Importance of Math Teachers Partnering with Parents and Caregivers
Knowing the importance of partnering with caregivers is just the first step. In the remainder of this article, find the essential understandings that provide the foundation for an effective partnership to support students’ math learning and download 6 helpful tips for working well with families during the school year.
Essential Understandings of Building Parent-Teacher Relationships
First and foremost, teachers and parents must recognize each other as equal partners who each bring crucial knowledge to share with one another. While observing their children’s learning journey at home, parents will know what topics their child is confident in, has mastered, or needs extra support with. Teachers and parents are on the same team working towards the common goal of guiding a student through their academic, social, and emotional development!
Parents already have the knowledge that will be helpful in supporting their child in the school environment. We know as teachers that math is everywhere, so seeking out specific information about your students can help make what often feel like irrelevant “real world problems” authentic learning experiences. Caregivers know what the child’s interests are, what they need while they are trying to learn, and what makes their child “tick.” Your job as a teacher is to activate that knowledge and potential. School staff must prioritize ensuring parents feel trusted, honored, and respected. Parents’ self-efficacy, especially in regard to math which is often a context filled with anxiety in adults as well, is a critical ingredient for successful partnerships because they must feel that their contributions are welcomed and valued.
Third and finally, any way that a family is supporting their student is valuable. Revolutionize your approach to parental engagement by challenging yourself to think expansively about what is considered engagement. For some, engagement may solely be conducted in the home by helping with homework while others may like volunteering in the school for events. Just as instruction needs to be differentiated in the classroom, every parent teacher partnership must be specialized to each family’s context. Even changing the way families talk about math in the home can make a huge difference in a child’s willingness to persevere through problem solving. Changing a narrative from “I never could do math” to a narrative of “let’s learn math together” will support students success.
Six Recommendations for Building Productive Parent-Teacher Relationships
Before students can learn their current grade level’s standards, the gaps in their knowledge from the past years must be filled. As you begin assessing students’ current understandings and planning how you will address their needs, keep in mind these core ideas to approach partnerships with a fresh perspective, empathy, and an open mind.
The following six recommendations are equally important when building parent-teacher relationships for the benefit of students:
1) Make communication with parents a priority!
While there are always too few hours in the school day, the payoff for dedicating time to partnering with parents is worth the effort. Time spent learning about a child’s homelife and gaining insight into what helps them learn will enable you to be a better teacher. Continuing developmentally appropriate methods of engagement will provide the necessary supports that students need at home to persevere through problem solving which will be especially crucial at this unique moment in time.
2) Start by building trust.
3) Build family’s capacity for partnership.
The saying “you don’t know what you don’t know” speaks to a common barrier that stands in the way of productive partnerships. Especially as students grow older, the educational experiences of a student vary significantly from that of their parents. It is easy for parents to become lost in the alphabet soup that is education. Sharing clear and concise information with parents about online resources, grades, the content in each unit of study, and events in the school community, both related and unrelated to math, will enable parents to ask questions and approach conversations with you.
4) Open an ongoing conversation.
Frequent, consistent, and persistent communication is key. Make a goal for yourself for how frequently you will contact every family. Beyond these scheduled checkpoints, you can reach out to individuals as necessary. As you communicate routinely, reiterate that you are always available to listen to parents' concerns and ideas. Parents can initiate communications too--it is a two-way street! Let them know the appropriate channel to reach you.
5) Encourage academic talk in the home.
6) Be flexible and use diverse methods for communicating.
Even if you do not receive a response the first time, keep reaching out! Just as a teacher should never give up on a student, a teacher should also never give up on partnering with their family. Try methods including sending information home with students, making phone calls, emailing, using third party communication platforms such as Classtag© and Remind©, and conducting in person conferences. Going a step further, try calling at different times of the day and offering conferences before and after school.
To build on these six recommendations in an even more concrete way, use the Easy Steps to Build Relationships with your Math Students’ Families Tip Sheet to discover ways to go beyond traditional ways of facilitating parent-teacher relationships to build more meaningful and beneficial partnerships.
In Summary
Research has proven the advantages of collaboration and partnerships for the development and academic achievement of students of all ages. While maintaining a focus on the child’s learning journey and reminding yourself of the three essential understandings, use these recommendations and tips to try new approaches to building relationships with your math students’ loved ones.
