The Bridge Between Home and School

One often forgotten about aspect of teaching is the importance of the school / home connection. The question is then, how do we bridge the gap between home and school? 

Of course, the essence of trying to forge this relationship always comes down to clear and respectful communication, centered around the idea that we are on the same team - the team that is looking for their child to be successful and fulfilled, the team that wants their child to develop and grow into the best person they are capable of being. 

We also have to remember that with some parents we may never be able to "win them over." Furthermore, some parents may want to be more involved in their child's school life but have factors that make that difficult (such as working multiple jobs, being a caregiver or having mental health issues). At the end of the day, it is important to remember that we are the professionals, and that some perspective taking and empathy may be needed to understand a parents' point of view. 

Never-the-less I do my best to communicate respectfully, authentically and transparently with parents. I also do my best to provide the tools and opportunities, and as long as a parent is willing to meet me part way on that bridge connecting home and school, we can develop a wonderful partnership.

Here are some considerations and tools I've found useful in this process. 

1. As already stated, always communicate in a clear and respectful way. 

2. Make it clear from the beginning of the year how and when parents can contact you, and how long it may take you to get back to them after you've been contacted.

3. When you receive a piece of feedback, consider if any of the feedback is useful and what parts of the feedback (if any) could be used to improve your practice, but be realistic about what you can actually accomplish. Don't make a promise to a parent simply to calm them down in that moment, if it's not something that you can maintain long term. 

5. Never respond to a message when you are too angry to maintain your composure. Walk away and come back to it later. 

6. If a parent oversteps, set boundaries, but do so in a way that is clear, kind and respectful.

7. From the start of the year make it clear that you are there to help and to answer questions / deal with any concerns.

8. Update parents periodically about what is happening in the classroom.

9. Be proactive. Talk to parents about what they can do from the beginning and throughout the year. 

At the start of the year, I talk to parents about the importance of helping their child to have a consistent space and place to do their homework, I talk about the importance of reading, and I break down how the reading log works. I also talk to them about the importance of talking to their child about their school day, of reading to their child and of checking their child's online portfolio at least once a week and leaving positive comments. If there are any new parents, I try to walk them through how websites that the school subscribes to operate, and I ensure that all parents (old or new) have student logins and QR codes. 

As the year progresses, I may share additional, free resources with parents such as Starfall for students struggling with phonics. I may also set up additional educational accounts for students, such as Read Theory, Read Works and EPIC and provide support for them as they try to figure these websites out.

School today is unlike school when parents attended. As a teacher, I cannot fix internet issues happening in individual homes, but I'll do my best to provide the support I am capable of providing with parents struggling to figure out how or where to login. 

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Now to provide specific resources that I've found are useful for parents or to create the home / school connection. Firstly, one cannot assume that parents know how to "talk to their children about the school day" or that they know how to "ask comprehension questions" when reading to / with their child. This is why I find the following resource so useful. 

The Reading Bungalow on TeacherspayTeachers has free resources for Talking to Your Child About their School Day and Comprehension Questions to Ask Your Child at Home

Next, it is often useful to know what areas of expertise parents have, to know if you can get them involved in helping to teach the class something new. This past year I had one parent come in and talk about their factory during a "Communities and Services" unit. In the past, I've had parents come in and teach crafting. Parents also come in during book month / our unit on Stories Around the World and read stories either in English, or the parents' first language. 

Above is a screenshot of a form I use to find out more information from parents about their background and interests, so I can consider if their expertise can be used during a unit. To access a copy of this form on Google Docs you can go here.

As a part of ongoing communication with parents concerning the ways they can help their children at home, during the first parent teacher conference they are given a list of generic suggestions that are applicable to all students, and if any specific suggestions arise these suggestions are added to the list. This is a copy of the generic version of the list. 

The file can be accessed on Google docs here, then you may download it and subsequently edit. 

Finally, every time you make a newsletter, be sure to have a section containing home connections. For example (refer to page 2 of document):

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As you can see many different pathways exist for "keeping parents in the loop / in the know" and to try to build bridges. These are just some of the things that I have done, that I've found to be successful. What are some different strategies or tools that you have used as a teacher?