Heather Schryver 1

Communication and Collaboration:

A. Family Communication
As a teacher, it is important to effectively communicate with the family members of
the students throughout the course of the entire year. Having a school-home connection is
important to be sure that the students are receiving all of the guidance that they need to be
successful. There are several different ways to create family communication.
One effective way of communication is sending an introduction letter home with the
student at the beginning of the year. This opens up a friendly atmosphere and is a
welcoming invite to the parents. The parents are able to get to know the teacher, and they
will feel more comfortable with the teacher.
Another effective of communicating with the childs home is through e-mail. This
can be an on-going process throughout the entire year. This will show the parents that you
care about the students success, as well as you want to help the student as much as
possible. Having a personal conversation with the parents about the childs grades,
behaviour, or day-to-day well-being will keep the parents informed. The parents may even
keep the teacher informed on how the child is doing at home.
Newsletters can also be very beneficial in a classroom. Weekly or even monthly
newsletters sent home will keep the parents informed on what is currently happening or
what is coming up within the classroom and the school itself. If there is an assembly, or
field day coming up, the newsletter should state that. The newsletter may even include
the birthdays of the students that month. It can include the lunch menu, so that the
students and parents know what they will be having each day.
One last way of effectively communicating with the home of the students is daily
behaviour logs. This is mostly only effective for the students with behaviour issues, and

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should only be completed on those students. This holds the students accountable for their
behaviour throughout the day, as well as informs the parents of how the students are acting.
B. Communication/Collaboration with Colleagues
It is also highly important to communicate with colleagues. This includes
communication with other teachers on grade-level and not on grade level, administrators,
staff, and even community members. Having communication throughout the school and the
community keeps everybody up to date and holds them accountable for what is happening.
One way of communicating with colleagues is to inform the lunch-room staff (in
writing/e-mail) about upcoming field trips. The lunch-room staff runs on a time-frame and it
is important to inform them as soon as possible. They are required to make arrangements
for the students to have lunch, even if they are not on the school campus. At Ninety-Six
Elementary School, it is required to inform the lunch-room staff of a field trip at least two
weeks prior to the trip. This gives them adequate time to prepare arrangements for the
students that still desire to eat school lunch that day.
Another way of communicating with colleagues is to work as a grade-level to plan
lessons. This would require weekly grade-level meetings. The teachers would have to
prepare lesson plans (of their content area) and explain the plans in detail during these
meetings. This is a form of verbal communication. This could also include e-mailing lesson
plans.
It is important to also communicate with the community. One way that this could be
done is to write a letter to the fire department and ask them to visit and give a speech to the
students about fire safety. There is a designated week for fire safety, in the United States,
and it would be a great experience and memorable for the students to have fire fighters visit
the school.

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Dear Shannon Fire Department,

08/29/2014

As you know, the week of October 6th through October 10th is fire safety week. I am a fourth
grade teacher at Shannon Elementary School and have several students that want to be fire fighters
when they grow up. I have talked with my colleagues and my school principal and think that it would
be very beneficial to have a few of your fire fighters come in at some point during this week and talk
with the students about fire safety. You could give the students tips and instructions about what to
do if there is a fire. You could even talk with the students about what it is like to be a fire fighter (as
several students in the class are interested in that).
Please let me know if you are interested in speaking with the students. They would love it,
and so would I! You can contact me via e-mail (123456@yahoo.com) or by phone at (864)123-456
Thank you for your hard work and dedication.
Sincerely,

Ms. Heather Schryver

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Dear Parents/Guardians,

September 2014

My name is Heather Schryver and I am a senior Elementary Education major at Lander

University. I am so excited that I am given the opportunity to work with your child in Mrs. Giberts
classroom this fall. I will be in the classroom on Tuesdays and Thursdays until Thanksgiving break.
This will give me a great deal of experience working with 4th grade. I will be teaching several lessons
to the class, and I will be working one-on-one with many of the students throughout this time. This is
my third clinical placement, one was in first grade and one was in fifth grade. I have also tutored
grades kindergarten through fifth for the past three years.
I was born and spent most of my childhood in rural Illinois. I then moved to Montgomery,
Alabama, followed by Anderson, South Carolina, where I spent my high school years. My very first
day of kindergarten, my teacher gave us each a sheet of paper and asked us to draw what we wanted
to be when we grew up I drew a teacher. I have held onto that dream ever since. My parents have
instilled in me that learning is important and can be exciting, and I want to be able to inspire students
to hold this same belief.
I have attached a video consent form to this letter. Please fill this out and return it back to
school with your child. As a requirement for Lander, I have to videotape several of my lessons. I am
really looking forward to getting to know and grow with your child this fall. Thank you again for this
opportunity.
Sincerely,

Heather Schryver