Team Up With Your Child’s Teacher for a Successful School Year
Guest Blogger Natalie Schwartz shares best practices for building strong and effective parent-teacher alliances.
1.) Open the Lines of Communication
* Give the teacher your contact information at the beginning of the school year, and welcome the teacher to contact you for any reason. If you don’t have a chance to meet the teacher at parent orientation, send a brief note or e-mail.
* Find out how the teacher prefers to communicate, whether by written note, e-mail or phone, so you can ensure a quick response to your future questions and concerns.
* Volunteer your time. Offer to come into the class to share information about your culture, career or interests if they are relevant to the curriculum. Offer to assist the teacher with administrative duties, project preparation or other useful tasks.
2.) Maintain the Home-School Connection
* Get involved. Volunteer with your school’s PTA to support your child’s teacher and school.
* Stay informed. Set aside time to read the notices, newsletters and progress reports the teacher sends home. Visit the teacher’s website and the school’s website regularly.
* Communicate with your child. Ask your child if he or she handed in yesterday’s homework assignments and studied for upcoming tests. Look over the homework to make sure it’s high quality.
3.) Tackle Problems Constructively
* Approach the teacher as soon as you detect a problem. If you have a concern, your child’s teacher will want to know about it so he or she can address the issue.
* Don’t contact the principal or another administrator instead of the teacher. This approach conveys to the teacher that you don’t respect him or her as a professional, which will damage your relationship going forward. In addition, the principal is probably going to refer you to the teacher or get the teacher involved.
* Adopt the right attitude. In a professional and respectful manner, explain your point of view and ask the teacher for his or her perspective. For example, you can say, “This is what I’m noticing…. What’s your take on the situation.”
* Listen to the teacher’s viewpoint. The teacher offers an important perspective because he or she observes and interacts with your child in an academic setting.
* Give the teacher your input. Tell the teacher what you know about your child’s past academic experiences and behavior that will help the teacher serve your child better.
* Value the teacher’s recommendation. Parents are experts on their children, but teachers are experts in the field of education.
* Offer to be part of the solution. Ask the teacher what you can do at home to help support what the teacher is doing in the classroom.
* Remember, the teacher is your ally, not your adversary. Your child’s teacher is on your side and shares your goal: the academic success of your child.
On the National PTA’s list of Top 10 Things Teachers Wish Parents Would Do, “be involved” ranks number one. Studies show that parental involvement has a major impact on a child’s academic success, regardless of economic, ethnic or cultural background, according to the PTA. But children benefit the most when parents and teachers work together as partners. To develop a cooperative and productive relationship with your child’s teacher this year, try the following three-step approach:
1.) Open the Lines of Communication
* Give the teacher your contact information at the beginning of the school year, and welcome the teacher to contact you for any reason. If you don’t have a chance to meet the teacher at parent orientation, send a brief note or e-mail.
* Find out how the teacher prefers to communicate, whether by written note, e-mail or phone, so you can ensure a quick response to your future questions and concerns.
* Volunteer your time. Offer to come into the class to share information about your culture, career or interests if they are relevant to the curriculum. Offer to assist the teacher with administrative duties, project preparation or other useful tasks.
2.) Maintain the Home-School Connection
* Get involved. Volunteer with your school’s PTA to support your child’s teacher and school.
* Stay informed. Set aside time to read the notices, newsletters and progress reports the teacher sends home. Visit the teacher’s website and the school’s website regularly.
* Communicate with your child. Ask your child if he or she handed in yesterday’s homework assignments and studied for upcoming tests. Look over the homework to make sure it’s high quality.
3.) Tackle Problems Constructively
* Approach the teacher as soon as you detect a problem. If you have a concern, your child’s teacher will want to know about it so he or she can address the issue.
* Don’t contact the principal or another administrator instead of the teacher. This approach conveys to the teacher that you don’t respect him or her as a professional, which will damage your relationship going forward. In addition, the principal is probably going to refer you to the teacher or get the teacher involved.
* Adopt the right attitude. In a professional and respectful manner, explain your point of view and ask the teacher for his or her perspective. For example, you can say, “This is what I’m noticing…. What’s your take on the situation.”
* Listen to the teacher’s viewpoint. The teacher offers an important perspective because he or she observes and interacts with your child in an academic setting.
* Give the teacher your input. Tell the teacher what you know about your child’s past academic experiences and behavior that will help the teacher serve your child better.
* Value the teacher’s recommendation. Parents are experts on their children, but teachers are experts in the field of education.
* Offer to be part of the solution. Ask the teacher what you can do at home to help support what the teacher is doing in the classroom.
* Remember, the teacher is your ally, not your adversary. Your child’s teacher is on your side and shares your goal: the academic success of your child.
Natalie Schwartz
Natalie Schwartz is the author of The Teacher Chronicles: Confronting the Demands of Students, Parents, Administrators and Society. For more information on parent-teacher partnerships, visit Natalie’s blog at parentteacherpartnerships.blogspot.com. Natalie can be reached at natalie@laureltonmedia.com.
Natalie Schwartz is the author of The Teacher Chronicles: Confronting the Demands of Students, Parents, Administrators and Society. For more information on parent-teacher partnerships, visit Natalie’s blog at parentteacherpartnerships.blogspot.com. Natalie can be reached at natalie@laureltonmedia.com.
posted by La'Keisha Gray-Sewell/New Media Relations at
9/15/2009 03:01:00 PM
3 Comments:
I am impressed by the professionalism, knowledge, and dedication of your members.
I can't agree more with this article - and in that same vein ran across a website www.clearstepslearning.com that provides a lot of tools for parents to help kids. It looks promising.
Great suggestions! As an educator, I know first hand that if every parent followed through with these guidelines, all children would get a better education AND enjoy school more. Children like to know their parents are involved in their school life. Parent involvement aids in a child's personal sense of community.
One point I would like to add to sum up the suggestions, is for parents to remember that teachers and parents are working towards the same goal, "to do what is best for your child." With this in mind, so much positive can be done.
Happy parenting!
Victoria Cummings
www.thrivingstudent.com
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