The ’20/’21 school experience is going to be very different, with distance learning, various scheduling changes, social distancing, and a host of other changes. It will be different not only for the students, but also for parents and teachers as well. It’s still important though, to build and maintain a good working relationship.
To begin with, we need to realize that the "new normal" conditions of 2020 give us a bit of a clean slate. Everything has changed, so we get to decide if we are going to complain and buck the changes, or if we can work together to figure out how to make the school year the best it can be during these weird times.
We have to recognize that these new challenges are going to be frustrating for everyone. Frustrations about “how things ought to be” can lead to unnecessarily irritating interactions, but it doesn’t need to be that way. Maybe we need to look for those things that are familiar. We need to look for and focus on the things that are going well, and we need to make sure to root the parent-teacher relationship on communicating with each other about care for our student’s experience.
We can support each other, ask how we can help, and ask how we can meet the shared goals for our student in the best way. When there is confusion, we can speak up. If we see a problem, we can talk about it rather than letting things fester. And importantly, we can resist assuming that the other, parent or teacher, isn’t doing their job properly. After all, this situation is new to everyone.
Most teachers were not trained to teach remotely and are probably also struggling to deal with the new technology to do so. Parents are facing the tough situation of working from home while dealing with their child’s schooling at the same time, and many teachers are in the same situation with children of their own. And all of this, on top of dealing with the stresses of this really confusing and worrisome era of COVID-19, and helping our student to personally navigate through these times as well. So, let’s remember to come from this place: our goal of giving the student what he needs to be a success this school year. Both parent and teacher place a high importance on this shared goal and we need to remember that all of this is new, to everyone. We need to work together to figure out what works, what doesn’t, and we need to be flexible enough to adjust as needed.
If we can all work together during this extraordinary year, express a willingness to help and support, and patiently assume that everyone is doing the very best that they can, the parent-teacher relationship can be stronger than ever.
