I am wondering how often you all contact home about student progress? I try to email or call parents of students who are failing, but it is not always something that I am very good or regular about. Usually about a week before I need to update the Student Intervention Database I make my emails and calls, but it takes a lot of energy and time and I don’t always get responses from parents. I also don’t always notice a difference in how students are performing in my class. I know that I need to contact home but sometimes I get very frustrated with the process. I occasionally feel like parents and teachers care more about a student’s grade than the student does.
Even though I get frustrated with this, I do “get” that being a parent must be so hard at times. I have had many conversations w/ parents who say that they check in with their children about homework and grades but that their kids don’t always tell them the truth. I would like to find a way to make sure that I keep parents informed, but that I also have students take more responsibility for their grade.
Do you send grade print-offs home? I’ve thought that having the students physically bring home their grade print-off and having a conversation with their parents is good because the students are then more apart of the process. I have a handful of students who are not passing English 10 right now. I have sent emails home and have made phone calls, but these students have not pulled up their grades. This week I think I will try having the students bring their grade print-offs home to their parents. I plan on also including a note about the final unit that is coming up and the work that parents should see their students working on.
Has anyone found a method that really works with keeping parents informed and student’s involved in the process?
GOOD POST. I think that all teachers struggle with this, I know that I do. I often send grade updates home with students and expect them to be signed and returned. I stress why I do it as well. I tell them that it is a way to regularly have a conversation with their parents about school and particularly their science class. I also tell them that it is my way to ensure that parents are aware of where they are academically in science.
ReplyDeleteI have a little bit of a different situation between the junior high and high school. Since I am teaching PAWS bio this semester at the high school. I have a total of 25 students between the 2 hours that I teach there. This makes it fairly manageable to contact home. I have the problem of certain parents never answering my emails or phone calls. It is so sad to know that there are students who have absolutely no support from parents. The student intervention database definitely gives me push to make contacts if I have let too much time go by.
At the junior high, we are expected to make contact home for students with D's or F's. I use the progress reports that I send home as a way to do this. I will call or email parents of students with D's or F's if they did not return the grade slip. This cuts down the number of emails that I have to send and calls that I have to make immensely. Often times parents will email me after they have seen a progress report with questions, but it is much easier to answer and email than to send one.
Also, Nora, the directory feature in iCue is awesome. I use it to send generic emails about when progress reports are sent home, upcoming projects and tests, etc. I have gotten a lot of positive feedback from parents about the emails that I have been sending. It is a fairly quick and easy way to keep up communication with parents.
Nora, I know the feeling. I used to be really good about sending home notes to parents of students who were doing really well and call those who were struggling. I, too, want to do it more but between trying to make the lesson engaging and go between two schools - it falls to lesser priority and I know it shouldn't. I have sent grade reports home with students and told them to have them signed by their parents. Still, the students who struggle don't always return them - I really like Gwynne's about sending the reports home and then calling those who don't return them. I really like using iCue as a way to communicate major tests/projects coming up to parents as well.
ReplyDeleteI've had good luck with email but a lot of times I find parents also don't know how to motivate their student either. I've also noticed that the struggling students tend to really struggle with organization as well.
Some students are AWESOME at keeping up with their own grade progress on Schoolview - to the point they are asking me when I will update their missing/late work. Sometimes, the students who are struggling don't seem to use that as a tool to help them stay organized with their assignments which affects their grade.
I have a little different perspective on this topic. I know general ed teachers work with approx 150 students in 2-4 different classes (Ex. Eng 10 and World Lit). I think it always comes back to time. I think all teachers know that it's important to contact parents when students are failing because even if the majority of parents don't get back to you or don't follow through with your suggestions, hopefully some of them do and for those students it is worth it! I do weekly grade checks with all of my students during SAS. When they are failing I immediately talk to the student to see if they understand why they are failing, what they can do to bring it up, and the resources that are available to them. If they aren't able to make changes and their grade(s) stay in the F range I email parents, but I don't always know why they are failing their general education classes. I can tell if they have missing assignments and have low test scores, but I don't see what they do/don't do during class or what part of the test they typically struggle with, so I don't feel that I can give an accurate explaination to parents like their teacher could. I often act as liason between parents and general ed teachers, which is part of my job, but it sometimes puts me in an awkward position if I'm contacting them rather than the teacher of the class they're failing. I can tell you that as a special education teacher, it is very helpful to me when teachers are able to contact parents about failing grades. I also really appreciate being copied on those emails so I can back you up!
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