Strong parent teacher relationships are essential for a successful school year. This also makes it easier to communicate with parents when you need to have important conversations. Fostering these relationships will ensure that students have a strong support system throughout the school year.
Welcome Them
Teaching is a hard job, but I recently found out how hard it is to send your child to school. As a few of you know, I am a former teacher and my kids went to the school where I taught. Recently I sent my child to a new school where I didn’t know anyone and nor did my kids. It was like being in a new world, and it was terrifying!
The worst feeling in the world is being in a place where you feel unwelcome. This can be overwhelming for parents who are new to your school or district. Welcome new students and parents with open arms. Let them know you are glad they are there and you are excited to teach their child. Sidenote, this has to be the same for the front office too. The staff and volunteers who work in your school’s front office set the tone for the entire school. If the first people new parents meet are not welcoming parents will generally feel unwanted, or as we say in the south “that put a bad taste in my mouth.”
Communicate
Parents need to know what’s going on in your classroom. As a teacher, I made sure to give updates on a weekly basis using this simple template, that I send home physically and digitally each week. As a parent I hated not knowing what my child was working on or what special things were going on throughout the week, maybe I’m just nosey, lol.
Homework help/ learning at home
If you are teaching something new and especially if you are teaching it in a way different then most of us learned as a kid, be sure to offer resources to help parents support their child. Send parents websites, youtube videos, and worksheets that explain how to do the work. This way parents can help their children and this also offers support for students who may forget how to do the work by the time they get home.
Empathy
Know that everyday parents send you their most important possession, their child. Don’t take that for granted. Know that the majority of parents are doing the best they can. They could be working crazy hours, or struggling financially or dealing with a million other issues. So when that child comes in late for the 20th time smile and tell them how glad you are to see them. you never know what could have happened the night before. This is not the child’s fault. This doesn’t mean they don’t care about their child or they’re a bad parent. Give grace and expect grace.
Community Resources
As teachers, we are advocates for our students, which in part means being advocates for their families. As teachers, we tend to have access to community resources that parents and families may not know about. Those community resources could mean knowing how to find food banks, before and after school care, daycares, or tutoring services. Generally, we have been asked these questions or know someone who can help us find the services our families need.
Taking these simple steps to support parent teacher relationships will pay off. Welcome parents and families, communicate so everyone is on the same page, support learning at home with videos and websites, use empathy, parents are doing the best they can, and advocate for families by aiding in finding resources.
I know this whole article seemed like it was just what you can do for parents, but in the midst of all these things, you build relationships with these families. This encourages parents to want to be more involved. When a parent is involved in their child’s education the child then knows education is important. These parents are eager to help when asked and participate in more school activities because you took the time to build a relationship with them. These parents become stakeholders, and advocates for your school, teachers, and throughout the community. Parent teacher relationships are essential!