{"id":132934,"date":"2017-10-08T12:00:08","date_gmt":"2017-10-08T16:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/?post_type=podcasts&#038;p=132934"},"modified":"2024-08-12T02:35:09","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T07:35:09","slug":"slacker","status":"publish","type":"podcasts","link":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/slacker\/","title":{"rendered":"How to reduce work hours &#038; streamline parent communication without looking like a slacker"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><small><strong>This week on Truth for Teachers:<\/strong> In my coaching call with Kristen, we discussed parent teacher communication ideas to help reduce the time she spends answering emails from parents.<\/small><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The episode of the <a href=\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/\">Truth for Teachers podcast<\/a> featured here is a free coaching call I conducted with a graduate of the <a href=\"http:\/\/40htw.com\/join\">40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club<\/a>. Her name is Kristen, and she\u2019s a year 4 teacher in Australia, which is equivalent to 4th grade in the U.S. You will adore her lovely accent!<\/p>\n<p>Kristen is in her sixth year of teaching and feeling like she\u2019s spending way too much time communicating with parents and answering emails, and also feeling nervous about what cutting back on the amount of time she spends on these things and other tasks might do to her reputation in the school.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-138934 size-medium aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/parent-teacher-communication-ideas-368x500.jpg\" alt=\"parent teacher communication ideas\" width=\"368\" height=\"500\" data-pin-description=\"A productivity strategy that will help you work fewer hours AND streamline parent communication without looking like a slacker.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/parent-teacher-communication-ideas-368x500.jpg 368w, https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/parent-teacher-communication-ideas-768x1044.jpg 768w, https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/parent-teacher-communication-ideas-753x1024.jpg 753w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 368px) 100vw, 368px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Want to listen instead of read?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Listen to episode 109 below,<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>or subscribe in your podcast app.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none;\" src=\"\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/5803361\/height\/90\/width\/500\/theme\/custom\/autonext\/no\/thumbnail\/yes\/autoplay\/no\/preload\/no\/no_addthis\/no\/direction\/backward\/render-playlist\/no\/custom-color\/672c5b\/\" width=\"500\" height=\"90\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p>I talked with Kristen for a good 45 minutes, and what I\u2019m going to share here in the podcast for you is the second half of that conversation where we\u2019re focused on email communication and giving yourself permission to stop correlating hours worked with effectiveness.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The plan of action for Kristen &#8212; and probably a good plan of action for you, too &#8212; is to focus on pro-active communication and rapport building with parents so that their first interaction with you isn\u2019t when there\u2019s a problem.<\/strong> My recommendation was that she call all of her parents on the first day of school just to make contact. When you only teach one class of students, this shouldn\u2019t take longer than an hour, max, because most parents won\u2019t answer and you\u2019ll be leaving voicemails. It\u2019s an investment of time that will pay off in rapport building later.<\/p>\n<p><strong>We also talked about personalized positive communication that makes a big impact.<\/strong> One suggestion that Kristen really liked is sending a physical postcard to each child\u2019s house. Postcards are pretty rare and special these days, and taking a few minutes to hand write one can make a big impact. So I recommended addressing one to each child in her class and getting all the addresses on there ready to go, and then filling out and mailing one per week.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The idea here is that you&#8217;re looking for something you can do that will make an impression on parents, and show that you\u2019re willing to go above and beyond and care about their child, without it being something that you\u2019re committed to doing on a daily basis.<\/strong> Find something that feels special and unusual, but don\u2019t expect yourself to send personalized messages beyond what you can reasonably send in whatever parent-teacher communication app you\u2019re using.<\/p>\n<p><strong>You\u2019ll be listening in on this coaching call right when we\u2019re talking about Kristen\u2019s email communication.<\/strong> One of the principles from the 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club that Kristen has utilized successfully is having templates to use when replying to parent emails.<\/p>\n<p>If you use Gmail, check out the canned response feature which will allow you to insert an opening greeting, closing greeting, and also any frequently-used replies. If your school email provider doesn\u2019t have this kind of functionality, that\u2019s okay, you can copy\/paste from a Google Doc. <strong>The idea is that you\u2019re creating a database of nicely worded responses you can pull from instead of starting from scratch each time.<\/strong> I provide a template like this for club members and Kristen found that was a time-saver for sure.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So let\u2019s jump into the call now right at the place where I\u2019m summarizing what we talked about so far before strategizing on how to reduce the time she spends on emails with parents.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none;\" src=\"\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/5803361\/height\/90\/width\/500\/theme\/custom\/autonext\/no\/thumbnail\/yes\/autoplay\/no\/preload\/no\/no_addthis\/no\/direction\/backward\/render-playlist\/no\/custom-color\/672c5b\/\" width=\"500\" height=\"90\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Key takeaways<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Call parents on the first day of school, if possible.<\/li>\n<li>Send some positive communication that\u2019s personalized at least once during the year.<\/li>\n<li>Use a template\/canned response to cut down on email time.<\/li>\n<li>Handle behavior issues via phone.<\/li>\n<li>Set office hours for replying to email and messages, preferably at the end of the day.<\/li>\n<li>Once you\u2019ve established this rapport and a reputation in your school as a devoted, effective teacher, give yourself permission to stop measuring effectiveness by hours worked.<\/li>\n<li>Release yourself from the pressure to do things only because you&#8217;re afraid of what others will think of you if you DON\u2019T do them.<\/li>\n<li>Stay focused on relationships with kids and families, and don\u2019t worry about how it looks if your car isn\u2019t the last one out of the parking lot at night. When your heart, attitude, and time are clearly focused on what really matters, other people will see that and you don\u2019t have to go out of your way to prove yourself.<\/li>\n<li>Let your relationships with kids and the learning that happens in your classroom speak for itself.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><i>This post is based on an episode from my weekly podcast, <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers\"><i>Angela Watson\u2019s Truth for Teachers<\/i><\/a><i>. A podcast is like a free talk radio show you can listen to online, or download and take with you wherever you go. I release a new 15-20 minute episode each Sunday and feature it here on the blog to help you get energized and motivated for the week ahead.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #111111;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #213673;\" href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/angela-watsons-truth-for-teachers\/id954139712#\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-18483 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/TFT-Podcast-Icon-500x500.png\" alt=\"Truth for Teachers podcast: a weekly 10 minute talk radio show you can download and take with you wherever you go! A new episode is released each Sunday to get you energized and motivated for the week ahead.\" width=\"158\" height=\"157\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #111111;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #213673;\" href=\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/category\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">See blog posts\/transcripts for all episodes<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #111111;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #213673;\" href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/angela-watsons-truth-for-teachers\/id954139712#\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #111111;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #213673;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.stitcher.com\/podcast\/angela-watsons-truth-for-teachers?refid=stpr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Subscribe to the podcast in Stitcher<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week on Truth for Teachers: In my coaching call with Kristen, we discussed parent teacher communication ideas to help reduce the time she spends answering emails from parents. The episode of the Truth for Teachers podcast featured here is a free coaching call I conducted with a graduate of the 40 Hour Teacher Workweek &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/slacker\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":133449,"menu_order":140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[7,5,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132934","podcasts","type-podcasts","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-productivity-strategies","category-teaching-tips","category-truth-for-teachers-podcast"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Truth For Teachers | How to reduce work hours &amp; streamline parent communication without looking like a slacker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/slacker\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Truth For Teachers | How to reduce work hours &amp; streamline parent communication without looking like a slacker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This week on Truth for Teachers: In my coaching call with Kristen, we discussed parent teacher communication ideas to help reduce the time she spends answering emails from parents. The episode of the Truth for Teachers podcast featured here is a free coaching call I conducted with a graduate of the 40 Hour Teacher Workweek &hellip; Continued\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/slacker\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Truth For Teachers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TruthForTeachers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-08-12T07:35:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/parent-communication-square-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/parent-communication-twitter.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/slacker\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/slacker\/\",\"name\":\"Truth For Teachers | How to reduce work hours & streamline parent communication without looking like a slacker\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/slacker\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/slacker\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/parent-communication-square-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-08T16:00:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-08-12T07:35:09+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/slacker\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/slacker\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/slacker\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/parent-communication-square-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/parent-communication-square-1.jpg\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/slacker\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How to reduce work hours &#038; streamline parent communication without looking like a slacker\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/\",\"name\":\"Truth For Teachers\",\"description\":\"Real talk from real educators\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Truth For Teachers | How to reduce work hours & streamline parent communication without looking like a slacker","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/slacker\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Truth For Teachers | How to reduce work hours & streamline parent communication without looking like a slacker","og_description":"This week on Truth for Teachers: In my coaching call with Kristen, we discussed parent teacher communication ideas to help reduce the time she spends answering emails from parents. The episode of the Truth for Teachers podcast featured here is a free coaching call I conducted with a graduate of the 40 Hour Teacher Workweek &hellip; Continued","og_url":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/slacker\/","og_site_name":"Truth For Teachers","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TruthForTeachers\/","article_modified_time":"2024-08-12T07:35:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/parent-communication-square-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/parent-communication-twitter.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/slacker\/","url":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/slacker\/","name":"Truth For Teachers | How to reduce work hours & streamline parent communication without looking like a slacker","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/slacker\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/slacker\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/parent-communication-square-1.jpg","datePublished":"2017-10-08T16:00:08+00:00","dateModified":"2024-08-12T07:35:09+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/slacker\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/slacker\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/slacker\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/parent-communication-square-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/parent-communication-square-1.jpg","width":1080,"height":1080},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/slacker\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to reduce work hours &#038; streamline parent communication without looking like a slacker"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/","name":"Truth For Teachers","description":"Real talk from real educators","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcasts\/132934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcasts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/podcasts"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132934"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcasts\/132934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":152108,"href":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcasts\/132934\/revisions\/152108"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}