You're facing skeptical parents about your teaching. How can you earn their trust?

Skeptical vs advocating …I always make a point of ensuring parents that my ultimate goal is to help thier child be successful. After my experiences at a variety of districts not to mention my own with my daughter who has struggled for years I can understand a healthy dose of skepticism… My passion and desire to advocate for the students I’m entrusted with and my making myself available for parents who KNOW thier children to feel heard. If I had any doubts in my abilities or sincerity than I may feel differently. I embrace the parent who questions and makes themselves and integral part of thier child’s education and whom they’ve entrusted with it! 👍💕🙏

I think it’s just as important to open dialogue with the student as it is their parent as the student is the bridge of communication. When parents bring up concerns it’s typically based on the conversations had with their child or reflective of their child’s grade and performance. One of the best practices I began utilizing this past year was CC’ing students on parent emails and being transparent about expectations, student behavior, and explaining how or why I utilize my teaching and grading style. This helped to alleviate any miscommunication and required students to take accountability.

It is much more important to open dialogue with the parents as we creat rapport with our students in the classroom. Open a dialogue with the parents can help them to open their mind to you. What we have to do is that be a patient listener, let the parents talk what they feel, what are their worries and all. Being a patient listener and encouraging their suggestion can help you earn their trust. Once you earn their trust then you can start discussing about the things to be sorted and slowly you can guide them to your track through proper communication. Miscommunication is the main problem that leads to controversy, so you should avoid commanding tone and they should feel their views are also considered.

It is a joy to receive my class rosters, and look up birthdays. If there is a student or two that have recently celebrated a birthday, I contact the parent/guardian before the school year begins to share birthday wishes to that parent. That opens the line of communication in a positive way. Share a little about the upcoming year, ask if they have any concerns about the class, and let them know that you did not mean to hold them on the phone too long. It was simply meant to be a "Happy Birthday" from the future teacher. This message goes a long way, and the student(s) come to school knowing that you had the best conversation with their parent/guardian. This is just one way I open up the lines of communication. Earlier is always better!