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8 Ways for Teachers to Communicate with Parents

For an effective learning process, the communication between parents and teachers is an essential element of educational setup. There are several ways which teachers can use to communicate with parents to let them get involved in their child’s development in social, educational and behavioral sectors. Being 21st century’s people, we are totally surrounded by the wonders of technology even in the field of communication. It has become quite easy and fast for teachers to get InTouch with parents and students. Researches show that a large ratio of education employees is using these latest mediums of communication which are given below and those are obviously the most popular ones. If I have missed any of them which you are using, please let me know. Also quote why do you love that!

Email:

Email is the simplest and most popular way for teachers to start communicating a student’s parents. It is a common practice that school’s admission forms usually ask for an email id and keep a record of all email addresses entitled with students’ names and classes. If for some reason, your school’s data form doesn’t have this section, better ask the management to update the forms and collect email ids. There are several teachers who believe in a constant in touch by sending weekly updates and some who send an only final report after the completion of a semester. Whatever the scenario is, this connection must be established because it is very important to keep parents aware of their children’s progress. What I personally choose is, to get in touch with their guardians right when the year has started for specifically all the good things about their kids. It helps me to build a good relationship with them before I get stuck in an uncertain situation regarding their kids. Another good tip for teachers using emails is to prepare a template and use that for general emails to minimize time consumption.

Weekly progress Sheet:

This idea comes from the daily student diary culture and is the most beneficial way to start communicating with their parents about their grades. I provide my students with a weekly report with their grades and ask them to share it with their parents and get it signed from them. This is the best way to make sure that parents are aware of the most recent activity or report of their kid and whenever there is a meeting scheduled, they are mentally prepared for the table talk. I am planning to do it in a new way by using Google forms this year. It will be easier for them to enter their data, records, GCP, and grades and share it with their parents. This method is used by private tutors as well because parents want to keep an eye on their kid’s progress while having additional classes. They need to be exceptional in their studies.

School Data System:

chool data system is another good tool which can be used as a conversation startup with parents. For example, my school uses school loop and it is quite beneficial not only for a teacher to put updates on time but for the parents to take out their kids’ progress whenever they need to. Entering results weekly or bi-weekly keeps everything in a uniformed manner and it eventually gives a chance to parents to appreciate my on-time reporting about their kids. It is quite simple to put a ‘0’ when the due assignment is not submitted on time. Parents can take record about their kids anytime and get back to me to communicate if there is something wrong. It’s the smartest way to flip the side of the complaining card to parents that instead of me taking a child to call his parents, they come over and discuss whatever the matter they for at school loop.

Remind:

I have noticed that students respond much quicker to a text, rather than Email. It was the first time when I started using remind.com. it is the best SMS sending and receiving service which doesn’t ask for any phone number. You can directly send short messages, progress reports, reminders, or simply the motivating quotes to your students. It is a free service, at least up till now and that allows students to just subscribe and start using.

Social media:

Here comes the most popular and favorite way for students, or their parents. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram are always free and it is quite easy to form a group for similar interest and post the relevant material up there to get many subscribers and likes. Children love to see their school and those activities which they have performed and when they show that up to their relatives, they feel quite confident and pleased. It is always a dream of parents to see what their child is doing and how confidently he is doing it. Social media has made it much easier for teachers to share their thoughts, their classroom activities, the competitions, test result and the list goes on.

Websites:

When there is something else which you, as a teacher want to share with students and their parents, just start your own blog. Whatever you want to say, inform, ask to them or warn them, pick your pen and start writing today because you are going to love this idea. Some people want to keep themselves busy with writing and honestly saying they don’t have enough money to purchase a domain. For them, blogger.com is their dream come true because you can just start your blog without any cost. There are several co-curricular activities that are photographed and Facebook is the best way to share pictures with a controlled privacy setup. Only the audience you allow can access the page and view all those posts which you want them to see. For students, I will recommend using kids blog as well to all my students if they can write. Google drive is a must-have. Just install Google drive to keep you tension free and take your material out wherever you need it. Just upload your important documents, assignment or any other material to Google drive and you will not have to carry a heavy file or bag with you. You can just sign in to your Google drive from any computer and your data is right there.

Google Calendar:

Google has made my life so easy, I just love everything about it but Google calendar is at the top. I use Google calendar when I have to call for a meeting. I schedule everything from meeting to the field trip, a conference to party through Google calendar. It is really easy to share that with parents and staff as well.

Skype and Google Hangout:

Now when you are quite comfortable to talk face-to-face with their parents and there are some hurdles which are stopping things from being scheduled, you can always rely on Skype for one on one meeting with your kid’s teacher. It is quite convenient for parents with small kids as they cannot come to meet teachers during the daytime. They can have a virtual meeting via Hangouts and Skype.

Do let me know if you have some better idea for communication, it will be highly appreciated. Also, share your views about this article; whether you found it useful or not?

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Mark Anthony Llego

Mark Anthony Llego, from the Philippines, has significantly influenced the teaching profession by enabling thousands of teachers nationwide to access essential information and exchange ideas. His contributions have enhanced their instructional and supervisory abilities. Moreover, his articles on teaching have reached international audiences and have been featured on highly regarded educational websites in the United States.

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