Parent communication. It was one of my weakest points when I first started teaching. I didn’t know what to communicate to parents or how often to communicate. I didn’t have a strong system, a professional voice, or confidence. I was the queen at only reaching out when issues arise, and then I was surprised when I didn’t have positive relationships with families. I have learned a lot and I’m excited to share strategies with you!
We will break this down into 4 main components: techniques to communicate, things to communicate, times to communicate and tips to communicate. Whenever you get stuck, think of the T’s: Technique, Things, Times, and Tips.
Techniques to Communicate
There are may ways to communicate with parents. You might prefer handwritten notes or a paper log. You might use digital forms, emails or other online methods. You might opt for apps connected through phones, or you might use another system like phone calls or face to face meetings. I will highlight three main ways to communicate.
Paper-Based Logs: This is a traditional communication format and the most often one I used when I first started teaching. You might write handwritten notes, or you might use a pre-made template. The pre-made template is streamlined and it makes it easy to quickly highlight key points from the day. I always printed a ton of copies of the form and had them in a binder ready to go.
Apps: I turned to using apps for parent communication for the last two years. This helped me so much! First, I have terrible handwriting and my parents struggled to read my notes-digital was the way to go. The second reason I loved using an app was I had more options. I used Class Dojo, but I used it in a very different way than we typically see teachers use it.
I did not utilize the points option. Instead, I just set up mini feeds for each student. It was almost like their own facebook page. Parents loved when I snapped a picture and posted it with a short sentence. This usually took me less then 15 seconds to get up and it meant so much more to parents then a note at the end of the day.
I also loved this format because I could send videos. This was really helpful in sharing strategies with parents. If I was trying to talk a parent through using equal groups in math, I could send a short video of myself using the strategy with the child. It made supporting them so easy and streamlined. Other apps that I hear used include see saw and remind.
Digital Forms: Digital forms are another great way to share information. It is more aligned to the traditional log format but allows it to be digital. This is great because you never have to worry about forgetting the log at home or at school, and it provides an easy to find digital record. To use this format, you will want to have a google form ready and make a unique copy for each student. If you have 10 students, you will need to have 10 separate forms. In each form, we will change the settings so parents get an email every time the form is filled out. Easy peasy!
Things to Communicate
If you want to increase communication but you don’t know where to start, I got you! I start with little everyday things. I also add a big takeaways. I feel like those are more obvious, but the last one is super important too. Communicate things that are going on in the school. Make sure your parents know if your school is having a trunk or treat, STEM night, or anything else like that.
Little Everyday Things: This is the highlight reel. Parents want to know about those happy moments. Talk about the art projects. Talk about the song they loved in morning calendar. Talk about the way they played at recess or the way they say hello to a teacher. Parents want to know those little moments.
Big Take-Aways: These are really important moments. If a child uses their communication device independently for the first time. If the child meets a target goal. If we see a new behavior or if there is an intensive behavioral episode. I love to keep thing positive, but I also value being honest and direct (more about that in the tips).
School Events: It is so important to keep your families connected to the school. I have not always done this, but it is super important to provide our families with the same experience of all other families. That means making sure they know about school events that are occurring. If there is a STEM night, a multi-cultural night, a carnival, trunk or treat, an award show, anything like that, make sure your families know about it!
Times to Communicate
If you are only communicating at the IEP, you are missing so many opportunties! Communication might seem like a huge thing to get up and running, but once you have a streamlined system its really not that tough. I liked to communicate daily and monthly as well as at the IEP.
Daily Communication: Most self-contained classrooms use daily communication formats. This is perfect to share standard information like what the child ate, when they went to the bathroom and basics from the day. I also liked to have an easy way for parents to communicate with me. If their child had been awake since 3 am and not eaten breakfast, it was helpful for me to know that. Daily communication helps everyone stay on the same page.
Class-wide Newsletter: This ties into the concepts of classroom community. We want our families to have the same experiences as other families and class-wide newsletters are a great way to do this. I liked to send a monthly newsletter with more generic information. I might share that we are learning about weather in science, we have a community trip to the library coming up and our Earth Day party will be at the end of the month. It takes 15 minutes to do and goes so far in building the classroom up as a whole.
IEP time: This might be an obvious one, but to me, it is more than just the IEP meeting. I loved to bring parents in for a meeting or have a phone call before the IEP. I could find out more about their concerns and focus in the home. If they wanted to share, I could find out what the child was working on in private speech, OT or ABA therapy. Taking this step helped me show the parents that I highly valued their input and it helped me as I moved forward in the IEP.
I also liked to continue the communication after the IEP. I enjoyed giving parents a mini training if they were interested. I found that some of my parents were really eager to work on IEP goals at home, but they were not sure where to start. By giving some examples (this is why I loved Class Dojo-I could send quick pictures or videos) I could help the parents know how to work on a skill. Another cool feature of Class Dojo is the parents could send photos and videos back. It was such an easy way to build a supportive working relationship.
Tips to Communicate
As I said in the beginning, finding my professional voice was tough. Sometimes I was too hard, sometimes I was too soft and sometimes I danced around what I really wanted to say. Finding my confidence was hard but once I found it, I was good to go. I broke it down into three simple tips: Be direct, be honest and be proactive.
Be direct: Don’t do the dance. Be direct about what is going on. Let’s use my sweet dog Buster as an example. Let’s say I take Buster to a doggy day care and every time a dog came near Buster he bared his teeth and growled. If when I pick him up, they say “Buster had a hard time socializing with other dogs” I am going to assume he was anti social and slept in the corner. I’m not going to know the behavior is more significant.
Let’s say the next time I take him he does it again, and again I’m just told he wasn’t friendly. The third time they say “ma’am”, he can’t come here anymore because he can’t get along with the other dogs” and I’m left wondering what the heck happened? If they had been direct with telling me about the behavior, I would have known what was going on. I want to clarify, this is a totally made up situation. Buster doesn’t go to daycare anymore and when he did, all he did was sleep. But it is a good example of what can happen when you are not direct.
Be honest: We all are human and we are going to make mistakes. The best thing you can do is be honest. If the parents asked for a document to be sent home and you forget-be honest! If a parent wants to know about an incident that happened at school-be honest. If there is a change in staffing or something else that could be impacting the student-be honest. Honesty goes so far in building and maintaining a respectful relationship.
Be proactive: When you reach out to a parent about a problem, particularly if the problem revolves around behavior, it is helpful to be proactive. Don’t just call and say “Johnny threw his blocks across the room”, call and say “Johnny threw his blocks across the room and I am going to try X tomorrow to help”. I can only imagine how hard it is to be the parent and to have to be contacted about a behavior problem. If I, as the professional, can call them and already be brainstorming a solution, we can shift the conversation from a guilt drive or defensive response to a response that is rooted in working together for the benefit of the child.
Be sure to download today’s freebies-you will find both a paper-based log and a google forms log in the folder!