Tristan Burke 1

How will you welcome and encourage every family to become active participants in the
classroom and school community?

● Place calls home to parent or guardian in each student’s household, to engage them
about what the course their child is enrolled in will be like. Clue parents/ guardians in to
course expectations when appropriate. Ask family member/ guardian if there is anything
that would be helpful to know about their child in order to provide the strongest learning
experience possible. Encourage family member/ guardian to reach out and contact by
any mode of communication most convenient for them moving forward with questions,
comments or concerns pertaining to their student/ child.
● Welcome parents by playing an easy theatre game with them followed by an overview of
the class/ syllabus (at a school sponsored open house or parent/guardian night during
which they follow their child’s schedule to meet each of their teachers) Parents would be
encouraged to ask questions or express concerns during/ after overview of course.
● In a theatre classroom depending on the comfort level/ availability of students
sometimes after-school or evening showcases will be organized and family and friends
of students will be invited to attend so that work done at school may be seen and
celebrated.
● All students and parents would receive information about extracurricular theatre
opportunities. Students could audition to act in school productions, or sign up to work on
technical elements, designs, or stage management.
● Parents would be offered chances to volunteer at after school events including
classroom showcases, school plays or other special events as ushers, concession
stand managers or otherwise.

How will you collaborate with families and communities to create and implement
strategies for supporting students learning and development both at home and at
school?

● Students signing classroom contracts will be asked to bring them home to be read over
and signed thereby asserting their awareness of the student’s agreement.
● Families/ Guardians will be regularly encouraged to attend and/or volunteer at after-
school theatre events so that students will be held more accountable for their work while
hopefully fostering an attitude of being excited and proud to present.
● Students may interview someone at home in order to build or create some kind of story
or play based on the true events of their life (focusing on either broader subjects or
specific memories/ stories).
● Additional Meetings/ calls of some kind will be scheduled on an individual basis if and
when students are struggling in class, either academically or behaviorally. Parents would
be asked to express any concerns or questions up front to potentially preempt more
circuitous correspondence.
Tristan Burke 2

● A monthly newsletter will be distributed either by some kind of educational network

platform (like Bloomz) or via email. This will be sent both to families/ guardians and
students and sometimes brief optional surveys will be attached to solicit feedback
regarding classroom practices, assignments, homework, extra-curricular theatre where
appropriate, etc.

How will you engage in regular, two-way, and culturally proficient communication with
families about student learning and performance?

● At the start of the school year, semester, or trimester pertinent information regarding
languages spoken at home, and/or by parents/families/guardians, will be acquired from
students. This will be helpful in aiming to provide all resources and/or information getting
sent home in multiple languages so that parents may stay in the loop. Feedback surveys
will also be translated if possible.
● I personally speak English, Spanish intermediately, and American Sign Language
proficiently. Practicing and expanding upon my current language skills is important to me
and is something that I feel would greatly improve relations with families speaking those
languages at home. When it is not possible to speak directly with parents/ families or
guardians about student progress, I will seek as many resources that are available to me
for translation, and/ or interpretation.
● Students will be invited to share and express themselves relative to their own families,
cultures, and languages in class and prompted/ encouraged to implement any aspect of
those things into the work that they do in theatre.
● Families may contact me at their greatest convenience with their preferred mode of
communication in their preferred language and I will do my best to accommodate them,
responding with the like as much as possible.
● At family invited events, they would be provided with the opportunity to submit written
feedback about what saw. This could function as way for parents to anonymously
contribute their thoughts about performances and showcases.