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5 Messages You Must Convey to Parents at “Back-To-School Night” or “Open House”

September 4, 2015 By Ellen Shrager

5 Messages Teachers Must Give Parents at Open House or Back-to-School night.www.minutebyminutespanish

Back-to-School Nights can fly by in a blur. At our school, on Back-to-School Night, teachers have 10 minutes per class with parents. Use this time wisely. Don’t squander these minutes on technical information easily conveyed in a brochure, or by teaching a lesson in the target language — you have five more important messages to convey that will improve your relationship with parents for the rest of the year.

  1. You want to convey you are personable, friendly, human, and that they can trust you. Later on in the year, if there is an issue, you have laid the ground work that they approach you first with a problem or a complaint, not your boss.

After a brief sketch of my background and the advantages of learning Spanish, I mention my personal experience. I tell them about scholarships I have won, and how their child can also win scholarships, based on language skills. I share when I have made more money because of my language skills. Money catches their interest! I tell them how much I love teaching seventh grade right up until February when these twelve-year-olds turn into teenagers. I wink, we have a good laugh, I ask if the teenage alien has already entered their home, I have over 200 a day!  See, I’m personable!

  1. You must convey to them that you are the expert on this age group, compared to them. Even if you are a second year teacher throw out your statistic.

I spend a few minutes educating parents about adolescents and I assert my expertise with this age group. I tell them that in my experience of teaching more than 2,000 students in this age group, (here I pause and joke that I have the gray hair to prove it but you want it to sink in. Yah, they have two kids but you’ve had X amount in this age group.) I’ve seen some seventh graders try out some new—and undesirable—behaviors: lying and cheating.

Many parents are relieved when I depersonalize this shocking behavior. I reap many benefits throughout the year from this, as parents are more likely to admit their children’s mistakes to a teacher who doesn’t perceive these behaviors as a reflection of their parenting.

One unexpected behavior may be lying about homework, so I explain how I daily input grades into the grading program. I can help them put the app on their phones if that would help them to track their child’s actual homework turned in versus what they are told. Another lie may be that I haven’t handed back their make-up tests. My policy is to update grades and return them every Tuesday. (This slows down the compulsive parents who check grades online several times a day.)

I wrote 12 pages in my book about what teachers of other grades want parents to know. See below if you need more information.

  1. You must convey to parents to talk with you privately if something feels odd.

I tell them this, “If your child is trying to convince you of something that sounds unbelievable, email me to give you a call and we can figure out what is going on. Your child doesn’t have to know that you and I talked about the story that Mrs. Shrager is so old that every day she forgets to give me credit for my homework.”

      4.You must educate parents that their high school teachers will be writing college recommendations about the soft issues, including honesty.

If your parents are like my parents, the thought of their child having good grades but lousy recommendations terrifies them. You can learn how to talk to parents about the Common App letter of recommendation below. Teachers love having this information to help parents see the importance of correcting behavior issues in their class.

5. You must convey that languages are learned not just taught, and you have practice available whenever their child needs help, at their time convenience.

I tell them that I have quizlet games every week for practice that can be played on their child’s phone while on the bus to a sporting event. I also tell them that my job is to give them a love of learning Spanish which I do through music, current events, and by preparing 100 slides a day with my daily tech guide for visual support so that we can conduct the lesson in Spanish.  I ask how many have heard their children singing one of our songs already?  If time, I show a minute video of the class singing a song.  Parents love it and we end on a high loving note.

Prepare your presentation, use your time wisely to reap benefits all year long from it and enjoy Back-to-School night.

This post is a condensed version of one of the  sections from my book, Teacher Dialogues. Available at Teachers pay Teachers and at Amazon.

Perfect gift for new teacher or any teacher refining his or her "teacher voice.
Perfect gift for new teacher or any teacher refining his or her “teacher voice.”

 

 

Filed Under: Classroom Management, Difficult Class, Improve Class Behavior, Reflective Teacher, Take Charge of That Class, Uncategorized Tagged With: back to school night, parents, Spanish Teacher, Teacher, what to share with parents

Thanks for Visiting For the Minute by Minute Spanish!
Thanks for Visiting For the Minute by Minute Spanish!

New Spanish Teacher Landmines!

August 28, 2015 By Ellen Shrager

New teachers need to infuse their classes with their latest innovation techniques while being respectful of the experience of their colleagues.

Too late, many new teachers overlook the importance of investing time with other members of their department and getting to know all of the support staff.  It has become such a problem that I added a new chapter to my latest edition of Teacher Dialogues.  New teachers come with fresh and innovative ideas and many tend to discount the value of experience and collegiality with everyone in the building, not just their texting buds.

Experienced teachers will prevent you from having endless meetings with unhappy parents, lend you their version of a video when yours is scratched, and use the photocopying machine well in advance of their classes so that as new teachers rush in with the day’s handouts they can use the machine without waiting in line.  Balancing being a valued and respected member of your department with being an innovate teacher is a concern for this teacher:

Hola a todos. I need an advice! I will be starting my first job next year. It is Spanish 1A in a middle school where I substituted the last trimester of 2016-2017. I know the staff and school and I love it. I want to have an immersion class next year. However, most of the high school teachers follow the textbook and are grammar drive. They want me to teach ch.1-4 Avancemos. As a new teacher I do not know if I should follow them or what I think is the best for them, even if they disagree with me). Y es que no quiero los roces desde tan pronto, si saben a que me refiero.

Any advice about immersion classes, and staying in the target language at least 90% of the time. Where can I learn more about immersion languages programas for secondary education ?

My reply:

Welcome to the most rewarding profession!  I have a really good sense that you are going to be one of those wonderful teachers students remembered fondly because you are wise enough to seek advice from veteran teachers!  Over my 30 years, I have noticed that the best teachers honestly analyze what they do, seek advice from veterans, admit mistakes, and try new things.

I run my 7th grade classes as 90% target language classes and I think that is what you want to do as well!  For me, immersion means bilingual and I have no expertise with that.  The key to running a 90% target language class is to have everything be 100% compelling and engaging.  The best way to do this is to create a daily tech guide and use direct instruction for Survival Phrases.  Many people have their handouts and posters for these expressions – but my 50 are put to music that enters their brains like nothing else I have seen!

http://minutebyminutespanish.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/survival-summary.mp4

 

Every day I create a flipchart with our activities and musical transitions.  You can, too!  And you can teach what is expected of you so that you fit into your department.  Be circumspect. Let your colleagues come to you about what you do rather than flouting it to them.  Because not only are you paid to teach, but also to be a supportive colleague.  Even when your students make comments about how much they love the transition videos and the music, and that other students are jealous they don’t have your, be circumspect.   If you can  teach what they require and quietly do it with your flipcharts, you will be successful and rehired.

You can download the first day’s flip chart and watch videos of the first week, here

If you feel that this fits your teaching style, let me know and I’ll be glad to help you.  Welcome to the profession, I’m so delighted to be your colleague.

 

 

 

Filed Under: 90% Target Language Class, Comprehensible Input, New Teacher, Reflective Teacher, Uncategorized Tagged With: 100% comprehensible input, 90% target language, Chinese, ci, French, German, Italian, Latin, Mandarin, Spanish, Spanish song, Spanish Teacher, Spanish video, Spansih Survival Vocabulary, staying in the target language, transitions

Thanks for Visiting For the Minute by Minute Spanish!
Thanks for Visiting For the Minute by Minute Spanish!

Google Translation Cheating – How to Approach Student and Parents.

May 3, 2015 By Ellen Shrager

It is important for students to be able to tell their parents disappointing news.

Recently a teacher, Amelia, asked for help in dealing with a student who denies using Google translator while being unable to explain what she wrote and how she came up with the tenses that hadn’t been taught yet.  Unfortunately, the teacher asked her, which is the wrong approach, in my experience, and I’ll explain a better approach later on.  For now this is the reality and here is the dialogue for sharing with the parents.

“I really like your daughter and believe in her having a bright future.  She recently chose to use Google Translator on an assignment. This is a common mistake that I see every year.  Usually I talk about the mistake with the student who apologizes and promises not to do it again.  But this time (insert name) just can’t bear to admit her mistake.  This worries me because if she applies to a college that use the common app, teachers will be asked to rate her on her honesty, and this could prevent her from getting a glowing teacher evaluation.  It also worries me because in my experience (x number of years times X number of students per year) of over 3000 students, the students who can’t admit a mistake, often get into bigger problems because they are afraid to admit a mistake.

Tellling children to call and you will get them no questions is not enough if they don’t have the experience of surviving a difficult conversation with you.

I know of one student who couldn’t admit she was with a driver who had been drinking and got into the car that ended up in a serious accident.  Her parents always told her to call, but she really didn’t have the experience of surviving admitting a bad choice and getting over to the other side with her parents.  I’d hate to see this happen to her.  I am worried about her and I am hoping with this conversation that you are able to help her to get past this. because she really has so much going for her.  Can you help her with this?”

I have many versions of this dialogue and more in my book, Teacher Dialogues.  It also includes advice on how to start the conversation.  Rather than asking the student, tell the student in a private moment. “You know how you are one of my favorite students? Well I can tell that you must have been really pressed for time to not trust your language skills and just go with a Google translator or a friend.  Can you help me to understand what was going on that guided your decision? Ok, I understand.  Can you just write it on the paper so that I can remember while I get back to the class?”

Once they explain what happened, I take the paper and then tell them that X reason (that they gave) is something they have to tell their parents. I give them 24 or 48 hours to figure out who and how to tell and ask for an email or note from their parent.

Being able to tell one’s parents about a bad choice is the key to getting help when there is a big problem.

Most students blanche at this, yet time after time, they later feel so much better that they told their parents.  Carrying around deceit does hurt a lot of them.  They even counsel other students to tell their parents and get it over – after they stop being mad it feels so much better.

Good luck Amelia, with helping this family to address the issue of sharing disappointing choices.  It is why we teach students first, curriculum a close second.

Perfect gift for new teacher or any teacher refining his or her “teacher voice.

Filed Under: Classroom Management, Reflective Teacher, Uncategorized

Thanks for Visiting For the Minute by Minute Spanish!
Thanks for Visiting For the Minute by Minute Spanish!
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