Parent teacher communication is one of those things that class teachers often view as an unavoidable necessity.
Late night parent teacher conferences, fielding phone calls on your lunch breaks, being ambushed after school when you’re already rushing to get to another meeting – on top of everything in a teacher’s busy day, even the most well-meaning moms and dads can be seen as a low priority.
When you get down to it however, all of these interactions are evidence of a simple fact – parents care about their child’s learning.
作为热情的老师，我们都知道父母可以成为您最大的盟友！因此，让我们找出建立积极的父母关系的一些方法。
6 Tips for a PositiveParent Teacher Relationship
When you become a teacher, you don’t realize that your family is about to expand exponentially. With the hours that students and teachers spend together each term, the relationships teachers develop with children in their care are incredibly significant.
作为这些关系的扩展，积极的父母互动对课堂生活至关重要。
Fostering strong, positive relationships with the families you see every day is integral to a productive and happy classroom. The tips listed below will help you solidify your classroom community and ensure it’s smooth sailing for you and your students’ families.
#1 Communication is Key
从您打开教室到新年设置的那一刻起，您的思想应该在想法！弄清楚您的新学生是谁，他们的背景和要求通常位于您要做的事情的顶部。
阅读我们的博客，Get Organized for Back to Schooland think about how you can introduce yourself to your new families. It is a great idea before the term starts to prepare information for parents so that they know your routines, expectations, and preferred methods of communication throughout the year.
OurParent Handbook Flip Book Templateis the perfect resource to give your parents and carers important information at the beginning of the year.
在颜色编码的页面上打印出来，使其易于浏览小册子，父母将能够全年保存。
大多数学校在今年年初将有一个父母信息之夜。这是您亲自向学生的父母介绍自己的绝佳机会！分发父母手册，从本质上讲，将自己作为孩子的老师“推销”。
向他们展示您是专业人士和平易近人的人。这将鼓励他们信任您和您教育孩子的能力。我们的博客计划和准备父母信息之夜的提示provides some great advice when it comes to making that important first impression.
重要的是要记住，沟通不会在今年年初之后停止。
确保整个学年的公开沟通方法对于与父母保持积极的关系至关重要。
确保您尽可能有效地交流的一些技巧包括：
- 多样的沟通– what works best for families? Do they have access to emails or prefer phone calls after school?
- Follow through– when you promise something, show that you mean it.
- Communicate frequently and consistently– a great way to ensure you’re communicating frequently with parents is to have a class website or newsletter. This way parents know what’s going on in the classroom without you needing to reach out to each of them individually. OurClass NewsletterandOur Weekly Snapshot Template – Classroom Newsletterare great editable templates that can be tailored to suit you and your classes needs.
- 诚实和开放– parents appreciate hearing the good and the bad when it comes to goings on in the classroom. They know you’re only human! Let them know that you’re taking their children on a learning journey, with all the triumphs and failures that go along with it.
Read our informative blog article for more ideas on如何制定有效的家长教师沟通策略。
#2 Be Collaborative
Teachers often refer to the students in their class as their ‘kids’. It’s not surprising when you think of all the roles teachers perform for these children during the course of the school day. Educator, counselor, mediator, teammate, nurse, collaborator…the list goes on! We feel protective of the students in our care, and responsible for their happiness and safety while they’re at school.
然而，现实是他们确实是别人的“孩子”。但这不是竞争！与我们学生的真正父母合作是确保我们的学生尽可能多地提供支持和丰富的学校生活的好方法。
与父母的合作关系真正有效，这是一件美丽的事！
There’s nothing like knowing you’re on the same page as a parent and working toward mutual goals that are going to benefit your students. They know you’re doing everything you can to help their child, and you know they have your back at home when it comes to re-enforcing your lessons and helping with homework.
There are a few easy ways to aid collaborationwith parents:
- Show youknow their child。他们喜欢和不喜欢,他们的需求和strengths. Parents love when a teacher shows they appreciate all the unique things a child brings to the mix.
- Be proactivewhen you foresee a problem. Don’t let parents find out their child is struggling when they receive the end of term report card. Meet early on when an issue arises, and ask for help creating a plan.
- Be preparedto provide them with extra information. You, as an educator who has taught dozens, if not hundreds of children, probably have more experience than a parent resolving certain issues. Prepare for them to ask what strategies you’ve already tried to solve a problem. Better yet, provide them with something concrete they can take away and use to work alongside you to help their son or daughter. Why not send home an instructional video on a topic that their child is struggling with? Our blog家庭阅读 - 父母的指南is a great example of the type of information you can send home.
- 问他们的建议。没有人比父母更了解孩子，甚至没有老师！如果您正在努力与孩子建立联系，请弄清楚他们遇到的问题，或者想要一些有关如何最好地接近某事的建议，请询问爸爸妈妈或照顾者提供一些建议。这表明了相互信任，并向您表明他们将他们视为教育孩子的盟友。
#3 Make Positive Correspondence a Priority
Think about the last time you wrote home to a parent. What was the context of that communication? Asking for a note that hadn’t been returned? Requesting replacement stationery? Informing parents of an upcoming school event? Or perhaps the one most dreaded by parents…alerting them to a problem that their son or daughter was experiencing.
The unfortunate reality is that when communicating with parents, positivity isn’t always a priority. Imagine if you only ever heard from your child’s teacher when it was a complaint or yet another piece of admin. You’d scroll right past that email, tell yourself you’ll come back to it later, and (if you’re anything like me) forget all about it.
It is so simple to make positive correspondence a priority in your classroom.
Some of our tips for positive correspondence include:
- 达克e the time once a week to write a积极注意in each student’s planner. It can be as simple as saying how much light their smile brought to your day.
- As your students work,grab a sticky note pad并在他们之间徘徊。当您看到惊人的东西时，请在粘稠的音符上记下它。将其粘贴到当天晚些时候的计划者中 - 保存您的记忆力而不会折衷！有关更多粘笔提示，请阅读我们的博客36个使学习棒的技巧！用粘笔教学。
- 达克e your phone or laptop around while you’re marking work, andphotograph anything impressive。将其发送给父母，并在回家后给您的学生带来惊喜。
- Put time aside once a week tophone five familiesto tell them something wonderful their child has done. This works particularly well when a child has reached a goal, such as finally getting that reading level!
- Pay particular attention to the students that DON’T stand out. You may not see their parents very often or need to report many things back home, butsend a postcard home让他们的父母知道您有多欣赏他们对课堂的贡献。
OurPositive Parent Notesmake bright additions to any correspondence – and kids will love the feedback too!
#4 Be Friendly but Professional
A parent teacher relationship should be friendly, but at all times should remainprofessional。父母认为这是很诱人的，因为他们非常了解自己的孩子，所以他们知道教室里最适合自己的孩子。如果您看起来不专业，父母将不太可能相信您的专业判断。
As I said earlier, teaching should be a collaborative experience with parents, but at the end of the day – you are the person who has been trained to educate. You’re the person who has experience educating children from all backgrounds and abilities. Not the parents!
有很多方法可以确保你remain professional in the eyes of your families without becoming stand-offish, arrogant or bossy. Make sure your communications with families, verbal and written, are friendly, yet confident. Trust yourself and your professional opinion.
So, how do you tread the fine line between friendliness and professionalism?
When you interact with parents, keep these things in mind:
- Be prepared…again。Providing evidence to back yourself in an interview is crucial to convincing parents that you know what you’re talking about. If a student is failing English, show them an example of why you’ve given that grade, as well as an example of what your base level expectations are (with the name removed, of course!).
- 说话layman’s terms。You don’t have to use pedagogical jargon to sound like you know what you’re talking about. Do you want to explain how you’re differentiating your subitising strategies to engage their daughter’s higher-order thinking skills? Or do you want to explain how you’re increasing the difficulty of your number recognition activities to encourage their daughter to make deeper connections? Parents will appreciate not being made to feel stupid when they don’t understand what you’re talking about.
- 不可用24/7。Remember – you don’t have to respond at all times of the night or weekend. Parents will understand that you have a life outside of school. If you do read a note or email that requests a response, send a short reply that you’ll respond as soon as you’re back at school.
These points are particularly important when you’re preparing for Parent Teacher Interviews.
Prepare for your Parent Teacher interview with ourParent Teacher Interview Planning Templateto ensure you don’t miss any important points, and read our blog父母老师面试的12个简单提示for more helpful ideas.
＃5使父母感到有用和赞赏
If you include parents as active participants in their children’s education, they will thank you for it. For many teachers, however, the thought of having parents wandering in an out of the classroom all week can be incredibly daunting.
做n’t be afraid! Having parents be a part of the learning process will enable them to be more aware of, and in turn appreciative of, the hundreds of things you are doing in the classroom.
If you’re lucky enough to have parents keen to help out at school, you should jump at the chance!
There are several easy ways to include parents in your day-to-day classroom running to make them feel included and useful without over-doing it.
- Parent helpers是教室中令人难以置信的支持来源。花点时间在今年年初索取父母助手志愿者，并在本年度创建名册，以便没有人感到被抛弃或不必要。展示您希望他们参与什么，以便在学期的第三周之前，他们将无缝协助您的学生。他们可以提供很多帮助！阅读我们的博客How to Manage Parent Helpers in the Classroom有关一些有用的信息以使球滚动。
- Ask parents todonate itemsto the classroom. This doesn’t have to break the bank! Old furniture, homewares, cardboard boxes, games and puzzles, and books make invaluable contributions to the classroom. The added bonus is that by upcycling and reusing these materials you’ll all be doing your part for the environment! Read more about this idea in our blog45 Sustainable Practices for the Environmentally Friendly Classroom。
- Send homepositivity notes– for parents! Has a child brought in some extra-delicious cupcakes to share for their birthday? Has some stationery been provided that is meticulously named and labeled? Has homework been returned with evidence that a parent has sat down with their son or daughter and helped them understand a concept? Send home a note of thanks! Parents will appreciate that the little things they do outside of the classroom are helping just as much.
#6 Don’t Take Things Personally
我的最后一个最重要的技巧是简短而甜美。做not take things personally。Trust yourself as a professional but also remember that the children in your care don’t belong to you!
如果父母提出投诉，请尽力使他们感到听到和理解。
父母只希望什么对孩子是最好的。达克e their feedback on board, and if necessary organize a meeting to discuss and explain your side of the situation. Most of the time, parents are going off second-hand information from their child at home. Making them aware of your point of view as the adult in the room can go a long way to clearing up an issue.
If necessary, bring in a Principal or Deputy to provide support or advice. Be transparent with the parent as to why you are requesting a mediator. Make sure you don’t go running for help without first attempting to resolve the issue in a smaller meeting! It’s easy for parents to feel ganged up on when they arrive at a meeting and you’ve brought in the big guns! Remember, you should first approach issues as a collaborative exercise before requesting help.
If you have made a mistake, admit it.
Show the parents that you are professional enough to acknowledge when you have made a mistake. Parents will not lose respect for you as an educator if you show that you are wanting to take their feedback and improve your professional practice. As all educators know, you never stop learning!
