Yes, that last post has a true Blog of Gloom and Doom feel. If I call home I may have to call child services? I may be attacked? Oh, no!

Hi, newbies. These tips continue veering to the practical, but I feel I should add some perspective to the previous post. Most calls home are harmless and many are beneficial. Parents have helped me hold up the ship and rescue their kids for years. Parents are usually grateful to know what their child is doing in the classroom. They want to know Arianna has fallen behind in her homework. They want to know Arianna skipped class and disappeared yesterday afternoon for two hours. Sometimes they desperately want to know.

Parents are mostly grateful for help and information. They can often get the homework done and see that Arianna comes to class. So, please, plan to call parents and guardians when you have a problem unless those red flags referred to in my last post crop up in some fashion.*

Eduhonesty: Calls to parents and guardians at home can help enormously when you are trying to manage your classroom. I wholeheartedly recommend calling regularly.

Tip # 14.5: Keep a call log. Update that log while you are calling or immediately afterward. (I have had a bad habit of planning to do this later and I am sure some calls never made the log.) Write down phone numbers to simplify future calls. You will find some numbers are used often. You may have them memorized before Thanksgiving break.

*If you sense possible trouble or conflict from making a call, consider delegating that call to a social worker, counselor or colleague who has a better rapport with your student’s parents. While sometimes you may be the only person for the call, depending on the nature of that call, there’s no disgrace in asking others for their expertise.