am teaching kindergarten and first grade virtually at GVP and I have some parents that I regularly talk to and communicate openly with and some are hit or miss. I try to always end the school day with answering any questions the scholars' adult may have, but that still isn't enough always either. This is my first year teaching but I have worked in schools in the past. One school I was at for my student teaching, we used an app and communicated daily with parents about reminders or share any news or pictures from the day. I really liked it.
ReplyDeleteAudree Zabel GVPLA
I agree with consistency and remind101 is also an app you can use to communicate with parents. Try posting a notification on whatever system your school is using and the students can tell the parents or you can send out an email to all parents and BCC everyone.
DeleteThe app is free too!
Angelique McClellan
6th/7th Grade Math
Consistency, I feel this would be the hardest one because scholars often times have issues with wifi or issues at home outside of school. This creates a problem for them to be consistent with school.
ReplyDeleteAngelique McClellan
6th/7th Grade Teacher
Scott T. Eddy JRPLA consistency is the hardest one for me. It is hard to get students to continue showing up online. I have some regulars and some that still have yet to do anything.
ReplyDeleteCommunication and consistency never have been a weakness for me honestly as a teacher. Collaboration has always been hard even though I try so hard. Unfortunately especially in the virtual world I have noticed many parents not wanting to collaborate with me to help their scholar succeed. I understand life is overwhelming and busy, but when I reach out and I am trying to come up with a solution for the scholar it is honestly so frustrating they do not want to collaborate! Every day I send out a mass text to all my families. I text or call separately as well and when I am trying to collaborate with them to solve an issue I do not hear from them. Now we are going back face to face and I am seriously hoping collaborating with the parents and scholars will be easier.
ReplyDeleteJensen Cacciola
PLA Jones-Clark
4th grade Math
I am trying to find the balance. It is getting very difficult for me since I am new to the school and I have many things and learn how to do it at the same time. But the most difficult thing for me is the number of students I have and how much I must qualify.
ReplyDeleteI hope I find my balance soon
My name is Arlene Mojica Alvarez
DeleteThea Bowman Leadership Academy
High School Spanish Teacher
I think consistency in communicating with parents is extremely difficult. I have some students who miss a lot of school. I have several who rarely take the papers out of their bags for their parents to see. Many of my student's parents work at night and rarely respond to any written communication. Several scholars parents numbers are out of service or have changed and not been updated. Their emails are incorrect, missing, or they don't respond to them either. I have to reach all of my scholars parents via multiple methods and often have to try multiple methods to reach one parent which often even involves asking a contact for their number. All of this has to be done on my own personal time, because we certainly don't have enough prep time to track parents down and create multiple forms of communication for each individual scholar on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain with having to track parents down!
DeleteConsistency is hard for me too. I have to use a translator to communicate with my parents. So that is difficult along with every other task that I have to complete. One of my co-teachers and I decided that we would communicate with the parents in our homeroom classes to split up the work. So that is super helpful, but I have really tried to up my communication logs.
ReplyDeleteUgh that was for Dana Patrick, 4th Grade @ JC Elementary
DeleteI think consistency is hard for me, I have emailed, called, Text parents and have not got no respond...And the number one issue is their contact information is not updated.
ReplyDeleteYwillis
Teacher Assistant
PLA93
I think consistency is key. I wish we had a school wide agreement to use class dojo or remind me or something. That way parents also have a consistent way to communicate. Some email, some call, some text etc. Parents have multiple kids and also need a constant.
DeleteI am trying to teach responsibility towards Spanish class. It has been difficult but at the end I begin to see a greater interest in learning not in passing a subject. On the other hand, being a teacher and having a balanced life is not easy especially when you have 162 students like me every day. In order to fulfill all my duties as a teacher, I have to sacrifice my free time. I wish I could have fewer students and be able to balance my personal life and my professional life.
ReplyDeleteArlene Mojica Alverez
High School Spanish Teacher
Thea Bowman Academy
I think communication has been something that comes easily for me. As a parent myself, I just try to communicate with parents how I would like to be communicated with for my own children. Consistency is difficult for me because as the year gets busier, I need reminders for myself to reach out to individual parents.
ReplyDeleteHeather Hill
PLA @93
I think communicating is key. Everything happens as a result of communicating. I feel I could do a better job with positive calls and emails. I have 8 classes and its hard to call everyone. Unfortunately I need to contact the ones failing more than the passing ones. Something I am trying to correct and balance. I used to use class dojo in the past. The school used it and it was very easy to reach parents. I think we should all adopt something school wide. Either remind me, class dojo or something.
ReplyDeleteI try to communicate with parent often. It is also one of the key to many of the scholars success in my class. Communication has it challenges at times because parents and guardians may not be receptive to the communication.
ReplyDelete