Strengthening Caretaker-Teacher Communication

This one goes out to new teachers, and those of us who need the reminder.

I used to stress out about having to make caretaker contact. I would put it off as long as possible, have everyone around me read my email before I sent it to make sure it sounded OK (which I still do, but I’ve gotten more comfortable with what and how I say things), and BCC everyone above me just to CMA.

Why is it so intimidating? Usually, it’s the content of the call. Oftentimes the only time we reach out to caretakers is when something is wrong. “Johnny was talking too much”. “Jane was on her phone”. “Jax hasn’t turned work in for weeks”.

Teachers are getting so much better at reaching out to share the positive things about their students. It’s amazing to see what that can do for a teacher’s relationship with the students. When I had a Friday end of day planning period, I would try to call at least one caretaker to compliment their student, and it was always a great way to end my week, and a great way for the student to start their weekend.

That kind of contact is great! I think we can build a foundation at the beginning of the year to make even the troublesome calls less scary to make.

About a week before class, I send out an email to all the caretakers of my students, and I CC the students as well. In it, I lay out my core expectations:

• “Don’t distract yourself or others”
• “Ask questions when the teacher has confused you”
• “Ask questions when the teacher has confused you”

I tell caretakers that these are the things I believe will help make class the best for everyone involved, and I need their support in making sure expectations are met. I may also include a little bit about my background (I’m still new-ish to the community so I want them to know who I am). Also included, a statement on my belief of how important teacher, caretaker, student communication is.

Finally in the email I ask caretakers to respond with a simple message letting me know they received the message. For those who don’t by the end of the first week or so of school I try to either send a personal email, call, ask the student to update contact info. This is a lot of work, I know. Remember though, you can use the BCC function to reply to multiple people and the recipient list is hidden. Regardless of who you do and do not get in contact with, record it. COPY Caretaker Contact Form.

It’s also in this email I tell caretakers about my cellphone policy, since it might be different than others in the building. I tell them that students will be asked to put their phones in our phone holder before class starts. Of course there are exceptions from time to time and we can discuss those on a case by case basis. Surprisingly, last year caretakers were overwhelmingly supportive (now I just have to do my part and be consistent so it works).

So, you’ve done your foundational work of making sure that some form of contact is established. What now? What if I have to contact a caretaker about a student disrupting class, or not meeting class expectations?

This is where I want to put onus on students. If I have done a decent job at explaining what a productive class looks likes to students I’m going to ask them to reflect. Depending on how they contributed to lack of productivity I’ll ask students to email their caretaker, and CC me, outlining how they could have made class better. It would be worth noting that you should probably read the email before they send it.

When I follow up with the caretaker (CC’ing/BCC’ing admin depending on severity) I always use this phrase “I’m worried that (x action) is preventing student (and/or others) from taking full advantage of class”.

After all, we are teachers. We CARE if students are learning. We should lead every conversation about students with that lens. Caretakers Also care if their student is learning. They don’t want to hear a compliment sandwich. Those sound fake.

If we can make it clear that it’s the students learning that we are focused on, not just controlling them, I think we can make some strides in caretaker-teacher-student and make steps in bettering education.

Something else I try to do, even if I fail sometimes, is to send out a mass email once a month or so that is very simple: “These are the topics we’ve been talking about recently, ask your student about it!” Or “We started FVR, ask your student about what they’ve been reading”. Just simple conversation starters FOR caretakers to talk to their student about what’s going on. Personally, I know my dad HATED when I said “I dont know” in response to him asking me what I learned at school but that is SUCH a big question and I didn’t know how to answer! Give caretakers tools to help build relationships with their students as well as let them know what is going on.