Parent Teacher Communication

Teachers make summer house calls

ONLY IN THE WORLD-HERALD

Jamie Sacks and her two kids, Gregory and Emilie, were digging through boxes in the basement of their Ralston home, pricing and sorting toys for the family's summer garage sale.

They heard a knock on their door.

“Umm, it's Gregory's new teacher and the art teacher, Mom,” Emilie said.

“Oh my gosh, it's Tuesday,” Jamie Sacks said.

She had forgotten about the letter the Ralston teachers had sent out, telling parents they'd be stopping by to talk.

But the family welcomed the teachers inside, where they tried to get the coming school year off to a good — and early — start. They chatted about the kids' summer and asked if Jamie had any concerns about this school year.

About 10 minutes later, the teachers had met a parent, and the parent had met the teachers — two months before the back-to-school greetings are typically exchanged.

“I think that was a really positive thing,” Jamie Sacks said after the visit. “It's just different when the teachers get to come to your home and kind of get a feel for your family.”

Ralston is piloting the home visit program this summer to help create better relationships with families.

Research suggests that such relationships lead to higher achievement, fewer discipline problems and a better school experience.

Ralston teachers say a stronger connection will make them more likely to call the parent during the school year. “You're a little more apt to pick up the phone earlier,” said Kathy Boeve, the principal at Mockingbird Elementary School.

And school officials want parents to become more comfortable with them as well. “It's hard to trust somebody you've never met,” Boeve said.

Schools in local districts, including the Omaha Public Schools, have similar programs to welcome new families before the school year.

Ralston, however, picked up the idea from officials in a similarly sized Kentucky district at a national conference.

Nationwide, districts in at least 11 states run similar home-visit programs. Denver's public school district, for example, plans to expand its home-visit program from five schools last year to 21 schools this fall, citing a higher turnout at parent-teacher conferences at schools with the programs.

“They've been able to see that once they form the relationship with the parent, the parents are more apt to come and talk about how their child is doing,” said Patsy Roybal, manager of the Denver district's office of parent engagement.

Dealing with Parent Teacher Relations

Being a tutor means that you not only help students to understand material , but to also facilitate productive parent teacher relations . Tutors often dispense advice to frustrated parents struggling to assist their student . The more informed tutors are, the more likely they are to offer sound advice.

Tutors most commonly advise parent on how to communicate with the teacher . Parent teacher relations are more crucial than you think . Everyone, including the tutor , will profit from productive communication and relations between the teacher and the parent . Realistically , open and constant  communication between teachers and parents is hard to come by .

I typically impart the following advice to parents to assist them in opening up the communication channels and get a better handle on how their child is performing in the classroom. Feel free to pass these tips to anyone else looking to improve parent teacher relations .

1. Use an email to introduce yourself to your child’s teachers at the start of each new school year . Offer them with your telephone number and email address.

2. Write a quick email to your child’s teacher after the first few weeks of school. By this point the teacher should have had a chance to get to know your student and can provide you with some feedback. Find out if your student is missing any assignments , is prepared for class, and behaves in an appropriate manner .

3. Make teachers aware of any changes in the family routine that may impact your child . Stressful situations at home will impact your child’s ability to focus, behave, and perform given tasks . Even positive changes, can have an affect and that might be the cause of any sudden changes.

4. Help kids with homework.  If your student struggles to stay organized and complete homework on a daily basis, create an agreement with the teacher that you will both sign your child’s assignment pad nightly . Or have your child write the night’s homework in an assignment pad. They then must get the teachers initials. This should not take very much time at the end of class for the teacher to look it over and make sure that all of the homework is listed there.

Once the child has completed all homework and the parents have checked to see that it is done, they sign the assignment pad and write a quick note to the teacher if necessary. The child should be responsible for bringing the pad to his or her teacher for the signature and for bringing the pad home each night. This will help students develop better study skills .

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