The Importance of Teacher-Parent Relationships

As a teacher it is not only a responsibility to guide the students, but it is also a responsibility to guide the parents. Maintaining an organized and positive relationship between a teacher and a parent is a super beneficial habit to obtain. When parents gain your trust, they will feed their children with positive thoughts about you as their teacher. Also, by keeping in touch with parents regularly and frequently contacting them, parents will feel confident when sending their children to school. 

Parent Teacher Communication

One strategy of keeping parents in the loop of what is happening in the classroom, is by publishing a classroom website. According to research done at Fresno Pacific University, “A classroom website offers a smart way for teachers to integrate technology into the classroom”. A personal classroom website does not only display professionalism, but it can help curious parents view what is being taught in the classroom, activities their children have participated in, and any important information they need to know. 

For younger children, a great strategy that was used in my elementary school was sending kids home with a journal with handwritten notes from the teachers. This is a great option that does not involve technology but is very meaningful to parents. These journal entries can easily keep parents updated on how their child is performing and parents also have the opportunity to send messages back and forth with their children’s teachers.

One last strategy to help maintain a positive and inclusive teacher parent relationship is by creating a Teacherkit classroom page. Teacherkit is a productivity classroom app that easily allows communication between teachers and parents. On this app, teachers can track attendance, post announcements, and send personal messages to parents. This is perfect for teachers that prefer texting as a communication tool rather than email or other strategies. This is also a more instant option than sending journal entries or waiting for a website submission to be posted.

Relationships between parents and teachers is such an important factor to consider when leading a classroom. Parents will often have just as many questions as students, maybe even more. By responsibility staying on top of these relationships, parents can easily support their children and will be more comfortable with who their children are learning from. 

The Importance of Classroom Management

Following a daily routine is an extremely effective way of bettering your life. For example, If you wanted to start reading more, you would start to incorporate reading time into your daily routine. Classroom Management is a very similar topic to following a daily routine. Children's minds are constantly adapting and changing, by sticking to a routine in a classroom setting, it can help regulate kids behavior to stay on task for the entire school day. A solid and steady management system in a classroom will ensure the school day runs smoothly, which is otherwise hard to achieve when in charge of several little learners. According to the Classroom Management page on the National education website, "Managing the behavior, social emotional, and learning needs of 30 or more students is one of the biggest challenges most educators face." For example, if everyday from 8:00 AM to 8:30 AM a teacher has a morning meeting, the children will know what to expect when entering the classroom and they will prepare for the morning meeting without needing teacher direction.

Example of an organized classroom

Strategy also plays a big role into building effective classroom management routines. For example after lunch, children tend to be energized and excited from spending time with their friends. This is why many schools hold recess immediately after lunch in order to let the kids burn some energy before having to settle down and get back to work. Balance is also important when considering effective ways of classroom management. If a teacher is constantly jumping from academics to more academics, children will lose interest quickly and not stay engaged. This is why it is important to be inclusive to reading time, specials, show and tell, and more creative outlets for children to take a mental break. Classroom management is one of the most important factors that plays into being a successful teacher. Having a clear and consistent classroom routine inclusive to strategy, organization, and balance, is the most practical system a teacher could follow to ensure smooth flowing school days.