Teaming with Teachers: What Teachers Wish Parents Knew about the Virtual Learning Experience
When I first started teaching, I worked in a school where a large percentage of the population of families we served were Spanish speaking. I didn’t know much Spanish at the time, but I was eager to communicate effectively with all of my families. I would send weekly notes home to the parents with information about what was happening in the classroom, highlight special school events and to notify parents of the themes our classroom would be working on. I decided to use an online translation program to translate my letters into Spanish for the families who needed that. It wasn’t the best solution, but given the limited translation resources we had at the time in our district, I felt it would be ok. For a while, no one said anything so I assumed my notes were going over well. But, then, after sending several letters home, one of the parents who spoke both English and Spanish pulled me aside and asked if we could talk. I’ll never forget what she said to me. “Miss Gretchen, you’re calling the students ‘Baby Goats’ in your letters. Who is translating these for you?” I couldn’t understand what was happening and then it hit me. KID is another word for a BABY GOAT. Anytime I wrote “kids”, referring to the students, it translated it to “baby goat.” Thank you Babblefish.com.
The reason I share this story is to point out that I made a mistake as a teacher and if the parent had not approached me to talk about it, I never would have known or been able to correct what I was doing. It has never been nor will ever be my intention to upset or offend someone and I’m very thankful that she spoke up and told me what I had done. She also proceeded to tell me that she and the other parents were laughing about it, which was hilarious and we had a good laugh together about that. I accepted the feedback, and was happy she came to me. Over the years, I did my best to remain open so that parents would feel comfortable coming to me if they questioned or needed anything.
Right now, with distance learning in full force for most families, we have a bigger challenge than ever to work as a team with our teachers. The teachers are relying on the parents to support their children at home and the parents are relying on the teachers to guide them on how we can best support our kids (actual kids though, not baby goats). The thing is, that right now, with all of this being so new, the teachers don’t actually know yet what kind of support they really need from families and the families are unable to tell the parents exactly what they need if they don’t fully know what the classes are going to look like long term. This is all intensified by the fact that the kids are still adjusting and teachers and parents alike honestly have no idea what the best way to get kids engaged and learning on this kind of platform is because no one has ever done school quite like this ever in the history of the world. Oh, and let’s not forget that many of our teachers are also trying to support their own children who are learning at home and also need help. Some of the best teachers I know are in a major struggle right now.
Imagining how overwhelmed and stressed I would be right now were I trying to teach a class on Zoom, I reached out to several educators to ask them what they wished parents knew right now. In no particular order, here is the feedback I received:
The parents’ role is vital in assisting their child to access their education and we are thankful for parents.
We may choose interventions that are more realistic for parents to implement that could be different than if we had the supports of a classroom.
Parents are not alone. We want so badly to help.
We need information from parents in order to be able to help the children and to be able to help parents learn how to support their children.
We do not expect this to be easy for children and we understand that most kids have not been taught to learn at home the way they have been taught to learn in a school environment.
We do not expect parents to do everything that their teacher does.
We want you to help your child feel excited about learning.
We understand that everyone’s home environment is different. Please feel comfortable sharing your unique situation with your child’s teacher (need to support other siblings, work commitments, etc..)
Have grace with the staff and remember that they are learning a brand new way of teaching and managing new technology.
If you can’t provide something your child needs, please reach out to the school to see if they can help you get what your student needs.
If you are happy with how things are going, let your teacher (or their leadership/principals) know. It means so much to hear that they are doing good things!
Everyone in the community is doing the best they can with what they have. We all have to be kind and patient with each other to get through this.
In sum, remember that the teachers are learning at the same time as we parents are. They want to help and appreciate your support. They would rather be at school with your children than be looking at them through a screen. Most of them are doing the best they can. If you are feeling unsatisfied with your online learning experience, reach out to your teacher and understand that they are likely fielding endless questions so be flexible with response time. If you are unsuccessful getting into contact with your teacher, don’t hesitate to contact the principal, education specialist or case manager. If your child has an IEP and you feel that services are not being delivered appropriately or that you are not supported adequately, request an IEP meeting to discuss the plan going forward for your child.
Do not be afraid to speak up, be kind and remember, this is new to all of us. We are all in this together - parents, teachers and yes, even the baby goats.
*Special Thanks to Katie Artiano, BCBA, Catherine Pope (BCBA), Kaity Johannsen (BCBA), Dana Echement (1st grade teacher), Jan Gottenger Nossbaum (Elementary Educator), and others who contributed wonderful ideas to this piece! We appreciate our educators very much.