“Teachers are People Too!”
At Dancing Panda, our mission is to engage families and empower them to support their children's education. Our founder, Deb, shares her personal journey and the valuable lessons she's learned about fostering strong partnerships between families and schools.
During my entrepreneurial journey with Dancing Panda, I’ve learned the importance of studying the academic research in our field: Parent and Family Engagement. Education researchers have long explored the dynamics of school-family partnerships. For example, per a Brookings Institute report called, “Collaborating to Transform and Improve Education Systems: a Playbook for Family-School Engagement, “ schools with strong family engagement are 10x more likely to improve student learning outcomes. Plus, given DanPan's mission to engage families and build school-family partnerships,, I knew I needed to immerse myself in this research to understand how we fit into the broader picture.
As a result, I’ve been doing a lot of networking and learning. I love meeting people and discovering their work. Here’s the thing about the education world—there’s an entire academic sphere dedicated to schools, teachers, learning, and kids. But as someone who has been more of a practitioner, I’ve had less exposure to the research side. I knew this world existed, but I hadn’t had the chance or opportunity to really engage with it.
Some of you may know that I graduated from Wellesley College. I’m grateful for this community and network every day—and once again, my Wellesley network came through for me. I reached out to my fellow Wellesley educator friends for help on this journey and learned that a Wellesley professor, Soo Hong, was conducting research in this exact field. As I learned more about her work, I realized that her views on family engagement perfectly aligned with mine, emphasizing partnership and collaboration. My Wellesley friends not only told me about Soo Hong, but also introduced us. Before I knew it, she and I were chatting online, and I was telling her all about Dancing Panda. Let me tell you, I was fangirling hard during that conversation!
Here’s the thing about Wellesley professors—they love talking to students and are incredibly passionate about teaching and engaging. So, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that she was willing to set up time with me, but I was still thrilled to have this opportunity.
We covered a lot during our hour-plus call. I shared my story, talked about Dancing Panda, and learned about her approach to building school-family partnerships. It was one of those conversations I’ll remember for the rest of my life. I took copious notes, and I’m sure I’ll be revisiting them often.
There was one point she made that I want to share with you all. I asked her, “What’s one thing you’d want to tell parents to help them become stronger partners with teachers?” She replied,
“Teachers are people too.”’
I couldn’t agree more.
While this might not be an earth-shattering statement, it’s an important reminder. Teachers are people too. They have families, jobs, and busy lives, just like us. Teachers are incredibly busy - imagine having back to back meetings with no breaks in between, five days a week. And you’re the one prepping, leading, and facilitating said meetings. That’s what it’s like to be a teacher! When I was an Operations School Leader at an elementary school in East Harlem, I saw firsthand how hard our teachers work for our kids.
I share this with you because I needed the reminder too. As a parent, it’s easy to get bogged down by all the things - like not forgetting to clean out that gross lunch box, figuring out what to make for dinner, or buying more watermelon flavored toothpaste because the mint ones are “too minty.” I need to remember that teachers are people too - and pause to think about all the wonderful educators in M & E’s lives. They are people as well and want the best for our children too.
So, if there’s one thing we can do as parents of kids in school, it’s to send a quick message to your child’s teacher. Say hello and introduce yourself if they don’t already know you. Thank them for their hard work and dedication to your child. I’m 100% sure your child’s teacher would LOVE to hear from you.
Teachers are people too. They are important partners in the lives of our kids, and it’s crucial to build a relationship with them from the get-go. If you have a strong foundation and partnership, you, your child, and your teacher can navigate anything that comes up during the school year. And your kid will be better for it! So it’s a win-win for everyone.
That’s it for now. Until next time—happy dancing!
-Deb
