Educators value the involvement and support of parents, guardians, families and communities in schools.
I helped host my first open house with my coaching teacher! I helped students create and assemble portfolios so they could showcase their work. It was an excellent opportunity to connect with parents. It was encouraging to have parents open up to me about any concerns they were having and be able to openly discuss their child’s life at school, including their strengths and areas for improvement. It was also lovely to see how excited learners were to show their parents what they had accomplished in class.
I had one learner who was really struggling to manage their behaviours in class, and it was really beginning to disrupt the learning environment. My coaching teacher and I had come up with a plan to implement some consequences (among other things) for this student to try and motivate them to control some of their negative and disruptive behaviour. We discussed our plan with their mother at the open house, and she was very receptive and supportive of our ideas. She let us know that she would back our decisions 100% and that we had her support. This was very encouraging to me as a brand new teacher, as talking to parents still feels intimidating.