High-Leverage Practice 3: Collaborate

I am going to discuss High-Leverage Practices as mentioned on the CEC website organized around four aspects of practice. I hope you will join in the conversation!

“HLP3 -  Collaborate with families to support student learning and secure needed services.”

Working with families is an important step to ensuring student success.

I start out the year by contacting all of the families within the first 2 days of school. I introduce myself, share some basics, and give them my contact phone number. If teachers do not want to give their personal phone number, they can always use a Google Voice number or other free online options. This helps open the lines of communication between us.

I also want to impress on the family that their input is important. We need to work as a team in order to help the student and that it is our teamwork that will help the student succeed.

I ask the family what strategies they use at home that might work in the classroom. Having consistent strategies may help the student at school. If I find a strategy that works at school, I let the family know what I’m doing and how it helps the student.

I try to call the family on a regular basis. Usually, during the first quarter, I call every other week. I like to brag about their child, and this is a good time to do this. If I do have a problem, they are usually more receptive and less defensive because I’ve called so often with good news. After the first quarter, I might call once a month if all is going well but if I see the student needing more positive reinforcement, I may call more often.

Sometimes if I think the student needs a positive boost or does something especially successful, I will make a special call to the parent right in front of the student. The students love this, and it helps others work harder for their own special phone call.

How do you collaborate with families? Please share.

Photo by Nathan Anderson on Unsplash