5 Easy Ways to Improve Parent-Teacher Communication

Parent-teacher communication is so much more than newsletters and report cards. Having good classroom management, is, believe it or not, dependent upon how the parents and guardians buy into what you are doing in class. Read here for tips and tricks to improve parent-teacher communication in your middle school class.

Special note: The advice in this article is just a guideline. When there are serious student issues, it is always best to run any parent-teacher communication by your administrator first.

Formal vs. Informal Parent-Teacher Communication

As teachers, there are many different ways that we initiate parent-teacher communication. Often, there are formal and mandated ways to communicate with parents. One that comes to mind is parent-teacher conferences. Then, there are less formal ways, such as quick emails home. Both ways are important, and both can be optimized with a few tweaks. In this blog post, we will explore tips for both formal and informal parent-teacher communication.

Formal Parent-Teacher Communication

1. Conferences

Parent-teacher conferences are a way of life for teachers. When I taught in the younger grades, we met with every parent for both terms. It was, quite frankly, exhausting.

When I started teaching in the middle grades, we only met with parents of students who were having difficulty, and we did this as a team of core teachers (social studies, language arts, math, and science). And because you teach so many more kids in middle school, it turned out to be just as many, if not more, than in the younger grades. And, unfortunately, since you only see parents when students are having issues, some of the “feel good” components can be left out unless you approach this correctly.

Since parents often come in to meet with multiple teachers, it is imperative that we are not just going over all the “bad things” and that parents don’t feel overwhelmed or possibly intimidated.

Here are some tips that I used for conferences that greatly improved parent-teacher communication:

• Timing: Hold conferences well before report cards are due. This way, there is time to improve before grades are in and you are not just simply reporting on what already transpired.
• Action Plan: This was one of the biggest game changers for parent-teacher conferences. We would meet as a team of teachers (or simply share a document) and fill in student strengths, areas in need of improvement, action steps for improvement, special notes, and then a place to fill in parent concerns while the conference was taking place. It was also a “live” document so that if something came up, we could add it. Action steps included things like “attend homework club” or “create a study plan before major assessments”. Parents would then leave with a copy and feel like they had a plan in place, which usually created a feeling of empowerment. Action plans were also passed on to next year’s teachers so that they could review them and use it as documentation if the same issues were continuing. I have a free resource for this...grab my conference action plan to use at your next parent-teacher conference. It’s most helpful if you share it any teachers on your team before the conference so that everyone is on the literal same page. It also includes a list of action items to choose from to make it easier, and it’s fully editable. I’ve included an example as well. Click here for your free action plan.
• Student Participation: In some cases, students are invited to attend the conference. We didn’t always do this, but if issues such as lack of homework or inappropriate behavior kept occurring, then we would often invite (or more accurately, require) students to attend. We found this to be highly effective as students would feel the seriousness of having the adults in their lives address them.

2. Report Cards and Interim Reports

Report cards are, let’s face it, the bane of our existence. And if not done correctly, they can cause lots of headaches. Some tips to help you:

• Mid-Term Check-In: Although many districts have formal “interim” reports, it is also helpful to meet with students who are in need of improvement informally at the mid-term time. Let them know if they have any outstanding work due and how they will need to be better prepared for any assessments from now through the end of the marking period. Then, send home a brief parent email. I always kept a bunch of parent email “templates” so I could copy and paste them easily. This email would say something to the effect of “Hello, I hope this email finds you well. I wanted you to know that I spoke with Tom today to let him know that he owes…In addition, we have a final writing piece due at the end of the month and I’d like him to give it his best. His current average is….and I know he is capable of more. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am eager to help him do his best this marking period and throughout the year.”
• Giving a “Heads Up” – Part of good parent-teacher communication is to give parents a “heads up” when something more formal, like a report card, contains less than good news. Sending an email that is personal and with a bit of a game plan (like “For next marking period, I would like to meet with him during extra help hours at least once a week. It would also be helpful if you could go over their grades on the online grade book with him once a week.”). This shows that you care about their child and again, are not just reporting bad news.

Informal Parent-Teacher Communication

3. Emails

As I said above, sending home a personal email before parents receive more “formal” bad news from the school (like a bad report card or a formal behavior form) goes a long way. It is always helpful to send some action ideas that will help, such as coming to extra help, meeting with you on a weekly basis to check in, etc.

No parent wants their first alert to a situation to come from a form letter. Although it seems like more work, I assure you, most parents will contact you anyway and you’ll have to explain it, putting you on the defensive rather than as a proactive participant. Why not take the initiative? This type of parent-teacher communication goes a long way.

4. Phone Calls

Like emails, phone calls provide that personal touch. Parents often greatly appreciate a chance to speak with you about their child. Here are some tips:

• Send an email prior to the phone call so they are not caught off guard (or think that there’s some kind of emergency).
• Let parents know what you’d like to discuss when sending the email.
• Very important: Let parents know your time parameters. “I’m available to talk during my prep period from 9:15-9:30”. Keeping 15-minute increments is enough (I usually have a 5-minute “grace time”) as well. You don’t want to spend your entire period talking on the phone.
• Have some notes in front of you to help streamline the call (current average, missing work, etc.).
• Have some action items in mind for the parent. As I stated above, parents (usually) want a concrete suggestion of what they should do to help. Ideas like “Terry should finish her personal narrative tonight, using the rubric that I sent as a checklist so she is on the right track.”
• Send a follow-up email with any action items that you discuss.

5. Notes Home/Compliment Cards

Sending home a note when a student does something right should be a part of your practice as a middle school teacher. Believe it or not, kids at this age really love this personal touch, and having a tangible document means a lot to parents.

At one time, our district purchased postcards with the school logo that were called “compliment cards”. Because they were small, filling them out was not a huge task. As a team of teachers, we kept track of who got one so that we weren’t always sending them to the same kids. We also did some brainstorming to see how we could give them to “unlikely” candidates for things like improvement on a test score, polite and helpful behavior (citing a specific incident), and the like.

These compliment cards had a big impact. This type of parent-teacher communication was noted by parents and greatly appreciated. More importantly, it often made a change in a student because many kids go through our system without ever getting recognized.

Parent-Teacher Communication: 3 Big Takeaways

• Prevention: Addressing problems before a “formal” notice is sent home is always preferable.
• Positive: There is always something positive to say about a student (even when we have to dig deep).
• Action Items: Having something tangible that students and parents can do is so helpful and empowering. Even though we think it’s common sense, sometimes parents and kids need it “spelled out” for them.

Need More Help? Membership is Open Now!

Doing everything yourself is daunting. So if you are interested, I’ve developed a membership for ELA teachers. This has been highly requested. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do because I know how ill-prepared many new teachers are after college. This has nothing to do with the teachers and everything to do with teachers’ colleges and the lack of good onboarding in districts in our country.

It’s a very robust membership. Some of the highlights:

• Complete curriculum map with access to 9 full-month units for the year
• Access to literacy centers, mini-lessons, a full-year grammar program, choice boards, video lessons, and seasonal activities
• Access to a private Facebook group, where I can answer your questions and go live to help you with more complex units

Click here for more information. As of now, we are in the “founding members” stage. You can lock into the price for as long as you keep up your membership. I’d love to have you!

Questions/Comments

If you are a new teacher and have questions, please comment below. If you are an experienced teacher, I would LOVE to have you comment with any of your input and expertise on parent-teacher communication. Drop a comment below!

Wishing you all the best this month on your classroom management journey.

-Linda A. “All in One Middle School“

HELPFUL LINKS

• Join the Membership
• FREE Parent-Teacher Action Plan for Conferences
• My YouTube Channel – FREE lessons where I teach your class, plus First Chapter Fridays!
• One-on-One Coaching for Observations and Lessons
• Teaching Writing Workshop Course
• Click here to join the Middle School Language Arts Facebook Group