Marco James' Blogger: 3 Ways Teachers Can Say to Parents, “We Want To Be On the Same Team”

Setting Up Your Classroom to Win From Day One

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

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As a teacher, I want to have a great relationship with my students and their parents. But there are things I can unknowingly do to sabotage (or improve) that relationship. In today’s show, we’re talking with Mike Hall about how to have the best start of the school year ever with our parents.

Parents and teachers should be partners in student progress. At the end of the day it comes back to communication. Communicate early. Communicate often. Communicate in ways that are convenient for parents. Give the parents and students respect that you also want to receive from them.

Listen to this show on: BAM Radio Network | iTunes | Stitcher

Today’s Sponsor: Bloomz

Upgrade to Bloomz (It is free!)

Bloomz is a powerful, easy to use (AND FREE) parent-teacher communication app. It gives parents a choice of how they want to receive communications: email, notifications, the app or the website. This app also has photo sharing, calendars, messaging, behavior management, and student portfolios.

I use Bloomz. Here’s the thing I love about it: once I invite a parent via email — they are IN! Even if they don’t join, they still get my classroom announcements. Bloomz is free and definitely an upgrade to my previous parent communications method.

Show Notes:

Why should you make a positive phone call early in the year?
Why is hosting your own parent night for your classroom a good idea?
What are the things we need to use to communicate with parents?
What are some fantastic ways to communicate with parents? (I love his tip of giving parents questions to ask kids about what is going on in class!)
Why is scheduling parent messages a good idea?
What are some ways teachers sabotage their relationship with parents?
What is one of the most common gripes parents have about teachers? (How can you prevent it from happening to you?)

http://www.bamradionetwork.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&layout=embed&tmpl=component&id=4024&catid=91&Itemid=1181

Some teachers who have the highest standards for kids have the lowest standards 4themselves. Mike Hall @strongfathers

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Who is Mike Hall?

J. Michael Hall@strongfathers, M.Ed. is an educator, speaker and founder of Strong Fathers-Strong Families, he has presented to more than 165,000 fathers at local schools, Head Starts, as well as regional and national conferences. For his pioneering work over the past twelve years in education and the fatherhood field he was honored as a 2012 White House Champion of Change.

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