Seattle Public Schools | STAR | On Demand Information | Parents, Families & School Community

On Demand Information for New Teachers

Parents, Families & School Community

parents/families | parent volunteers | health resources | working with new colleagues

For Parents/Families

STAR | Online Discussion, Jan 2007 -- The summary of the online discussion with STAR Associates, "Proactive and Productive Communication with Parents and Families". Resources and links are provided.

SPS | How to Involve Families -- Suggestions for helping families to make learning a priority.

SPS | Resources for Family Involvement -- Pamphlets and links for teachers.

SPS | Reading - Writing Tips -- Suggestions for supporting reading and writing at home.

SPS | Translations -- Recommendations for translating materials, available documents, and access to translated documents.

Parent Conferences

UW | Communicating with Parents -- Excellent strategies for speaking to parents over the phone and in-person. The strategies include, among others, suggestions for creating an conducive atmosphere in which to discuss student work.

SPS | Tips for Parents -- Family Partnerships Project provides parent conference information for parents to discuss with with teachers.

NEA | How to Make Parent Conferences Work for the Child -- Another primer for parents before their teacher conference.

Scholastic | Communication with Parents -- Resources include articles, templates for planning conferences, and even a 7-min. RealAudio file of teachers discussing what they do during conferences.

Parent Teacher Conferences -- One teacher's suggestions for conducting meaningful discussions.

Parent Volunteers

SPS | Information and Resources for Volunteers -- Volunteer Handbook, Tutoring, Literacy Packet and Tips can all be downloaded from this site.

NCREL | Increasing Parent Involvement -- These two NCREL Web sites are dated, but contain relevant suggestions for today. Concrete strategies for involving parents in the school and classroom.

NCREL | Creating the School Climate and Structures to Support Parent and Family Involvement -- Check out "Action options" for concrete steps that encourage parent and family involvement.

Health Resources

SPS | Resource Links -- A vast list of links related to personal and public health. Look here before Goggle-ing.

Working with New Colleagues

Coping with Difficult Situations -- What to do when you don't see eye-to-eye with some of your colleagues.

Learning School Routines & Procedures

Recommendations are on their way . . .

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