My main interaction with my students’ families was through phone calls and parent meetings. On several occasions throughout the year I called parents to share stories of their child’s success in my class, and other times called to discuss academic or behavior issues. In almost all circumstances, parents were grateful that I reached out and happy to either share in their child’s success or problem-solve with me about how to best address their child’s needs. Since many of my students’ parents only speak Spanish, my ability to speak Spanish was a tremendous help, for I could personally call them instead of asking Claremont’s bilingual assistant to do it for me. Hearing how invested most parents were in their child’s education gave me a renewed sense of appreciation for the fact that they entrusted me with caring for their child for so many hours each day. I wanted parents to understand that I took that charge seriously, and keeping them up-to-date with their child’s progress and asking for their input was one way of doing that.