Teachers/parents - tips for room parent to support new teacher?

[Anonymous]

My elementary-aged child's teacher this year is new to the school (and I believe this is her first year teaching her own class). This is my child's first time with a teacher so new, so I'm hoping for some practical feedback from experienced parents and teachers on how I can best support her as the classroom parent rep.

I am anticipating that helping with communication of important events over the year, parent volunteer sign-ups, etc will be particularly important. Teachers, do you remember the challenges in communicating with parents/school that were hard in the beginning? Were there situations when you could have used more parent help with a project, in the classroom, etc?

I'm not trying to over-think this or come across as a crazy PITA helicopter parent; just thought perhaps others might have ideas I haven't considered. We haven't yet met to talk about how we will work together this year. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

[Anonymous]

When I was new I just wanted parents to back off and let me find my groove. My heart always sank when parents would ambush me (always at the worst times of day!) saying, "Last year I was ALWAYS in charge of field trips!" or "I prefer to volunteer only for art-related projects." If I need volunteers, I'll send out a request. THEN you can tell me if you're willing to help with what I need.

[Anonymous]

When you meet with her, offer some specific ways to help. (As opposed to saying, "Let me know if you ever need anything.") For example, you could say that in years past you organized the Halloween party -- I had a parent tell me that if I wanted to plan it she'd help run it, but if I preferred to just pick the time and date she'd totally take it from there. (I chose the second option!) There are probably ways you can help that she hasn't thought of yet, and ones she may request that you hadn't thought of.

And finally, she may not be really ready to accept a lot of parent help. Don't take it personally if she seems reluctant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I was new I just wanted parents to back off and let me find my groove. My heart always sank when parents would ambush me (always at the worst times of day!) saying, "Last year I was ALWAYS in charge of field trips!" or "I prefer to volunteer only for art-related projects." If I need volunteers, I'll send out a request. THEN you can tell me if you're willing to help with what I need.

ITA with this, and I'm a teacher. Although if you are the appointed parent rep, then I guess it's expected that you will be more involved than the typical parent. My advice would be to pretend she's not new. Like PP, my first few years were stressful in that I did not want to appear new at my job. So I would advise treating the new teacher like you would any other. You don't sound like a helicopter to me, just very excited/energized to help in any way you can. Do that, but don't focus on the fact that she's "new." Perhaps you could offer to coordinate the parent volunteers so that the teacher isn't bombarded by the requests (they can bombard you instead!)

[Anonymous]

As previously mentioned give your child's new teacher room to excell. Know that not every lesson will be perfect, but over the school year many lessons will be great. Remember that the school year is not like a daily or weekly sprint. It's more like a marathon where a child's incremental improvements made over the long school year will result in measurable achievements by the time June arrives.


Rest assured that new teachers although they may lack the experience of more seasoned teachers, they are not new to the classroom. They have already had practicums, Ed. School, student teaching internships and they have passed the PRAXIS Exam. Also most of us make mistakes from time-to-time at work. When this occurs we usually do two things. We correct the situation at hand and secondly over time we try to avoid making the same mistakes twice. My guess is that new teachers have the same kind of professional learning curve. It is also likely methodology that works for one group of students may not be equally effective for another.

Give your child's teacher the benefit of the doubt and try to remember the school year is more like a nine-month long marathon rather than a daily or weekly sprint.