Mod 7 - Communicating with Families

Explore the Ontario Teachers’ Federation’s Parent Engagement site.

Read Part 1: The Importance of Effective Teacher-Parent-Student

Communication (pp. 2–4) in Reporting Student Learning: Guidelines for
Effective Teacher-Parent-Student Communication (2010) from of the
Ontario Ministry of Education.

Read the Community Relations section (pp. 7–9) in Ensuring Student

Success: Antiracism Indicators for An Antiracist School from the York
Region District School Board, reflecting on the antiracism indicators
related to partnerships between the school and the community.

Identify the following:

● two ways you currently (or would like to) engage and communicate
with parents and guardians to build positive ongoing relationships
with them
● one change in your practice you’ll implement to strengthen these
relationships

Weekly updates - I think this one is pretty uncommon at the secondary level, however I send my
parents a weekly update informing them of what the students learned in class that week, briefly
list what we will be doing in the coming week and any upcoming evaluations for that week (i.e.
assignments, labs, presentations, etc.). This keeps the parents informed so they can engage
with their children about what they are doing in class, ask them questions about what they've
learned, and are informed about any evaluations so that they can follow-up with their child to
make sure they are preparing. This also means it's less of a surprise when I call them and say
that their child missed X assignment. I've heard from parents that they appreciate this
communication.

Struggling students - This is common no matter what grade level or demographic, there will
always be struggling students for various reasons. Students may struggle for academic reasons
(i.e. ELL, LD, etc.) or personal reasons because of work/extracurricular commitments, family life
and other reasons. When I see students struggling I will always approach the student first to
ask why and establish a plan to help them be successful. If this doesn't work then I will send an
email or call the parents/guardians to discuss further. So far this has always resolved the issue
and we've been able to support the student in being successful.
One change in your practice you’ll implement to strengthen these relationships:

After completing the equity and inclusion module I would like to involve my parents more in the
classroom by having them get involved with the class and being able to share their culture or
experiences. I'm not sure what or how this would look like, but I think it would be great to involve
them. There may be parents out there that work in careers related to science that they can
present to the class, or maybe they have cultural knowledge that's relevant to our science units
they can share.