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Standard 7: Stakeholders
Demonstrates the ability to support students’ learning and well-being by engaging students, home, school, colleagues,
and community.
Identifying ways to link school and home
Parents, teachers, administrators and the community are all important stakeholders in education.
No stakeholder is more important, however, than the student himself. The student is the one whose future depends on
the learning that happens in the classroom, the actor on the stage. The adults direct the play or are the supporting
cast. That being said, it is important for all teachers to acknowledge the need to develop positive and open relationships
with the adult stakeholders in their students' lives.
One of the more popular ways to communicate with families is to send home letters to parents
regularly or as needed when events or needs arise. These are typically sent to all of the families and are not designed to
communicate student-specific information. Below is an example of a letter home.
From Mrs. Winchester’s Desk
Dear Parents:
First, please let me say what a privilege it is to be your child’s teacher! I know how important educating a youngster is and how much trust you place in me to guide your child’s
learning. I also believe that open communication between school and home is vital
in ensuring that your child’s needs are always addressed. That is why I
encourage you to contact me if you have any questions or concerns about your child’s progress, attitude, or even just
to check in now and then. The best way to reach me is via email (teachersloveapples@yourschool.com).
I will do my best to respond to emails within 24 hours. If your concern is more
pressing or involves safety, please call the office and leave me a message with the secretary and I’ll get back to you
as soon as I can.
This year our class is going to be working on mastering some new skills in mathematics. These new skills require that we make some changes to the way we have typically taught
mathematics in the elementary schools but offer some exciting new ways for children to experience math in a more positive,
interactive, and meaningful way.
One of new the skills that will be taught this year is calculator proficiency. Your child will learn to use the calculator to find answers to basic mathematical problems including addition
and subtraction. Your child will also learn to check completed work using a calculator.
Often parents question the wisdom of children using calculators rather than focusing on learning computation skills.
I can assure you that our class will still spend the bulk of our math instruction time on learning and practicing more ‘manual’.
Emphasis will still be placed on instructing your child in the reasoning and
operational skills needed for solving problems. The calculator skills your child will learn, however, will be of great benefit
in more advanced math courses later on, long after these basic mathematics skills have been mastered.
There will occasionally be homework sent home with your child that may include procedures
or concepts with which you may not be familiar. New ways of solving math problems,
like ‘lattice work,’ are often unfamiliar to parents who become frustrated if they are unable to help their child
with homework problems. I will do my best to anticipate those situations and
will send home a Quick-Solve Guide for Parents explaining these lesser known mathematical strategies to help you understand
what we are doing in class. If you have questions about anything we are working
on, though, please let me know.
I think this is going to be a great school year!
Warm wishes!
Working with outside agencies to foster student growth
As a former social worker, I often found myself on the opposite side of the table as administrators
and teachers. Many of my client families cited problems with schools as the main reason for requesting case management
services. School meetings would often be very adversarial and at times confrontative. Clearly, communication between
those schools and families was not functioning properly.
In 2006, I took part in a seminar that discussed strategies for advocating and facilitating
communication between families and schools. As a teacher, I know what pitfalls to avoid to keep many of those negative situations
from occuring in the first place and when they do occur, how to mediate them for the best interest of the student.
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