Douglas Fiore
Fengist við flókna foreldra
“We control how many arguments we get in.”
— Douglas J. Fiore
Um fyrirlesturinn
Samskipti við krefjandi foreldra geta verið þreytandi, óþægileg og stundum ógnvekjandi — en þau eru líka tækifæri. Byggt á samnefndri bók sinni veitir Douglas J. Fiore kennurum og stjórnendum verkfæri til að hægja á togstreitu, byggja upp traust og halda í fagmennsku þegar tilfinningarnar hitna. Þátttakendur fara heim með raunhæfar samskiptaaðferðir, lausnamiðaðar nálganir og fyrirbyggjandi aðferðir sem breyta flóknum foreldrum í verðmæta bandamenn skólans.
Hver er Douglas Fiore
Dr. Douglas Fiore er deildarforseti menntavísindasviðs við University of Central Missouri og meðal fremstu sérfræðinga Bandaríkjanna á sviði skólamenningar og samskipta heimilis og skóla. Hann hefur verið háskólarektor, dósent, skólastjóri og kennari í grunnskóla og þekkir því skólastarf frá öllum hliðum. Rannsóknir hans beinast að því hvernig samskipti innan og utan skóla móta árangur nemenda, og bók hans Dealing with Difficult Parents er orðin klassísk handbók fyrir bandaríska kennara og stjórnendur. Douglas hefur þjálfað þúsundir starfsmanna og heimsótt skóla víða um heim með skilaboð sem eru hvort tveggja hagnýt og hvetjandi.
Spurningar og svör frá Sli.Do
How can we reach a parent who always points the blame at another child, no matter how obvious their child guilt is?
We have to keep our focus on the future. We continue reminding the parent that the most important goal is preventing problems moving forward, not just addressing what has already happened. “I’m grateful for your support, and I want us to work together to ensure that this situation does not happen again.”
How should teacher handle parent who consistently blames the school for their child's difficulties, refuses to collaborate and views the teacher as the problem?
We explain to the parent that we are sorry they feel that way, but we ask them how they can collaborate with us to avoid the problem in the future. Talking about the past is tricky because we often will disagree on what happened. We need to bring parents into the future by thanking them for support and asking them what ideas we can collaborate on to avoid problems in the future.
I want to keep the communication positive and I want to listen — but at what point has the communication become too much? How do we set boundaries with those parents without losing the relationship?
We use firm, but caring language. We say things like, “I am so grateful for your strong communication, but my main responsibility is on your child and the other children. Perhaps we could check in once a week briefly to discuss progress.”
What are the first signs that the school-parent relationship is turning into conflict, and how can you respond before it worsens?
There are few first signs. One is if the parent is blaming others, and another is if the parent is behaving angrily. We always should have positive scripts for these moments, which I spend lots of time helping schools develop. We use language like, “Ms. Johanssen, I can tell you are getting upset, and I really want to help you. Our collaboration is a key to your child’s success. Let’s work together to ensure that we have the best plans to help your child be successful.”