“Great Teachers are Equal Opportunists” Chapter 11: Schmidt

In any relationship, no matter who the relationship is with, the student, your co-workers, or student’s parents, communication is one of the key aspects to a healthy and successful relationship. I feel that this chapter came at a perfect time for me in relation to my student teaching placement. I had a parent talk to my cooperating teacher about the health topics being discussed during the first five minutes of class.

On Wednesday, a parent asked my cooperating teacher what I was teaching in relation to health topics and at what age I was teaching the content to students. The parent was not upset that I was going to be teaching health related topics but I think they she may have felt that she should have been informed prior that health related  topics were going to be discussed.  Even though the parent addressed my cooperating teacher, it made me think how I would have responded to the questions and how I could have made the parent feel more at ease rather than hearing what we are doing in class from her son. If it were my class solely, I would have informed parents about the new content in a letter home stating the topics that we would cover in class. As Laurel stated, at the beginning of the chapter, you want to share new information with parents about what students are learning in class, because it may be very different from what they know or have learned at home. In this case, the parent may have felt uncomfortable because a health subject that was discussed in class may have been a subject that the parents have never talked about with their son. As a student teacher learning, I felt for the mother and I feel that she should have been informed in someway that I would be student teaching and health education is something that would be incorporated (according to the school health curriculum).

Last semester, I had the opportunity to create a class website. The website included information about me, my class rules, policies, units, and content areas that would be covered through out the year. With this experience, and Laurels ideas about weekly newsletters would really bridge the gap between my student’s parents and myself. I do plan to create a class website when I become a professional, because it can show parents and students that I am proactive to welcome parents and students to my class with a clear understanding for what is to come throughout the year.  With the website, I have the ability and the freedom to make frequent updates that are always available to view and appealing for parents and students to read rather than a plain lettered text. 

After reading this chapter, I feel that Laurel gave great point to what teachers should lead with in a parent teacher conference. I really appreciated the idea of an information sheet for parents prior to the meeting time. This is a great opportunity to let the parent feel more at ease as well as an opportunity to give the parents time to consider questions or concerns to the subjects being touched on. Also, I really liked the idea of having students self-survey be one of the leads of the conference. The survey is not only an opportunity for the student to evaluate themselves but gives the teacher and the parent the opportunity to collaborate and find solutions to help the student succeed throughout their time in class. My understanding of a conference is it is better to be over prepared than underprepared. I feel that parent teacher conferences will not be a major issue if good communication is established right from the start. I have learned from Laurel that it is important to do the work in the beginning to reach out to parents rather than introducing yourself and your philosophy of teaching when if and when a problem has occurred well into the school year. If parents know who you are and have a understanding of what is going on at school with their child, it seems that the parent will feel more comfortable and trust in you as their child’s teacher. I thought that the quote at the end of the chapter really helped tie in the communication and parent conferences well with being an effective teacher.

“ Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without loosing your temper or self-confidence.”

                                                                                 -Robert Frost