Email Teachers

I was a school guidance counselor for nine years, so I have the perspective of a parent and an educator. I know what it's like to manage a classroom full of children, and I know what it's like to deal with them after school as well.

I try to establish a system for communication with my kids' teachers early in the schoolyear. For me, there is absolutely no doubt the best way is email. At the beginning of the year, I ask for (or investigate to figure out) their email addresses. I send THEM an email, and ask them to respond, so both our addresses are in each others' email accounts.

My daughter's teacher also sends weekly notes home in her planner, which has been very successful so far. But sometimes I want to have a connection that circumvents my kids. Their perception of events is often different from that of the teachers, and that of mine, so communicating directly is very important. It also opens those lines of communication so that it's a very easy thing for teachers to zip off a note to you as well. The time and effort it takes to make a phone call, is far greater than an email message, which can be responded to at convenience.

And anyone who's ever visited a classroom knows that it's nearly impossible to have a useful conversation there.

I don't want to discover at November conferences that either of my kids are having trouble academically. I try to be proactive with my kids' education.

Works for me! UPDATE: Please share communication tips that have worked for you. This is the perfect time of year to start doing a great job of keeping contact with teachers.

For more awesome tips, visit Rocks in my Dryer.