Enhancing Communication Between Teachers and Parents: Effective Strategies for Engagement
This chapter offers insights into the critical components of effective communication between teachers and parents. It emphasizes the high expectations parents have regarding communication, detailing various styles, including assertive, aggressive, and passive. The chapter outlines how conversational fluency affects interactions, providing examples of one-way versus two-way communication and strategies for overcoming common roadblocks. Key concepts such as Cooley’s Looking-Glass-Self are explored, encouraging educators to adopt a partnership mentality in their relationships with parents.
Enhancing Communication Between Teachers and Parents: Effective Strategies for Engagement
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Presentation Transcript
Communicationand Parent ProgramsChapter 5 Perry C. Hanavan
Effective Communication • Parents have high expectations regarding teacher’s communication • No spelling errors • Articulate
Communication Components • M • E • L • T Message Talker Listener Environment
Communication • What is said • Words/Verbal Stimuli • (7% of input) • Auditory message conveyed • Vocal and Tonal Stimuli • (38% of input) • Visual message conveyed • Gestures/Body Language/Visual Stimuli • (55% of input)
Communication • Aggressive conversational style • hostile, belligerent, bad attitude • blames others • denies, dominates, interrupts • Passive conversational style • withdraws, bluffs, avoids • Assertive conversational style • takes responsibility for managing communication • respects the rights of others • openly and honestly expresses needs and emotions
Assignment During the next two days: 1. analyze your communication behavior 2. analyze 2 people you communicate with daily and determine their style 3. select the communication style you prefer others use
Conversation • Sharing ideas • Relating experiences • Telling stories • Expressing needs • Instructing • Influencing • Establishing intimacy
Rules of Conversation • Agree to share one another’s interests • Ensure all share in talking • Participate in topic • Take turns talking • Relevant topic discussion • Succinct messages
Conversational Fluency • Definition: • how smoothly conversation unfolds
Conversational Fluency Factors • Time spent repairing communication breakdowns • if need for clarification is low, then fluency is high • Exchange of information and ideas • is conversation easily and successfully share information, then fluency is high • Speaking time shared • equal time, few silences, few interruptions, then fluency is high
Index of Sharing Speaking Time • Conversational turn: • period participant delivers a contribution to a conversation • Mean length (speaking) turn (MLT) • average number of words spoken during a set number of conversational turns • Mean length turn ratio (MLT ratio) • ratio of two speakers in a conversation
Example 1: Conversational Fluency Teacher: Is Sarah studying at home, much? Parent: Yes, and I’m thrilled with her. Teacher: You said several weeks ago she only watched TV and used her PlayStation after school. Parent: Yes, but we have been following your suggestions of turning off the TV. Teacher’s MLT = 8.0 words (16 words/2 utterances) Parent’s MLT = 9.0 words (18 words/2 utterances) MLT ratio: 0.9 (1.0 = equal length of speaking time)
One-Way Communication • Newsletters • Media • Handbooks • Letters • Notes
Two-Way Communication • Telephone • Email • Home visits • Parent visits • Parent-teacher conferences
Parent Roadblocks • Protector role • Inadequate-me role • Avoidance role • Indifferent role • Don’t make waves role • Club-waving role
School Roadblocks • Authority-figure role • Sympathetic-counselor role • Pass the buck role • Protect the empire role • Busy teacher role
Cooley’s Looking-Glass-Self • How you view yourself depends on your perceptions of how others see you • the imagination of our appearance to the other person (imaging self) • the imagination of other’s judgment of that appearance (interpreting others reactions) • some sort of self-feeling, such as pride or mortification (self-image)
A Teacher’s Looking Glass "I shall always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins because he always treats me as a flower girl, and always will; I know I can be a lady to you because you always treat me as a lady and always will." • View parents as subordinates (flower girl) • View parents as partners (lady)
Parent Teacher Conference • Ten tips