The other day while out running I was reflecting on my sons and their experiences in school. Specifically, I was thinking about how I have rarely had a teacher reach out to say something nice about either of my sons. Yes, my kids are not perfect and one of them does like to occasionally push teachers’ buttons. Yet, I think they are pretty good kids and have a lot of positive qualities. As my sons are finishing 5th and 7th grade this year, I can count on one hand how many times a teacher has reached out just to share something good. The more I thought about it, the most it bothered me.
As I got to school that day, I fired up my email and sent off 5 messages to parents of my current students. Each one of them was just a quick message about why I have enjoyed working with their student lately. One was thanking a parent for encouraging their child to be such an avid reader as it makes my job so much easier. Another was to share with a parent how their child has become really good at digital fabrication and is making some really cool things on our 3D printers. In all, it took me less than 15 minutes to send the 5 emails.
Parents are far too often only in communication with a school when something has gone wrong. How can we shift this? How can you make positive communication the norm? As I know many teachers are winding down their school year, this is the perfect time to reach out to parents. It’s never too late. I’m sure you have some awesome kids in your schools and classrooms and their parents would love to hear that from you. 🙂