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Teaching Secrets: Communicating With Parents By Gail Tillery Premium article access courtesy of TeacherMagazine.org. You will face many challenging tasks as a new teacher. Dealing with parents is probably among the most intimidating, especially if you are young and in your first career. While communicating with parents can be tricky, a little preparation will help you to treat parents as partners and to be calmer when problems arise. Here's the first rule to live by: Your students' parents are not your enemies. Ultimately, they want the same thing you want, which is the best for their children. By maintaining respectful and productive communication, you can work together to help students succeed. Second, whenever problems arise, remember that parents are probably just as nervous about contacting you as you are about returning the contact-and maybe more so. I'll confess: Even after 26 years of teaching, I still get a little frisson of fear in my belly when I see an e-mail or hear a voicemail from a parent. But I have seen time and again that parents are often more nervous than the teacher is-especially if their child doesn't want them to contact the teacher. Indeed, some parents may even fear that if they raise concerns, their child will face some kind of retaliation. Remember that parents' tones or words may reflect such fears. In your response, try to establish that everyone involved wants to help the child. Here are some practical tips for communicating effectively with parents: Contact every parent at the beginning of the year. Do some "recon." Telephone calls are best for this initial contact, since they are more personal than e-mail. Ask the parent to tell you about his or her child's strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes, etc. Make sure to ask, "What is the best thing I can do to help your child succeed?" Remember to take notes! Once you've gathered the information you need, set a boundary with parents by saying, "Well, Ms. Smith, I have 25 more parent

Thomas Friedman commenting on new PISA study that shows parental involvement in early years impacts student performance.

A great article about the power of great parenting!

This Web provides: l A review of the past 30 years of key research findings on the importance of involving families in their children's learning. l Examples of family involvement efforts that are working. l Concrete ways in which different participants in the family involvement partnership can help achieve success. Links within this document will bring you to: l The seven (7) chapters of Strong Families, Strong Schools. l The reference list of Strong Families, Strong Schools, where you will find additional links to ERIC abstracts. l Other Web sites related to families and family involvement in education.

"In the Scholastic-Gates survey of teachers, teachers were asked what they wanted most. The greatest number said they wanted families to be more involved. (What mattered least: longer school days and hours, merit pay). "

All about parental involvement in schools

The last sentence describes why parent involvement is so critical!!!!

What Is Social and Emotional Learning? DSC_0624.JPG Social and emotional learning (SEL) involves the processes through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.  SEL programming is based on the understanding that the best learning emerges in the context of supportive relationships that make learning challenging, engaging and meaningful.  Social and emotional skills are critical to being a good student, citizen and worker; and many risky behaviors (e.g., drug use, violence, bullying and dropping out) can be prevented or reduced when multiyear, integrated efforts are used to develop students' social and emotional skills. This is best done through effective classroom instruction; student engagement in positive activities in and out of the classroom; and broad parent and community involvement in program planning, implementation and evaluation. 

Want to feel old? Read this list about the college class of 2017.

Nancy: You need a phased attack. Phase one involves marshaling the technologies you do have handy to create communication with parents. Use Twitter for homework updates, essential questions about reading assignments, a "writer's tip of the day" etc. This is what I call a "tier 1" communication. This technology gives few details, but provides parents talking points during dinner conversation with their kids. Then use your website to add the major details, evaluation rubrics, blogging, etc. What I like to provide are "desktop" videos that capture you using or modeling Web 2.0 technologies, and their potential in the classroom. Post these on your website and say something like, "Blocked here at [your school] but you can perhaps use these tools at home..." When parents start to see the same text appear over and over as a caption or comment in your video, they just might get angry enough to go to the superintendent, or the IT "integration specialist" and say, "Enough! Give this teacher the tools she needs!" We're fighting this battle everywhere. Educators are being treated like children who don't have a clue. Keep fighting the good fight and good luck!

Having a classroom website can benefit everyone involved including the students, the teacher, and the parents. Classroom websites are great places to post news, pictures, homework instructions and teaching resources. This guide explains how to create a free classroom blog or website using weebly.com

Martin van Hemert is a photographer based in Utah. He is actively involved in architectural, product, and fine art photography. Throughout his career, he has consistently been drawn to more labor intensive forms of the art, from baking films in hydrogen for astronomical photography, to long exposures and light painting of outdoor scenes photographed on 4×5 sheet films, to his current obsession with spherical panoramas. Born to a family of Dutch immigrants, he studied music at the University of Utah, following which he made the logical choice of a career in photography. Martin and his wife are the parents of three grown children and one un-grown grandchild, and live in rural Utah County with a small herd of horses. Their rodent control staff boasts 7 members.

From neurons to brain wiring, Dr. David Walsh gives an easy-to-understand tour of children's and teens' brain development and the impact of experience on the "wiring' of their brains. Children are shaped by the stories they see and hear from parents, relatives, and teachers which pass on values, attitudes, and affect emotional and physical well-being. More than ever, media has become a powerful storyteller in children's lives and raising healthy kids in the media age involves making wise media choices.