Let’s take these last few weeks as an opportunity to relax extra hard, and maybe absorb a thing or two to help us out for next year. In an effort to help with the second part, I want to offer you a new blog series: PD in Plain English. Quick, easy-to-digest pieces of advice and how-to’s that are (hopefully) HIGHLY applicable to real classrooms.
Having conversations with teachers about what’s really going on in their rooms is my absolute jam, so please join the conversation with me on Instagram if you agree or disagree with what I’m about to say! Let’s get started
We’re all professionals here, but I think we can admit that at some point in our careers we’ve each had a parent or guardian send us an email questioning our decision. And that kind of confrontation can make us (or at least me) a little nervous. When I was a coach, a teacher received a tricky email from a parent and approached me with questions about how to respond. I had to think on the fly at the time, but I have sense been able to formulate a more clear answer to this question, and I wanted to share!
The first thing to accept, especially if you’re new, is that it happens to everyone. It’s probably literally impossible to go through your teaching career and come in contact with SO many different personalities through your parents every year and never have one ask questions about the way you do things.
If you have a self-contained homeroom of 20 students, that right there gives you up to 40 adults you’ll be talking to regularly about your classroom. All 40 of those adults have different educational experiences of their own they are bringing to the table. They have different backgrounds and levels of knowledge about what you’re actually doing. They have different understandings. That creates conflict.
But none of this has to be intimidating. When it comes to responding to emails (or really phone calls and in-person conferences, too!), I like to follow 4 steps to ensure that I advocate for myself and the student, while also building a relationship with the parent. Both should be your goal!
