geek.teacher

After taking so much from my PLN, it’s time to start giving back. This post represents the beginning of a series of posts I hope to make filled with advice for new Special Education teachers, forcing me to consolidate some thoughts that I’ve developed over seven years of teaching Learning Support classes.

I teach a class that we refer to in my district as Intensive Learning Support. For five periods a day, I teach my students all of their core academic subjects.  My students generally perform anywhere from 3 to 6 years below grade level on standardized testing. Paperwork commonly labels my students as having specific learning disabilities, mental retardation, or autism.  I teach sixth grade, which, in my district, means that the students transition into middle school starting with me.  Most frequently, I’m also the first male teacher my students have been in a class with.

Any one of those things can make life difficult for a student.  Put all of them together, and they add up to not just nervous students as the school year starts, but even moreso nervous parents.

Interacting with these parents over the years has taught me some important lessons about how to interact with them in this time of the year to set the their children up for a successful year, assuage anxieties, and lead to positive IEP meetings later in the year.

Read the IEP and Evaluations
Obvious, yes, but important. Good documentation won’t be just numbers, it will tell a story about the child and the parent’s dealings with the school district. I’ll save all of the things that should go into good IEPs/Evaluations for another time, I think, but for now, if you’re a new special ed teacher, the documentation needs to be you first stop. You also need to check if anything needs to be done before you even see the child in your classroom. Last year as I took a first look at an IEP, I saw that the child and parent were supposed to get a tour of the school before the year started. I called to set it up, but found out that the Middle School Special Education Coordinator had already done so.  I showed up even though I wasn’t needed. The parent and child got to meet me, and therefore get a more personalized tour of what the school year would be like. The coordinator ended up being swamped so I could give the tour more time. When you make all of the stakeholders happy, you work on building those trusting relationships you’ll need later in the year.

Make your first interaction with the parent a positive one
When you look through your IEPs, you’re going to see some children who have exhibited behavior problems in the past.  Several years back, I had just one such student. After the first week of school, I called his father. After introducing myself as his child’s teacher, he asked the kind of question that will break your heart: “What did he do?” This parent had mentally adjusted to expecting that if he hears from the school, it’s going to be nothing but bad news. I could feel the tension leaving him as I told him that his child had a great first week of school. The student had been active and engaged in the classroom. In one phone call, I established that past difficulties did not have to stand in the way of future successes. I established myself as an honest person who’s not out to get his child. When you make a phone call like that, you’re almost assured the child will hear about it. This helps you to build trust with your student, reducing the chances of problem behaviors. By building that trust with the parents they’ll hear good things as well as bad, it also makes it a lot easier to get the sympathetic ear you need when a problem does occur in class.

Another way to get that positive interaction in is to invite parents to the school before the school year starts. I personally call home for every student to invite them to our Ice Cream Social that we have the week before school starts for all sixth graders. If your school doesn’t have something like that, you might want to establish times that you’ll be setting up your classroom before the year starts and invite them to visit. It’s a great way to meet in a less formal setting.

Keep those lines of communication open
Parents feel a lot better when they know what’s going on in school. So make sure they know! My students all receive daily behavior sheets. The sheets tell parents how their child did during the day, as well as allowing me to put other notes on for the parents to see. Since i collect them every day in return, the parents also know that it’s a great place to write notes to me if there’s something I need to know.

Needless to say, there are many other ways to communicate with parents, including telephone calls, e-mail, and class websites. Use them all to your advantage! Make it a rule to return all parent communications within a business day, even if the communication might just be “I’m still looking into that, I’ll let you know when I know.” Do not feel obligated to return messages in the exact same format. If a parent calls with a simple question, a follow-up note will be more efficient than engaging in a full conversation back over the phone. E-mail is great for when you don’t need too much of a back and forth, and want to take more time to carefully state what you want to communicate.

Respect the parent’s perspective
Sooner or later, you will have to deal with a parent that has had some sort of a contentious relationship with your school district. You might even be told that this parent is a “difficult” parent. If so, do not hyperventilate. In theory, you and the parents have the same goal, which is to do what’s best for the child. Keep that in mind whenever you deal with the child and the parent, and you will most likely be fine. As long as you do your job appropriately, the parent’s issue will almost always be with the school district, not with you. Most of the time, the disagreement will be with the services the district wants to provide to the child. This might include your class. Do not take this personally! You may be a wonderful teacher, but that doesn’t mean that your class is the appropriate place for every child. Over the course of your career you will most likely identify students that you feel would be better suited in another class or school. In any situation, your professional duty is to the child. Be honest with your administrators when a child may be moving classes, and present your case for why your class fits or does not fit a particular child. In any case, even if you disagree with the parents on the best course of action for their child, do your best to understand why the feel the way they do: they love their child and want only the best.

It’s all going to be OK
That’s my advice to you, and it’s what you need to spend the next few months helping the parents understand. As long as they know you’re really there for their children, that you care about their well-being, and will do everything in your power to help them succeed, they’ll come to trust you and your judgment. When they trust you, they’ll support you as needed with their children. Then everybody wins!

Agree? Disagree? Need clarification? Have something else you want me to write about? Use the comments! Then subscribe so you can see my future posts.

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