Communication

Building Relationships with Students, Parents, and Colleagues

As a future teacher, I plan to send the students and parents a Welcome Letter a week or so before school starts with a list of materials (notebooks, pencils, etc.) that they will need for the class and to introduce myself and how I plan to run the class. Throughout the year, I plan to send the parents Weekly Newsletters via email to keep them updated on the class's progress and any announcements. I would like to incorporate Project Based Learning (PBL) into my classroom as much as possible, so parents will receive an invite to the presentation of the students' projects at the end of each unit so that the students have an authentic audience (the students will likely present it in front of other adults as well, but parents will always be invited!). I also think it would be fun to add the students' birthdays to the Newsletter to make each kid feel special. With colleagues, I plan to reach out to the teachers in my grade level and discipline before the school year starts to build those relationships and see how they plan to start the year. I plan to spend as much time as I can afford in the Teacher Lounge to meet teachers and other school personnel across the whole school system to learn about their teaching styles and get to know more people at the school. I imagine I will meet with the teachers from my discipline and grade level weekly or biweekly to go over the curriculum and how we will teach the upcoming unit, but I also hope to spend time with my colleagues outside of school, too, to get to know them personally and build that relationship. I also think it would be good to meet with the school counselor, ELL teacher, and special education teacher to build a relationship with them so we can better attend to the needs of our students. 

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If I am having trouble with a student, I plan to reach out to the parents first to understand if something is changing at home that might be bothering the student or if this has been an ongoing behavior concern. After meeting with the parents (preferably in person), I plan to reach out to the student's past and other current teachers to see if they have also noticed the behavior. If it continues to be a problem for me and other teachers, I will sit down with the student, parents, and school counselor to talk out what our next course of action should be. I think it is important to catch these problems before it becomes too ingrained in the student's regular behavior so that the student can still get the most out of school and feel as though he/she has a voice in how to solve the problem.