The Tactful Teacher: Effective Communication with Parents, Colleagues, and Administrators.(Book review)

[website] The Tactful Teacher: Effective Communication with Parents, Colleagues, and Administrators, by Yvonne Bender. Nomad Press (2456 Christian St., White River Junction, Vermont 05001), 2005. 134 pp. $16.95.

Although Yvonne Bender has written sound advice for classroom teachers in her book, The Tactful Teacher: Effective Communication with Parents, Colleagues, and Administrators, she has a great deal to say that will serve the independent music teacher as well.

By setting the context for effective communication on the job, Bender lays a foundation from which the reader may consider real case studies. She suggests strategies that form a basis for any teacher's daily encounters with others. The ideas are largely common sense--developing the ability to adjust to what is called for in a given situation, following the accepted chain of command, learning to compromise, expressing oneself positively and learning active-listening, to name a few.

Bender focuses on four types of communication that concern teachers: exchanges with parents, administrators, colleagues and community. She acknowledges that successful teachers are effective communicators, pointing out that talking with each of these groups requires a different approach. She then sets out to describe strategies to use for adjusting to each group.

The heart of The Tactful Teacher lies in "Part III," "Communicating With Difficult People" in which Bender focuses on four types of people: those who are angry, overly controlling, apathetic or anxious. Several examples in the form of case ...