Contacting Parents

While the rest of the school was celebrating Pi day. I had a few Parent Day activities. I'd been meaning to contact a few parents for a while now - and the right opportunities finally came.

First, as I greeted students while they walked in, I had one of them greet me back with a pleasant "It's nice to see you too, Mr. Jones." This student was usually very quiet, and I was glad to hear that she enjoyed the class enough to be glad to be there. During that period I checked her grade and found that she was doing fairly well, and thought - "hey, here is an opportunity to have positive contact with a parent!" I wrote a little note to her parents, explaining how she is doing well in the class and how she is always respectful. I hoped that writing it in her parents' native language would be helpful as well, and provide good rapport. I then thanked the student for her attitude in class and asked her to hand the note to her parents. She seemed glad to do so.

My other experience with a parent was a little more nerve-racking. I have one student that has continually been giving me trouble. His attitude in the class can be perfectly described as flippant. His disruptions in class are consistently distracting and, frankly, highly annoying. Even the other students have mentioned this. I have called him out several times, with varying degrees of effectiveness. A week or so ago I gave him an official warning, mentioning that I would call his parents if he persisted. His behavior temporarily subsided, but began to ebb towards obnoxiousness again today. He called another student stupid in front of the entire class. I had him move to the back of the class and write a note of apology. His note apologized for him making fun of her "dumb, blonde comment." He did not participate in group work that day and had to read alone. I spoke with him and told him I would be calling his parents that afternoon.

After school, I was pretty nervous about calling his parents. I didn't know how they would react. I sat down and planned out what I would say, opening with the positive (he is doing well in the class) and how I would transition to the negative and explain the exact nature of his "crimes" and how I had dealt with it. It didn't help my nerves that no one answered the first two numbers I tried, but his father finally picked up. His father was actually rather pleasant. I explained how his son's attitude has had a negative effect on the learning and on other students. He seemed to take the news well, and the only question he had for me was how he could reach me if need be. Luckily my mentor teacher was there to give me the school's phone number, and we were on my way. I don't anticipate any major problems from the student in the future. Wow. My first phone call to a parent!

On another note, the student whose parent sent me the angry email the other day told me that his dad had found the questions I had used on the study guide online and was helping him complete them. I said I was glad that his father was helping him. Huh.