I just got done reading the article The Power of the Positive Phone Call Home (http://www.edutopia.org/blog/power-positive-phone-call-home-elena-aguilar) and I found it really interesting. It actually contains some of the best advice I think I've heard for aspiring teachers, and it's incredibly simple: call your students parents and tell them what they've done good that day. The author says that simply doing that can make the difference between a completely unmanagable school year, and a great one.
I've always been a big believer in positive reinforcement while working with children, and my Behavioral Management class (probably my favorite education class so far) drilled into my head the idea of catching kids being good. The teacher who wrote this article takes it a step furthur though, by bringing the kids parents into it. So many parents are used to only getting phone calls when their child is misbehaving, it must be amazing for them to hear the good things instead. And I can only imagine how much it would boost the self esteem for the children as well, especially the ones who don't get to give their parents good news very often.
Another reason this idea works so well is because, as a teacher, it's extremely important to have good relationships with the family of your students. How are you supposed to connect with a child if their family either doesn't care about their education, or doesn't have faith in you to teach them what they need to learn? By doing this you show the parents that their student isn't just one of many in your mind; you're paying attention to them and noticing the positive things they do and the way that they're growing. If you only approach parents when something is going wrong with their child, they may have trouble trusting that you want that student to succeed or that you're really paying attention to them as an individual.
After reading this article, I know that this is definately something I plan on doing in my future classrooms.
This is an amazing tool I will hopefully remember in the future it's so true though!!. My work study job last year in a Kindergarten classroom teacher did this; but she did it for good and bad behavior. Kind of like a "checking in" type thing.
ReplyDeleteIn fact; they even had the child call home saying he was doing good some days from the office/classroom phone. The way it lights up their face is unforgettable =]
I think that this a good idea but it could be time consuming depending on how often you plan on calling the parents. I could see the teacher calling the student's parents when they do something really great in the classroom but if we call to much the parents may get annoyed with it. Positive reinforcement is a great thing so it is extremely important to do this with our students. Complimenting the students should be a daily thing while talking to the teachers should be a weekly or bi-weekly thing. I agree with your statement about have a strong relationship with the students parents as well. They should feel comfortable and confident with having us teach their students.
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