We’ve all heard the saying that when a parent is actively involved in their child’s academics, that student is more likely to succeed. A recent study indicates that parents are indeed becoming more involved. As a teacher I appreciate this but having more parents more involved also presents a challenge in the form of more difficult conversations about students. We all want to support every child’s academic career, but emotions and miscommunication can sometimes get in the way.
Here are a handful of tips for making those not-so-easy conversations more manageable and productive.
1) Respond quickly and privately.
The most common type of conflict I have to discuss with parents is how their child is doing in school. When a student is rapidly declining in academics or behavior, I will send the parent a message privately, explaining the difficulty the child is having and requesting a parent conference. I like to use Bloomz, an app for parent-teacher communication, rather than a phone call. It lets me see when the parent has viewed the message. I don’t have to worry about lost notes or taking time out of class to make a phone call.