Hi friends,
Today’s Education Blog by DUO Inspirations isn’t going to be about anything academic. It may be argued that the topic of today’s post is meant for parents alone. However, colleges teach courses on communication strategies and tactics, why not think that elementary schools or high schools can do the same? Also, communication is an important skill that many of us are not taught, because our parents didn’t think of it or didn’t have the skill themselves. I don’t mean just talking and saying words. I am talking about healthy and effective ways to speak. Often, we don’t know or think about how we say something. Although, most of us tend to recognize that two people will ask for basically the same thing in two different ways and one person will get it and the other not. Communication isn’t just the words we speak, but also the tones, mannerisms, behaviors, and all that goes with them. Some teachers and parents may already do this, but I think that teaching healthy and effective communication skills to children should be a widespread and integral part of any upbringing and schooling. Even very young children, if put in a way that is at their level, will understand that the need to communicate in a healthy and effective way. Role-playing in conjunction with some basic conversation might be helpful. For, example, if you first role-play shrieking, trying to grab something, saying, “Give me _____. I want it!” Then, you role-play, saying in a nice, warm tone of voice, “I would like the ___________. Could you give it to me, please?” Many times, a child will understand that the latter is kinder and will more times than not be more effective than the former. Even a young child will understand that it “feels” better, even if he or she really can’t understand or communicate why it feels better. Young children can sense, if not understand, that it “feels” better to have someone speak with you in a kind and pleasant voice with kind words than to have someone try to grab at you and shriek at you in a loud and unpleasant voice with unkind words. Healthy and effective communication includes many things and this is only a very basic and general point on just one part of it. However, I hope it is enough to get you thinking of the importance and viability of teaching it to people from a very young age through all ages. Now, it is your turn. Do you teach healthy and effective communication skills as part of your class or homeschooling? What are some things that are encompassed in healthy and effective communication skills? At what age do you feel healthy and effective communication should be taught? Do you think that healthy and effective communication should be taught in school as a course, in the home, both, etc.? Would you like an entire blog series on teaching healthy and effective communication to children? I look forward to your thoughts. Thank you for being here. I appreciate your kindness and support. If you find value in the Education Blog, please share it with family, friends, and coworkers, so they may find value as well. Also if you haven't done so already, please consider signing up below to receive the Education Blog and other education topics in your inbox. Thank you. Please note: Education Blog by DUO Inspirations has been weekly up to this point. My plan at the moment is to go from weekly to first and third Wednesdays through July or August. At that point, I will re-evaluate the situation and see what the most effective use of my time seems to be and how I can bring you the most value. Please, keep me and that focus in your prayers. Also, if you have questions, comments, or suggestions, as well as requests for specific topics, products, or services, please feel free to comment or contact me. Thank you.
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Hi friends,
How are you today? I hope you are well. I know you must be tired of Covid and looking for new ways to save time and still be the teacher you want to be. An important part of that is parent/teacher communication. So, how do you keep in touch with parents now? How often do you let parents know how their child is doing? When I taught kindergarten, I sent home communication every day as to how each child was doing. Sometimes it was difficult to find the time to send home a communication for each child every day. Sometimes I would do it during nap time, sometimes during specials, and sometimes I would do it during lunch. Sometimes it was just when I found a few minutes here or there, I would fill out the form that went home for communication. For kindergarten class, often a communication home would consist of a star, smiley face, sad face, or straight-line face. Sometimes, a student might get an angry face going home as well. This would quickly tell parents how their child was doing. There were days, when I was busy and the face or star was the only communication. Although, when a child received a sad face or angry face, there was always an accompanying explanation. On days when I had a little more time, I liked to include a note of praise, especially during times of success after extreme difficulty. I also wrote reminders on days before a field trip, inclement weather, or something out of the ordinary. The daily communication was in addition to a monthly newsletter that was sent home. The monthly newsletter was more general though. It let parents know the kinds of things that their children would be doing as well as any upcoming events for the month. 
This is a daily communication sheet that I recreated from memory of what I sent home daily with students. They liked to see how they were doing by looking at the child friendly communication sheet. The parents enjoyed getting a little idea of how their child was doing each day. I enjoyed it, because I could tell a parent so much with just a face or quick sentence or two in a note.
Feel free to download this sample and use it yourself. I would be happy to hear how you, your students, and your parents like it. The good thing about a form like this, it can be easily transformed so you can add other features for quick communication. I may do that at some point. I may create some other daily communication sheets for parent/teacher communication. What do you think? If you need a daily communication sheet to fit your needs, please feel free to contact me. Thank you. Thank you for being here. I hope you are enjoying and finding value in the Education Blog by DUO Inspirations. If you do find value in the Education Blog by DUO Inspirations, please share it with friends, family, and coworkers. Also, if you haven't already, please consider signing up below to receive the Education Blog by DUO Inspirations and other education content in your inbox. |
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