Transcript Communication with Families

Communication
with
Families
Susie Fabian
Overview
Forms of communication
Why is effective communication
important?
Helpful tools, tips, techniques
Troubleshooting: Issues do come up!
Activate your background
knowledge by journaling
When you have seen your mentor
communicating with families?
What else do you already know about this
topic?
\
When have you seen your mentor
communicate with families?
Times to communicate
with families...
First day of school information
Reminders/Rules
Find out your
school’s policy
and expectations
Monthly update - units of study
Special events - celebrations, parties, field trips etc.
One-on-one conversations
Communication throughout the year using a variety of strategies
Why is communication
with families important?
Collaboration
Developing a shared understanding
Creating trust, building confidence
Positive results from
effective communication:
Discovering families’ strengths
Communication = Increased parent
participation
Research has shown that parent participation
is linked with student achievement,
development and social adjustment.
Involvement = better teacher evaluations and
higher ratings in program success.
Channels of Communication
Which method of communication
would you use and why?
Ways to Communicate
Communication Tools
•Email
(Get them all at the beginning of the year)
•Class
website
•Phone
•Text
•In
messages
Knowing your
families is key
person
•Paper
copies might work better for families
•Language
awareness (what is the family’s primary
language?)
Classroom blog
Shutterfly
Classroom
Site
http://riaandmichael.shutterfly.com//
•Photos and Videos
•Contacts
•Sign-ups
•Calendar
Remind.com
Send students*
homework
assignments, links to
outside resources
like articles, videos,
and more.
Send parents
permission slips,
classroom
documents straight
to their phones.
*over age 13
Edmodo
Emails
No school tomorrow Friday, February 3. Have a wonderful weekend! :)
If you child has any music for the arts
festival. David would like the CDs tomorrow if
possible, so he can have them ready ahead of
time. Please have your child bring it in if they
are doing anything that involves a
song. Thanks!
A reminder: Please bring in
canned or dry foods for our
class food drive. Thank you
to Susan, who will deliver the
items to the Food Bank of
the Rockies at the end of this
week.
Dear Families,
A reminder that our class gettogether is this Sunday, August
28th, at Crescent Park in Lowry
from 3-4:30pm. For a map, please
visit the Hunca Munca website:
www.esusie.net/blog
A friendly reminder that individual photos
are tomorrow at 11:00 for the Hunca
Munca class.
Hope you are having a beautiful
weekend!
Susie
Communication
Strategies
Setting Boundaries
Avoid teacher jargon
Communication
Strategies
Save examples (mentor’s, your own from
year to year)
Save emails, blog posts, etc. from one year
to the next as templates
People need lots of reminders
Reminder: Don’t forget to
remind families with lots of
reminders
Practice!
Scenario
You are constantly waiting on the same
parent who picks up their child 20-30
minutes late everyday. They are also NOT
okay with you taking their child to
aftercare/extended day.
What you might be thinking:
“Pick up is at 3:00, not 3:28 everyday. And
no I am not a babysitter and yes I do
have things I must accomplish at the end
of the day before your child comes back
in 11 hours!”
What you might say: “Dear Parent, It
was nice seeing you today and I know I did
not get a chance to talk to you at the end of
the day, but I wanted to check in with you
about pick up time. Although it would be
wonderful if I had more flexibility to stay longer
after school, I really need all the children to be
picked up at 3:00 and no later than 3:15. Our
school’s procedure is at 3:15 to take any
children who have not been picked up to
Extended Day. Thank you for your
understanding and help with this. Please let
me know if you have any questions.
All the best, Teacher”
Communication Strategies
Proactive & Preventative
Give yourself time to respond
Self reflection: biases, style, body
language
Active listening (paraphrase,
summarize), open ended questions,
affirmations
Brainstorm:
Interactions or situations with
families that have been
especially challenging?
Issues that came up at
school that needed to be
addressed with parents?
Role Play in
Pairs
1. Choose a scenario
2. Work in pairs to role play the
parent and the teacher.
3. Practice active listening
4. Switch roles and/or
scenarios!
Nuggets or
Take-aways
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2011/10/24/111024sh_shouts_semple?cur
rentPage=all
An example of what not
to do!
Contact Information
Susie Fabian
Lead Teacher, Montview Community Preschool
Professional Development Coach, Clayton Early Learning
[email protected]