Prompt #5

Communicating with parents is always a challenge.  Often the parents of inner city youth  do  not show up for conferences, don't respond to notes sent home, don't answer phone calls or e-mails. The first thing that I would do is to write an introductory letter at the beginning of the  year.  Introduce myself and let parents and guardians that I am very open to communicating at  any time during the year.   I would include a short and very understandable survey asking about class activities, outings or other school related activity.  If the parents do not speak English, I would find out how I could get communication translated.  Trying to make contact right away, at the start of the year can set the tone.  Let them know that you are interested in their ideas, that you value what they have to say about their concerns for their child, what they want in an education for their child, etc.

Each family will be a unique situation.  Some will communicate and others may take a long time to respond.  The trick will be to find what works best for each family and adjust my tactics accordingly.  I may find that one family prefers a phone call but can only be reached Friday afternoons.  I may find that another situation is that the only communicative adult is the grandmother and she must be reached by text messaging.  Adjusting to these differences, and contacting parents at their convenience will facilitate communication.

Setting up special events and inviting parents in to see children's work, or perform a play or skit will allow the students to show the parents what they can do.  In addition, it will be an opportunity for the parents to get to know me.  Having parents come in to talk about what they do for work is also another idea that may not work for all parents, but even if a teacher could get one of two parents to do this, it would be beneficial to the class and give the child of that parent a lot of pride.  I think the key will be not to give up on attempting to make contact, even if it is not happening.  I will always listen to their ideas and incorporate them if appropriate and possible.  A weekly blog or news letter is a good idea. On a blog, parents would have access to other parent's ideas, which might inspire more ideas.  Active attempts on the part of the teacher is key to success.