Communication with Parents and Guardians

October 17, 2011 Roz.Geridis Communication Tools, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Diverse Learning Needs, Homework, Interviews

Connecting with Parents

As the busy school year develops, parent communication is very important. All parent(s) want to know what his/her child is learning at school. Having a 5/6 all boys class made me find ways to involve the boys and open the communication for the family and to the school. To describe my class a little, it all boys with over half of my class on IEPs; 1 gifted, 2 HSP kids, 1 Aspergers, some identified LD and some still on the wait list for an assessment. Also, many boys have anxiety which some have been medically diagnosed and others are not. Agendas are a routine we are working to develop both for parents to read and for students to use them.

Communication I have used:

– started a bi-weekly newsletter, written by the students;

The writers are a job assignment and hands regularly go up to take on the job. I do give some content to include such as curriculum information, projects and areas of curriculum we are working on. The writers are able to add their content also and I do give a final approval. Once edited and published, I was impressed that the boys all took them home, not one was left in the classroom!

– meetings for IEP;

Most of my parents requested a meeting to develop the IEP so I had to find some time to meet with approximately half of my class. I scheduled all meetings with student entry time as an end time and gave parents 20 minutes to discuss the IEPs. This allowed me to meet with all parents who had requested a meeting, leaving me enough time to input the added information into the student’s IEP. I did keep in mind if parents had other concerns to discuss, another meeting would have to be scheduled.

– use of the agenda;

Many parents have asked for me to communicate through the agenda. At times, it seems like limited communication, I still take the time to develop a routine where students place their agenda on my desk and I initial every morning. I do not sign agendas at the end of the day as I am trying to help the students to build the routine of utilizing the agenda. I do give agenda time at the end of the day and write on the board the evening’s homework and reminders. The students are aware I will look at the agendas the next day therefore the routine is beginning to develop. If there is a need to write a note in the agenda at the end of the day, I do so.

– phone calls home;

Although there are limited phones and phone lines in the large school I am in, I have developed a routine. I take one prep period a week to make phone calls giving parents an update. I try to call every parent once a month. If there are no concerns from myself or the parents, I start to give strategies to help with homework routine and learning skills. I also inquire about items getting home and inform parents about the class newsletter used as my way to keep parents updated.

– parent meetings;

Many parents have been calling to set up meetings. I am in an involved parent community; this is the norm in my school. Again, due to the early start of the year, I schedule the meetings with an entry time as the end point (i.e. 20 minutes before school or at the end of lunch). Some of my parents are colleagues and I do schedule those meetings for after school. All meetings have gone over 20 minutes but we are also discussing education related issues not just the colleague’s child.

– email;

I do not give out my email unless it is asked for. If parents do email me, my email reply consists of a simple acknowledgement of the concern and asking to set up a phone call meeting or face to face meeting to discuss the concern. Email is very easy to misunderstand and often I am in rush to read all my emails and do not have the time to finely craft an email response to a parent’s concern. If you do decide to use email, please save your email in draft and take another look, either a few hours later or the next day. Often, a discussion with an experienced colleague or time away from the concern gives us a different perspective.

What I have done are just examples of parent communication and have changed for me based on the school I am in or the students in my class. In some schools I have seen parents daily, even in upper junior grades, regular parent communication is quick. You have to do what works for you and your community. Most of all, remember to document your parent communication. Get some labels, print off a sheet with all the students name, record the parent communication and stick it on a paper in your communication binder.

October 13, 2011October 17, 2011 Tina.Ginglo Communication Tools, Communication with Parents and Guardians

Tweeting To Families

Although I am well aware of the concerns and dangers of participating in web based social media sites with students, social media platforms such as Edmodo.com and Ning.com are quickly becoming powerful classroom tools. I am excited about these web based social media platforms and the potential they have for engaging students with curriculum and providing them with 21^st century literacy skills. Over the summer months, I looked into ways social media has been used safely to build community and collaboration in business and education.

Now that I am a parent myself, more than ever, I appreciate the importance of home and school communication. I thought that I might try a social media platform to support my connection and foster relationships with families. With my principal’s permission, I am now Tweeting to my students’ families!

My principal had a few concerns about Internet safety, which I respectfully considered when setting up this Twitter account. First, I have set my Twitter account so I must approve my followers. Since I have most of my parents’ email addresses, it is easy for me to identify whether or not a request to follow is coming from one of my families. Secondly, I set it so that followers cannot comment on my Tweets. Unfortunately, this limits the potential this social media tool has for building community, but hopefully it will help keep parents in the loop and help me to establish trust and rapport with my families. Finally, I don’t identify my school, my teaching assignment or students’ names in my tweets.

I have 18 students in my class. To date, I only have two followers, but hey, that’s okay. I have two parents who I touch base with on an almost daily basis about things such as homework reminders and positive events that took place during the day. It will be interesting to see if more parents begin to follow as the year progresses.

To learn more about ETFO’s Advice to Members re: Social Media, please click here.

October 4, 2011October 17, 2011 Sangeeta.McAuley Building Inclusion, Communication Tools, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Learning About Your Students

Making Connections with Family

Thinking about Carmen’s experiences at her “Meet the Teacher” night reinforces for me how important it is to connect with the families of our students.

Building inclusion goes beyond what we do in our classrooms and if we are going to connect with family members, using less jargon and the words of our students can make a difference.

When our “Meet the Teacher” night came, I asked my students, “What would you like to share with your families about our classroom?” and the answers started pouring in. Not surprisingly, there was very little emphasis on curriculum!!! They wanted to share what they had helped to create: our reading corner, the desk setup, how they can earn class points and so on.

So, I took all their ideas and made a checklist, which they could access when they came in with their families. It was so exciting to observe my students bringing their families into their world at school. It also gave me an opportunity to observe the relationships they have with parents, siblings and grandparents. Once the “tour” was done, then I could chat with family members and answer any questions they had.

Each family left with handouts of the topics we would be covering throughout the year (which still tend to be a bit of an overdose on jargon) so to balance this out, I also send home newsletters with questions that family members can ask my students about what they are learning (see section below). We call it an “Ask-Me” letter and my students helped me develop the questions for their families.

Writing Personal Stories – Ask me…

-what is a seed story and a watermelon story?

-what is the difference between storytelling and telling a story?

-how am I writing the lead to my story?

Problem-solving in Math – Ask me…

-what are some ways you can solve a problem?

-what is one strategies that has worked for me?

-what is “working backwards” or “guess and check”?

Ideally, I hope to have them design the next newsletter, but for now, it’s a start!!!

October 2, 2011October 17, 2011 Carmen.Oliveira Building Inclusion, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Learning About Your Students

Getting to Know Your Students Is the Best Time You Will Ever Spend

We just had our school’s “Meet the Teacher” night and the feedback from the parents in my classroom proved that, without a doubt, the best time spent during the first month is in getting to know my students. I was astounded at the fact that most parents felt like they already knew me. They commented on how their child went home and told them all about our fantastic conversations during our morning community circle and couldn’t wait to be the “Rockstar of the Week.” This month I’ve really focused on and enjoyed creating meaningful opportunities to get students to open up and share who they are with our classroom community.

The following are some examples of how we get to know each other:

1. Each student has a Daily Journal. After they come in, they write a “Reflection Question” in their journal and spend the first 10-15 minutes writing down their thoughts. This is a powerful self-reflection exercise that I have started in my own life and felt the difference it makes on every level: personal, professional, spiritual, etc. We then start our morning by sitting in a community circle and volunteering our ideas and opinions. You can literally feel the good energy permeate in our classroom! I have attached some examples of Reflection Questions.

2. We have a “Rockstar of the Week” bulletin board. Each week, a student is chosen to fill us in on who they are! It involves writing about what’s most important to them in life (we read “The Important Book” as a pre-lesson), sharing their favourite books, music, movies, etc., and putting up pictures that can give us a window into their life. During the week, students must ask the Rockstar about any fact or picture they’d like to find out more about. At the end of the week, we have an oral quiz on the Rockstar for points that go to the groups that answer the questions correctly. This is a blast and the Rockstar runs the show!

In a letter to their parents this week, one of my students wrote something that brought tears to my eyes and affirmed why I love teaching. He wrote, This year, I have an amazing teacher. She really cares about us and says our classroom is our home for the day. I like that because that’s how it feels.” And that’s why I love my job!

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

September 28, 2011October 17, 2011 Alison.Board Building Inclusion, Communication Tools, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Learning About Your Students

Becoming One

In just a few weeks, I can see our group of grade one and two students grow as a community. Evidence is in the way they are aware of other’s likes and dislikes, recognize when someone in missing from the group, and readily offer assistance to one other. Like Samantha, I wanted to gather some information about the students to keep on file. In my first newsletter I requested email addresses to set up parents on automatic updates from the class website. I also asked parents the following:

What delights your child? What makes your child uncomfortable? What goals do you have for your child?

The responses were brief, but insightful. It not only gave me some information about my students, but the priorities and perspectives of the student’s parents/families. In addition to the information requests, I also used Aaron’s suggestion of an All About Me Bag in “The Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning” (p 45). The children were provided with a paper bag. They brought back their bags filled with five items that they felt best represented themselves. The children were thrilled to share their All About Me bags at the community circle and waited with anticipation to learn more about their classmates with each presentation. To the children’s surprise, there were many areas of common interest that were revealed, which resulted in new friendships that extended to recess and the playground.

September was full of new beginnings. At times I questioned whether we were accomplishing enough, such as the curriculum. As Tina discussed in her blog entry, I needed reminders to “go slow.” So as I planned our reading and writing, I tried to incorporate our community-building activities. Two read-alouds that the children adored and were able to easily connect to regarding self-esteem and inclusion, were: One by Kathryn Otoshi and The OK Book by Amy K Rosenthal. These books provided us with rich literature for our reading and writing program, while supporting our discussions on community.

September 23, 2011October 17, 2011 Samantha.Perrin Building Inclusion, Communication with Parents and Guardians, First Week Reflections, Learning About Your Students

Getting to Know My Students

During the first month of school, there is a lot to do. Finding myself in a new grade and new school every year, I am seeking out resources, and learning the ropes. One thing that hasn’t changed for me from every differing grade and school, is the need to get to know my students from early on in the first month, so that I am able to best meet their needs in the classroom and transfer the information seamlessly to others. For me, getting to know my students personalities and needs early on, allows me to create a safe learning environment that reflects what the students want to get out of their learning experience and also develop a system that has the information and supports in place for myself, a teacher returning from leave, or a substitute teacher.

This month, I began by learning about my Grade 1 students needs in two ways: creatively– using ideas from The Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning (ETFO, 2011); working with the students to develop a classroom contract that reflects their wants and needs for their learning environment, and practically – developing my own personal informational database on the needs, routines and information about the unique students that I am teaching.

To develop a classroom community in Grade 1 that reflects my students’ wants, I drew from Leah’s helpful ideas (p.43, The Heart and art of Beginning Teaching and Learning), to generate a list of ‘promises’ from the students to one another. I’m finding that these ‘Inclusion Activities’ are helping me to establish the tone of the students’ classroom and decide what they think the classroom should look like, sound like and feel like. Last week in Grade One, each student shared one promise or wish for the classroom (for example, not to butt-in in line, or to ask permission before touching each other’s things) and then they illustrated their promise for a class book. The students are enjoying reading and reminding each other of their ‘Promises’ to one another and learning about the kinds of things that help us to minimize conflict and increase safety in the classroom. For me, this activity illustrated that the students want a lot of the same rules and routines that I want in establishing a harmonious classroom environment and we plan on working on dramatizing what these promises actually look like in practice. It has helped me to establish and reaffirm what is important to my students in creating a safe and inclusive classroom environment and pare down what is really important to my students in their daily school life.

I am also gathering important personal and historical information on my students for their files so that I can have a better understanding of their background and so that I am able to meet their safety and learning needs. This will serve as an aid for me when communicating with parents and guardians, and also will enable me to communicate important information to substitute teachers and the teacher that will be returning from leave when my LTO is over. I sent home a Student Background form for parents to complete on their child for my files. :

child’s name, birthdate
siblings, both in the school/out of the school; household members
languages spoken at home
allergies/dietary restrictions (i.e., religious, health related or otherwise)
before school/afterschool care/ who picks up the child (in primary grades)
emergency contact numbers, email addresses, best times to call
routines (i.e., do they go home for lunch, stay at school etc.)
the child’s strengths, areas of need or other important information that the parent wishes to communicate.

By planning creative and inclusive activities I hope to elicit meaningful responses from my students and learn what they really want to get out of their day to day classroom. Be gathering practical information for my records, I hope to better manage important information on my students, so that I can understand my students’ needs, use the information as an ‘at a glance’ about the child, and so that the knowledge of the individuals who make up the classroom community is followed through with when I am away. Throughout both processes I hope to develop a community of students who are having their safety and social needs met and allow for subsequent teachers to do the same.

Building Inclusion in the classroom is something that doesn’t only happen during the first week of school, it’s something that teachers and students should work on and revisit consistently throughout the year. So, if you feel that you may have not done ‘Inclusivity’ justice during your first crazy week at school, rest assured that you have the whole month (and the rest of the year) to bring great activities and ideas into the classroom.