It’s that time of year again for Open House in my district.

I’ve always taught at schools where parent engagement is a “problem.”  Getting parents to come to school is often difficult and it’s not unusual for some classrooms to have only one or two parents.  Here are my tips for the night.

Do

• Make ’em laugh.
You don’t have to use humor but I do like to keep parents entertained.  Even if you feel that it’s not your job to make classroom engaging for students, understand that parents have a choice of whether to show up or not and if they’re not showing up then one of the reasons is probably that your classroom isn’t that interesting.  Since I started using Open House as a night to premiere our latest classroom films I’ve started having a full house.  A secondary goal is to downplay the institutional atmosphere of the school that is intimidating for parents who come from other countries and/or have been out of school for many years.  I am intimidated when I visit my old high school so I understand this.

• Give Your Students Some Ownership of the Room
Even in first and second grade I’ve started having students put their own work up on the wall.  I know this is unthinkable to many teachers.  However, I noticed that when I put students work up myself students have a hard time finding their work.  I still add the headlines and standards to the bulletin board but students learn to hang their own work on the wall.  This adds to students’ feelings of ownership of the room and as they get good at hanging papers straight they learn life skills and fine motor skills that they’re not getting reading and writing all day.  It takes very little time and it results in the bulletin boards being changed more frequently.

• Train Your Students to Lead Tours
Many of my students’ parents don’t speak English and they’re not that interested in checking out the work that we have posted around the room.  If they can’t read it then understandably checking out my students’ writing is boring and even an embarassing experience.  Ideally students can read their work to their parents but they can’t do this without being trained on how to give a tour.  I teach this to students ahead of time.

Don’t

• Discuss Students Individually
I always have a slideshow playing (using iPhoto and my laptop hooked up to the computer) as parents come in the room.  This makes it less awkward as parents enter and are standing around waiting for you to start.  This gives parents something to do right away and helps to diffuse questions about students.  If parents do want to know about their children, I have a conference sign up sheet available so that they can come back.

• Lecture
If parents get a lecture they will not be back.  You can work in teaching tips as you go through the night but lecturing parents, particularly English Language Learners who can’t understand you, will not get you far.

• Assume that Parents Who Don’t Who Up Don’t Care
Parents have many reasons for not coming to Open House.  They’re working, they’re busy, they’re intimidated.  Don’t assume that the parents who don’t make it to school don’t care about their students.

What are your tips?