Educators value the involvement and support of parents, guardians, families and communities in schools.
The way that I embraced standard four this semester was by sending a letter to the parents of the student of my class right away and creating that connection and conversation. I thought that if I opened the door in this way, parents would feel welcome to communicate with me about their students strengths and stretches.
“Dear Parents and Guardians,
I wanted to write to you all to say “Hello!” and to introduce myself. I am a Teaching Candidate from the UNBC Education program, specializing in secondary sciences. This quarter, I will be joining Ms. Sawchuk’s Chemistry 11 class for my formative practicum.
A little bit about myself:
I am originally from Dawson Creek, BC. After high school, I moved to Prince George to attend UNBC. I completed my undergraduate degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology with a minor in Psychology at UNBC in 2019. Afterwards, I spent a year working as an Educational Assistant at PGSS, and as a Teacher on Call in SD59. At this point, I realized that teaching and working with youth is a passion of mine. So, I joined the Education Program!
I am excited to work and learn along side Ms. X from May 17th – June 11th, 2021. During this time, in consultation with Ms. X, I am planning to cover the following material: names and formulae, chemical reactions, molarity and stoichiometry.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns at mbassett@sd57.bc.ca.
Thank you,
Megan Bassett”
Overall, I felt like this letter created a positive start to the relationship between myself and the parents. It allowed me to easily contact parents to show them how students were doing in the class. I found giving frequently updated progress reports on how students were doing in the class allowed me the time and space to work with parents to make a productive plan on how we could get students the support the students were struggling, and get those students back onto a successful path.