A parent contact log is a very useful tool to help build and strengthen the relationships between teachers and parents. Relationship building is an important part of the success of students, not just between the students but also between the teachers and the parents of the students. Using a parent communication log goes a long way.
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Parent Contact Logs
What is a parent contact log?
A parent contact log is essential and beneficial. There are some activities that students do which require supervision. Without proper supervision, some students may end up getting involved in altercations. There are also times when students don’t know what they should do, so they need guidance to do their work properly.
A parent communication log is a type of document which contains relevant information needed by the school to reach out to the parent of a student. Usually, a communication log template would contain the following information:
- The name of the school or institution.
- The name of the student enrolled in the school.
- The name of the parent who’s mainly responsible for the student and his/her activities at school.
- The relationship of the parent to the student (mother or father).
- The contact details of the parent including a mobile phone number, home address, and an email address.
It’s extremely important for the parents of students to make sure that all of the information written on the parent call log is both complete and accurate. For instance, if there’s one wrong digit in the contact number on the form, the school can’t contact the parent in case of an emergency.
This is why parents and teachers should also make sure to keep the information on the communication log template updated. If there are any changes, parents should inform the teacher to make the necessary changes.
Parent Communication Logs
Why do you need a parent contact log?
Back when you were a student, you may have remembered the time when your teachers would call your parents whenever something bad happened. Your teachers would have acquired your parent’s number from the parent contact log as this document has been around since the past.
It’s not clear who dreads these calls more – the students or the parents. Although parents share their basic details on a parent communication log, they wouldn’t want a situation where the school has to reach out to them for something negative like their child’s poor performance whether academically or behaviorally.
Receiving a call from the school isn’t something parents look forward to because this usually means bad news. Still, writing down your information on a parent call log is very important, especially in case of emergency.
Also, your child’s teacher may want to get in touch with you for good news like if they chose your child to speak in front of an audience because he/she got an award, if your child did exceptionally well in one of his/her tests, and more.
Teachers can download a communication log template or make one on their own. Either way, they need this document to collect basic and important information from parents. Teachers need this information in cases where they need to have a conversation with parents regarding the performance of their students.
- Email address
In particular, the email address of the parents can be very useful for sharing news. For instance, if the teacher wants to email a digital copy of the school’s newsletter to the parents, all he/she has to do is collect the email addresses of the parents from the log to create an email list. - Cell phone numbers
Of course, telephone or mobile phone numbers are extremely important as well. Teachers can use this information to call parents if anything urgent comes up or if they want to personally speak to the parents to share sensitive information. When a teacher calls the parents of their students, this helps build a good relationship between them.
It’s important for teachers and parents to have open communication and a strong relationship for the overall development of the students. This helps them work hand-in-hand to support and encourage the educational development of the students throughout the academic year. In doing this, teachers will also make their work a whole lot easier.
When there are any issues with students, it’s important for teachers to let the parents know about these issues. Otherwise, things could get worse. When this happens, parents will get upset if they find out that they weren’t informed about the issue earlier. That’s why it’s always a good idea to give the parents a call as soon as any issues arise. - The home address
The home address in the parent contact log proves useful in certain situations too. For instance, if a student has frequently been absent and the teacher isn’t able to reach the parents through the phone numbers they had provided, he/she may do a home visit.
Home visits are very useful in cases like this. Knowing the address of the students allows teachers to go to their homes to find out how they’re doing and why they haven’t come to school for a long time. This can be especially helpful when the teachers discover that their students have any issues at home.
Simple as a parent communication log may seem, it is a very useful tool. Teachers can use it to reach out to parents and students whenever they need to. But it’s also important for teachers to file this document properly in order to keep the information written on it confidential.
Communication Log Templates
Using your parent contact log
At one point or another, students may encounter issues at school. This is especially true for students with a previous history of behavioral or academic issues as well as students with disabilities. For this reason, teachers must keep a parent call log on-hand to ensure that they can reach out to parents whenever they need to.
Teachers must have open communication with parents as part of their approach to handling any issues. Whether the students or the parents are the sources of the issue, teachers must have a way to contact them and the best way to do this is through the log.
Apart from recording the basic information about parents on the log, teachers can also add an important section to their template – the notes. This section is very important as well, especially for documenting conversations shared between themselves and the parents.
Without proper documentation, teachers can’t support their own claims. If a parent accuses a teacher of something, the teacher can use their documented conversation to prove that they didn’t do anything wrong. Of course, after documenting the conversation, the teacher should also ask the parent to sign the document to make it official.
Although this isn’t a requirement, it’s always a good idea to document conversations with parents, especially when about sensitive topics or issues. Sadly, a lot of teachers get into trouble because of parents’ accusations. Without documentation, teachers don’t have a way to defend themselves against these accusations.
Parent Call Logs
To sum everything up, there are the two main ways to use your parent contact log and get the most out of the document:
- Maintain a log of your entire caseload
Think about the type of template you need for your class. If you have several classes, you may want to print out individual forms for them making it easier for you to search for information when you need it. Include spaces for all the basic information along with space for any notes.
Customize the template you need, check to make sure that there aren’t any errors in spelling or grammar, and print out copies of the template. On the first day, get the parents to fill out the log with all the required information. After you’ve obtained the information you need, keep the documents in a single folder or file and store this in a safe place.
Each time you need to contact one of your student’s parents, take this file out and find the contact details. As aforementioned, you can also use the information about the parents to email them or do home visits. - Document your communication with parents regarding issues
This is the second main function of a parent call log. Use the document to record your conversation with parents regarding any issues or challenges you face with your students. Documenting such conversations is of the utmost importance, especially in cases where the parents bypass you and go straight to the school’s administration.
If you come up with an academic or behavioral plan for the student together with the parent, you can document this information on the log too. Make sure to include all of the specific details of the plan so that you can remember everything when it’s time for implementation.
Even before meeting with the parents, you can use the log to jot down any relevant information about your students. If you have any observations about the student, write these down on the log. Then when it’s time to speak to the parent of the student, you can refer to the information on your log.
Free Parent Contact Logs
