Strategies for Cultivating Strong Relationships with Students' Families by Meredith Morelle

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Multi cultural night - families sign up for a table

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Volunteer together as a group or have a group activity to do with parents or parents to do together

Strategy

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Sharing student work and successes with parents before discussing more difficult areas.

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Call every parent and give them an opportunity to ask questions and share anything they find important.

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Positive notes home

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Shout outs in class newsletters and why they deserve the shout out

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Explain to the parents why you are asking certain questions; don’t assume they’ll understand why.

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Sending photos to families each week and sharing an anecdote

Strategy

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Sending messages home when one of my students has a “win” not just when there is an issue

Weekly classroom updates on parent square

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Connect with a family and ask them how they think it’s going. What is their kid coming home saying about the day and how they are feeling about it.

Using language line or translator so families hear your words in their own language

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Communicate with parents at events (Glad-to-Ceta night or community meet-ups)

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Meeting with families in the setting that is most comfortable to them. This is typically their home, but could be anywhere, this changes up the power balance.

Authentic Relationships

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Allow parents to talk, a lot of times they just need to be heard! Leave space for them to share, many times they instantly feel better, even with no input from us.

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Home visits, classroom newsletters, positive notes home, photos of student, calls, texts: open lines of communication

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Sharing personal experiences with parents and showing vulnerability-- sometimes, the parents we work alongside don't realize that we, too, are parents and human.

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Share a quick story about the student in the classroom

Connecting to families in small ways when they pick up after school

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Share photo

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Share a photo of student at school with parents at start of meeting

Developing authentic relationships

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The community outings that we do allow for a safe space. We get to know the parents in a place that they feel comfortable.

In parent teacher conferences, I would teach/model how they can support their child at home rather than assuming they know what to do it. This helped to break down barriers and show parents that teachers and parents are a team.

Positivity

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Give more positive feedback in communication throughout the year. Making it a norm to communicate when their child does a good job vs. contacting families for negative or behavorial and academic concerns only

Inviting students to share about their culture.

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A student of the week award to recognize positives. Students bring back the decorated award which helps me get to know more about them.

Morning Meeting

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Have conversations with the caregiver that student might have said. (Ex. I have a new puppy, sibling, or vacation)

School wide rope where each family creates a section and they all get tied together-maybe do this several evenings or afternoons and families can meet in a “safe” space

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Provide opportunities for diverse families to meet each other in a fun and non threatening environment with programs or classroom events

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Sending pictures through parent square of students learning and activities to make connections with families.

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Knowing caregivers name/relationship to student and greeting them outside of the classroom by name

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Team building activities that are not academic focused. Exploring ideas and having go to activities ready for team building that is nonverbal or highlights personal strengths, bilingual strengths, etc.

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Communicate using Parentsquare for positive feedback about students.

Share a funny moment of the student

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Weekly Recap Newsletter

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Every week I type a narrative of what we learned in school with a questions families can ask their child. I always get a lot of positive feedback, saying that they never know what their child is doing in school, and having the specifics is helpful for them to engage in talking about school with their kid. And including photos whenever I can.

Mother/son

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father/duggter

Dances

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Playing non skill games like Candyland in class

Language Line

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A phone call with expert interpreter can go a long way to connecting with parents and caregivers

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Taking time at pick-up to share a mini celebration with a parent. Can be an example of how a student met their goal or felt successful completing an assignment.

katiealonso — 2024-09-09 20:00:24 UTC

My team made glow and grow portfolios for each student preparing for conferences- the student would share the work they were proud of first- it was fun to see how proud even the shiest students were to show their work. The parents asked more questions about the class. Proving to the families how I have their students' back and that we appreciate their support.

Having activities for siblings at conferences also brought ease to a lot of families who seemed worried.

I also tried to talk to parents at dismissal and connect with them outside of the classroom.

Parent Input on Homework:

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Involve parents in homework design by considering their language skills or home environment. For multilingual families, allow homework that can be completed in their native language and provide guidance on how they can support their child's learning at home.