Howdy Partner! (part 2)

Last week I wrote about some suggestions for developing a stronger partnership between parents and teachers by highlighting an article titled “What Teachers Wish You Knew.” This article was written after surveying thousands of teachers across the United States. We covered the first three suggestions from that article last week:

1. Don’t be a Stranger.

Get to know your child’s teacher.

2. Learning Doesn’t Stop at 3:35pm.

You can help the teacher by asking your child about their day.

3. Let Your Child Make Mistakes.

Your child is learning and mistakes are a part of the learning process.

This week I’d like to focus on the next two suggestions:

4. Stay Involved – Even When You Do Not Know the Material.

As your children grow older they begin to tackle subjects and material such as chemistry and trigonometry which parents do not easily understand. Even so, parents can still provide moral support and be cheerleaders. Teachers don’t expect parents to be experts on every subject but just knowing that a parent is paying attention and cares about challenging subjects is very motivating for the student and encouraging to the teacher.

5. The Teacher Is On Your Side – Give Them the Benefit of the Doubt.

Rachel James, a teacher from Florida stated in the survey “A lot of parents go into attack mode when their child complains about a teacher. Or they take the problem to the principal, so the teacher feels blindsided.” The classic line from the student when there is a problem in the classroom is that the teacher hates them or “has it out” for them. Most teachers would appreciate the opportunity to sit down and talk with a parent on how they can work together to help a student behave better or achieve better grades in their class. The advice that teachers gave in the survey was for parents to spend some time getting the facts before assuming the worst of a teacher. Teachers do want what’s best for their students and this is especially true here at Dalat.

Next week I will address the last two suggestions from the article.

Have a great weekend.