Blog #5
Final Project Idea
2 Jul 2025
Something I would like to improve in my classroom is communication with parents and families. I believe that students learn best when teachers work in collaboration with student families and perspectives. In order to create relationships with families, I keep a tracking document of ways I have communicated with parents and guardians throughout the year. This chart includes options for email, text, phone call, in-person, or multiple types of communication with parents.
Besides my chart, however, I really have no way to effectively gauge the relationships I have built with families. Just because I've sent an email home, doesn't mean I am building rapport with parents—especially when they don't respond to my messages. My school additionally does not have an "open house" night in the fall, and only hosts 1 day for parent-teacher conferences in January. As a result, many parents (especially those who work) are unable to meet with teachers to speak candidly about their child's progress.
I think a great digital project for me next year would be to create a monthly virtual call with parents during the evening. This would help to increase "face to face" interactions with parents, while not burdening them with physically coming to the school in the evening. I believe this option would be more useful to some parents who have deep concerns about their student's progress, or nuanced questions that may not be accurately expressed through email. Additionally, this open Zoom time could be used for parents to meet one another and connect about ways in which they can help their children learn. Having this meeting happen monthly is important to ensure that this communication is consistent. Only through repeated conversations can trust and relationships truly grow between teachers and their students' parents.
Gabi, I love this! Communication with parents, families and supporters is so important because in working with them you can get everyone engaged in their child's education. Having a virtual chat with them could help so much because you would likely be able to get in contact with even more people since its after typical work hours. I think it's really cool that you are willing to do this because I don't know any of the teachers that I had growing up that were willing to go that extra mile for me or my peers.
ReplyDeleteThis was my goal for this year as a teacher, so I can relate to this! Virtual calls would be a great idea. Some families do not feel comfortable speaking directly with teachers or may have anxieties or simply lack of time. Good luck with your project and I can't wait to see the finished product on Zoom!
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