Let’s talk about talking with parents. I’ve known teachers on both sides of the fence. Some that go above and beyond to include parents and others who work hard to keep them at a distance. I challenge you this year to consider where you stand on the subject and ask yourself why? How did you form your philosophies on parent communication and involvement? Is there a connection between your student success and your connection with their family? I’m reading Ditch That Homework by Matt Miller and Alice Keeler, another must read. It is not all about eliminating homework but rather, strategies for effectively teaching and eliminating the need for homework. I’d like to talk about homework in the next post, so I’ll move on. To me, your students’ success can be drastically increased by building a relationship with their parents. In their book, Matt and Alice suggest “If we want students to learn and parents to support that learning, they need to buy into the importance of learning. One of the best ways to get students and parents to buy in is to improve our relationships with them.” Buy in from families also increases student accountability and motivation. When they see you as someone who cares about them beyond the classroom, students are more likely to open up to you, work hard and form their own connection with you. They already want to make their parents happy, so knowing that you have connected with their parents pushes them to step up their game. Parent connection should start early in the year and focus on the positive. Two points of positive parent contact to jumpstart your relationship with families:
2. Call, just to say something good. Early in my teaching career someone shared this idea with me. Call with something good to say early on so if you have to call later with a negative issue you’ve already established a connection based on a positive point. Parents will believe you have their child’s best interest in mind when you’ve made an effort to see the good in their kid, and take the time to share it. Be genuine and specific.
Each year when I make these calls they are so rewarding. One, it gives me an opportunity to start learning about the whole kid and what's going on with them. Two, I’ve learned about past traumas, busy schedules, interests, needs and so much more. Each year I am always shocked by two comments that I am sure to hear at least once on both sides…
These calls, they take time. Honestly, a lot. The beginning of the year is busy. It may even take you a month to build a connection with the kiddo that allows you to build that positive conversation but I promise you, IT IS WORTH IT. I have laughed, cried, and gained so much understanding. This understanding allows me to best teach that individual student. If I have the opportunity to understand what a child’s life is like outside of my classroom it is so powerful in helping me understand what is going on with them regarding their school work and behavior. Gaining that understanding and building a relationship with parents that will increase their support of what's happening in the classroom couldn’t possibly lead to anything besides a successful year for that kiddo.
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As the school year approaches, like many other teachers, my mind has begun to fill with ideas, questions, plans, aspirations and so on. I’d like to share my reflections from Dave Burgess’s book, Teach Like a Pirate, in hopes of inspiring you to set sail in a new and passionate way this year. Read this book! If you can’t get to the whole thing before the year starts, read section three first: Building a Better Pirate. The ideas and inspiration in the first two sections are fantastic, but it is in the third section that Dave’s most powerful encouragements come that I believe will truly make you question your motivation and set sail to achieving greatness. Dave himself encouraged me to find a way to start sharing my ideas, via social media, presenting at conferences or any way I could. The thought of putting myself out there online was a little daunting and I have made excuses about the time commitment and such. I recently said to a friend and colleague “I’m going to write a blog this year to keep track of my ideas and reflect. It’s fine if no one reads it…” I realize now, as many of us do, I was letting my fear mask my true desire to be successful. In Dave’s book, he brings up a great point that really sunk in hard for me… In other professions, it is expected that you strive for greatness, but in our profession people who go the extra mile or push the envelope are often criticized or shamed. I remember in my early years of teaching another teacher saying to me “why do you have to do all of this extra stuff, are you trying to make the rest of us look bad?” I remember almost cowering and feeling bad. I certainly didn’t have the confidence to say “BECAUSE IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO!” But now, after having several years of teaching under my belt and inspiration like I find in Dave’s book, I’m ready to shout it from the rooftop and challenge myself to stop fearing failure and judgment. I hope you’ll join me. Greatness: When you’re starting your teaching career you have a lot of opportunities to expose yourself to different teachers. I remember saying to a near retirement teacher who was surprisingly on fire “I hope to be like you, to have energy and passion even as the end of my career approaches.” Since then, I’ve continued to wonder, “what happens?” Surely we all start teaching with the same desires but then somewhere along the way the fire burns out for too many. Somehow we’ve got to find a way to continue to aspire for greatness year after year.
Let’s start by encouraging one another. Being a great teacher isn’t about outshining other teachers, it’s about lifting each other up, pushing each other and surrounding yourself with people who bring out the best in you. We also need to evaluate what we consider to be greatness. Are we aiming to have a classroom full of compliant high achieving testers? That’s not what the world is looking for? I can not think of one profession that this prepares kids for. So, I hope not. Rather I hope we are aspiring to empower kids to be self- confident, compassionate, well-rounded people who will one day shape the future of our world. To do that, they are going to have to learn to question, take risks, be creative, and take the lead. Dave compares teachers to superheroes, it’s a good comparison. We have a lot of power. For some kids, we are their only exposure to a positive uplifting role model. We owe it to at least those kids to strive for more. To make every day in our classroom worthwhile. To build relationships that are genuine. To believe in them. To take time to prepare lessons that make them love school, learning, and wonder about the world. Our success, our greatness, will not be reported mid-summer in a statistical data report. It will come years after our students have walked out of our classrooms and be reflected in their ability to shape the world, to make it better and to make a life for themselves. And in reality, we can’t do it alone. We only have one small group of kids at a time for just one short year. We have got to rally around one another to achieve greatness year after year for these kids. They deserve it. Let’s aspire to be great, put in the hard work it takes, and work to build a community of empowerment in our whole school for all teachers and kids. Comment to share your beginning of the year “greatness” ideas and leave some feedback. |
Niki EgelhoffI love learning and sharing ideas. Please join in my conversations. Archives
January 2019
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