Rationale
Because I have not yet had my own students and classroom, the extent of my contact with parents and families has been limited. I’ve included in this section the letter sent home by the director during the first week of school introducing me to the families of my students. Good introductions and the establishment of clear communications during the first weeks of school are crucial to creating a strong link to families and a thriving, well-attuned classroom environment. I have also included an example of an email I sent out to families at the start of my solo week in Humanities. As an added bonus, I have also embedded the “theoretical” (pun intended) paper and letter that I composed for EDU 615, in which I give a peek at my objectives, while also trying to set an appropriate tone. This letter is more verbose than I would write to parents, (as I would not like to receive a lengthy document like this myself as a parent) but reveals my thinking about how much parents should know about my methods and intentions. In my own classroom, I will aim to write easily digestible snippets more frequently, keeping weekly information current through a newsletter that should impart information at a glance from busy parents.
Because I have not yet had my own students and classroom, the extent of my contact with parents and families has been limited. I’ve included in this section the letter sent home by the director during the first week of school introducing me to the families of my students. Good introductions and the establishment of clear communications during the first weeks of school are crucial to creating a strong link to families and a thriving, well-attuned classroom environment. I have also included an example of an email I sent out to families at the start of my solo week in Humanities. As an added bonus, I have also embedded the “theoretical” (pun intended) paper and letter that I composed for EDU 615, in which I give a peek at my objectives, while also trying to set an appropriate tone. This letter is more verbose than I would write to parents, (as I would not like to receive a lengthy document like this myself as a parent) but reveals my thinking about how much parents should know about my methods and intentions. In my own classroom, I will aim to write easily digestible snippets more frequently, keeping weekly information current through a newsletter that should impart information at a glance from busy parents.
Reflection
The parental presence in most middle schools is paltry when compared with elementary schools. From the windows of my sixth grade classroom at Berwick Academy, I could see the reception area in front of the lower school, and I often observed that, at pickup time, this area resembled a cocktail party -- a mingling gauntlet of doting parents through which students and teachers would pass on their way to the buses. There was no such scene at the middle school. This stark difference is developmentally appropriate, of course, as middle schoolers are taking on more responsibilities and need the extra space to become independent. The role of parents shifts in middle school, losing none of its importance, but becoming less obvious and more covert. Strong ties with parents through written communication, personal interactions and formal meetings are essential to achieving the objectives of both parties.
The parental presence in most middle schools is paltry when compared with elementary schools. From the windows of my sixth grade classroom at Berwick Academy, I could see the reception area in front of the lower school, and I often observed that, at pickup time, this area resembled a cocktail party -- a mingling gauntlet of doting parents through which students and teachers would pass on their way to the buses. There was no such scene at the middle school. This stark difference is developmentally appropriate, of course, as middle schoolers are taking on more responsibilities and need the extra space to become independent. The role of parents shifts in middle school, losing none of its importance, but becoming less obvious and more covert. Strong ties with parents through written communication, personal interactions and formal meetings are essential to achieving the objectives of both parties.