Quick Tips to Write An Email To Your Child's Teacher

        Quick Tips on How to Write An Email to Your Child’s Teacher 

I have found that the best way to communicate with a teacher is to be short, concise, and straight to the point.  Teachers are very busy people and they don’t have all day to read and respond to lengthy emails. If you have ever noticed, their emails contain as few words as possible (unless they feel that they have been “attacked” and feel the need to “defend” themselves). Nevertheless, communication is key in having a good relationship with your child’s teacher.  Sending out a not so nice email may not be the best approach. Learn how to draft an effective email to request a conference with your child’s teacher.

Here’s a sample email that was sent to my child’s teacher:

Good afternoon Mrs. Brown,

I hope all is well and you’ve enjoyed the nice weather this weekend with your family.  I truly appreciate your hard work and everything that you do to help my son.  I would like to schedule a conference to discuss his progress in your class. We want to know about his phonic skills (i.e. digraphs, dipthongs, long vowels, consonant blends, etc.), addition and subtraction skills (which numbers are mastered and which ones he needs help with), writing skills (specific letters he needs practice with, punctuation, capitalization, # of sentences, etc.), reading comprehension, and sight words.  Tuesdays or Wednesdays work best for us.

Please let me know when you would be able to meet with us.  I look forward to discussing his progress with you soon. Thank you in advance.

Sincerely,

      1.      Title the email using your child’s first and last name.

      2.      Use a greeting to suggest a time of day.

      3.      Begin with a comment that makes the teacher feel like you know that they are human and have a life outside of teaching your child.

      4.      Acknowledge the hard work that the teacher does in the classroom specifically for your child.

      5.      Get directly into the purpose of the email. What are you requesting/needing?

      6.      Tell the teacher exactly what questions you have and what information you’re expecting to gain from the conference.

·         This allows the teacher time to successfully prepare for the conference and to be able to address all of your needs and concerns

·         Notice that there is no mention of “concerns” in the email, however.  We do not want the teacher to be on the defensive immediately during the conference nor in her response in the email.

      7.      Let the teacher know your availability.

      8.      Ask the teacher to get back to you with a date and time and let him/her know how urgent you would like for them to respond.

·         Try to avoid using words or phrases like “ASAP” (as soon as possible) or “immediately” because they may offend the teacher.

·         It is ok to give a respond by date but be sure to allow a 24-48 hour response time.

 

·         It’s also important to let them know how soon you would like the conference scheduled (i.e. this week, next week, within the next 2 weeks).

      9.      Thank the teacher once more.

     10.    Use a closing and include your full name with contact information.

It’s all about the tone.  There is nothing that would cause the teacher to misread the tone of your email and cause confusion if you follow these easy steps and model the example above. 

Once you have a confirmed date and time scheduled for the conference with your child’s teacher, begin writing down questions that you would like to ask the teacher.  See our article, 11 Best Questions to Ask aTeacher at a Parent/Teacher Conference, for some great questions to begin with.

Have you ever sent an email to your child’s teacher and the communication just went wrong from that point on?  How were you able to turn it around?

Share your stories in the comment area.  We would love to hear from you.  Share this article with your friends and family if you found it to be helpful.