Build Trusting Relationships

"The face teachers and principals think they show to the community may be very different from the face individual families see when they come to your school" (p. 18). As an educator, how can you change? How can you develop a trusting relationship with the families of your students? According to JoBeth Allen, there are many ways to demonstrate your faithfulness to your classroom and its students.

Explore Ways Families Build Community

Issue multiple invitations. As teachers begin to send out invitations to an Open House or beginning of the year meeting, they find that not every family will respond. For whatever reason they may not be responding, be respectful but persistent. Send out many encouraging invitations with

A welcoming open-door policy

Home-school weekly journals

Flexible parent-teacher conferences 

Home visits

Weekly positive phone calls

You may also consider to;

Send a letter to the child before school starts. Write to each student telling them what you have been doing all summer. If you went camping, draw a picture of yourself camping. Then, ask the students to write you a letter about what they have done that summer.

"Tell Me About Your Child." In the beginning of the year, write to the parents/guardians of each child and ask them to tell you about their child. According to Allen, this has been a very successful exercise as parents will pour out their hopes, insights, advice and anxieties pertaining to their children and school (p. 20). 

Act to Build Relationships

When thinking about the next step, start with what you have been doing and revise what hasn't worked, or amp up what has. Individual teachers may invite parents or other family members to a "getting-to-know-you-conference." School faculties or parent-teacher councils may study the purpose, structure and effectiveness of current Open House events or plan other events such as Community Walks or Family Diversity Days. 

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