I teach middle school LD/BD. As I look forward to this new year, one of my biggest goals is to more effectively involve parents. They are involved in the IEP process and re-evals and such. I am looking to more deeply involve them in the everyday classroom experiences. I am not sure how to do this. I have bounced around different ideas in my head, but haven’t landed any yet. Any ideas or advice out there. Gob Bless You.
Re: involving parents
I’d suggest a simple weekly newsletter or gathering their e-mail addresses (if they have them) and sending home a weekly e-mail with news about the class. I’ve found parents are very appreciative of this gesture.
Another one that parents seem to enjoy is being invited into the classroom to talk about their job or career.
Re: involving parents
reb,
I love working with teachers that want to involve parents. I work full time, but will gladly take some time off to go to school and help or just see what is going on in class.
I think it is very important to have good communications between school and home. Parent involvement reinforces to kids that we are working together.
Kids are so proud when parents go to their school.
Good luck.
Re: involving parents
One thing that really helped me was to make a phone call early to introduce myself, make opportunities to communicate with parents (you can set up a separate email account just for that to keep life simple)… and then I made a point of finding a reason to call home with something positive, early on. Came as a total shock to most of them and was a real role-shift.
I”m sure that you’re aware that by middle school age many families have both parents working outside the home, and would like e-mail contact, phone calls and periodic evening “open houses” if allowed in your contract. Thanks for asking!