3 Tips for Back to School: Teachers' Edition

Going back to school often means returning to a new year and a new school, meeting new parents, and learning expectations for the new school year—a daunting process for most. Below are three useful ways teachers can prepare for the return to school:

1. Assume positive intent:

Parents want to work with you; they also want what is best for their children at school, at home, and in the future. Often, some parents have had negative past experiences with individualized educational/education program meetings or with the team, which negatively impacts their future experiences. Impulsive attitudes, accusations, and poor communication are all factors that negatively affect the team and are often caused by misinformation or past bad experiences. Keeping this parental perspective in mind and remembering that they want to work with you and want the best for their children is essential to reshaping the parent-teacher relationship so everyone can start on a positive note.

A wonderful approach is to have parents share their vision and ambitions for their child's future, or, if possible, have the student share their future hopes and dreams with the Individualized Education Program (IEP) team. This step will remind everyone why they are here and will bring them together as a team.

2. Try to address conflicts and disagreements:

Recognizing that there is always potential for disagreement is an important reality in teamwork methodology. There are a set of regulations that are part of the Individualized Education Program (IEP) development process that protect the student, their family, and the school. However, before taking formal dispute resolution steps, teams should commit to informal problem-solving protocols and try to understand different perspectives. For example: the person responsible for mutual agreement listens to both parties and clarifies perspectives to the other party. Once again, at the heart of every conflict is the student's best interest, which sometimes requires all team members to take a step back and adjust their perspectives.

3. Engage early:

An Individualized Education Program is not a one-size-fits-all general program. At the beginning of the school year, teams must collaborate to determine the best way to engage everyone in the program, including parents. Communication should always be a priority and should be prompt and in accessible language (mobile app, phone calls, text messages). Schools should seek parental input, share student successes, and collaborate with them to support students through their learning experiences (both the good and the challenging). The special education team leaves a significant impact on the student's future, so it is important for everyone to work together on one aligned path to ensure the best and most meaningful outcomes for the student.

* The foundation of our development of the Ynmo Plan app is to give practitioners and parents the opportunity to work as one team, achieving the point mentioned in this article. The app aims to share individualized plans and assign goals for parents so that the educational process becomes integrated and continuous, alongside an instant messaging feature to facilitate real-time communication.

Adapted and translated
https://www.rethinked.com/blog/2018/07/31/3-tips-for-back-to-school-teachers-edition-2018/

Originally published in Arabic. This English version was produced with AI-assisted translation; the Arabic original remains the reference.