Dear Ms. Brooks:I am so proud of Daniel. Today in class, he worked really hard and completed all of his work. I’m happy to share this good news with you.
Ms. Carter
Is it realistic to assume that there will come a day when, through your tireless efforts, you will finally get all parents to come to school for conferences, volunteer to help with fundraisers, serve on parent committees, and participate actively in their children’s schooling? Of course not. But is it worth the effort to take steps to ensure that all parents receive positive communication from their children’s teachers on a regular basis, even if they’re not active participants in their children’s schooling? Absolutely. Is it realistic to believe that when parents enjoy a positive relationship with their children’s teachers, they might be more likely to answer the phone when receiving a call from the school or to respond to a teacher who sends a note home or requests a conference? Definitely.
In today’s inservice, you will be sharing a strategy for opening the lines of communication between teachers and parents.
Ask your teachers if they agree that parental involvement is important. They will, of course. Ask them if they would like to see increased parental involvement. Ask if they’d like to enjoy even better relationships with their students’ parents than they currently do. Discuss the fact that although we, as educators, cannot force parents to become more involved in their children’s education, we can certainly take simple steps to open the lines of communication with them.
Tell your teachers that there are endless ways to communicate positively with parents, but today you’ll be focusing on just one. The idea is simple, quick, and easy to do. It will require less than a minute a day on the part of your teachers, and it has the potential to have a very positive impact on the relationships between teachers and parents.
Show this sample note to your teachers.
Dear Ms. Brooks:Next, show your teachers a blank note, such as the one here, that only requires them to fill in the blanks. Point out that writing such a note to send home to a parent should take less than a minute.
Dear ____________________________:You and your faculty might decide to use our sample or to write your own version of a positive note to parents. You might choose to include the school’s logo or add some type of graphic design. When you finalize how the note will look, type several onto one page. This page can then be photocopied or put into an electronic file so that each teacher has ready-to-go notes at hand. In other words, do the work for them so that they don’t view this as a chore or yet more paperwork.
The object is to have each teacher send one note home per class each day. Writing the note should take each teacher about thirty seconds. The note is prewritten. The teachers simply have to fill in the blanks.
Let teachers know that they are not at all limited to sending only one note home per day. Give them the following example:
Share a few examples of the types of behaviors that might be included in positive notes to parents:
Add a few of your own examples here. You might even ask your teachers to come up with a few ideas.
Have each teacher send one note home per class each day. If a teacher chooses to send more, that’s fine. But you’re only asking each to send one. The object is to ensure that every parent receives at least one positive comment about his or her child at least once a month or so. This way, you are guaranteeing that each parent will receive several positive notes from each teacher about his or her child during the school year. That’s several more than some parents have ever received about their children.
On those occasions when the teacher has to contact a parent regarding something of a more serious nature regarding his child, that parent may be more apt to work cooperatively with the teacher if he has already been receiving positive notes. If all he ever receives are negative notes of communication, the teacher may very likely meet with a more defensive attitude.
There is no downside to this type of activity. Parents welcome positive notes from teachers. It makes them feel proud of their children and proud of themselves. It also promotes a more positive relationship between them and their children’s teachers. It may even foster more positive relationships between parents and their children. It helps students feel pride in themselves. (Students love delivering these types of notes to their parents.) It serves to promote more positive relationships between teachers and students. And it also helps your teachers begin focusing on the many positive actions of all their students.
One little note can make a very big difference.