Communication with parents is huge, and when one of my eighth graders was gone for a week, I made sure to get involved with not only him, but his parents as well, in order to catch him up on things he missed.
One of the biggest things I’ve learned in student teaching is that to be a teacher, you must always be one step ahead. As I realized this student was missing, I started gathering materials and setting them aside for him. I also started writing more detailed Google Classroom posts so that he could follow along from home and not get too far behind.
I made sure to set aside information for his parents to pick up; I also sent this email to keep them (and the student!) in the loop. Now that he’s back in class, the catch-up process is much easier. But I’ve realized how important my role in all of this is, and I feel so prepared for parent-teacher communication in the future!