Corwin Quick and Easy Ways to Connect With Students and Their Parents, Grades K-8: Improving Student Achievement Through Parent Involvement

"Novice teachers should find Mierzwik′s book to be quite helpful as they face the many challenges of modern-day classroom teaching." Kent Hayden, Field Supervisor, Student/Intern Teachers University of Redlands "As a veteran teacher, I wondered what this book could teach me. Well, it taught me valuable ideas, some new, some long forgotten. It resulted in my brain processing a deluge of new ways to look at old behavior problems." Linda Mercier, High School French Teacher Conestoga Valley High School, Lancaster, PA "This book is an excellent resource for veteran and beginning teachers. It contains a number of simple, practical, useful, and effective ideas, suggestions, and practices that can be easily implemented." Bernard Cavanagh, Director of Curriculum, Secondary Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District, Yucaipa, CA "Diane Mierzwik offers an approach to teaching which is both humane and effective. Her suggestions are backed by years of experience and research and will help everyone, from the brand new teachers to the old hand." Martha Plender, Co-Director, Inland Area Writing Project University of California, Riverside Have fewer confrontations with students, gain support from parents, and increase student achievement! The research is indisputable. The more involved parents are with their child′s education, the more successful that child will be in school. Therefore, finding ways as a teacher to reach out to students and their parents is crucial in improving academic performance. Quick and Easy Ways to Connect With Students and Their Parents, Grades K-8 provides strategies to enrich the classroom environment, motivate students, and improve communication with parents. Supplying numerous sample forms, documents, and letters that teachers can use or adapt for their own purposes, author Diane Mierzwik offers simple, classroom-tested methods for building relationships with students and their parents. Designed for both beginning and experienced teachers, this hands-on guidebook includes information on: Facilitating constructive parent-teacher conferences Preparing for Back-to-School nights Reaching out to uninvolved parents Talking to parents about troubled students Motivating even the most difficult students Using e-mail as a communication tool and other time-saving tips The activities, suggestions, and techniques in this book can help any teacher make a substantive impact on the lives of students.