Communicating With Parents
Success in the classroom depends on communication–but parents are often omitted from the communication equation. This week, we offer tips to help bring parents up to speed with classroom happenings and student progress.
This Week's Tips
Send a Syllabus to Parents (Monday)
Send a course syllabus to the parents of your students, either before school begins or shortly thereafter. Include evaluation procedures, a tentative semester outline, homework policies, make-up policies, and how you can be reached, either at school or home. Depending on the socio-economic background of your students, you may need to make several copies of a video of you reading your syllabus available to students.
Send a Content/Homework Calendar to Parents (Tuesday)
Prepare and send to parents a calendar listing daily content and homework assignments, prior to beginning a new unit. Parents are empowered to encourage completion of assignments when they know exactly what has been assigned; the homework calendar removes all doubt. Teachers, however, cannot alter the assignments without notifying parents or this technique becomes ineffective.
Create a Class Web Site to Communicate with Parents (Wednesday)
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.
Purchase Grading Software (Thursday)
Purchase and use a grading software package. Once the initial setup is complete, entering grades is a simple task. Most programs compute an average based on your instructions, and you can generate a progress report for any student within seconds. Generate and send progress reports home to be signed by a parent as often as you feel necessary; the software makes it easy.
Make Face-to-Face Contact With Parents Often (Friday)
Attend school and community functions. Save formal communication about a student’s progress until you have the student’s artifacts in hand to support your explanations. Use the informal contact created by school and community functions to open the door to more formal communication.
