When we first received orders to call home to parents, I was admittedly a little angry. The whining martyr in me thought, “I hardly have time to plan my lessons and keep up with class, now I have to call home too? I just don’t have time for this.” Admittedly wrong attitude. Clearly I didn’t vocalize any of these sentiments, but due to the nature of this post and in hopes of full disclosure, it is good to lay grounds of where I was coming from, so then in turn you can see where I am now.
I am neither a stranger to talking with parents, talking on the phone, or talking with parents on the phone. I’ve had several jobs that have accommodated for both, most recently in fundraising for a prep school, so I was never nervous about the calls themselves, but rather the timing of it all; I’ve always felt I could speak with parents relatively easily.
Last thursday, as I was working at a local coffee shop in Oxford, I finally decided I needed to take the plunge into parent calls. I pulled my class roster and the numbers we have on record, and began dialing. I realized that once I pressed the send button, this truly was a point of no return, and anything could happen on the other end. Also, first on my list was the parent of a child who is consistently disruptive in class. As you can imagine, those are the calls you would like to avoid if possible as you’re not sure how their attitude is toward your treatment of their son. The phone rings, a woman answers, “hello?” is heard from the other end. I respond, “hi, this is Blake Ware, Algebra 1 teacher at XXXXX XXXXXX High School, I am one of XXXXXXXXX’s teachers” (you understand why the X’s are there). All I get back is an “ok?”, so thus I begin this explanation of who I am and the reasoning for my calling. It was clear that this parent, and many others, were initially very surprised for the call. After gaining ground and conversing for a few minutes, she thanked me for my time and expressed appreciation for my call. This would be the first of many conversations that would unfold in this way. Initial confusion, but ultimate gratitude.
My parent phone calls last week were definitely one of the high points of the entire summer school experience thus far. The words I received in that stream of calls were all genuine and sincere, and all expressed gratitude for keeping them in the loop with their son’s or daughter’s education.
Required parent-calling may seem annoying now, but it will help you during the school year. Parents who still have control of their child will respond to your call and you will see differences in the classroom because of parental notification. Don't forget to call when "good" students are bad, and when "bad" students are good. Let parents and students know that you care.
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