Overview
Teachers know how important parents and guardians can be to the educational process. After all, these caretakers are our students’ first teachers, and they set the stage for future success in school. Parents and guardians can also help motivate and support our students while simultaneously reinforcing our classroom expectations. With a strong home and school partnership, students often perform better and have a more positive overall attitude toward school. Consider how you can reach out early and develop an ongoing communication system that will keep parents informed and engage them as supportive partners who can reinforce your classroom expectations.
Options
Your communication can be either digital or offline (or perhaps both). Digital options often open up expanded communication formats, like easy access to color images, videos, and web links. If you have schoolwide systems in place, those are often your best starting points. You might even want to survey your families to see what formats they prefer. Here are some options to consider:
- Mailed letters or Friday folders
- Email messages
- School messaging systems
- Video messages and newsletters
- Learning management system (LMS)
- Face-to-face or virtual open house
- Classroom calendars (paper or digital)
- Scheduled phone calls and messages
- Classroom websites created with Google Sites (Tips), Wix, or Weebly
- Texting services, like Remind
Integration Ideas
The key with any of these options is to create a consistent and easy-to-use system, and then make sure that all of your families know about it. Once it’s set up, share information that will keep your families informed and able to support your classroom objectives. Including positive classroom news or highlighting students can create interest and keep families engaged. If possible, build it in a way that families can also reach out to you, so this is a two-way conduit of information. Here are a few ways you might use your communication system:
- Introduce yourself (with text, pictures, or video).
- Create a weekly newsletter (print or video).
- Have students take turns sharing classroom news.
- Publish key dates and send deadline reminders.
- Share class news.
- Highlight a student of the week (if you have permission to do so).
- Try to keep everything organized in one place.
How can I learn more?
Explore AVID Open Access for more free templates, tool tips, podcasts, and other great resources, including the related article, Connect Positively With Families.