During the short workshop on using myed, we went over the option to email all guardians of the students in my class. That got me thinking about writing an email to the parents of all my students to introduce myself as the student teacher and address some of the questions and concerns they may have. This post is there to list out a few things I wish to consider in the construction of this email.

Objectives and principles as a teacher

• Towards teaching math
  • Math as a skill that can be developed through practice
  • Developing thinking skills
  • Building foundations for upper level math topics
• Towards students
  • Student responsibilities
• Towards parents
  • Communication
  • Cooperation

 

Homework

• Expectations and Policies
• Grading scheme
• Frequency and amount

 

Assessment

• Quizzes
• Tests

 

Support & Extra Help

• Availability at school
• Outside school
• By appointment

 

Update (Feb 9)

After getting some feedback from my school advisers, I would like to comment on a few things regarding this particular email.

The primary feedback I have received regarding the email is the length. While I consider all of the things I have listed important, would all parents be interested in it? As a student teacher who would only be working with their children for a (relatively) short amount of time, how interested would my students’ parents be interested in me? In other words, what are things that I may want parents to know but are not absolutely needed?

In this email, it may not be necessary for me to have such a lengthy introduction (I even got tired of writing the full email at some point). My philosophy regarding homework and practice in mathematics (as valid as I believe it may be), it could very well come off as me “teaching parents how to parent,” which is not the message I want any of the parents getting especially from a teacher as young as myself.

Since I will not be making dramatic changes to how grades will be done when I take over for my adviser, it would be unnecessary for me to discuss quizzes and tests in the email. This would cut down more than 75% of what I initially had in my email. However, I do plan on keeping the section on extra help and where students can find me as well as my contact information for parents.