How to Help Your Child's Teacher

Dear Parents,
I know all of you want to do what you can to help your child learn and help your child's teacher teach them well. Below I have listed some things that will be beneficial. As you know a well-behaved classroom requires less teacher time for management. As a result, this classroom has more instruction time, and by the end of the school year may receive the equivalent of several extra weeks of school.
To help make our classrooms more orderly we depend upon our parent partners for support. What you teach your children at home is very important in determining how much they, and their classmates, can learn at school. Below are some examples.
Don't give warnings. I have seen so many parents give multiple warnings, when a child should really know to obey the first time. When I hear a parent say something like "this time I really mean it" I know we’re in trouble.
Teach your child to wait for his or her turn to talk. Our whole society has a problem with this, but I believe it still can be done. It will take time and determination.  Be sure to model it for them.
Teach your child to say “yes sir” and “no ma’am”, “please” and “thank you”, “excuse me” and in general to be polite. These social skills will take your child a long way in school, in an interview, and in a job. This is exactly the opposite of the direction our culture is going right now. Unfortunately, the examples students see on social media show people denigrating one another publicly.
Teach your child to share, which is much harder in today's world with smaller families. I had to share one bathroom with nine others in my family growing up, but most of our children now have one or no siblings with whom to practice sharing. Set up experiences with other children to practice this skill.
All these things will help your child’s teacher to teach the class and enable your child to be a better employee in the future. More jobs than ever are now cooperative and collaborative. People skills are just as important as job skills.
Ask yourself these questions. Does my child ignore my requests?  Does my child refuse to do something I’ve asked him or her to do? Do I find myself negotiating with my child? Is my child disrespectful in their words, actions, or facial expressions?  If the answer to any of these is yes, we have work to do. These are the actions that make life more difficult for your child’s teacher and fellow classmates.
Please don’t misunderstand. I love giving children choices, but some things are nonnegotiable. Among these are respect, reverence, and honesty. If you find yourself having difficulty with any of the above, please contact me. I would be pleased to help.
In His Service,
Tim Miesner
Principal