Week 7 Reflection

Week 7: What part do parents play in their children’s education?  How can you enlist their help? How would you handle making a difficult phone call to a parent?

            I feel that parents play a pivotal role in their children’s education. I can provide instruction in the 70 minutes I see the students, but without parent support and encouragement, I cannot ensure that assignments and studying is completed at home. When parents support their students, the students become much more responsible about school work. To enlist parent help, I keep my course website as up to date as possible so that parents, along with students, are aware of important due dates in the course that their students should be working toward. I also make sure to communicate with parents of at-risk students frequently so that I can be sure they know about important due dates that their students cannot miss. I also keep them informed of their students’ progress so that they can discuss the course with their students in an informed matter. I have found that by beginning email communication with parents in a pleasant manner that compliments and the student,

            I have to make two difficult phone calls to parents so far. One was about a student who cheated on a homework assignment, and one was about a student who may not pass the course. The first phone call made me very nervous because I thought the parent might not believe me. But luckily the call went very well and the parent was very supportive of my disciplinary actions. The support of my master teacher made me very prepared for this phone call, and it went quite well. The second phone call led to a voice mail informing the parent of the student’s updated grade. The parent called back when both my master teacher and I were gone. She left a bit of a hostile message, which prompted my master teacher to call her back instead. However, when informed of the entire situation the parent was much more understanding and appreciative of the update. I have found that interactions with most parents go smoothly, as long as I am prepared and as informed of the individual situation as possible.