Family Communication Plan

Communication is the exchange of thoughts, messages, ideas, and information. An exceptional teacher effectively communicates with not only with school officials and students, but also with parent(s) or guardian(s). This information exchange is essential to the well being and academic success of students. Outlining an effective communication plan to be used with parent(s) or guardian(s) will help to establish a necessary rapport fundamental to student success. The key to a successful plan requires the teacher to attend to student detail, diversity, and methods of keeping parent(s) or guardian(s) informed about student progress academically and behaviorally.

There exist many employable methods to keep the avenues of teacher parent(s) or guardian(s) communication open. This first step is a parental open house. The teacher has the opportunity to introduce him/herself to the parent(s) or guardian(s) and answer any questions. The parent(s) or guardian(s) can also schedule a meeting with the teacher for more focused information exchange pertaining to the individual student. Handouts and letters can be distributed to the parent(s) or guardian(s) at this time about classroom policies, expectations, rules, regulations and consequences. In addition, the teacher should also add an e-mail address and phone number for further contact. If a parent(s) or guardian(s) does not attend the open house, a call should be place and appropriate information sent for review.

An issue adding difficulty to the information exchange is diversity. There exists a very diverse population of students within schools in the United States today. It is the duty and obligation of the teacher to ensure all parent(s) or guardian(s) receive and understand all classroom information and letters. To effectively combat miscommunication or no communication, teachers can present the material to the parent(s) or guardian(s) thorough a variety of methods. One method would require the teacher to write the school information in another language understood by the parent(s) or guardian(s). By doing this, the teacher can be sure the parent(s) or guardian(s) fully understands all aspects of the classroom. Interpreters can be utilized during conferences or open house activities to rely student information to the parent(s) or guardian(s) with ease. Utilizing the student as an interpreter can also bridge diversity between the teacher and parent(s) or guardian(s).

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