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Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain,

Using the Responsive Classroom Approach to Support ALL Students

Ensuring that all our students are academically engaged is our highest priority as educators. We want to teach our students the skills needed to creatively engage with content while becoming critical thinkers— to be effective communicators and problem-solvers while successfully collaborating with their peers. These are skills our students will…

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Cultivating a Classroom that Represents Students

Strategies for Cultivating a Classroom That Represents Students

Imagine walking into a family member’s home and seeing your photograph on the mantel, or being in class and hearing your professor use a cultural reference you connect with. These experiences make us feel like valued members of a community. This is the way students feel when they see images…

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Circle activity

Strengthening Your Community: Continuing to Connect with Students and Families

Recently, as I was returning a rental car, the associate behind the desk asked me an all-too-familiar question: “How was everything?” Without very much thought, I smiled and provided my routine answer: “Everything was fine.” She then asked me, “Is there anything that you feel we could do better?” I…

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Teacher and Family

Valuing Cultural Norms That Differ From Your Own

Black History Month is an opportunity for us as educators not only to teach students about historic contributors to our American history, but also to help students experience and find value in different cultures. This important work of raising awareness and appreciation shouldn’t be confined to one month; rather, we…

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Parent Meeting

Communicating with Families: Operating from a Place of Empathy

It was the morning of the first day of school and for the first time in four years, I was preparing my daughter to attend a school where I was not one of the teachers. She was wondering many of the same things I was wondering: Would she like her…

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Parents and teachers

Having Effective, Affirming, and Energizing Conversations with Families

Every interaction we have (or don’t have) with parents does, to some degree, reflect how much we value families’ input and the extent to which we see caregivers as our partners in educating their children. Conversations with families can be powerful vehicles for bringing the sixth guiding principle of Responsive…

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Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Building Bridges

Taking time to get to know parents sends an important message: We’re a team with a shared goal of helping students have a successful school year. Plus, parents have invaluable insight that can help us better meet students’ learning needs. Forging strong connections with parents is an ongoing process—and it…

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Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

How to Talk With Parents about Cliques and Exclusion

Early in the school year, share with parents school and class expectations related to exclusion. You could do this in a letter or at back-to-school night. Give them a broad understanding of why inclusion matters and how it helps every child develop better social-emotional and academic skills. Also, share with…

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Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

What to Say to Parents Now

I can't begin to describe how important the exchanges I've had with my children's teachers and principal have been to me this week. At various times, each of them reached out to let me and other school families know that all was well at school and with our children, and…

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Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

More Resources for Educators and Parents

Links in this post were last updated February 15, 2018 Our appreciation for social media grew quite a bit when we asked "Educators, how was the day?" on the Responsive Classroom Facebook page on Monday afternoon, and over 100 people responded. We were so glad to hear from you! Your stories…

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Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Parent Outreach for Busy Leaders

Teachers are encouraged to reach out early and often to their students' parents and families, and with good reason. If children are to succeed at school, teachers need to get to know and establish genuine partnerships with families. But what about school leaders? Shouldn't school leaders, too, be proactive in…

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Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Talking with Parents about Problems

Conversations about a child who is struggling in school are stressful for parents and teachers. Both parties may experience feelings of anger, fear, frustration, and confusion, along with a sense of inadequacy, as they try to talk about challenges a child is facing. I recently experienced this myself when my…

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Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

What Parents Wish Teachers Knew

Recently, I had the exciting opportunity to be interviewed by Katie Couric in the ABC studio in New York City for her weekly online video series, Katie's Take. The topic: "What Teachers Wish Parents Knew." While getting ready for the interview, I found myself thinking about a related topic: "What…

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Ever Feel Misunderstood?

I've been thinking about the communication gap that sometimes exists between parents and teachers and how we can narrow it. For example, has this ever happened to you? A teacher offers advice on an issue a child is having, and the parent hears it as veiled criticism. The parent offers…

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Extraordinary Acts

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the amazing things teachers do, often almost without thinking. While working on my latest project, a book about behavior challenges, I've been interviewing some experienced teachers about how they managed challenging situations over the years. I've been moved to tears by stories of…

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Communicating with Parents

To teach well, we must know children well, and parents can help us do that better than anyone. Parents can share knowledge of their child’s strengths and challenges, unique perspectives, and other invaluable insights. Parents can also support their child’s learning at home. When we let parents know what’s being…

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School-Home Communication Strategies

As educators, we know that communication between school and home is hugely important to a child’s success in school. When school leaders, teachers, and other school staff respect parents* and share information with them openly and frequently, parents are more likely to trust and work with the school to support…

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Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Holiday Celebrations

Winter holiday celebrations! They're such a big part of American school life. But as our schools grow more diverse, traditional celebrations can leave some children and families feeling excluded or uncomfortable. Also, even if everyone at your school is fine with the traditional celebrations, there’s the matter of time pressure:…

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Parents and other Volunteers in the Classroom

Inviting parents and other adult family members into the classroom gives them a chance to experience some of their child’s school life. It can also be a way for you to get some help with clerical work (photocopying, stapling) or projects that are hard to manage by yourself—such as messy…

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Information for Parents (PDF printable)

We've created a printable PDF for you to share with your students' families! Note: about the term “parent” Students come from a variety of homes and family structures. Many children are raised by grandparents, siblings, other relatives, and foster parents. “Parent” is used here to refer to and honor anyone…

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PE Kudos! Forging connections with families

At University School of Nashville, where I was an administrator and teacher for 23 years, the physical education teachers have recently been trying a new way of engaging students' parents in the day-to-day life of the school. They call it "PE Kudos." Here's how it works: Earlier this year, the…

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Forging Connections with Families, Part 2: Reaching Out

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about a thought-provoking series on the home-school connection that was recently published in the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel. In the second article in the series, journalist Erin Richards looks at the issue of whether education schools should be doing more to prepare teachers for working…

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Forging Connections with Families, Part 1: Removing Barriers

A recent series of articles published in the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel have me thinking about one of my favorite topics—the importance of forging connections between schools and parents. The articles explore this topic from a number of angles. In the first one, Erin Richards examines some basic research about the…

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Here’s an Idea! Class Books with Parents

Making a class version of a book is a community building activity used by lots of teachers at the beginning of the year. I used it with second graders, but it could definitely be adapted for younger or older students. Here’s how it works: The teacher shares a really engaging…

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Keeping in Touch with Families All Year Long

Step out of your teacher shoes for a moment and imagine yourself as the parent of a child you teach. You're at home, and the phone rings. You pick it up and a voice says, "Hello. This is Ms. Norris, Emily's teacher." If you're like many parents, two words spring…

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Reaching Out to Parents

For many families at Sarasota Suncoast Academy, the school day begins in the parking lot with a friendly personal welcome from principal Steve Crump. He and the rest of the office staff are there twice every day, at arrival and dismissal time, greeting each child by name and touching base…

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Welcoming Families of Different Cultures

An adapted excerpt from Parents & Teachers Working Together One of the enduring truths about teaching is that to teach children well, we have to know them: what they’re passionate about, what worries them, where they are in their development. We also have to understand something of their family culture—that…

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