Communication Plan

To begin the year, I will send out a letter to each parent/guardian. I will invite
parents to attend an open-house meeting; this will allow me to get to know the students
parents/guardians before the academic process begins. There will be a clue me in! form
attached to each of the letters that I send out to invite parents to open-house. This form
will make it easy for me to figure out what my students are interested in and what gets
them e"cited. #y goal is to make it a personal meeting where they feel like they get a
better picture of what Im like and what my classroom is like. I am certain that I will
always have parents that cannot make the meeting, and I understand that. $fter the
meeting, I will put together a packet of all the hand-outs from the meeting and I will
include a letter that is sent home with the student. I want the parents who are unable to
attend to still be included.
%uring the school year, at the beginning of a unit, I plan to send home a parent
letter e"plaining our new unit and what I hope to accomplish in the unit. This will give
parents an opportunity to see what their child is learning about during the year. $t the end
of a unit, I will send home the students papers in an envelope with a criti&ue stapled to
the outside of the envelope. 'arents will be able to review the criti&ue, make comments,
and return the envelope. (tudents will be encouraged to keep their papers once their
parents have viewed them. If I do not receive the envelope back within a week, I will
email or call the parent to make sure they have received it, and I will re&uest that they
return it with feedback. I want to be sure that each parent is aware of how their child is
doing in my class. )pdating parents following each unit lets them see the whole picture;
rather than getting bits and pieces sent home out of conte"t, they receive a final picture of
what the unit was about, how their child participated in the lessons, and what their child
got out of the entire unit.
*hen problems arise in my class with a student, I will first attempt to contact the
parents via email. If this does not work, I will call the parents and re&uest a conference. I
feel that it is best to speak to parents face-to-face when I cannot find a solution to a
students problem. I will also be sure to address what the student does correctly in the
classroom; I will never make a negative comment without following up with a positive
comment.
In the case that a child does e"traordinarily well in my class, I will be sure to
praise them; I will do so with a handwritten letter to the parents, an email, or a phone call.
I aim to reward those who do a great +ob, and encourage them to keep up the good work.
It is important to me that parent communication is not solely to complain! about a
students performance. ,o one wants to hear that their child is not doing well in school,
but sometimes it is necessary. -owever, students should also be given attention for the
positive that they do; not +ust the negative.
In addition to email, conferences, and phone calls, I will also communicate with
parents via my *eebly page. It will contain links to help students with units, and it will
also provide parents with an open view into my classroom. $lso, I will set up the .emind
application with students and parents; this allows me to send out a &uick te"t reminding
students and parents of upcoming events, due dates, and conferences. /astly, if I am
unable to reach a parent after trying everything mentioned above, I will reach out to the
administration for help; however, this is a last resort.