Sometimes it’s difficult to stay in contact with the parents and keep them informed about the students’ progress. Here are some ways to improve the lines of communication:
- Newsletters. Create a monthly or bi-monthly newsletter, and send it out via email or snail mail. In it, congratulate student accomplishments (participation in competitions or other music events) and make announcements regarding future events.
- Studio website. Start a studio website, which you can regularly update with news and announcements. If you choose to have a blog on your website, parents can subscribe to email updates and receive an email version of each post you create.
- Hold a Parent-Teacher Meeting. Once or twice a year, you way wish to hold an informal meeting where all the parents (at least one parent per student) come to discuss anything and everything related to the piano studio. You can make announcements concerning future events, and discuss past ones. It’s a great way to get feedback from the parents concerning the way you are running your studio, and to get suggestions concerning how to run things next year. Serve dessert and coffee to put everyone at ease, and keep it under an hour or so.
- Personal calls or emails. Once in a while, it may be appropriate to call or email a parent directly concerning a student’s progress. I think this is especially important for when you are convinced that the student is not progressing as well as s/he could be. Letting the parent know about your concern opens the door for their cooperation with you in further action.
- Progress Reports. At the end of the school year, it is advisable to create and fill out a progress report for each student. It not only helps you wrap things up, but helps communicate to the parent concerning what kind of progress the student has made under your instruction over the past year.
- Evaluations. At the end of each school year, it is also a good idea to create a Studio Evaluation form for the parents to fill out, concerning what they liked/disliked about lessons and studio events over the past year. Getting feedback from the parents is extremely helpful for planning the following year’s events.
How do you maintain the ways of communication with parents? Let us know by commenting below.
Hello! I have greatly enjoyed reading and learning new ideas for teaching from your blog. I am a violin teacher but a lot of what you post about applies to teaching in general which is great. 🙂
I’m planning on conducting a parent evaluation at the end of this year and was wondering if you had any suggestions on questions to include or to avoid?
Great ideas! Do you happen to have an example/printable/template for your progress reports?