Editor’s note: Jill Hart is the Elementary Principal
We talk a lot about parent partnership here at FRCS, and for me, the foundation of a strong partnership between school and home is communication. But clear communication can be tricky.
I regularly tell my elementary parents that I won’t believe everything I hear about them if they don’t believe everything they hear about me. The perfect illustration of this point happened early in my educational career.
I was teaching Kindergarten and we were in the middle of an exciting study of our solar system. I thought it would be meaningful for my students to view footage of lunar landing as we began learning about the moon. To help my students understand the timing of this historical event, I shared with them that the lunar landing occurred before I was born, but that my mom remembers it clearly. (My mom had recently visited the classroom, so the kids knew exactly who I meant).
Everything went well, or so I thought. The students were enthralled by the video, they could rattle off fascinating moon facts, and were excited to share it all with their parents. And share they did.
That evening I got an email that went something like this:
Dear Jill,
Kara is really enjoying the science unit on space. Today she was quite excited to tell us that your mom walked on the moon. We tried to tell her that she misunderstood you, but she was adamant that we were wrong. Can you help?
Although humorous, this story reminds me that misunderstandings occur despite our best efforts. With that in mind, let’s enter this new year with a shared commitment to partner well through good communication, even if it requires a few follow up conversations.
And if your child tells me that he’s moving to Antarctica next week, I promise to check with you before I remove him from the class roster.
