You may be wondering what your role as a Reading Specialist is during Meet the Teachers Night or during Open House? When you are not a classroom teacher, you feel a little lost and do not know what you should be doing. I know that I definitely have felt that way!

This post will help you know exactly what you should be doing. Here is an outline of what the night should look like for a Reading Specialist:

1. Before the event: Make a flyer introducing yourself to the parents and put it out with the classroom teacher’s documents that they are sharing with parents that night. You should also talk to all of the teachers that you provide Tier 2 or Tier 3 reading intervention services in and ask them to include you in their slideshow and introduce you to the parents when you arrive.
2. During the event: Carry around a clipboard, pen and a piece of paper. This way you can take notes of any conversations you had with parents, write down any requests the parents asked of you so that you can follow-up with them later on.
3. During the event: Go around to all of the classrooms that you work in and briefly introduce yourself to the parents. What do you say, you ask? You simply tell them your name, tell them that you are the Reading Specialist/Reading Teacher that will be working with this class to provide extra help in reading to the students who need it. Be sure to also point out your flyer so that parents take one (after all, you spent a hot minute creating it, now you want it to use seen and read).
4. During the event: Have a table set up in a common area where you and the other Reading Specialists/Reading Teachers can be available to meet parents and give them some valuable information about how they can help their child’s reading ability at home. There are tons of reading resources that you can print and give out to parents. Here are some examples that I have used:

-Teachable Teacher has a FREE “Reading Tips Brochure” that is great! Click here to get it!

-Alison from Learning at the Primary Pond has an “Science of Reading Cheat Sheet for Parents” that is great! Click here to it!

-Literacy Loving Gals has a “Literacy Tips for Parents” that is cute with great advice for parents. Click here to get that!

-I LOVE what Mrs. Palmer and Mrs. Richardson have on their website for parent resources. Click here to see what I love it!

5. After the event: Be sure to send out an email or a message to the parents that you met and who took the time to talk to you. If you do a newsletter, be sure to thank them for coming and how great it was to meet them. How do you know which parents attended the event? Ask the classroom teacher for their sign-in sheet. This is important because it is the beginning of your relationship with your students’s parents. When we all work together to help a child learn to read, the results are going to be better. Also, do not downplay your role in a child’s learning to read journey! You are an important part of helping a child grow as a reader because you are giving them the instruction they specifically need extra help with. You possess the training, knowledge, certification or degree that others do not have. I attended a professional development seminar once and the presenter told us that that Reading Specialists/Reading Teachers are the lifeboats for a child who struggles.

Want to read more articles on the role of Reading Specialist or a Reading Teacher? Check out these other blog posts from other literacy bloggers that I admire:

“6 Things the Reading Specialist Wants Teachers to Know” from Cathy Collier

“Are you Ready to be a Reading Teacher?” from Conversations in Literacy

”What does a Reading Specialist Do?” From understood.org

“All About the Job of a Literacy Specialist” from Learning at the Primary Pond

Hopefully this answered your questions about what your role is and what you should be doing on Meet the Teachers Night or Open House. Please feel free to leave me a comment or question below if you think of anything that I have forgotten or that you might want to add.