How Parents and Teachers Relationship Increases Students’ Enrollment.

“The responsibility for changing this state of affairs must lie with the schools,” But what can educators do to draw parents in, to make them welcome in their children’s education? Education World Teacher Team has these to tell what they do to involve parents in their classrooms.

COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY

“Our school’s philosophy is that you never can communicate too much,” Silver. “We send home grade-level newsletters of upcoming events. We publish a school-wide calendar. A principal’s newsletter and a PTA newsletter also go out frequently on our website. MeredoxIT team is doing a good job for us on this.

“I also do a great deal to keep parents of the students in my class informed of what we’re doing,” Silver added. “I begin the year by conducting an interest survey about each child that I ask both students and parents to fill out. It’s interesting to see how the parents’ perceptions of their child differ from the child’s perception of himself or herself.

“I maintain a Website of important information and resources,” Cave noted, “and I obtain the e-mail addresses and mobile number of all my kids’ parents and use those for the majority of my communication. Although I do still use the telephone call, I prefer to make contact via e-mail and bulk SMS, at least initially. That allows me to carefully compose what I want to say; it also lets me keep a written record of the contact. In that way, I have notes for conferences and ideas to help me plan better ways to meet a particular child’s needs. I also make certain to send a complimentary message about each student at least once a quarter.

“I have mobile numbers for all students and their parents, separated by class,” Linda added. “That way, I can send out information to group(s) or individuals as necessary through SMS. It’s much more efficient than phone calls, and more immediate too. Quarterly, I send out newsletters that contains upcoming events, testing schedules, good news about the students, news from teachers — anything that might be of interest. Phone calls, of course, also are an essential part of teaching, and many times the only way to ensure that you’re talking to the right person.”

“At opening, I provide my e-mail and phone number, and I invite parents to complete a writing assignment: ‘tell me about your child.’ I’ve had hilarious and touching, informative, and crucial information shared.

“I also call parents for good reasons — just to tell them their kids did something well, that they have a polite and considerate child, that their kid is improving. Some parents,”. ” Some parents have returned my calls in fear, and then cried when I said, ‘I’m just calling to say how great she is.’ ”

NO MATTER HOW OLD THEY GET

“I’ve mostly taught senior secondary,” noted Mrs. Mercy. “The transition to college or university can be difficult for many, so I try to give parents all the information they need or want to help them help their children. I have a Web site that I advertise to parents as well as to students. On the site is a section for assignments. I make sure I post instructions for assignment during long holidays Many parents have said how helpful the Web site is.”

“Parents want to do the best by their children and most want to be involved,” added Mr. Bob. “Whether teaching high school or middle school, I find that contacting parents early in the year with either positive comments or requests for help increases their buy-in to what I’m doing.”

“As a secondary teacher, I’ve found that many parents feel there’s not a need to be as involved in their child’s school life,” Mr. Smith told Education World. “Actually, the exact opposite is true.

“I contact parents by phone or our MSMS internal messaging system or e-mail when I think there might be a problem of some type. Some parents are not really checking their internal message or e-mail.

“Our school has a wonderful online school management gradebook and communication system (School Software Pro), internal messaging system in the school software has played a big roll to reach parent” Smith noted. If I know a student has been struggling, I can e-mail or call the parent when he or she has a great project or grade. Parents can log into the system and check the child’s grades in real time as often as they wish. They also can send message or e-mail to the teacher or administrator through the system internal message. That has made the home/school connection much easier and gotten a lot more parents involved.

“I try to make sure that parents and students both know that I’m on their side and want to do what is best for the student,” Smith said. “I respond to all messages or e-mails within 24 hours. “A little work on the teacher’s part makes the whole relationship much easier and more beneficial for all.”

“During open house, I’ve always tried to have on the computers interactive projects in which students do presentations for their parents to view; then I assist the parents in responding. One year, I had students write letters to their parents telling them how important their support was in the classroom, and why even though they were teenagers, they still needed and wanted their parents guidance. Most of the students had a lot of fun with that and left wonderful messages. I had parents crying in my class. One said that she and her son no longer communicate much and when they do, it’s fighting. Reading his message — realizing that even though they had lots of arguments, he loved her and didn’t want her to stop looking out for him — made her cry. She said it was the first positive feedback she’d had from him in about a year. The parents really enjoyed reading those letters and many printed them out and kept them.

To be continue

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