Reflections on Parent Communication

Last night, at the end of the first week of school, I had the pleasure of reading through my first homework assignment for the year. It was an assignment that I had read about on numerous websites, and from several different people. I decided this year, that I was going to have my parents all respond to the following prompt: "Tell me about your child in 1 000 000 words or less."

WOW! I was amazed with all the answers! Of course, I don't plan on going into the specifics of what I read, but there was such a wealth of information. I will admit that I anticipated a large amount of parent bragging about how wonderful their child was, and how they could do no wrong. Boy, was I ever wrong! While each parent did praise their child (and rightfully so!) They were each very honest about strengths and weaknesses. The biggest thing I was surprised about was that if I took the names off of the assignments, I think after four mornings with these students, I could figure out which assignment belonged to which student! While there was definitely information that was helpful to me, it was also great to see that the parents and I were both looking at each child and seeing the same thing!

My next step is something I hadn't originally planned. After reading each assignment last night, and grinning from ear to ear, I knew that I couldn't just hold on to these answers that were so beautifully written. This required a response. Over the next few weeks, I am looking forward to calling home and thanking each parent for completing the assignment. This assignment had me so excited to see what's coming as the year progresses!

Also, as an added blog bonus, feel free to check out our classroom website, something else I'm very excited about!