Parent Questionnaire
One of the ways I built relationships and communicated with parents this year was through a parent questionnaire at the beginning of the school year. The reason that I had parents fill this out was to allow parents to become familiar with the class and expectations, gain information about students that the students may not be willing to share themselves, and get parental contact information.
Data Wall
Another source of parental information that I found to be useful this year was the school data wall. This is a Google Drive document shared with all teachers at CAHS and has parent information in it. If I did not get information from students at the beginning of the year or if I had students transfer in during the year, I accessed this data wall to get the parents' contact information and contact them as needed. It is also valuable because a lot of parents ask about their Edline (gradebook) login information, and I can provide them with it through the information on the data wall.
Parental Involvement in Curriculum
There have been several times this year where I have involved parents in the curriculum. One of the times I had parents involved in the curriculum was in an interview for History Fair. As practice for real interviews about the History Fair theme: Turning Points in History, I had students interview a parent (or guardian). I wanted to have students interview a parent about this topic because it builds the parents' understanding of the curriculum and also builds a relationship with their student in regards to education.
Communication with Parents
Throughout the school year, I have maintained relationships with my students' parents in several ways. One of the most frequent ways is through email and telephone contact. I contact parents for both positive reasons and for issues that I would like to make the parents aware of. I believe that parents should hear good things about their students, especially if it is an improvement in behavior or academics. Using the parent contact sheet above, I easily track parental information. One strategy I use for parent communication is to have students call their parents. I have found that it is more meaningful for a student to call their parent and explain a behavior incident or reason for not turning in an assignment. This builds parent-student relationships, and also holds students accountable for their actions. I have found parent communication to be essential in building relationships with the families of my students.
