Before the school year begins, reach out to the families. Introduce yourself to new parents/families and reacquaint yourself with old parents/families. Make a list of questions, no more than five, to ask parents/families that will help you be successful with your scholars. Here are some questions I use:
- How was your summer? Did your family travel anywhere?
- Is there anything, I should know, that may negatively impact your child’s learning this year? (only if parents/families want to share this information, do not pressure).
- How can I help you help your scholar be successful?
- How can the school help you help your scholar be successful?
The questions you format should be customized to the families you will be serving during the school year. When conversing with parents/families, I like using index cards for each student and writing key facts about each scholar and answers to asked questions. The information collected will help you build trusting relationships with your scholars and increase learning and academic success.
Teaching is a service profession and we serve, not only, our scholars but their families too. Provide your contact information to parents/families; I suggest using Google Voice, which protects your personal information. You can also connect parents to Class Dojo, which allows parents to message you directly through the Class Dojo platform. Other ways to communicate with families include sending a post card to the homes of families, introduction emails to parents/families, or sending a newsletter via mail or email to parents/families.
The first step to building trusting relationships with parents/families is providing direct contact information to them; parents/families immediately develop a sense of trust . Communicating with parents and families before the school year begins, helps to establish guidelines for communication throughout the school year and help parents to see that the teachers care about their scholars. So create a schedule for communicating with parents/families and establish of number of parents/families that you will contact before school commences.
Strategy #2 will be shared on Monday, August 23, 2021.