While most of you are no doubt back at school, where I teach, we don’t start until after Labor Day, so I am just now starting to think about the year ahead. One topic I haven’t written much about is home-school communication and community. Involving students’ families in the learning process is an important piece of the equation. In this post I will share some tips for enhancing communication and involvement from parents.
First, I’ll start by saying what you probably already know: communicating with families is essential, and it builds important relationships. Naturally, it’s important to contact home with concerns, but it’s just as important to contact home with good news. If I’ve had to contact home about a behavioral issue or an issue with grades or schoolwork, and that student has made an effort to improve, I make sure to follow up with the parent and let them know. The parent really appreciates it, and the student does as well. Our school provides teachers with postcards designed by students that we can use to send a note home. I try to send a few a week, and when I am considering which of my students to write to next, I think about their various contributions in the classroom but also who I think would really benefit from and appreciate receiving a postcard. It always makes me feel good when a student comes into class and thanks me for sending them the card. We all have many different responsibilities throughout the school day, but it’s important to make time for communication, both good news and bad news.
Introductory Video for Students – I mentioned this video in my last post, but it’s worth mentioning again, as it relates to the topic at hand. At the beginning of the year, I show a video to my students, which highlights reasons to learn French, shows where French is spoken and some French speakers, and samples some francophone entertainment. I update it every few years to keep celebrities current. For copyright reasons, I can’t show the whole video but click here to watch the beginning portion that I narrate. For homework, students must go home and have a conversation with a parent about what they learned from the video and reasons to learn French and have a parent sign off that they had the conversation. I post the video on Canvas, our school’s LMS, so that students can rewatch the video at home with family if they’d like. Click here to read a 2023 post about more ways I reinforce with my students why French is important and click here to read a 2024 post about the Big Ideas in French class.
Classroom Blog – Over a decade after starting it, I still find the classroom blog to be an important component in home-school communication. On the blog I post photos of classroom activities and events, student work, and screenshots from online activities. At the beginning of the year I send an optional permission slip home with students that can be turned in to allow their photo to appear on the blog. Even if they don’t turn it in, the parents are given a link to the blog and encouraged to subscribe. The blog posts can also be shared with community members to showcase what you’re doing in your class. Because not all parents subscribe to the blog, I also send out blog post summaries via ParentSquare, our school’s family communication platform, always including a few photos from the post (visuals are an important part of communication!). This takes additional time, but it’s worth it to make sure I’m reaching as many families as possible. A lot of parents have indicated to me that they really appreciate the updates and seeing what goes on in class. Click here to read my class blog.
Food Sign-Ups – Several times throughout the year, students can volunteer to bring in authentic dishes relating to a holiday or event we are learning about in class. I send recipes home and use a Microsoft Form where students can sign up. Most students end up making the dish with the assistance of a parent, many of whom report back to me how much they enjoyed the chance to work on it with their child.
Independent Exploration – Independent Exploration is primarily a library of resources that my students can explore in their own time to improve their French and learn new things. Every so often I give an Independent Exploration assignment, where students must do an activity from the library and submit evidence of learning. There are several different categories to choose from. One of the categories, though, doesn’t contain any resources at all. The Friends and Family category offers several ways for students to practice their French with someone who already knows it or to teach someone who doesn’t. We all know that teaching something is the best way to reinforce it. It’s also an opportunity to bring parents and family members into the learning process. Click here to read a 2022 post I wrote about how to create your own Independent Exploration library and click here to explore my library.
Canva Quotes – From time to time, I share student quotes on my blog and ParentSquare updates – from Independent Exploration or from various in-class activities. To make these quotes pop out visually I use Canva to make an image.
Parent Volunteers – At the beginning of the year, I send a link on ParentSquare and a QR code at Open House for parents to sign up to volunteer in my class via Microsoft Forms. I create a spreadsheet that lists prospective parent volunteers by class. During our various food events, I invite at least one parent per class to come in and help serve food. I try to get as many parents in the classroom as I can throughout the year. The parents repeatedly tell me how much they appreciate the opportunity to come into their child’s school, something most of them haven’t had the chance to do since their child was in elementary school. Pictured above are three parents helping out at my annual crêpe tasting, where parents heat up pre-made crêpes and put fillings in them, which students order in French. Click here to read a 2025 blog post about that activity.
What are some ways you enhance home-school communication and community?
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