Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Discussion

Overview

Objective

How did you contact parents?

Classroom considerations:

Stakeholder Considerations

Follow-up

Discussion

Hi Desarae,

I always learned a lot from your posts. During my student teaching, almost 20 students are ELL, and their parents couldn't speak any English. I tried to send letters to home every week, but never got response. How will you engage your stakeholders (parents) in this case? How can I better to know about my students and parents since I only have 2 month with them?

Shuhan Zhang,

Goals

What kind of messages would you send to your student's parents?
Why are you trying to engage with them?
What do you hope to accomplish in class?
What do you hope to accomplish by contacting parents?

I can make a few assumptions, but your goals/purpose/objective for reaching out to parent when you only have two months with the students makes a huge difference.

Sometimes it is not important how you reach stakeholders, but simply that you reach them. This means reaching them on their terms, in the way that best suits them. Perhaps they did not understand the letter translation, or perhaps all 20 students never delivered your letters.

How did you contact parents?

Did you sent them via the students or in the mail?
Do you have access to parent's emails or phone numbers?
Do you ever get to meet the parents in person (e.g. parent teacher conferences/the beginning of the class)?

Classroom considerations:

How are you teaching students with a communication barrier?
Did the students speak English?
Do you speak their language?
If all 20 students only speak Spanish or elementary English what other barriers did you have in the classroom?

The final question to ask yourself is: Is the letter necessary and how else could I accomplish my goal?

Are you trying to contact the parents to encourage students to do better in school, study at home, or give the parents a brief over-view of student's progress? Even if the parent receives your letter, what kind of information did you include that might facilitate these sample goals? If the parents do not understand English and you are trying to encourage students to study more or engage more in school... what information/resources did you provide to facilitate those goals? If your students are not delivering the letters to their parents could you setup a private website, forum, chat, or in-person opportunities to disseminate information? If students are struggling could you setup after-school programs to help?

I can try to help you brainstorm ideas, but I need a lot more information to give you informed suggestions. Step 1. for you is to record my questions in a vision document, answer the questions, and write a bulleted list of goals.

Overview

20+ students in an ESL course, trying to contact parents.

Objective

Goals Questions

What kind of messages would you send to your student's parents?
Why are you trying to engage with them?
What do you hope to accomplish in class?
What do you hope to accomplish by contacting parents?
Are you trying to contact the parents to encourage students to do better in school, study at home, or give the parents a brief over-view of student's progress?

How did you contact parents?

Did you sent them via the students or in the mail?
Do you have access to parent's emails or phone numbers?
Do you ever get to meet the parents in person (e.g. parent teacher conferences/the beginning of the class)?

Classroom considerations:

How are you teaching students with a communication barrier?
Did the students speak English?
Do you speak their language?
If all 20 students only speak Spanish or elementary English what other barriers did you have in the classroom?

Stakeholder Considerations

How do the parents PREFER to communicate with you?
Have parents ever responded to your messages? How many?

Follow-up

what kind of information did you include that might facilitate these sample goals?
Is the letter necessary and how else could I accomplish my goal?
what information/resources did you provide to facilitate those goals?
If your students are not delivering the letters to their parents could you setup a private website, forum, chat, or in-person opportunities to disseminate information?
If students are struggling could you setup after-school programs to help?