Educators value the involvement and support of parents, guardians, families and communities in schools.
Communication with parents and families is key to creating a community that best supports your students. During practicum 490 was the first time I was able to reach out to any parents. Both of the first two practicums were fairly short and so I was not able to attend any parent teacher meetings. However, during my second practicum I did make sure I sent out a newsletter prior to being in the class teaching. I felt that it was important that the parents had an idea of who I was and who would be teaching their children for the next 4 weeks. My coaching teacher said the parents appreciated this and that they felt more comfortable with a student teacher coming in mid may to teach their children. I felt that this further developed my understanding of how important these relationships are and how many parents want to be part of the community that surrounds their child and their child’s learning. Moving forward I plan to value these parent-teacher relationships and to use them to help enhance each of my students learning.
