Connecting With Parents (New Teacher's Column)

In this  data-driven and networked  age, teachers must be prepared  to use many strategies to support student   learning.  Technical  supports have made it  possible for  educators to  communicate more fully with parents. However, I  learned one simple strategy in my early days of teaching that has  never failed to bring  positive results:  the “sunshine call.” I was a second-year  teacher with a class of 32 grade 7 students. By mid-September, they had already  provided me with plenty of  material for anecdotal documentation, but not much of it was positive. At the first staff meeting of the year, our new principal had told us that he wanted each of us to have communicated  with the parent(s)  of each of our students at least once before the end of  September.  He wanted us to make a “sunshine call.” Only positive comments were to be made in this initial  communication. With 32  calls to make and only a couple of weeks left, I  forced myself to make a list of only positive things about  these  kids before I began calling. I started with the easy ones! Ultimately, I reached every parent by the first week of October, and even though some were surprised by the call and what I  was saying, it  was a good first step for me to make.  Who could  be upset with getting a friendly call?

But I do recall one parent who was extremely suspicious.   No  one  from  the  school  had  ever called to  say anything  nice  about her son and she was clearly surprised. He was  often absent and not engaged in  classroom  activities,  and it seemed that  he  didn’t want to be noticed. My call did not change much initially,  but it  was a ”foot in the door.” I went on to call that parent several times and each time it got a little easier to earn her  trust.  The student eventually  became involved in a special project at an outdoor education centre as an alternative to regular classroom instruction and he flourished! I like to think that my efforts had an impact. The sunshine call exercise had a very powerful influence on me and my future teaching. Finding the positives and the strengths of each child and communicating  these to parents (who in turn will tell  their  child)  gives  students  confidence and supports them. The sunshine call was a  simple idea about interpersonal skills that helped me to build a partnership with each parent and child.

I continued to  make sunshine calls throughout my career, not only for the benefit of parents and students,  but  also because it  changed my outlook. When I was discouraged  or struggling to make progress  with a  student, turning to the positive always  made a difference, even when it was difficult to do. I highly recommend  making sunshine calls. It’s  worth the time and effort.