Meet the teacher in your self-contained classroom can look a little different than what you usually see online. Meeting your students and their parents is a very valuable time to make connections. If it is only parents there, it’s great to start building communication on the right food. I have a few tips to make the most out of meet the teacher/ back to school night (and a free download).
The first thing you want to do at Meet the Teacher is have a solid introductory sheet for parents. This can introduce some details about you and also include a letter to your student. I have a free template for this available here.
Create a Meet the Teacher Form.
Here’s some things to share with your students and their families:
- Favorites
- About you and your family
- Contact Info
- Degree info
- Communication info
Explain your Communication System.
Next you want to share and familiarize your communication system. If you have nonverbal students in your classroom, student parents may be uneasy about letting them go off to school all day and want constant contact. If you have younger students and they haven’t been to school before this is especially true. Set out communication sheets and let parents know how they can contact you and how much you value this information.
Learn more about parent communication here.
Have them fill out forms, right now in the classroom.
Don’t send home packets of information and forms to be filled out. A lot of times these will get lost or not returned. Make meet the teacher night about filling out these forms and sharing how important it is for you to have this extra information to build the right curriculum for their child. Download these free Back to School Forms here. If you don’t have back to school night or meet the teacher, there are digital forms also available at that link.
You can learn more about student forms here.
Getting to know your students families is a huge undertaking that has huge gains for all! How do you structure meet the teacher?
