As you may have already discovered, there’s no single recipe for educational success, but there are consistent ingredients. The main ingredient being communication, and not just with your student, but with teachers, and other staff. Teaching your kids to do the same is a crucial part of a solid start to the school year, and helps ensure success throughout.
Students who have close, positive and supportive relationships with their teachers attain higher levels of achievement than those students with more conflictual relationships. If a student feels a personal connection to a teacher, experiences frequent communication with a teacher, and receives more guidance and praise than criticism, the student is likely to have more trust, show more engagement, behave better, and achieve more academic success. Positive teacher-student relationships draw students into learning and promote a desire to learn.
As important as they are to a strong educational foundation, positive relationships alone are not enough. It is also critical to clearly define and enforce expected behaviors.
More often than not, teachers establish an open-ended relationship with the parents prior to the school year kicking off. They share contact information, and set expectations as to what information they will share, and how often. Similarly, they offer expectations of the student’s on the first day of school. After that, it’s the parents’ and student’s responsibility to reach out.
Cyber Academy of South Carolina‘s Head of School, David Crook, agrees. He says his teachers, “really focus on making sure that expectations are made clear to the families, and we encourage all families to do the same. As long as the lines of communication are kept open by the staff and the families, real progress can be made. That is why it is so critical to really make an effort to build the relationship at the beginning of the year.”
So how should you communicate? Brick-and-mortar students can take advantage of constant access to their teacher in a classroom setting by raising their hand, or staying after school for additional help. Online students have constant access to their parent, who often oversees their school day, and getting in touch with their teacher is only a phone call or email away.
Crook says the key is to communicate all of the time, not just when things aren’t going smoothly. If a student has developed comfortable communication with their teacher on good days, they’ll be more inclined to ask for help when they’re struggling and find quick resolution.
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