New Teachers: Working With Parents

Open Houses and Back to School Night

• Back-to-School Night 2.0: Supercharge your delivery and find new ways to engage and connect with students’ families using some of these technology suggestions. (Edutopia, 2015)
• A Checklist for Back-to-School Night: Explore five ideas for the big night: sign-ins on tables, brochures, a classroom constitution, a presentation, and an inviting classroom environment. (Edutopia, Updated 2015)
• Back-to-School Night: The Ultimate Conversation Starter for a Successful School Year: Review guidance on how to start the year right by being transparent, direct, and consistent. (Edutopia, Updated 2015)
• Engaging Parents: An Elementary Teacher's Field Guide: Reflect on what matters most to parents at back-to-school night, and consider ways to engage more deeply. (Edutopia, 2011)
• This Ain't Your Momma's Open House: Use QR codes, augmented reality, virtual tours, and other advances in classroom technology to change up the sometimes less-than-efficient rituals of parent open house. (Edutopia, 2014)

Parent-Teacher Conferences

• Parent-Teacher Conferences ... or Collaborative Conversations?: Find guidance on how to make the most of parent-teacher conferences: team up with students' families, encouraging them to take a more active role in driving the conversation. (Edutopia, 2015)
• 5 Parent-Teacher Conference Prep Tips: When prepping for parent conferences, communicate with families early and often, keep data handy, balance the conversation, invite the student, and make the experience pleasant. (Edutopia, 2015)
• Tips for Parent-Teacher Conferencing: Browse useful suggestions for making meetings with parents meaningful and rewarding. (Edutopia, Updated 2015)
• 5 Resources for Parent-Teacher Conferences: Dive into a curated list of resources to improve parent-teacher conferences, including ideas for highlighting student progress and questions every parent should ask. (Edutopia, Updated 2015)

Developing Relationships With Parents

• 7 Questions to Ask Parents at the Beginning of the Year: Ask parents these seven questions at the start of the year to help build partnerships to support student learning. Also worth checking out (from the same author): "The Power of the Positive Call Home" and "20 Tips for Developing Positive Relationships With Parents." (Edutopia, 2014)
• 8 Tips for Reaching Out to Parents: Find tips for engaging with parents, from avoiding confrontation and communicating clearly, to earning their trust on back-to-school night and coaching their children's after-school activities. (Edutopia, Updated 2015)
• 12 Conversation Starters on What Parents Want You (Teachers) to Know: Check out 12 conversations that all teachers should be having with their students' parents. (Edutopia, 2013)
• Rethinking Difficult Parents: Explore suggestions on reframing difficult parents as teachers' allies. (Edutopia, 2013)
• Have You Asked Parents Yet?: Learn about the value of parent/guardian surveys for teachers at all grade levels. (Blogging Through the Fourth Dimension, 2016)

Parent Participation at School

• 5 Tips for Engaging Parent Volunteers in the Classroom: Discover the top hurdles and success strategies for engaging parent volunteers in the classroom. (Edutopia, 2013)
• Engaging Parents of English-Language Learners: See how a kindergarten teacher with a large population of English-language learners builds community by inviting parents into his classroom. (Edutopia, 2015)
• 19 Proven Tips for Getting Parents Involved at School: Explore 19 proven strategies, contributed by members of the Edutopia and GreatSchools communities, for increasing family engagement and strengthening the home-to-school connection. (Edutopia, 2014)

Using Technology to Connect With Parents

• Old School or New School, Keep Parents Involved: Take a look at old-school and new-school strategies to keep parents involved. (Edutopia, 2013)
• Parent Communication Toolbox: Review a wide range of digital tools to keep parents involved when face-to-face communication isn't possible. (Edutopia, 2014)
• Using Scannable Technology to Reach Parents Year Round: Keep parents in the loop about classroom community activities and homework using tools like Quick Response codes and Augmented Reality triggers. (Edutopia, 2014)
• 6 Tech Tools That Boost Teacher-Parent Communication: Discover tools to facilitate better parent-teacher communication including messenger apps, portfolio tools, digital gradebooks, blogs, class websites, and social media. (Common Sense Education, 2016)

For resources related to working with parents, visit Edutopia's Family Engagement page; the "Family Engagement: Resource Roundup" is a great place to start. Looking for more resources for new teachers? Visit the "Resources Toolkit for New Teachers" page for other curated guides, and check out all of Edutopia’s content on the New Teachers page.