- What was the purpose of the call?
- How did you get the number?
- How did you introduce yourself?
- With whom did you speak, mother? Uncle?
- How did it go?
- What results, if any, did you witness?
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About Me
- ARC Methods for Math
- I am a math teacher who specializes in working in special education and will complete a master's in special ed in 2013.
The calls that I made were for a general status update. I called the parents of three students. I got the phone numbers from the cooperating teacher. When I called I just introduced myself as a teacher assisting the cooperating teacher (Mr. Gambollati). I was making the phone call as a status report on student progress. Since the forms had the mothers name in all cases, when calling I asked for the mother by name. Each of these calls where positive because I spoke about performance and behavior and with the three students there weren’t any problems. All of the parents appeared to be pleased to hear a good report about their child.
ReplyDeleteI spoke with three parents (two moms and a dad) just to give them an update on their child's performance. My cooperating teacher gave me their phone numbers. I said I was calling from Hall HS and I'm their child's Geometry teacher this summer. All were very appreciative of my call.
ReplyDeleteI suggested tutoring to one parent of a struggling student. The student has attended tutoring a couple of times, but now the adminstration has become involved in his case because he has attendance/tardiness/missing homework issues. I'm no longer involved.
Another mom was quite surprised to hear that her son sleeps in class frequently. He has been sleeping much less since then, and (fortunately or unfortunately) is interacting with the other students more.
I left a message at the home of another struggling student, and to my surprise, the mom showed up in my classroom the next day at 7:15am, ten minutes before Randy arrived to observe me. I was a nervous wreck and caught off guard. (My C.T. hadn't yet arrived.) The conversation went well. She was pleased that I called because "usually we don't hear anything from the teachers." I suggested tutoring, the student has gone a couple of times. She continues to struggle w/the material.
A fifth parent requested at the Open House that we call him before the mid-term to let him know how his son is doing. I called and left a message giving him a positive report on his son, who's doing well.
I called the parent of a student who does very little work in class. Previously I thought he wasn't capable but after working extensively with him I now believe he would be a better than average student if he applied himself. I introduced myself as his summer school Algebra teacher and gave her my background. His mother was extremely pleasant and asked all the right questions. Apparently he has been telling her he is handing his work in during the class period. She is on to him and I am going to e-mail her with his assignments for the next week so she can hold him accontable.
ReplyDeleteThe student gave me his mother's number. This is the second time that has happened. Unfortunately, the first time it happened was from a student who is really making progress after a somewhat difficult first few days and I really wanted to let his parent know he was trying hard. The number he gave me was disconnected and the other two numbers I got from the administration also did not work. I was told this is common in inner city schools.
Overall, my phone call went extremely welll. It will be interesting to see what happens in class on Monday. As for the other student, I will ask him if possibly I made a mistake copying his number down and see what he says.
I haven't yet called a parent, but I did meet with one father while he was dropping his son off for school. I was introduced as the student teacher and was very impressed with the father's obvious concern for his son. The student has an IEP, and the dad was at school setting up tutoring for him. The dad let me know that he wanted his son to succeed and was available if we had any concerns in the classroom. Up until this past week, my student was doing very well, but as the algebra is starting to get more complex, I can see him struggling. I let the father know that the tutoring is a great way to give him the extra help I think he needs.
ReplyDeleteI have heard that it is not good to call parents from your home phone; that calling parents should be done from school. The problem is that I have no time to call from school. Have you all that have made calls done so during school hours, after school, or from your personal phone? I'm just curious to know what worked best.
Thanks! Amy
I made a few phone calls and emailed a couple parents, just to get some experience in doing both. I had given out a parent signature sheet my first day, so I (eventually) got all the parents' phone numbers. In each case I contacted the mother (as that was who signed the sheet) and introduced myself as the student's summer school teacher. I told the mother that I wanted to make her aware of concerns I was having about her child in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteA few of these contacts were just to suggest that the student make use of the after-school homework club where tutors are available. These parents were very receptive and agreed to have their children try the tutoring at least once. One mother even came in the next morning to meet my C.T. and me, and we came up with another suggestion to help her student - the student can come in early to school and one of us (usually my C.T.) will provide her with extra help.
I also had one student who was a sleeper, constantly putting his head down on his desk. I called his mother, and she seemed really appreciative that I had let her know about this. She even told me that he has had this problem in the past, during the regular school year. She said she would try to get him home earlier at night so that he gets a full night's sleep. I told her that I don't mind if he brings a soda or energy drink with him each day if it will help keep him awake. Every day after our conversation (so far), the student has brought an energy drink and has made a conscious effort to be more attentive in class. His understanding of the material has gotten much better; in fact, he is now one of the few students who I don't have to spend much time on when I am walking around and assessing because he is now consistently doing the work correctly.
Amy - I called parents from my cell phone and emailed them from my personal account. I have also heard that a teacher should call from school and during school hours so as not to set a precedent to parents that contacting you at home and during the evening is okay. However, with the nature of summer school (and the fact that we only have these students for four weeks), I figured it was the only way and that if I happened to get calls in the evening it would be okay for a few weeks. Just my opinion, but if you really don't want to call from your home phone, maybe you could ask your C.T. to take over the class for a short time so you can go to the office and make some phone calls.
Great stuff!
ReplyDeleteIt's harder to reach parents during the day because you and they are likely to be busy. Using personal contact sources (e.g. home phone) has obvious draw backs but may well be worth the price. I keep parent contact information on my cell phone contact list for students who have demonstrated a pattern of problem behavior. This way it's easy to make that call.
Regardless of the outcome, making the calls is clearly the right thing to do!
Amy:
ReplyDeleteI struggled with the same issue and didn't want to call over the weekend from home. Ultimately my C.T. gave me time during class to call from the school office(easily done while the students are taking a quiz or working independently).
On my first day of student-teaching every student was given a response sheet to take home. They were to have their parent or guardian sign it and return to me for the next class. Some students had to be reminded to turn in the form. I got phone numbers and a few e-mail addresses for my students from the form.
ReplyDeleteI spoke to a number of parents that their children were doing well in class. I had four parents that I spoke to more extensively.
a. I spoke to one girl’s Aunt and Guardian. She and her Aunt asked for extra-help with some homework. She stayed after class one day and we went over some examples.
b. I spoke to a mother of a student who appeared to be sleeping in class. She said that he gets up at 5:30 A.M. to get to school because he has to catch a bus at 6:00 A.M. to make it to class. He is into computers and stays up too late working with the computers. She said she will talk to him. The next day in class he said he is trying to do exercises to keep awake. I told him I appreciated his efforts to come to school.
c. I spoke to the mother of one student about the fact that I did not receive home work and that he was talking too much to a friend in class. She asked me what I wanted her son to do. I said I wanted the homework done and I wanted him to sit up in the front row so he would pay more attention. The next day he voluntarily sat in the front row of the class and made sure that he had his homework.
d. I spoke to both the mother and the father of one student. I explained that he was very quiet in class and had missed a number of classes. He had not taken the mid-term exam. I also did not have homework from him. The parents explained that he is ordinarily quiet, but warms up after a time. We made arrangements for him to take the mid-term, which he did while the class was doing another event. I still haven’t received the homework, but I may receive it on Monday, as he took it home over the weekend to do. If not I will have to do further follow-up.
I have contacted 3 parents both over the phone and in e-mail to give them an update on their child’s progress. I received the phone numbers and e-mail addresses from my master teacher Mrs. Romano but I have also sent home a letter of introduction with each student to let their parents/ guardians know about me, having two teachers in the classroom during their summer school.
ReplyDeleteIn the e-mail I have introduced myself as student teacher of Mrs. Romano and wrote a brief summary of my background and also gave a quick update on how her child is doing in Algebra 1. She has asked me to provide her with some suggestions how her child can bring up his average since he is taking the course to excel. So I have sent some feedback to her. She seemed very appreciative of keeping her up-to-date on her child’s performance.
I have also made some phone calls and in one case I was not able to reach the Mom but I have left a message, telling her who I am and the purpose of my call to give her a quick update on her child’s progress. I will try another attempt on Monday to reach her.
Another phone call I have made was also to provide the parents/ guardians with a quick update on their child’s progress and the parent seemed appreciative of reaching out to them.
In a few cases when I saw the need to contact the parent or guardian because their child was sleeping or misbehaving, my co-teacher Mrs. Romano has already contacted them therefore it did not make sense to reach out to them again.
I have spoken to two parents, but both were face-to-face visits. One parent (dad) sought me out regarding his son's progress, the other meeting that I initiated was with the mother of the young lady who I talked about in class last week.
ReplyDeleteTo both, I introduced myself as the student teacher but also gave a litte background on my previous teaching experience (long-term substituting etc) so they wouldn't think their student is getting short-changed! They were both very receptive and though there was somewhat of a language barrier with the mom, we had positive conversations.
As I mentioned in class, the young lady is an extremely hard worker but has very limited skills. I suggested tutoring and also let them know I was available for help on the few afternoons we have free. My c.t. happens to tutor Amy's student after class, so it would not interfere with meeting time.
The father I spoke to was concerned more about behavioral issues. This student is on thin ice due to serious issues that occurred in his other class. The dad was happy to hear that I have not seen these same issues in my classroom. In fact, though he has some bad days, I have also seen him be quite cooperative and productive. This student is quite capable and I have let him know I have high expectations for him. I believe the father gave him my good report because the next day he was even more attentive in class.
I still plan on phoning a parent. Unfortunately on Friday, by the time I was done making my copies for this week, our director, Pat, was leaving for a meeting and suggested I wait until Monday. She keeps all the phone numbers we don't have in a binder. I'll check with her tomorrow
As mentioned in class, I've got a student who is refusing to participate in class; on Thursday he sat through a quiz and refused to work on it or turn it in.
ReplyDeleteEarly last week I called his mother, who indicated that he told her that he didn't get the content. I asked how I could help. She requested a meeting, so I scheduled a meeting on Thursday.
Jason (my cooperating teacher) joined me for the meeting, which was very informative. The mother indicated that her son has always had difficulty in school, refusing to do the work. She paid for tutors for him for a number of years, and this helped to get him through. Now he is indicating that he doesn't care if he flunks and has to remain a freshman. Towards the end of the conversation she mentioned that he is on medication and has just been identified as a special education student; the school is recommending that her son go to a different school, but her son is resisting this change.
Clearly, there is a lot going on with this student. Tomorrow I will follow up with the summer school director to inform her that the student may have been identified as special education. He is flunking all three courses he is taking; if he indeed has special education concerns, then it would seem that the current arrangements are not effectively addressing his educational needs, and she may want to address this in some manner.
As a teacher, I would like to get more information from the other school district to confirm whether her son has an IEP and to learn what accommodations and/or modifications are proposed to determine whether I should be teaching the student differently. Absent this information, I will continue to attempt to engage the student as best as possible.
I hope to make my parent calls this week. My coop teacher had not made his calls yet, and told me NOT to call anyone until he called the parents first himself, ostensibly this week. So I made my call log template, and am ready to make the calls as soon as I get the OK.
ReplyDeleteI called six parents on Saturday. All but one were introductory calls; I had no concerns or issues with their child. I told each parent that they had a good kid and that I was very happy to have them in my class.
ReplyDeleteThe remaining call was for a student who is not doing well academically. I had some behavioral problems with her early on, but those have gotten much better. I couldn't reach her primary contact (her mother), but I was able to reach her father. The parents are divorced and the father has almost daily phone contact with his daughter, but she only visits every other weekend, a typical arrangement. He was unaware that she was failing my class; he told me now that he was aware of the status, he would be talking to her about it. He seemed very appreciative that I cared enough to call.
In fact, every single parent I called was very appreciative; (1) that I called at all, and (2) that I spoke highly of their child's character and/or academic ability. I had heard horror stories of how some parents would be troublesome or apathetic. Fortunately, that was not my experience.
Regarding making calls to parents on one's personal phone (either home or mobile), I used Caller ID blocking by dialing *67, then the number. Many people have a service that blocks your call from going through when you use the *67 feature, but if you wait, you get an option to record your name and/or company and the phone will announce your call. I had this happen a few times with no problems.
Overall, it was a good experience for both me and the parents (I don't know what will happen tomorrow when the failing student arrives; I'm keeping my fingers crossed!). As the phone calls take time which is extremely precious right now, I found that it was helpful to be polite, complimentary (about whatever I could be), supportive, ask the right questions, etc., but not be too chatty.
I had parent conferences last week, so I got to meet the parents of approximately 2/3s of my students. The conferences all went really well. One of the most notable conferences was for a student who has a 50 quiz average. I started the conference by introducing myself and getting straight to the point. I showed her the quizes and said that the student's grades weren't were we would like them to be. His mother agreed that he needed to focus more and that he was at risk of being more interested in hanging out with his friends than doing well in school. I am hoping that he does well on the quiz I am giving tomorrow. Either way, I am going to send it home and ask for his mom to sign it.
ReplyDeleteMy CT does not like the idea of me contacting parents; and was hesitant about letting me do so. During the first semester the students that were at risk of faling were definitely on the "no contact list". Today was the start of 2nd sem. so it made sense to call today. I've contacted 6 parents - mostly mothers. In two cases the students are brand new and I wanted to introduce myself (and to tell the parents about the strict attendance/tardy policy - already an issue on day one). In two cases, I wanted to inform the parents that their child received the highest grade on Friday's final(they tied). This information was very well received. The last two calls were difficult to make in that they are two students who are my hardest working students, and despite their best efforts, they came up short on the final. In speaking with the parents (mothers) each was very proud to hear of the excellent effort, and one was surprised to learn her daughter was going for the extra tutor help. The mother of the other student explained how helpful it was to hear from her teacher. Apparently she has been disappointed with her daughter's grades in general and hasn't received much feedback. In speaking with the mother (and the student during the day today) it seems as if there is a classic case of text anxiety getting in the way of test performance. I will speak with my CT about this issue and will hopefully be able to share some strategies to help her out. We would all be lucky to have our students work as hard as this student does. On a funny note, it took one of the father's a moment to realize who I was - and before it "clicked" he told me that his son is enjoying the new teacher.... pretty funny.
ReplyDeleteI have made 12 calls, and i know this is weird, but I really like calling parents. I know it's a different story when you've got to call with bad news, but otherwise it's great. In some cases, I've learned some things about students and their families that are so helpful to know as their teacher. I spoke to the mom of one of my students for quite awhile, and she told me that ______ has had a really difficult year, mainly as a result of Mom and Dad's divorce. He plays this sort of nonchalant vibe, but Mom says he's a lot more affected than even she knew at first, and it's affected his performance in school, among other things.
ReplyDeleteI also called the Mom of a student after she had two absences. I found out that her Mom is very sick and undergoing chemo, and she wasn't sure whether her daughter could continue with summer school.
I had one student who had a minor breakthrough moment in class. She is the lowest performing student in the room, and I asked the class a question that no one could answer... then, quiet student that she is, she piped in with a great response. It really wasn't a big deal, but I was almost giddy about getting a chance to call her Mom later about it. Unfortunately, no one answered.
I haven't really been tested yet with a parent call; so far it's easy -- just introductions and peccadillos. I won't be surprised if my tune changes when this ceases to be the case.
the students that were at risk of faling were definitely on the "no contact list"
ReplyDeleteI had mentioned that some teachers were really bad about phone calls. I don't know the whole story about this situation but these parents are the ones most owed a phone call!
I made 5 calls today to introduce myself to the parents and to ask what their children felt about their summer school experience. I got the telephone numbers from a Student Info hand out I made to collect some info about the students and their interests. As my log indicates, I only got through to one parent, and I had one (possibly two) bad numbers. My Call Log (in Excel) had column headers, and data follows (tel numbers left out for confidentiality). Note Kathryn's Mom's response - very interesting!:
ReplyDelete|Date|Time|Student Name|Number|Reason|Description|Outcome|
|7/19/10|7:00 PM|Caroline|n/a|Parent contact|On Vacation until next week|ask Caroline|
7/19/10|7:05 PM|Apoorva|n/a|Parent contact| Tel # not in service|ask Apoorva|
|7/19/10|7:08 PM|Kathryn (Mom -Erin G.)| n/a|Parent contact|Kathryn's mom Erin was very thankful I called. Kathryn had been doing well until tonight's homework. She was either afraid or ashamed to ask for help. I offered to help over the phone, but Kathryn was not presently at home, so her mom said she would pass along my message, and asked me to help her discretly tomorrow morning. Reminder to Ask Kathryn tomorrow if she needs help.|
|7/19/10|7:20 PM|Rachel Abraham|n/a|Parent contact|Got answering machine|Left Message|
I think I need to clarify - the students at risk of failing were under the watchful eye of both my CT and Marc Kotler, they felt it was best to continue with the same point of contact.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly enough, I have gotten two calls at home from one of these at risk students asking for additional help. Though I was happy to send letter home introducing myself which included my home phone number, I had to make it clear that I am not the 11pm "answerman".
Home phone number - brave lady!
ReplyDeleteI have no doubt that you guys are keeping a close eye on the students. My point is that these parents deserve to know! (I know it's out of your hands.)
I left 4 messages on the on answering machines fro parents. Spoke to two on the phone, emailed another parent and met and discussed issues with one parent in person. The email was a follow up to one student that wasn't doing well test wise but was however well behaved and did do his work. He is a very quite student and I have been working hard to engage him more. He is a good kid. That was a hard phone call and email because he is basically a good kid. The parent meeting was to deal with a student with behavioral issues. He is s very bright but angry kid. I had removed him from my classroom when he told me to kiss his A%& when it was requested that he put his cell phone away. Upon the first request he said he didn't pay attention to the rules and doesn't obey rules anywhere anyway. When I insisted he put the phone away or leave with it he dropped the A-Bomb so to speak. I then removed him from the classroom. The principle was very supportive of my actions.
ReplyDeleteWe had a meeting between the principle, the supporting teacher, and myself, the boy and his mom. Per my approval the boy would be allowed back into my classroom if he would apologize to me and the rest of the class verbally during the class. He behaved OK for a couple of days then reverted back to his disruptive and disrespectful ways . I sadly had to eject him permanently from classroom as a result of this. It was either lose him or lose the rest of the class. So I had to choose the least of two evils so to speak. His last day yesterday found him soliciting other kids to pee in a cup for him so he could pass a drug test. The kids confide in me that is how I know this.
Excuse the spell checker, it changed the meaning of some of them. For a couple of the typos. I did also speak to a couple of the others students parents an was happily able to give them good progress reports. I spoke to two moms and one dad on the phone.
ReplyDelete