Week 3 Journal Reflection-Getting to Know Your Students and Families

As a teacher, it is incredibly important to get to know your students and families. I strongly believe that building relationships is the key to being a successful teacher. Your classroom management, communication, activities, lesson plans, classroom environment, etc. all depend on the relationships created with your students and families. I became a teacher because of the relationships I had with my teachers when I was younger. My third-grade teacher was the best teacher I ever had. His name was Mr. Daniels. He was funny, compassionate, caring, and truly a great person. I can't tell you what I learned in his classroom, or even what the routine was in his classroom, but I can tell you I loved showing up to his class every day and I loved the way he made me feel. My goal as a teacher is to become the consistency, safe place, and encouragement in my students' lives. I want to make my students feel like they are important and that they can accomplish anything they put their mind to. There is no way I can make my students feel important without building relationships through getting to know my students and families.

I am a second-year teacher and have used two interview tools each year. One tool I use is the Parent/Child Information Sheet and the other tool I use is the Student Survey. I have learned that the interview questions help the parent or guardian open up to the conversation. Some parents or guardians like to write what their concerns are, while others will talk to me in person. One parent this year talked to me about their concern with their child having a stutter, another parent talked to me about their concern with their child not adapting well at a new school, and another parent talked to me about their child's shaky hands. I like the Parent/Child Information sheet because it provides an opportunity for the parent or guardian to share their thoughts about their child's strengths, areas of concern, goals, and anything else they would like me to know. Last year, I discovered so many things that were going on in my students' lives' through this parent/child form. I found out about a parent being deployed, a different parent that was in and out of jail, and one student that had experienced death in their family. His 3-year-old cousin died right before he transferred schools.

The information learned about the student and family is important to consider while working with them because it can sometimes help explain why they are acting a certain way. As a teacher, you can take the information and make sure you approach the student in the right way. You will learn what is okay to joke around with and what topics might be hard for this student. You can discover what might be a trigger or what might make the student more successful in the classroom. For the most part, I think it was easy to keep the conversations on track. Out of the three parents, I talked to this year, two parents stayed right on track. One parent kept coming back to talking about himself but then would make a connection with his child. I think it was easy to keep the conversations on track because both the parent and I want what is best for their child. Our focus and goal are the same for their child.

I feel that this is a valuable exercise to complete before starting the school year because it can help the teacher know the student better. The more the teacher knows the student and family, the more they can help step them up to succeed. It makes a difference knowing what is going on in your students' home life, how they like to learn, and what their interests are.