In the best interests of their students, teachers need to work hand in hand with parents and build a strong and supporting relationship with one another. Developing effective communication strategies is the first step to achieving this goal.

Whether you're a new teacher, or a teacher with only a few years of experience or even one with many years of experience, I'm sure that you will find these 5 parent teacher communication strategies very useful in building a strong relationship with your students' parents. I know I did.

1. Handling parent teacher conferences can be a very trying time for teachers, especially those who have very little experience handling them. It's a necessary part of the job, so here are a few of my tips on how to deal with them:

* Parents may be just as nervous as you are, so try to create a warm and positive atmosphere to make them feel comfortable and at ease.

* For the conference, it's important that you show parents that you're a true professional by being well prepared, organized, polite and courteous. Being well prepared means understanding each student's strengths and weaknesses, and having their assignments and tests available at your fingertips.

* Be on schedule (as much as you can, within your control). Be aware of the time limits for each conference, and if necessary, schedule another meeting with the parents.

* End the conference with a smile and always on a positive note to build upon the concept of working together to achieve the common goal.

2. Classroom newsletters are a terrific way to keep the communication flowing between teacher and parents. When parents ask their children "How was school today", the typical answer is "good" or "fine". I always wrote an introductory classroom newsletter to the parents during the first month of each school year, but from then on each student would choose the items they wanted to include in their own newsletter (after discussing in class) and write about a page. The newsletters (never edited by me), went home with the students. It was a good way for parents to see the progress their child was making in being able to compose and write a letter.

3. Please realize that student agendas are a MUST HAVE, no exceptions. By incorporating student agendas into your classroom procedures , you will make students, parents and even yourself accountable. During the day, have each student record whatever they need to remember to do the following day, homework, upcoming tests, etc. Student agendas also allow you to communicate with parents on a daily basis, sending short messages back and forth. Ask parents to sign them every night and there will be no excuses.

4. Report cards, no teacher likes doing them, but they give both students and parents an overview of the student's continued academic, personal and behavioral progress in a term, hopefully displaying steady improvement throughout the year. Write you report card comments in simple terms, putting a positive spin on any negative comments, i.e. be tactful and encouraging.

5. Both phone and email are obvious and good options if and when the need arises to contact parents quickly. If you're not getting a proper response from parents through the student's agenda and before an issue

If you decide to phone the student's parents, you may want to speak to the student's previous teachers to see if the situation has occurred previously. When you do speak to the parents, know what you're going to say, keep the phone call to the point, be positive and professional. Keep a log of call and arrange for a follow up call if needed.

Email is a second alternative to a phone call which is an effective way to contact parents that are working during the day to inform them of an issue that needs to be addressed quickly or as a method to setup a phone call or face to face meeting. It may not be as personal as a phone call, but it's non-confrontational and no one is put on the defensive.

Throughout my teaching career, I have been able to establish excellent relationships with most of my students' parents by using all of the suggestions that I have described here. Try them and I'm sure you'll have great success with them as well.

Honey Krumholz has taught elementary school for 33 years. She is presently a college supervisor and mentor to student teachers. She presents seminars on teaching strategies at York University in Toronto. Visit her website and get her teaching strategies on a wide variety of topics, for example, her many tips on writing student report cards http://www.priceless-teaching-strategies.com/report_card_comments.html.