Parent Panel

 

Last class (2/24/14) I enjoyed having the opportunity to hear what parents would like to see from their children’s teachers. Going into the education field, I have always had slight anxiety when thinking about the fact that I am required to communicate with parents. I am not saying that I don’t think communicating with parents is important, I am simply saying that I have been nervous about the possibility of my teaching not pleasing parents, or not having parental support in order to help students succeed. Last week’s class helped me to address these repressed fears, and I now feel much more comfortable with the idea of working collaboratively with my students’ parents. The parent panel helped me to realize something that should have been obvious to me, parents simply want what is best for their child, just as I do for my students. I really liked hearing that parents prefer to have a relationship with their child’s teacher, and that they would like to be able to communicate freely with each other. The idea of teachers contacting parents to update them on how their child is doing, whether good or bad, is something that I never had during my years of public school. My parents were never contacted by any of my teachers, simply because I always did my work and I never was in danger of failing a class. Looking back, I believe it would have been beneficial for both my parents and I if my teachers contacted my parents to tell them about my success. I know this would have not only made my parents proud of me, but it also would have made me feel more confident in my work, and allowed me to form a better relationship with my teacher. Being a future educator, this is something I definitely would like to apply to my practice. The idea of calling two parents per day is not an unreasonable request. It also will be beneficial to my practice because it will allow me to gain parental support. If parents know what we are doing in the class, they will be more likely to push their child to complete their work in order to succeed. Although I do believe the negative phone calls are also essential in order to help a student from falling behind before it’s too late, I think the positive phone calls will also be beneficial, and also much easier to make as a teacher. The parent panel was a great experience and I hope to apply all of their advice to my future practice as an educator.

 

I found this article which gives pointers on how teachers and parents can communicate: http://theeducatorsroom.com/2013/01/scripting-a-parent-phone-call-a-skill-all-teachers-need/