TL;DR:
- As teachers, you get the best version of the students. The way you interact with parents greatly affects their home life.
- While the parent-teacher relationship can be complicated, remember that both parties are acting in the best interest of the student.
- Communication and compromise are key in order to mutually help the student.
- Building a strong parent-teacher relationship raises a student’s academic achievement, allows teachers to focus more on teaching, and helps parents more deeply appreciate the impact they have on their child’s success in school.
“Education…is painful, continual and difficult work to be done in kindness, by watching, by warning, by praise, but above all, by example.”
— John Ruskin
This quote encompasses the struggle, goal, and vision for both parents and teachers. I am not a teacher, yet I find myself writing a blog for teachers. My background is in nonprofit management with a passion for education. This passion was developed in me over many years by dedicated teachers and a family that understood the value of education. Education is the one thing that no one can take away from you. It is the only thing in life that simultaneously gets you ahead and defines who you are as a person. This ultimately helps you become the best version of yourself.
Parents as Teachers
While the struggles and success stories of being the teacher was not something I experienced in the past, I am a parent trying to establish and hone this love of lifelong learning in my children while trying to navigate the dichotomy of school and home in post-COVID-19 education. So, I find myself wearing both hats most days, at least for this year.
I know that the best place for my children is at school with their teachers and peers developing their own sense of self. I cannot help but step back and appreciate this time to wear the teacher hat, even for a brief moment in time. It has given me a whole new perspective on the relationship between student and teacher and teacher and parents. I’ve always known the value of education. However, never before have I been able to view my child through the lens of the teacher until now. Let me tell you, it’s been an eye-opener. I’ve learned a few things myself.
By sharing your gifts of teaching and by developing strong relationships with parents, there is a ripple-like effect on that child that starts small and gets immeasurably larger, affecting the rest of their lives. Click To Tweet
Teachers Have Influence
It is blazingly apparent to me now, that as teachers, you get the best version of our kids. You get the version that tries their best. Your opinion and guidance carry great weight in the eyes of students. Your power lies in your ability to influence, encourage, strengthen, and empower students to grow into the best version of themselves.
Parents as Teachers – Partners
Your power as a teacher goes beyond the student as well. The way teachers interact with parents greatly affects a student’s home life as well. Actively engaging parents in a child’s education and communicating a student’s strengths and areas for improvement allows parents to set the tone at home. Parents can supplement areas of strengths and help improve upon areas in need of growth. A positive parent-teacher relationship can empower a parent to realize the deep impact they can have on their child’s academic success which will, in turn, help free up the teacher’s time to concentrate on actually teaching.
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Parents as Teachers – Relationship with Teachers
This symbiotic relationship, based on open communication and compromise, is what together drives academic achievement in students. The parent and teacher relationship can be complicated. It helps to remember both parties are acting in the best interest of the student with the same ultimate goal. In my mind, both the teacher and the parent are educators in the eyes of the child. When you share your talents as a teacher, you influence a world that extends far beyond your classroom walls. By sharing your gifts of teaching and by developing strong relationships with parents, there is a ripple-like effect on that child that starts small and gets immeasurably larger, affecting the rest of their lives and influencing the world around them.
“The job of an educator is to teach students to see the vitality in themselves.”
— Joseph Campbell
About Laura Lisien
Laura Lisien is currently the business manager of Education Blueprint. She has a deep understanding and love of nonprofit management. In 2003, she graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Museum Management. She later went on, in 2006, to receive her Masters Degree in Public Policy and Management from the Heinz School of Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon.
From there, she furthered her business acumen in the Public Sector for more than six years at Deloitte Consulting as a Senior Consultant in the Strategy and Operations practice. She worked with clients such as Pennsylvania Department of Health and Human Services, the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and the Maine Department of Medicaid and Medicare on technology and finance projects.
Her love of nonprofit management, especially pertaining to education organizations, has led her to take on her current role of Nonprofit Manager at Education Blueprint. Her goal is to set-up, run and manage the organization’s nonprofit structure in order to maximize the benefit of the website for all teachers. She is also a dedicated wife and mother of two boys and is an active member in her community.
