T&L 310 Classroom Management, 2020

Portfolio Assignment B
Planning for Home-School Communication (60 Points)
1. Describe your plan for establishing and maintaining communication with
families (20 points).
Be sure to include specific details and address the following: How will your plan ensure
consistent, two-way communication with families and how will it strengthen your
relationship with students. How will you ensure that your plan is culturally responsive
and that you are providing access to all on a regular basis?

Over the course of the year I plan to communicate with parents in various ways to make

sure that I am approachable and that everyone is constantly in the loop regarding their

students’ success. I plan to utilize Class Dojo so that parents can easily access information

about their student. Class Dojo is a great resource because it can help parents and guardians to

feel like they are part of the classroom as it provides an inside look at what we have been

working on. During the first week of school I plan to make sure to reach out to families to tell

them something positive about their student. I plan to do this so that the very first time a

parent hears from me it isn’t about a bad situation or an issue that their student has been

having in class. Then each month I want to do the exact same thing through the form of a call,

note or email so that families can hear what a great job that their student is doing over the

course of the school year. I want families to see me as a resource and someone who really

cares about their student so that I can be more approachable and respectable. In addition to

phone calls, Class Dojo and positive messages I also plan to hold open “Office Hours” twice a

week for an hour after school. This way, parents have the option to come and talk to me face-

to-face if they would like the immediate option to.

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To ensure that all families have equal access to me and school resources, I will have families

take a written survey that I will send home with students on the first day of school and again at

the open house. This way, I can learn how families would prefer to be contacted and what

means of communication works best for them. Before I set up a time for office hours, I will do

the same thing and ask parents if evenings or directly after school would work better for them.

If evenings are what work best, then I would hold them virtually and have families join a zoom

call instead of meeting at the school. If this were the case, I would most likely hold one zoom

office hour a week in the evenings and one directly after school each week so that I can appeal

to the majority of families and their schedules. I also plan to make myself very accessible to

parents so that if they have a question or concern, they can reach me in any way that they feel

most comfortable doing by providing as many means of contacting me to appeal to everyone

and their needs. By making communication frequent and accessible, students will be supported

best at home and in the classroom with everyone being on the same page.

2. Write a letter introducing yourself (20 points)

Provide some information about what students and their families should expect this
upcoming year in your classroom. This is your first step in establishing an environment
of “Invitational Learning” for all families. Please include information about yourself and
give a summary of your plans/goals/expectations for the year. Incorporate your “WHY?”
into this letter so families know your purpose for becoming a teacher.

Greetings families,

My name is Miss Vincent and I am so excited to be working with you and your students this

coming year! I grew up in Yakima Washington where I lived for my entire life until I started

college to pursue my elementary education degree at Washington State University for 4 years
T&L 310 Classroom Management, 2020

(Go Cougs!). I went into elementary education because I loved seeing students succeed and

finally master skills. Nothing beats the excitement and sense of pride that accompanies a long-

awaited victory in the classroom after students reach their goals and succeed. My top priority

will always be the success, learning and growth of your students over the course of the year

and will do whatever is necessary to help your students to be their best. I plan to be open,

honest and give my all to everything that we do in and out of the classroom. I believe

communication is one of the most important things to have established and keep open so

please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns you may have at any point

during the school year. Feel free to send me an email or text, call me or leave a message or to

even drop in after school to chat. I will be holding office hours throughout the year which I will

send home with your students in their folders on the first day of class. We can always set up

designated times to meet and I look forward to these conversations! I have listed all of my

contact information and the Class Dojo link at the bottom of this form. I look forward to getting

to know you and your students this year!

Sincerely,

Miss Vincent

3. Finally, our text identified three communication skills for addressing

student conflict directly (20 points)
Three Skills: Empathetic responding, constructive assertiveness, and problem solving
(Chapter 10- Communication Skills for Teaching in Evertson & Emmer). Summarize the
main ideas of these three skills. Also, please identify and discuss the skill you are most
comfortable utilizing and the skill you feel you need to develop.
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Moving forward as an elementary teacher, I will need to be comfortable and

proactive at addressing student conflict. Empathetic responding is where you hear a

student’s side and situation and respond to it in a way that is positive and encourages

further discussion to be had on that topic later. Constructive assertiveness is where I as

the teacher will make a decision for a student and explain to them why that is the best

action to take during this situation. Problem solving is an important skill that I will need

to put a lot of thought towards before stepping into a classroom because it can look

different in a variety of situations. Problem solving can be facilitated between students

or led by myself in front of the entire class. It is just important that while problem

solving I provide explanations and reasons to students so that they can understand why

the outcome is the way that it is. By having the student work with you to come up with

a solution then the student will understand why you both made the decisions you did

and what it took for you both to reach that agreement. I think that I personally am most

comfortable with problem solving because that entails working with the student to

reach an attainable solution together resulting in the student having a solid

understanding and a new skill set to apply to other areas of their life. I think that I am

least comfortable with constructive assertiveness because I sometimes will feel like I am

being mean or too hard when in reality I am just doing what I believe to be best for the

students at that time.

Criteria Criteria Not Meets Criteria Exceeds

Met Criteria
1 –Complete communication plan with details 0-9 Points 10-14 Points 20 Points
for providing consistent, two-way
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communication. Plan includes specific avenues

and is inclusive of all students and families.
2-Letter is well written with no spelling or 0-8 Points 10-14 Points 20 Points
grammar errors. Information about teacher
“WHY” included and reflects thought.
3—Response demonstrates understanding of 0-5 Points 6-9 Points 20 Points
skills for addressing student conflict directly.