From the moment your child enters school you will need to communicate with his/her teachers, principal and staff. What is the best way to do this? Should you call, email, stop by or write a letter? All of these are acceptable and will no doubt be utilized. However, for certain matters it is best to have a written record of your communication. This written record can best be done through good old fashioned letter writing. This can be intimidating I know. I'm sure you are saying "where do I start" or "what information do I need to include?" LD Online has a wonderful resource that you need to bookmark now. They provide all of the necessary information in detail.... how to address the letter, what to say, how long to wait for a response, etc. They even provide sample letters! Now, you have no excuse... put pen to paper and start writing.
Shane, thank you for sharing our letters that parents can use to write to the school. We worked hard to make them easy for parents to use, because we know how time stretched all of you are.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, if you have a chance, read the top article of our homepage (ldonline.org) which is an article designed to help your teacher advocate for your child.
Hi Shane. Thanks for your comments on my blog. As a former inclusion teacher I must say that I agree with this post. Teachers get so many emails and are so pressed for time that it is hard to spend lots of time talking on the phone and at conferences. Handwritten letters always stood out to me and I tended to remember them better and longer than emails. One thing parents should be careful of, I think, is to stick to the point. While I did get good letters, I also got letters that went on and on and on and you get my point. I think site you linked to with sample letters would really help with that. Thanks, this is a great site. I wish I had known about it while I was teaching. Of course, I had no time to browse online then!
ReplyDelete~Lizzie