Parent Communication and Building Parent Relationships

Parent Communication and Building Parent Relationships By Ashley Ewert

So we have built relationships and made connections with the students… What’s next?

A student's journey of learning begins the moment they are born. Their first teachers are their parents and families. Learning does not just happen in the classroom but also at home. Many parents are the best models for a child. The importance of active parent involvement in their child’s education promotes a positive impact on academic and social performance of a child. Parent involvement in education included communication between parent and teacher, and the relationship between parent and teacher. Parent teacher communication can be challenging at times due to working parents and language barriers. I have found a way to help keep a strong, positive and open communication system with the families of my students. Students show greater success in the classroom when teachers and parents are on the same page and parent and teachers respect each other’s environment. I always make it a priority to build relationships with the families from the beginning of the school year. As a teacher, knowing the environments students are coming from helps a great deal in making connections and building relationships, as I discussed in my August 2019 blog (Building Relationships and Making connections)

Effective Parent Communication

Families have busy lives; communicating with their children's teachers just adds one more thing to their plate. Technology has helped this barrier. Ever heard of the saying "there's an app for that." well let me tell you there are apps out there that promote parent teacher communication. I want to share with you one of my favorites.

ClassDojo is a communication app that connects parents, families and teachers to things going on in the classroom. ClassDojo has many features but for the sake of this blog let's focus solely focus on the communication aspect between the parents and the teacher. This app offers effective communication with parents and teachers. It allows the teacher to be in charge of when he/she will receive messages. The teacher may also post pictures of activities going on in the classroom so families have conservation starters they can use at home. The best thing about this app is that it will translate into most any language the parent sets up their profile to. The parents and message and comment in their native language and the teacher can see a translated version of the message or comment. What better way to start success in the classroom than building that effective parent communication through an app that promotes connecting families and teachers. 

Building Parent Relationships

Parent and teacher relationships have an advantage on student success. Parents spend a lot of time teaching and teachers spend a lot of time parenting. so lets face it there tends to be a lot of overlap. When teachers and parents are on the same page students achieve better in both settings. When teachers and parents build positive and strong relationship being on the same page tends to be more achievable. Here are three simple ideas to help build healthy parent and teacher relationships:

1. Communicate Regularly: Open communication is essential on both sides. Email and classroom communication apps (ClassDojo) is a great way to maintain an open connection. Even students struggle with life situations (like a parent’s or sibling’s illness, pending divorce, parental stress) at home. Communicating with families will help to understand why students are performing in the way they are.  Students who are unhappy and kids who are excited are often distracted from school work.
2.  Lead With Good and Positive News: Give positive praise first when calling parents or meeting with them to discuss a concern. Every student has something good about them. Find it. Share it. Then share your concern. Adhere strictly to this rule.
3. Smile When You See Parents: Greet them with intention. Most parents only occasionally interact with teachers so be sure that encounters with them are positive, warm, and friendly. The impressions last a long time especially first impressions. :-)

"To teach is to touch a life forever." -Anonymous

Ashley Ewert