Each day of this week of appreciation, we are meeting a teacher whom we admire and respect for how they use Parent Teacher Home Visits to make an impact on our kids and communities. Follow along each day to hear a new story of impact. 

Jody Bone, Sacramento City Unified School District – Grounding Practice in Relationships to Sustain Passion and Excitement 

For nearly four decades, Jody Bone, a first-grade teacher from Sacramento City Unified School District, has been a stalwart in education. Her long-standing hope and dream as a teacher has been to instill a love of learning in her students. Grounding herself in the relationships she’s built with students and families through Parent Teacher Home Visits has helped her sustain that passion and excitement over the years, despite the daily challenges and hardships teachers face. In particular, home visits help families feel more comfortable with Jody, which makes it “easier to do some of the disciplinary parts and work together on the parts of school that kids are struggling with.”  

The added time doing home visits at the end of a long day was well spent according to Jody, “It’s all worth it, in the end. It’s kind of like exercising. You’ll never regret doing it.” The fact that the Parent Teacher Home Visits model requires that teachers are compensated for their time is a bonus.  

In a time when experienced teachers are retiring and novice teachers are struggling to find their footing in the field, Jody offers this sage advice to leaders and policymakers, “Make relationship building part of the curriculum in our credentialing programs. We learn how to teach reading and how to teach math, but why aren’t we doing the ‘how to build relationships’ part?” Time and experience have taught her well that getting to know one another and nurturing connections equates to an improved teaching experience for all. 

In a world where high-stakes accountability measures are used to define teacher “success,” it’s easy to overlook the profound impact of everyday acts of kindness, connection, and dedication. For educators like Jody, the true measure of success lies not in test scores or the highest career accolades but in the tangible difference they make in the lives of their students. As Teacher Appreciation Week reminds us to honor and celebrate educators, let’s not forget the quiet heroes who, through Parent Teacher Home Visits, are shaping futures and transforming students’ educational experiences, one visit at a time. 

Want to show appreciation to these inspiring teachers – and all others who share their belief in the power of home-school partnership?  

Leave a message at the Teacher Appreciation Hotline at 202-743-5371, sponsored by our national partner, the National Education Association, to share a story of an educator going above and beyond for their students. It will be shared with education leaders to help give teachers the respect they deserve. And shoutout all the teachers you know who go the extra mile on all platforms using the hashtag, #ThankATeacher 

Consider the resources that teachers need to successfully partner with families. Visit Parent Teacher Home Visits’ website at www.pthvp.org to learn more about this proven family engagement strategy and how you can implement them in your school or district.