Creating Materials for Parents
Directing materials specifically to parents can be an effective way to keep them in the loop about classroom activities, policies, and interests. This week, we give numerous suggestions for expanding the methods for communicating with parents.
This Week's Tips
Send Home Project Dossiers (Monday)
For larger assignments, send home a detailed description of what the child is to do for the project. Include the learning objectives and goals, materials required, estimated time to complete the assignment, and your expectations regarding the final product. Make samples of past work available for students and parents to view if desired.
Send Home Grading Rubrics (Tuesday)
Help parents understand your grading policies by sharing your grading rubrics for assignments. Often parents want to know why their children earn the grades they do. A well-designed rubric makes the grading process transparent and reliable in the eyes of parents. This allows parents and children to discuss grades from an enlightened perspective.
Use Newsletters to Communicate with Parents (Wednesday)
Send home a biweekly newsletter. In it, detail what the class is currently doing, including upcoming assignments, topics to be studied, field trips, experiments students are conducting, and interesting facts they are discovering. You can create one newsletter per course and distribute it to students to give to parents. Ask that students get their parents' signatures to indicate they’ve received the newsletter. Prepare and distribute the newsletter on Monday and ask that the signature form be returned by Friday for a small participation grade. Be sure parents are aware of this detail at the beginning of the year.
Make Parents a Target Audience for Portfolios and Projects (Thursday)
For large projects and portfolios, include parents as part of the target audience. This allows parents to be involved in their students’ academic lives in a meaningful way. It also gives students an extra incentive to make the work coherent and complete. Inform parents of their role and fill them in on the process.
Create a Class Web Site to Communicate with Parents (Friday)
Create a Web site about your class. List long- and short-term assignments, daily objectives, lesson plans, homework assignments, and any information that you think parents may want to know about school and class activities. For families with access to a computer, this is a valuable means of communication, especially if parents can contact you via a link on the Web site.
