Deck 17: Working With Your Students Families

Question 1

What are the primary goals of back-to-school nights?

Answer 1

To familiarize parents with an overview of the year or course, clarify class policies and practices, set expectations and penalties for student behavior, explain major assignments.

Question 2

What do the authors recommend that teachers do to manage e-mail correspondences with parents or guardians?

A)use their personal e-mail to correspond with parents and guardians.
B)establish and inform parents and the school administration of their policy for answering e-mail.
C)delete all emails from parents or guardians within 24 hours of responding.
D)promise to respond to parents or guardians within a couple of hours of receiving an email.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Ms.Raymond is preparing an update letter to send home to families of her students.What are three of the important guidelines described that the authors recommend teachers keep in mind when writing to parents?

Answer 3

Answer should include at least three of the following points:
• Use formal language in writing.
• Talk about the class as a whole, rather than specific students.
• Proofread.
• Use professional presentation - no handwritten notes, no handwritten corrections to typed notes
• Follow school policy for written communications.

Question 4

According to the authors, the benefits of maintaining good communication with the families of your students include all of the following except

A)improved clarity from sending messages directly to the parents or guardians.
B)basis of comparison of one student's performance to those of classmates.
C)more consistent messages regarding student behaviors and expectations.
C)opportunities to enlist family members' help in their children's education.

Question 5

When discussing their children's performance with parents and guardians at conferences, teachers should strive to

A)personalize the student's misbehaviors.
B)focus on areas of growth that parents can target.
C)provide a thorough discussion of all other students, so parents can compare the children.
D)point out to parents their child's bad habits.

Question 6

Teachers can effectively manage parent involvement in the classroom by

A)providing specific instructions and training to volunteers.
B)allowing volunteers to choose how they want to help, rather than assigning them tasks.
C)encouraging parent volunteers to share details about students with other parents and potential volunteers.
D)avoiding close supervision of the volunteers when they are working with students.

Question 7

Educating students in loco parentis means that

A)The school district is expected to seek parent input before disciplining students .
B)Teachers must avoid crazy decisions when disciplining students.
C)Teachers are expected to embody the views of parents when educating students.
D)Teachers are acting in the place of parents during the time that students are in school.

Question 8

Why do the authors advise teachers to develop a thick skin when interacting with parents?

Question 9

Why can decreasing opportunities for verbal communication between teachers and parents be problematic for teachers?

A)They have fewer interruptions from parents.
B)Fewer demands are placed on teachers by parents.
C)They have less support for the educational process.
D)They have more interaction with students.

Question 10

A common pitfall that teachers should try to avoid during back-to-school nights is

A)presenting an overview of the classes they teach.
B)informing family members about school and class policies.
C)discussing particular children's work or needs with their parents.
D)explaining the rationale behind major assignments.