There are two types of kids that educators will generally communicate home about. The most common: those exhibiting behavioral problems. The runner up: those demonstrating exemplary skill in the classroom or extra-curricular activities. The former is almost always negative while the latter is almost always positive.
So, if that’s the case, we are saying that the vast majority of a student population goes without positive contact home from staff.
If we have learned anything over the years it would be how important relationships are to the continued drive, motivation, and ultimate success of a student. How can we sit back and say that we are OK with our stats saying that we are essentially failing miserably at establishing positive contacts with kids at home?
This year I’m trying something new. I printed mailing labels for every student in our building (give or take 900). My plan? Write at least one positive note home to each student in the building over the course of the year. Having the labels pre-printed will keep me accountable (I’ll know my action list simply by looking at remaining labels). To take it a step further, I really want to be the one that observed what it was that I’m writing home about. Naturally, this leads to being in classrooms more and interacting with kids.
It’s a simple hack that has the potential to make an incredible difference. How do you communicate positively with kids?
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