As an education candidate at West Virginia State University, I fully understand the expectations to uphold communications with families and guardians of students to ensure the academic success of the student is the primary focus of my goals, and our network needs to include teamwork to collaborate to help the student reach maximum potential. Two extraordinary examples that I have used quite often during my Residency I placement that I would love to display are the Teacher to Guardian Communicators, which house papers that need to 'Go Home' to stay home, or 'Return,' which will mean the student needs to send the document home, let the custodial figure tend the document before returning it. This is one of the most effective uses of a communication tool to reach the guardians for information transfers for our school! Another is the same idea with the Student Planners, which are stamped for the R.O.A.R.S. points if the student obtains a 70% or better for behavior for the day. The R.O.A.R.S. points system is a positive behavior reinforcement system that encourages students to maintain good behavior. Each of these, the planner and the folder, are sent home frequently, as in daily! They will be returned, so the guardians must check and sign these daily.

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Another significant strategy for establishing early success in my classroom is the 'All About Me...' page on the first day of school. This page, filled with information about me, my contact details, and reasons for being in the classroom, is a vital tool to express my appreciation for the parents' trust in me. It's not just about the students getting to know me but also about involving the parents in this conversation. I also included this page with my -12 form to have them all returned and worked them in the folder so that I could use all my devices simultaneously. I got all my forms back in the first two days of school. I was also active in open-house and parent-teacher conferences, which are phenomenal ways to maintain communication with families. We discuss students' successes, strengths and weaknesses and how we monitor their progress. These meetings are essential, and I discovered it is best practice to schedule all parents a time and space even if they do not wish to do so, and then give them the option because they can still show up unexpectedly without having notified you. 

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Lastly, our Classroom Newsletter has been one of the best ways to communicate information to parents. This allows parents to know about upcoming events and what to expect from their students' learning objectives, along with quick reminders and easy access to communication methods of contact. We attach these to the communicators each week so the parents can find the Newsletter. Test days, homework, and study material are usually listed as ways to support student learning and offer the parents ways they can help at home, too!