#32 Working With Parents by Larry Kelly

Background:

The teacher's primary responsibility is to work with students, it is also important to communicate with the students' parents. Students come from many types of families. Some from two parent families, some from single parent families, and some have stepparents. Parental involvement in their children's schooling has a positive effect on their attendance, positive attitudes, better behavior, and higher academic achievement. Therefore it behooves the teacher to establish communication between themselves and the parents of their students.

Obiectives:

• To identify the reasons for contacting and interactin~with parents.
• Identify some reasons for the parents to resist involvement.
• Determine ways that a parent support system can be created.
• Identify methods to communicate with parents.

Materials:

• Tablets and markers

Procedure:

Organize the students in groups of three to four per group and have them discuss and list possible solutions to these problems.

• How might knowledge about a student's home situation help the teacher?
• Determine methods a teacher can communicate with parents.
• Determine when it is appropriate to communicate with parents about academic or behavioral concerns.
• How to communicate with parents that are non-responsive?

Evaluation:

• Prepare a letter that might be sent to parents at start of school year.
• Prepare four other letters for mailing during the school year. Select the month and content for each letter.
• During your observations, visit with other teachers about their experiences during parent teacher conferences.
• List potential rationales for parents to not participate and possible methods to overcome their obiections for participation.