Parent-Teacher Communication

“Fostering genuine connections with students through open dialogues and honest, supportive, and respectful language represents a vital part of the teaching process,” I state in the Second Grade Reading Brochure document. As stated in my teaching philosophy, this is a key component of my beliefs about teaching. The brochure is a prototype of a communication I would send home to parents at the start of the year to introduce them to the reading curriculum, my expectations as the teacher, and ways to support their student at home. 

    My overall purpose in writing this document is to initiate positive communication between myself and my students’ parents. I express multiple ways in which I plan to perpetuate this relationship between home and school: “I will keep you regularly informed about your child’s progress through emailed updates, Dojo messages, and regularly scheduled conferences. If you have questions, I highly encourage you to reach out to me through email or Dojo.” In this quote, I demonstrate a desire and an active plan to “maintain effective communication among home, school, and community” (EDoT 9. Action. A.)

    Through my language in this document overall, I “demonstrate a sense of efficacy and acceptance of responsibility for student learning” (EDoT 8. Action. A). I put the burden of student engagement and success entirely upon the teacher particularly in the action statements under the heading “Ways I Plan to Foster Love of Reading in a Diverse Group of Students.” I promise to “adjust process, content, and product of lessons as necessary to account for students’ needs and enlist the help of specialists who can attend to these needs,” as well as “keep data on each student’s participation and make necessary adjustments to increase comfort of groups with low participation.” With these statements, I show that it is my responsibility as the teacher to monitor student progress and engagement and adjust instruction continuously to meet students’ specific and changing needs. I also include a list of Common-Core aligned learning objectives for the year(under the heading “This Year, Your 2nd Grader Will Learn To…), which holds me accountable to both the students and their parents for student mastery of these objectives.

    I also point out that reading content should reflect and “represent the wide variety of cultures, ethnicities, abilities, and socioeconomic backgrounds in my classroom” because “[i]t is important for kids to be exposed to culturally diverse characters and storylines in the books they read,” as well as “to see themselves represented in these stories.” By pointing out the importance of cultural representation in the classroom, I “demonstrate cross-cultural sensitivity” (EDoT 3. Action. A.). By recognizing out that children should see their own experiences in reading content and by dedicating myself to finding such stories, I “use information about students’ prior knowledge, skills, and cultural experiences in making instructional decisions” (EDoT 3. Action. C).