Communication with Administration/ Parents

A lot of times, especially dealing with seniors, I must reach out to administration and parents. This is because there are many interventions, we need to take in order to legally fail a student in our school system. One instance where I had to call a parent was due to a student’s attendance. The student was absent for over a week and was beginning to fail my class. The parent was aware of the student being absent and explained the financial difficulties they were having, so the student was working extra hours at their job. When the student came in the following week, we had a one on one conference and they explained their situation and the situation had turned around. Another instance where I had to contact an administrator was for a student who was being disruptive repeatedly in class. The administrator had a conference with the student and the situation was extinguished.

When dealing with situations with students I try to mediate the situation in the classroom first. Generally, if I level with the student and get to see where the root of the behavior is coming from, they tend to turn around or respond better when redirected. Talking with parents does not need to be an immediate disciplinary act but can be helpful when you are trying to better understand a student. There was one student I had that was in class daily but was more reserved and struggled with interacting with myself and other students. I reached out to their parent and they informed me of some of the issues at home and gave me some incite into what the student was interested in, which helped me to better address the student and get them to be more interactive. I try not to get the administration involved in some circumstances that I can mediate internally, but when it comes to my seniors, I must let them be aware of their status for graduating.