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What 'Star Wars' Can Teach Educators About Parent Engagement

By Larry Ferlazzo

Meetings between parents and teachers—whether they happen at home or at school, individually or with multiple teachers present—always hold the potential for great success or great disaster.

Teachers and parents can end our time together with some certainty that our relationship has been strengthened and the next steps are clear—or we can leave feeling distrustful, with little sense of forward momentum. I've been present at both kinds of meetings.

The likelihood of a positive outcome, I think, will be maximized if teachers keep in mind what I call the Princess Leia approach to teacher-parent conversations. (I indulged myself over a recent school break by watching the "Star Wars" trilogy, so please...