Teach like there's a camera on your shoulder
Would the parent approve of what you just said? During COVID they were literally listening.
With Tammy Striler · 2:00 · Filmed fall 2020
What to take away
- Picture a video camera on your shoulder, and the parent watching through it.
- Would you say it in front of them? If the answer is no, don't say it.
- Parents come at you out of love — even the irrational ones, even the ones who come in hot.
- Show them you're on their team and want the best for their child, and you'll win them over.
Why it works
This was Tammy's advice long before 2020, and then distance learning made it literal — the parent really was on the other side of the screen. It survives the pandemic as the cleanest test there is for anything you're about to say to a child.
Tammy Striler
Founder · classroom teacher
Thirty years in the classroom, most of them with the door open and a student teacher in the back. Tammy started these tips because the best things she learned came from other teachers over lunch, and nobody was writing them down.
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