Written and Telephone
Communication with Parents
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What can we do? |
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Parent Meetings |
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Written Communication |
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Summary |
In order for parents to believe that we honestly
want them to be involved, we must treat them as respected peers.This means that we must treat them
as we would want to be treated ourselves. Communication must be positive,
ongoing, early, and trusted (POET)
• Positive.
Each year, I have asked student in SPLED 404 to describe an incident from their
past in which a teacher made them and their family feel valued, and an incident which strained family-teacher relations. I have
included some examples (both postive and negative) below.
Positive experiences Negative experiences
• Ongoing.
You have the best chance of establishing a positive relationship with parents
if you communicate with them frequently. Frequent communication builds a
"bank of trust"; the more they know about you, the more likely they
are to trust your judgement.
• Early.
Ideally, the first communication you will have with a parent will be about
something positive. This means that you may want to get a positive message to
the parent before you have even met their child (see "Welcome
letter")
• Trusted. As a teacher you will learn confidential information about your students, their parents, and your co-workers. You will be tempted to gossip. Please remember, however, that by gossiping you lose the respect of the person you are gossiping about, and probably the respect of the person you with whom you share the gossip. After all, would you trust someone who tells you information that is supposed to be secret?
